The group above is right outside my window. They've been eyeing me all afternoon as I bustled around the kitchen, but right now they're diving into their dinner.  I'm stopping to consider my many reasons for gratitude. It's a blissfully quiet holiday here, Mike, me, dogs, sheep. Family on the telephone. Patriots game.  Thank you for your friendship and support, especially this year. I'm sending my strongest wishes for a wonderful day to all – and a happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating.
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Fred has made my day. With bucket loader and spreader, he tackled the monstrous pile o’ compost in yonder bunker silo. Two year’s worth of soiled straw, hay and sheep poop equals a mountain roughly the size of the Matterhorn. Amazingly broken down into rich, dark organic matter, it’s now put to use fertilizing our hay field down on the Long Lot. This may not sound post-worthy, but trust me, it’s a big deal!!
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Just a quick post. Sheep Shares are out the door this week along with sheep calendars. Stay tuned!
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I spent an hour reading through the suggestions that came in last week for naming our lambs and have narrowed the field after much deliberation. Although I loved so many of the ideas I've boiled it down to a handful and will let you all know on Friday which theme we've chosen. If you'd like to see the contenders, hop over to Ravelry and follow the thread "Help Name the Lambs" in the Foxfire Fiber Friends group. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time help me out by sharing an idea. With lambing just two weeks away
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I so look forward to shearing season, but two feet of snow two days before shearing nearly caused a major snafu this week. With shearing dates are booked months in advance, a shearer's dance card is pretty darn full at this time of year. If you're unprepared or if the sheep aren't dry, good luck trying to reschedule at the last minute.  Tuesday night's storm dumped two feet of heavy, wet snow taking out the power lines for a day and half.  On Wednesday, Mike and I melted pots snow over a burner and trucked it down to the flock.
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A quick follow up to yesterday's post. This morning Butch made amends for his fresh behavior earlier this week (much to Caitlyn's approval).   Whatta sweet guy! copyright 2010. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved. Feel free to share a link to this site. Please do not take content or images from this site without explicit written permission. Thank you. photos by Michael Parry
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Happy Hearts Day from your Valentines at Springdelle Farm! Llama Llove from: Crackerjack and Caitlyn. Hugs and kisses from: Butch & Gypsy Cocoa (with Io, Helios and Isis) "Be Mine" Issey: "je t'aime". Teaberry: "Hubba-hubba!"      
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Daphne, a little hung-over yesterday morning. In case you're wondering where I've been . . . It was a rough weekend. Although I'm miles behind in all departments, I dropped everything to deal with a sick dog. The good news: things are now looking up. Last week Daphne, my thirteen year old golden, suffered an extreme bout of intestinal trouble. By Saturday morning she was weak and standing on rubber legs.  An expensive two-day stay at the Veterinary Emergency Hospital settled her tummy troubles. Concerned that her usual meds might create more gastric distress, they gave her a new drug for
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I think we need some more snow. Monday's warm rain has left the landscape blotchy and drear. For the last two days the flock has been exploring the exposed patches of grass, drifting further from the barn than they've been in weeks. My juncos and chickadees have better things to do, evidently. The feeders haven't needed filling all week. It was a quiet, mild day and I would have liked a hike into places that have been hard to get to lately but I'm up to my eyeballs in Sheep Shares minutiae (Robin, the winner of the contest has contacted
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I had a day's worth of NYC things to do, enough for it to make sense to spend a night in the big apple. While city life is endlessly fascinating, stimulating, and so different from my daily Shelburne existence, I was so glad to get back to the barn this morning. Throngs of people, herds of yellow taxi cabs, honking horns, sirens, diesel and exhaust . . . . I was quickly exhausted in a way that's so entirely different from being wiped out from a day of physical work on the farm.  The plus side was the shopping (or
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