Pignic!

What a wonderful time.
About 150 +/- friends and family came to visit and have and share some wonderful eats.
There are those we missed but there are always good reasons. No matter, they were missed.
Hopefully next year we won't coincide with another event that took some friends away.

Jamie Larimie won the Tequilla and glass set.
Paul and Joan Tangary won the Bailey's and glass set.
Charlie Wicklien won the 100.00 Gift Certificate to the River Tavern in Chester, Ct.

We are still tired and still cleaning up but it is well worth it.
Pencil off this weekend again next year as we sold most of the T-Shirts and there will be another Pignic.
Thank you to those who donated extra to make it happen.
Just wonderful warm thoughts and hugs go out to everyone. We are all grateful that the weather paused in the rain loop to give us only one down pour early before the fun started. The sun shown, laughter a plenty and more smiles and hugs than one can imagine.

Busy girl

You have it. We have been very busy.
This year I have grown many more critters than usual due to a persistent client who knows what he likes.
More work for me and everyone else.
I have come to realize there are too many.
I will finish this year and reduce numbers next year and people will have to be happy with what I have to offer.

Our Linear Appraisal went well with our girls just the other side of comic relief.
We will do less fairs since it is my belief that the virus we caught at one of last years fairs has been the culprit to most of our troubles this year.
Jeopardizing the whole herd to prove you have nice animals is not in the realm of my consciousness.
We will continue with the fairs we did last year (OK, maybe not all of them) and be happy to know we have nice animals but keep them to ourselves.

The stinking bees swarmed already but gave us 25 lbs of honey which someone bought the whole kit and caboodle. Some people are not sharing well.
That's OK, their bill is paid and so are mine.

I am now getting concerned with my hay supply. The weather has been less than good for making the stuff and I am wondering what I am going to be feeding everyone.
Matter of fact I just got up and called and left a message to the person whom I get my hay from. Better start looking now.

I am still looking for a bull for the cows. I did find a Short Horn (yes it is a breed type not a fashion statement) and hopefully he will be here soon as the girls are nine months into their lactation and this may leave me milkless over the dead of winter. What will I do with myself without teats to pull?

Our ducks have been hatching and we have had three sets of fourteen. We also learned that that is too many and we have to take many away for safty reasons. They actually drown. The duck are not too carefull where they lead the little ones and sometimes they get caught in deep buckets and when just hatched they don't float very well if at all.

My hatchery has once again threw a wrench into my well laid calander of events and if not the wrong bird the wrong time. I bought an incubator last year and will hatch our my own ducks and geese and depending on the turkeys maybe them also. I will set it up this weekend and set some chicken eggs to see how well it works.
The incubator is a larger cabinet type which hatches hundreds of eggs at a time. I only need a few dozen at a time. Might as well work out the kinks now, as the way things go for me it will be better to make the thousands of mistakes and get them over with.

The Garden looks fabulous (if a little muddy) and almost everything is growing well.
My herbs didn't come up so I will have to purchase plants and I have been comparing prices and it is going to be expensive.

Now to look foward to the Pignic. Make the pinata and get the menu planned. Must send out the flyers. I guess I will do that now.
See ya.

The Black Hole

Well it has been quite a few weeks.
Very tiring.
Water heater had to be replaced (nightmare for today), Cow is back from Vermont, Kidd trouble (lost a few but have since found out it wasn't my fault, yippie doesn't make it easier), a Friend loosing one of her Does and Kidds, just so many little things it isn't worth being listed nor being reminded of them.
I have decided that it has been those horrible e-messages that you get from people warning if you don't forward them you will suffer bad luck for so long.........well I'm not going to chance it any more. If you get a message from me that has the subject of ****one of those**** just delete it.
A vortex is bad but this black hole just won't quit!

All is well

Things have been going well.

Many kidds have been place in pet homes and the Does are milking well with only two now had to be dried off. They are both single milkers and were having problems with their udders.

Lovely went to live on a farm in Vermont. The people kept asking what was wrong with her since she was priced to "sell". I told them the truth, that we wanted her to go to a home. That I encourage farming and Lovely will make a great family cow. They said the deal was too good to be true.

"Welcome to my vortex" I said and I'm sure they will call frequently to update her life. That is fine with me.

Now I will be forced to pick up the pony in Maine for my daughter. I told the person who owns the horse that if my daughter doesn't work with the horse or is frightened of it the horse will go home at the end of the summer.
Since I haven't heard back perhaps they don't like the conditions. At this point I am happy with one less mouth to feed.

We only have a handful of Does to kidd and on to start the gardening season.
Looking forward to grubby nails again.

I am going to have a meeting of "natural mom's of New London". People who are interested in raising their children closer to the earth. Well our farm is a good place to start.

I will have to ask Amy how to handle the whole project.

Second set of chickens and duck have arrived and all are doing well. I am going to purchase a plucker to make my life a bit easier. I so love being in debt. With any luck the birds of this year (in the hundreds) will pay it off.

Still working on the Farmers Market and what I will have available to sell.
Well there are always my children......

It seems to me....

Since I have been so busy that I don't get a chance to enter Blog notes. Probably since I now have a facebook page I do get messages from those who care to read what I write there (but I don't write much there either).

I guess I will make monthly (or more often as the mood irks me)entries here.

I have been invited to several Dinner at the Farm dinners since my last installment. The food was delicious and I have made some new friends.

I have installed a new bee package where I was the only person out of probably a hundred who reported a dead queen making me scramble to drive back to Marlborough to pick up another while the worker bees sat and got really angry at me. Installing the package wasn't too bad since it had been a warm day and by the time I got back it was almost dusk. I used cardboard to scrape clusters of bees from the side of the garden shed and put them right into the hive. I don't think I lost too many and the next day they were busy doing what bees do.

I had lost a total of five adult Does and probably eight unborn kidds went with them. Most of the Does were Oberhasli or some part there of. Listeriosis (from bacteria on the ground or from silage they got into while loose from their pens)and Menegialencephalitis. Nothing could have been done to save them. Doesn't make matters any easier.

I have been invited to several Farm Markets but don't really have any product to sell unless I beef out my youngest Guernsey who is not making quite enough milk to be able to stay here. I am working on getting her a home and would rather go that route.

I have severely reinjured my back and have been wearing electronic stimulators to help the pain and keep me functioning and walking. The children have been wonderful and I am grateful for them.

Here we go!

Finally Kidding season has started. Two sets of triplets with three doelings and three bucklings. Everyone is fine.
My most favorite Oberhasli Doe has passed overnight 3 days before she was due to kidd. She was fine the night before since we start bringing them in seven days before due date. Personable and full of loving and hugs. Next day she is acting odd and overnight dies. Too many tears this year already. I am chanting better in the barn and not in the home. It does help me maintain perspective.

Cakes baked and eaten, so much food this family eats. My son now 14 has hit the six foot mark. I wonder where 12 more months will see him. My daughter no slouch either at over four foot at nine years old.

Home schooling is going well. The taxes are almost finished. Probably two more days of entries. Yes I know, I said I would start earlier well, maybe this year......

The girls are loving the hay from New York.
Not much going on worth talking about.
Piglets are making tunnels in the snow to get to the feeder since the big pigs left yesterday. I shoveled a path for them. They remind me of Dachshunds plowing through the snow bellies dragging.

Joined a site called Face Book, kind of like classmates but free and quite a bit of fun. I will look up lost friends. I'm the one who is lost not them.

So have you found your change yet. I am contemplating drawing up a petition to keep presidential campaign spending to the total of what the office promises in salary. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants? Do the same for the inauguration. Wouldn't the lobbyist die of dehydration and lack of clean pants!

It is quite the learning experience having the children listen to the President speak. Now that he has been in office a few weeks we compare what he promised when getting elected and what he is saying now. Easy to talk when your not the one calling the shots. God speed to him and let him guide our country properly. He is only one person, and, well, we know how one person can get so much done.

Sometimes I just want to stay in bed.

Our loss total is three Does and six kidds. It seems that they may have had an infection but not being able to spend probably upwards of 1000.00 for a diagnosis I will go with that supposition. It could have been numerous things but one thing is for sure unless it is slow to manifest we should be in the clear. No other Does have shown any signs of illness or early termination of pregnancy.
I take full responsibility for the losses. Although I could blame my children it is I who should have checked that all gates were locked. We feed silage to our cows and have a dump pile of moldy silage for the ducks who are unaffected by it. The duck and turkey pick out the kernels and the rest decomposes.
As people walk through gates some sneaky beasts push gates open and head for the grain shed that is usually open when animal care is happening. The grain shed is definitely locked (to help keep out vermin)when we are not around. Several have started testing gates. When they are ajar they leave (sometimes un-noticed) and forage around the lower yard.

One such incident happened just last week with the cows out and roaming but earlier about two weeks ago it had been the goats. I don't know how long they had been out but obviously it had been long enough to get into trouble. Two Does were inseparable and got into what ever it was together. The second young Doe is a glutton who would have followed or seen any creature who may have found anything worth eating and glommed it for herself. They love silage which is bad for them for just this reason. Although cows may be unaffected it targets the smaller ruminants I suppose. Even the calves eat it without mishap.

The hard ground makes if difficult for the old machine to dig a proper hole but I managed to make one deep enough to contain all our losses, with enough room in case we should acquire some more. I will forever dig a hole in the fall and cover it just in case this happens again.

I am not above saying that the goats may have had hardware disease either but one Doe has very neurological symptoms. It makes me think of others who have passed over the season and makes me realize how much more sensitive goats are from cows and all the other farmyard animals. The Does have nearly chewed through several places on the sheds and I wouldn't doubt that they may have gotten some kind of sharp metal object either. They always seem to find a favorite spot somewhere out of regular checking that goes unnoticed till Spring. Again my fault.

The coming weeks will have us repairing all outdoor sheds for loose boards,nails and screws. One wonders how you depreciate buildings on your tax form? Just visit my place and I will show you just how it happens.