Exhaustion and Teenaged Boys

9:27 PM Saturday, 27 February 2010

Temperature: 43 F, cloudy with some breezes

Today we had three teenaged sons of friends of ours over because their dad wanted them to get a taste of 'real' work. They were not exactly falling over themselves with glee at the idea, to say the least, but they came and were fed (breakfast of scrambled eggs, bagels with smoked salmon and snipped chives, grilled steaks and mushrooms, and a choice of muffins and bananas, cookies at tea time, dinner of mutton stew and a butterflied pork loin I'd seasoned with salt and brown sugar and spices and rolled up and slow-roasted with olive oil, and asparagus with sea salt and green beans and butter and garlic bread with maple ice cream and marzipan ice cream for dessert).


They did get to dig holes, and learn the basics of staking down hardware, moving sheep pastures and raking up muck and feeding animals at dinner time. They do not precisely care for their ovine overlords, but they were reasonably polite and one of them learned a very hard lesson about not swinging a mattock at a farmer.

We include here some cute pictures which indicate a little bit of how our week has been; the highs of the week, as it were. Tomorrow there is more work to be done and no more teenaged labour to exploit, but some of the seedlings are done again (all of what had been done previously except for the Harbinger tomato and the Alpine strawberry, neither of which were available, with the addition of Brandywine and Sweetie tomatoes, both planted to be thinned). More seedlings still need to be planted, but it's a good start, and tomorrow perhaps we'll get our rosebushes planted as well.

Delays and Lambs

Thursday, 11:37 AM, 25 February 2010
Temperature: 50 F, sunny with a scattering of clouds

Yesterday morning provided us with twin coal-black lambs, courtesy of one of the polled ewes. They are not quite identical, as one has a white blaze on its forehead; we don't know yet whether they're ewe or ram lambs or one of each.

The other ewes continue not to have lambed yet and are somewhat beginning to resemble aircraft carriers. Woolly aircraft carriers, but aircraft carriers all the same.

We had unexpected high winds yesterday, which knocked down the greenhouse and ruining the seedling trays. A trip to the hardware store for rebar to stake it down has taken care of most of that, but there were some seeds that were not so easy to replace; mainly the strawberries. We may opt to pick up some strawberry plants instead later in the season, if we can find a suitably flavourful type of plant.

This weekend we will be descended upon by teenaged boys, courtesy of their parents! Their parents want their three sons to know what hard work really is and as such have 'volunteered' the boys' services to us for a day. We'll feed them well, and work them hard. And they'll probably never want to see us again.

Enciente, Lucy!

Monday, 11:35 PM, 22 February 2010
Temperature: 28 F, overcast and calm

Today there was enough sun for the ewes to be lolling all over the pasture. One of the ganders decided to talk advantage of a female goose in the watering hole we'd set up; it's a toddler's sandbox in the shape of a ladybug, filled with water. It apparently doubles as a goose rape center; mildly disturbing, but procreation in the avian world does not appear to be for romantics.

A couple of the ewes have significantly distended teats by now, and the ewe we call 13 (after her eartag, her breeding paperwork having yet to arrive, still) is pretty well ready to drop her lamb (or lambs, as we suspect she'll twin) any moment now, in particular. We went out after dinner to have a look and brought an offering of hay, but no sign of lambs so far. We will be checking again in the morning, of course.

Minnow's kits are doing quite well and are occasionally seen, although they hide at the drop of a hat. The sheep enclosures were shifted as well, and soon we will begin setting up nest boxes with some chicken wire over them for support for weatherproofing.

The kittens had to stay in today as we were having the cracked windshield in the pickup truck replaced and we didn't want the risk of them getting run over or spooked too badly.

Garden of Delights

Sunday, 10:17 PM, 21 February 2010
Temperature: 29 F, clear and calm

Today we got the seedling 'greenhouse' set up, limbed and cut down some more dead or decrepit trees, got some seeds started, took care of animals and gave the barn cats some more outdoor time, now that they have their collars. It was a very pleasant day, warmish but not too warm, which made the work much easier.

The seeds which have been started thus far are:

Snow's Fancy pickling cucumbers, 16 seeds
Marconi Rosso Italian sweet pepper, 16 seeds
Lettuce leaf basil, seeded to be thinned
Charentais melon, 16 seeds
Winningstadt cabbage, 16 seeds
Red drumhead cabbage, 16 seeds
Lemon cucumbers, 16 seeds
Ireland Annie Creek dry bush beans, 16 seeds
Dragon langerie wax beans, 12 seeds
Alpine strawberries, seeded to be thinned
Harbinger tomato, 15 seeds
Ailsa Craig tomato, 16 seeds
Marmande tomato, 16 seeds
Rubine brussel sprouts, 15 seeds
Alderman peas, 12 seeds
Lyon leeks, seeded to be thinned

In the case of the Harbinger tomato, the packet only contained 15 seeds, which seems a bit cheeky of the producers. We may opt to go with a different producer next year, if we need seeds. The Alpine strawberries take a year before they're productive; it's worth remembering a useful trick when planting strawberries is to get a strawberry-shaped rock or walnut and paint it red and place it among the strawberry leaves before any berries are in fact ready. The birds will attempt to sample this 'berry' and find it inedible; by the time your actual berries are ready, they will have lost interest and assume them all to be equally inaccessible.

We do have a great many more seeds to do, probably as many again to be done, but we ran out of potting soil. Three small bags is apparently the right amount to do eight flats of seedlings, which is good to know. The shelving units need to be staked down as well, and the plastic presently is being held by masking tape - not a very solid method. So that will all be worked on.

The barn kittens have been taking lurid advantage of outdoor time - at least, Tink and Nibs have, the others being a little shyer about it. Peter of course is nothing but an outsized love sponge, Tootles prefers to lurk in the workshop, and Slightly will venture out but is a bit more timid than the other two.

Tink is far and away the most adventurous and intrepid of the lot. We watched her stalking some of the muscovy ducks which had flown over the fence, first trying to slink through the grass, which was too short, then trying to use the grazing arks of the rabbits, and whatever else she could; to no avail, as the ducks could see her coming and kept their beady eyes fixed on her, waddling idly away whenever she seemed to be getting too close. Finally realizing this, she attempted to rush them, causing them to flap wildly away from her pursuit.

Each duck, of course, is somewhat bigger than she is, and probably as capably armed. That they travel in packs of two or three frequently further tips the odds against her favour, but she is determined. She did sniff hello to the rabbits, who didn't seem too worried about her, what with a layer of chicken wire between her and them.

The buck and Minnow both got some lap time, with a farmer brushing Minnow's lustrous fur until she got to feeling a bit too restless and rambunctious. The other rabbits are a bit shyer about being taken out of their arks; the best way to give them lap time is to sit next to the ark and coax them until they can be grabbed, which is a bit messy at times.

The pregnant ewe so far has opted to remain within her enclosure, although we've noticed our dominant ram, Hercules, spending inordinate amounts of time at the fenceline bordering the non-pregnant ewes' enclosure posing for the ladies. The resemblance to human adolescence has never been more pronounced. He has not thus far tried crossing the fence to the girls' dormitory, which is just as well. The only planned breeding in the near future is likely to be rabbit-oriented, after all.

Feline Adventures

Saturday, 10:37 PM, 20 February 2010
Temperature: 30 F, clear and calm

Today we have made up for any days to date in which we have neglected to take pictures of our animals for the blog. It was a warmish, sunny day, and all of the animals on the farm greatly enjoyed this; so much so, that we relented and gave our elderly housecat Wimsey the opportunity to get some sun, in which he particularly delighted. He began by napping on the deck while one farmer shifted sheep enclosures and the other took care of the rabbits while keeping a close eye on him; elderly he may be, but he still has enough mischief in him for any five other cats.

Naps just don't last as long as they used to; not on a nice clear day with a mild breeze and the occasional hawk making territorial demands from above and a pair of robin redbreasts hopping about on the lawn scolding. Wimsey decided it was time for a walk. He visited the buck, who did touch noses with him, although we didn't get a shot of it; he then wandered over with the farmer while the water trough in the enclosure with the rams and pregnant ewes was refilled via bucket, the hose not stretching quite far enough. The rams were a bit curious about him, but he mostly chewed grass during their inspection, then began setting off past the other sheep enclosure. He was largely ignoring the crowd of ewes following him, although when one particularly intrepid ewe sniffed at him, he was polite enough to sniff back. After a few increasingly deep sniffs, however, he had enough; he hissed, and the entire flock leaped back in surprise and alarm. They may be three to five times his size, but HE is a predator and THEY are prey, thank you very much!

He was bunged back into the house not too long after; we farmers had to leave the homestead in order to go collect more used tires from a local tire place. It's a very equitable deal all round. We get all the tires we want for free and they don't have to pay fees to ship and recycle them. Reuse, not recycle!

Upon returning, we did more work around the farm, first collaring all the barn kittens and then introducing them to the great outdoors while we worked. They stayed close to the workshop but explored a bit, ignoring the scolding robins in favour of leaping about in the taller grass. They scurried back indoors whenever we got within picture range; they haven't quite gotten the hang of this 'permission' thing.

We did some sawing of branches off felled trees and putting together the other shelf unit for seedlings. Tomorrow we'll see about getting seeds started and wrapping in plastic and possibly finding the watering can. We spoke with the neighbours on another side and found them quite amenable to Devon hedges in place of trees, expressing concern for their shed due to the placement of said trees, and quite happy that our attitude includes bringing up such things to our neighbours. All in all, a positive move.

The barn kittens took quite well to the great outdoors; so much so that getting them back into the workshop and closing them up for the night proved almost impossible and taking a combination of bribery, stealth and trickery to get them all locked up again. There'll need to be another socialization period before they're allowed back out, Tootles again proving the most recalcitrant of them.

One of the geese shows signs of willingly nesting of her own accord. This means we'd like to separate the fowl from the sheep ASAP. The geese in general are getting quite stroppy with the sheep, who are primarily puzzled by it. After all, we're all herbivores here, we didn't do anything wrong! But the geese don't quite see it that way. All in all, positive developments. We're also looking to track down local sources of Jersey milk, and may have found one. Excelsior!

Ewe've Got To Be Kidding

11:06 PM, 19 February 2010
Temperature: 32 F, clear and calm

The morning was fairly uneventful albeit with six ducks out, although the neighboring Yellow Labrador made an appearance, resulting in our taking efforts to scare it off. It and its beagle friend returned again after lunchtime, and were run off by us at a bit more of a distance this time.

The pregnant ewes continue to not be in the mood to give birth. Minnow's kits, on the other hand, have now got eyes opened and have been spotted nibbling on food pellets. They spend most of their time snuggled together out of sight, sleeping with occasional bursts of energy and activity.

The younger ewes all spotted a chance to get even with the cruel farmers for keeping them away from the poultry feed; they spotted the green grass of freedom, resulting in a full-bodied exodus of all 29 of them. They were rounded up without injury, although one farmer did manage to trip painfully headlong over the rabbit feed's container. No permanent injury was reported; however, grapefruit juice and vodka was prescribed. To the sheep, we had only one thing to say to them after they were rounded up; a single word. "MUTTON."

The barn cats have been better behaved and despite being allowed through, Tootles returned with only moderate paranoia. He appears to have scraped his ear on something in the workshop, but it neither slowed him down nor made him less affectionate.

The remainder of the seeds have finally arrived, making it time to begin seedlings. This along with taking down two old and crabbed fruit trees which no longer are bearing shall likely occupy us this weekend. Next weekend, a friend brings his two teenaged sons to dig holes for us; a tired teenage boy is, he feels, a teenaged boy less likely to get into scrapes which might get taken note of by various bodies of authority. We are only too happy to agree when it results in free manual labour for us.

Yolks

11:50 pm, 18 February 2010
Temperature: 29 F, clear


Last night it froze, although not too hard. The grass was all over hoarfrost this morning until well past 9 a.m., and the rabbits' water was all mildly iced over.

The sheep have gotten incredibly bold when it comes to the poultry feed. A crook around the neck hauling upwards no longer spooks them; it barely is grounds to break with their feast. Mountain lion imitations do a bit better, but even that wears off quickly.

Experiments have shown that a goose egg is about equal in effect to two jumbo (supermarket grade jumbo) chicken eggs. The yolks are a richer colour, but we suspect this has more to do with the freshness than solely with the species.

The ducks have shown themselves willing to sample old leek greens when given them as waste, along with onion soup that would otherwise have gone to waste. The sheep sampled the soup as well, but did not find it to their tastes; they did not appear to recognize the leek greens as immediately edible. Understandable, perhaps, as there are some wild plants which resemble spring onions and the like which are quite wildly poisonous. They do still quite like their hay, and will line up when we approach with sheaves of hay and don't bother to get out of the way when it's tossed over. This sometimes results in a living hayrick effect, with sheep wearing the hay while other sheep begin to make their meal.

The pregnant ewes still have not popped. A woman at the farm store who saw a picture of our ewes had her eyes bulge in shock. She was very surprised we'd dare leave the farm at all with them in this state; we had to explain about them being self-lambing and having previous experience with motherhood.

A 50 lb bag of rabbit chow goes for less than $20 at the farm store. It's vitamin and mineral-enhanced pellets, which is both good and bad; good in that it lessens the chance that they will need further supplements, but bad in that most pellet food is much dryer than hay and grasses and much more likely to have a constipating effect.

Minnow is getting shaggy; that combined with daytime temperatures getting up into the 50s suggests we'll want to give her a trim sooner rather than later.

We procured various rabbit chew-toys in the hopes of slowing the work the buck and agouti have been making on their enclosures. The buck has done much more than the agouti, and we've spotted him chewing not only on the wood but the wire; bucks do tend to be more 'naughty' than does, but hopefully this will help him be a bit more occupied. Once the last freezes are done, we may allow him to be a bit occupied in ways for which nature has so uniquely qualified him, should our does be willing.

We are still considering our options for guardian animals. However, so far our options are proving less than certain.

Ewe Are My Sunshine

11:43 PM, 17 February 2010
Temperature: 23 F, clear and calm with some wind

The pregnant ewes have all been content to stay in their enclosure for a change; possibly the nice sunny weather we had today made them less filled with wanderlust. We got a picture which indicates that our ewes have reached a state of pregnancy where one has to wonder if they're not part watermelon. Suffice to say, the betting pool for the ewes' arrival stands at 'any day now', and every day where we aren't greeted with newborn lambs is a surprise.

The ewes weren't the only ones enjoying the sunny weather. We aired the rabbits a bit, in order to check on them and make sure that they are properly socialized. The lilac doe is still very shy and skittish, although it is possible to stroke her while putting feed or water in. The new water crocks (10 ounce plain white ramekins) have come but we have not yet made a full changeover.

The white buck is clearly bored and has been quite destructively chewing his habitat. We'll need to make provisions for that and possibly give him other things to chew.

Minnow's kits are still alive. One of the three kits now has eyes open but the other two are lagging a bit behind. They're pretty skittish and tend to hide but are gradually getting more and more active. Mama Minnow is likely to cut the milk bar off for good soon.

We allowed the barn cats through again for the first time since Tootles lost them the privilege of being in the rest of the workshop. He was nervous and skittish when we came in, hovering in the doorway there for fear of being shut out of there again. Training him out of that will take time, but some progress was made. As usual, they were all lured back in for the night through the simple precedent of picking up their food bowls when they were allowed out and putting them back down again when we wanted them back in.

We've begun putting together the shelving units for the seedlings. They may need to be tethered down in case of more high winds and we may want to put cardboard or plywood under them as there are a great number of mole and possibly gopher mounds in the area. One of the two units is thus assembled, however, leaving one to be done and the plastic tenting to be arranged.

One of the house cats enjoyed a bit of sun despite two ducks being at most four feet from him. They appeared to have a gentleman's agreement going on, and there were no hostilities for the duration. We kept the peace anyway by keeping a bit between cat and ducks just in case. All in all, a pleasant and productive day.

Neighbours and trees

8:08 PM Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Temperature: 40 F, partly cloudy and calm

This morning's excitement was provided by the polled pregnant ewe having escaped her enclosure again. How she jumps a four foot fence, while so advanced in her pregnancy, is a wonder. Unfortunately, it is an inconvenient wonder. Fortunately, she is easily tempted back with the promise of fresh, tasty hay. We expect lambing any day now. The pregnant ewes have frontal silhouettes like donkeys carrying sacks of grain.

The rest of today was mostly routine, with a feeding for the animals in the morning and evening both. Minnow's kits have not yet opened their eyes, but they are very active. They do chase after her, but Minnow seems to want to wean them and let them eat hay. We have to be a little generous with bird feed owing to the insistence of the sheep, but rather than split the flock of birds from the flock of sheep time was dedicated to digging a couple more holes for planting orchard trees.

This is a recurring theme: that there are a vast number of productive tasks which could be performed, but the ones with deadlines attached to them take precedence.

While digging, one of our northern neighbours came to speak with us, and raised the topic of trees. There is a double row of closely planted douglas firs all along the northern periphery of the property. They have two roles:

• they form a privacy barrier between the properties
  
• they are a windbreak for the land on either side
  

They fill these roles well, but they have three problems:

• they take up enough space for a whole row of orchard trees
• they are tall enough that a strong wind might topple them, and crush buildings
• they are completely shading the neighbour's garden.

The neighbour is very polite, and not pressing the point at all, but it's hard to disagree with him. There might not be the time to do all this for their garden this year, but in the course of discussion the idea was proposed of a Devon hedge. Such a hedge is an earth bank or wall with hedgerow shrubs woven together on top, and grass or similar growth binding the sides together as well. We don't have the stone in our local earth to face such a hedge with stone, or that would have been an option as well.

It is a shame to cut down dozens of trees, decades old, but we have the problem that the placement of the trees, aside from taking up about a quarter of an acre by themselves, was not very far sighted in terms of the risk posed by trees evolved for a forest setting, exposed to prevailing winds. A mature douglas fir which fell on our orchard would certainly do a lot of damage. We have to seek a compromise of the aesthetic and practical considerations.

Nothing is perfect.

Pregnant Ewes

10:59 PM Monday, 15 February 2010
Temperature: 47 F, overcast

The temperature last night got down to freezing. No harm done however, and Minnow's kits all made it through just fine. They're getting quite big; eyes still haven't opened yet. We must have found them within a couple of days of their birth.

Came home from doing errands to find a pregnant ewe out of their enclosure. We rounded it up and got her back in; gave her and the younger ewes in the other enclosure sheep mineral in the hopes that this will give her what is making her jump the fence and give the other ewes what makes them so desirous of the poultry feed.

The barn cats are doing a bit better; glad to see us as always. Tootles is displaying more propensity towards affection again, which is a good sign.

The rabbits have adapted quickly to the grazing arks, although we are discussing a colony arrangement for the females. We have not yet decided on if we will continue to raise rabbits in the long run. They are much more time-consuming than the other livestock; their output makes good compost, but the sheep are much better for that as they won't pass seeds in their feces which will then sprout. The rabbits also have much greater waste to use ratio on their feed; where the sheep eat most of whatever hay we give them, the rabbits do not. While they're better about not wasting food in pellet form, the pellet form is substantially more expensive than is hay, and there still is some wasted (rabbits spill food around and are generally very poor housekeepers).

Arguments in their favour do exist, but to date the predominant argument in their favour is that rabbit meat tends to be at best, about $7.00 per pound. Philosophically speaking, we don't mind taking a chance on the rabbits to see if it's worthwhile. Everything is an experiment. But it is due to this experimental nature that to date our rabbits (through 'surprise' method) number eight instead of an army.

A potential method of feeding them with less waste would be if we get some sort of tool which will grind the hay down into finger components. We would then be able to give them smaller amounts (and store it more sensibly). A manger effect might also be possible but there would still be more wasted with a manger than by grinding it down. Any method used will have some drawbacks, so ultimately we need to look into the one which saves us first the most time and second the most money. On a farm, time always ends up being money; anyone who thinks that farm life is slow and laid back is definitely looking at it from the city.

Fourteen holes have been dug so far for the trees; we're trying to break sod for as many of them as possible in advance of our getting them in hand. The mattock is a very good tool for that. We'll be setting up the seedlings soon.

An evaluation of the seeds shipped to us turned up an entire seed collection for the garden plus one additional packet had not been shipped although were listed on the invoice. We contacted the company, however, and they've promised to ship them to us tomorrow, the post office having been closed today for Presidents' Day.

Saint Valentine's Morning

11:08 AM, Sunday, 14 February 2010
Temperature: 61 F, partly cloudy and calm

A pleasant morning, although it began with the unwelcome presence of the neighbour's yellow lab. He was not doing any ostensible harm, since he was apparently digging after moles, but in case he develops a taste for sheep we make a practice of sending him packing. Stalking him in the long grass works well enough that when he notices that he isn't alone, the shock sends him haring off with his tail between his legs. Next time we might use rubber tipped arrows to communicate our displeasure.

The ewes are getting increasingly stubborn about eating bird feed, but a crook can be used to lift them off it by their necks, which generally makes them back off. An additional deterrent is that one of the more truculent geese has taken to biting at their noses, which certainly communicates that they are unwelcome at this particular banquet.

The black lamb which lost a horn has lost the horny part completely, leaving just a clean bud. It shows every evidence of being clean and ready to regrow in good health - her horns will merely be lopsided.

Today will continue with some rabbits being moved to arks, and more cleaning of old straw into convenient piles.

Farmers' Arks

10:30 PM, Saturday, 13 February 2010
Temperature: 47 F, sporadic heavy rains

A productive day. No sheep out, no eggs; the 9 Soay in the more northern field had their field shifted up a bit, so they've got plenty of fresh forage. The rest display their by now typical fearlessness but have mostly gone for the hay, with only a couple stubbornly insisting on feasting upon the poultry crumbles.

The grazing arks have been completed; tomorrow the remaining two rabbits will be moved into them. We cleaned out the three already occupied arks and gave fresh hay for fodder and nesting purposes. Raked up their dung-filled hay and the old hay from the birds' original enclosure, laden with their droppings. It will make excellent mulch for the trees when planting comes.

All three kits still alive although their eyes haven't quite opened. Very encouraging. We'll likely breed the other three girls at spaced-out points to the buck once the final freezes of the season are done with. It's hard to say how long it will take until raking out of arks and cages does not bring the slight trepidation of wondering if somehow, somehow we will see tiny wriggling bodies in among the hay.

Running low on both bunny chow and on poultry feed. This will be remedied either tomorrow or during the week.