Pheasant Update...

At 9 weeks, the pheasants are starting to get their adult feathers, so we can begin to guess who's who. It looks like we have 4 males, and 9 females. (For anyone who has been keeping track, that's 2 less than what we started with) There's been a few "escapes"...keeping these guys penned in a large enough are for them is harder than it looks. Once, we didn't replace the flap where we feed and water them. Four got out, and we caught three. The last one flew (yes, flew) away over our heads and was never seen again. Then they found a way to bounce themselves up and through a gap in the chicken wire roof. Four escaped, three were re-captured. The fourth escapee still hangs around though, and can usually be found every morning running up and down just outside the fence with its herd-mates. Catching it is another issue. It usually manages to squeeze into the goats pen and run away to the higher brush before anyone can get their hands on her. The goats, of course, are no help; they just watch with a droll smirk on their faces as the hen runs through their pen to safety. Not a thought about walking over and checking out the situation which might frighten the hen into staying put or squeezing back through the hole so we can catch her...I'm sure the goats have already figured out there's nothing in it for them...so why bother? All that's left is the entertainment of watching the humans chase the little hen around in frustration...(sigh)

CSA

CSA-Community Supported Agriculture is a growing trend in small farming in America. It's an idea that started several decades ago in Japan, and the idea is to bring the consumer closer to the source of their food and connect them with the farm and farmer that produce it. We operate a very small CSA here at Petersburgh Manor and this is one of our baskets being put together for delivery tomorrow...

It is the goal of our garden to keep our family and our customers (obviously) in supply with what the garden offers in its own seasonal order. And the learning curve is around not only how to grow this stuff organically with the most pleasing result, but also to learn what amount of each herb and vegetable is right for what we need...

Each Monday we harvest the week's order and put it together for delivery on Tuesday morning. Here we're picking green beans from the first of the plants to fruit. We've got successive plantings of beans (hopefully!) to keep us going for a few weeks. And what we can't eat, we freeze for the winter. Seeing just how much we can produce, what lasts, and what can be preserved is all a part of figuring out just what would it take to support oneself by your own labor. Could it be done for a year? What would that look like? (And taste like?)

Madison is also about to get ready for her vegetable enterprise - delivery to the local produce market (her tomatoes are turning, and the pickling cukes are ready)

Here she is amongst her cherry tomato plants, searching for the first red ones of the season...

And who's that weeding? Seems he's confused...he seems to be weeding OUTSIDE the vegetable garden! Hmmm.....

Yarn to Dye For...

Or at least that's what we're shooting for...it's dyeing day again on the farm. We've got an order to fill, and a website to prepare (Allison is discovering the meaning of the mantra: It's harder than it looks...)

Hand-dyeing/painting custom sock yarns was an idea born in a hurry one winter weekend afternoon, and we're trying to make a go of it. I have found another kindred spirit who does not want to spend the rest of her life working in an office for someone else...

Dye-namics Yarn features individually dyed 100% merino washable sock yarn in two weights. So far the feedback has been very positive, so we're dyeing as fast as we can find the time, and coming up with new colorways all the time.

Northeast Shetland Sheepbreeders Get Together

Shetland Sheep breeders of the Northeastern United States got together on Saturday for an annual meeting/pot luck/sheep day in Vermont at Maple Ridge Farm. We met under the trees (no, that's not us in the picture...) for the meeting and sharing, then retired to a great pot luck.

Here was the roundup of ewes and lambs we managed from the back pasture in our afternoon lesson/session for markings and colors. We also looking at horn growth, tails, and fleece. Linda's flock has an amazing array of colors and markings.

Everyone helped get the ewes out, so we could examine the lambs and start the weaning process...

Here are the ewes, half-heartedly trudging back to the pasture without their little ones...

Alas, no parting gifts for the "participants"; we all had favorite lambs we could have hidden in our vehicles!

Lawn mowing on the hoof...

With the arrival of the electronet, we've been able to pasture the sheep on sections of the lower lot, and they've been taking care of the quickly growing grass. Each day, usually twice a day, we move a section of the amoeba-shaped paddock, and the sheep do their thing.







The lambs have learned that when I am moving the fence, the electricity is off, and any low/weak spot in the fence is a good chance to jump over... Secret says, "Who, me?"

Garden Update

Boy, it's time I updated everyone...but where does the time go? We've been deluged with company from all corners of the country, and that leaves very little time for the farming thing...

Here are the onions, lettuce, arugula and cilantro. All of these have already found their way into our CSA baskets. Hey- What's this? A gardener? What is he doing on the outside? Weeding the flowers, don't you know?

Pheasant Herd

Say Hello! to our little "herd" - if that's what you call a bunch of ring-necked pheasants. These are the current farm "babies"; part of a "raise & release" program of 4-H. We have 15, and they're about 5 weeks old. Just about ready to go outdoors into the range pen we must yet build. For now, we have to start sprinkling them with water occasionally, (not to make them grow), but to get them used to rain and the process of grooming their feathers. We don't yet know who's a male or female, that comes with their adult feathers. We'll keep you posted...

Aqua Farming?

No, it's the first half of the annual "Clean the pond" project. If we have any hopes of keeping a farm pond, (and not a farm marshland) we have to try and keep the cattail reeds in check. So I don the sexy hip high boots and off I go.

And this is only about half of what I pulled out today. Seems there's always something to do...

Garden beginnings...

This is one view of the vegetable garden, looking out onto the lower lot. It seems so meager, compared to the expanse of vegetation on the other side of the fence, but it has been a hard month for starting a garden. I never thought there could be too much rain, but it has been so cold and wet, seeds have literally rotted in the ground. It really brings into focus how much of a struggle it must have been in the days before Wal-mart and McDonalds to actually feed oneself on the fruits of your labor. It is my hope one day to experiment with living off only what I can grow or raise for myself for the period of one year. That would really force me to understand what eating with the seasons would mean, give new intensity to planning the garden with year-round production and storage in mind, not to mention one hell of a diet - what with no cookies...

May Company

April is supposed to be the month of showers, but nobody told May. It seems like it's been non-stop rain for weeks now...we even had to endure company in the rain. The Camachos were visiting from California and we got only enough break in the rain to show them the farm, and then we were back to soggy. Here, the girls, Josefina and Madison, make their way from the car museum in Bennington. It is Carlos' beautiful photography that makes it anything but dismal...

Madison, how does your garden grow?

This is one of Madison's vegetable gardens. She is growing tomatoes and pickling cukes here to sell to Price Chopper. It will be fun to see just how well she does...kind of like dueling gardens. She gets to use plant food and fertilizer vs. our efforts at organic vegetables. What I like most about her plot is the marigold border she planted.

Fencing as a Competitive Sport

No, I don't mean the kind with the pointy stick and the beekeepers hat. I mean the kind that farmers rely on to keep animals in (or out, depending on your perspective). Really, it should be another category in rodeo I think, because it is man (or woman)against beast - just like the guys who try to ride the bulls. Meet my opponent, Clio.

The challenging look in her eyes is her way of calling me out. 

The setting: the goat pen on the lower lot. It has been constructed with dedicated thought to goat containment and safety. (But didn't someone say the only fence that can hold a goat is one that can hold back water??) 

The time: Tuesday, 6:38 a.m. (Yes, in the morning. That's not a typo..) After I take them for a walk, and give them their grain, she gets "the look" in her eye, circles the pen, begins her take-off, and flies over the top fence rail on the side. Now, this is after a full hour session adding a fifth rail to the fence all along the front side just two days before. (See, part of the competitive nature of this sport, and advantage to the animal, is that they pick the time and place...) Mind you, I have to go to work in less than a half an hour - so let the games begin!

I coyly sidle up to her and grab her halter and quickly leash her to the post. Then I run across the lower lot, across the road, and up the hill to the house. Burst in the back door, pant out "Drill!" to my husband, and wait (sucking wind) while he retrieves the cordless drill from downstairs. The handoff is as seamless as Olympic relay racers, and off I run. Get back down there and discover there is no drill bit in the drill. Run across the lower lot, across the road and up the hill to the house. Discover husband has left the kitchen, so I bolt indoors and down cellar for the drill bit (didn't have enough wind to speak and ask for the bit anyway). Back upstairs and jogging down to the lower lot. Grab the piece of tape measure I have left down there and measure the distance on all the posts. Quickly manuever my way into the goat shed and grab 6 brackets. Throw those and a bunch of screws in my pocket, and back to the fence. Holding a mouthful of screws, I put the first bracket in place, and attempt to position the drill. Cicero, the other goat, (and teammate of the jumper) begins to chew on my coat. It's this year's coat, and too nice to have holes in it quite yet, so I have to swat him off while drilling. Drill, swat, drill, swat, drill, swat and I have two brackets up. Drill, swat, drill, swat, drill, swat, and I have two more. Now the last two are on a section that is bordered by thick wild rose bushes. I drive through the prickers and get in place. But Cicero is wily, and he decides to switch tactics. Now he cranes his neck over the existing fence and grabs a mouthful of roses and begins to munch. With each munch, he is pulling the branches of thorns to him and across the back of my neck. I have to pull out my last defense, a strong move, but necessary if I am to succeed, I swat him a stinging blow across the nose, and he retreats looking very put off. Now for the wood rails. 

Grab a 2x3 and measure the length by eye. Mark it, and grab the bow saw. Sawing like mad, I get the first rail done and in place. I am working on the second, when after consultation with Clio, Cicero comes back for his final maneuver. He pushes up from underneath on the new rail, and dislodges it. So I put rail#2 in place, secure this one with another screw, and return to #1. Jam that one in place, screw in two to hold it secure, and go for the third rail. Push past the thorns again, and measure the rail. Cicero looks like he is going to try the "eating the roses" move again, but I throw him a glare that gets him to retreat long enough to make the measurement. I cut the last rail (sweating profusely at this point, despite the 48 degree temperatures) and put it in place. Now I collect my tools, and race around to the place where I had Clio held. I yank the leash off her, and shove her back in the pen. 

Now the test: she scopes out my work, looking for flaws, decides to round the pen anyway, picking up speed, her lift-off is clean, she leaps - and Hah! she can't make it over! I have won this round! And in record speed! Only 18 minutes! There's roaring in my ears, (I'd like to imagine it is a cheering crowd, but in reality it is my blood pounding through my veins in a valiant attempt to get oxygen to my brain before I pass out) and a tingling in my legs (muscle fatigue, not excitement), and I wobble up the hill, and in the back door and my husband greets me, "Do you know you only have 5 minutes to get cleaned up? You don't have time to be playing with the goats..."

See...I told you it was a sport.

Lamb Olympics

Here are this year's entrants in the Lamb Olympics - Human Vault event. Our 11-day-old lambs find Madison an irresistable climbing toy, and clamber up her back to her shoulders and jump off. Of course, it's cute when they only weigh 8 1/2 lbs....she's given it up to pursue Lamb Track events.

Our Secret

Well, Victoria has been keeping us all in suspense - is she pregnant or not? Today we got our answer. We came home from the day to find Victoria hovering over a beautiful, 7 1/2 pound baby girl. Very dry; tummy very full. Obviously born just after we left this morning. She looks very much like her mother did when she was born. Her fleece also feels very nice - soft and open locks, just like her Mom. Nice black socks, with plenty of the tan hairs that now mark her mother's legs and head. So I expect the two will look much the same. Which means more nice white fleece to spin and dye...

What color?

It would seem an easy task, to look down and say, "What color are these lambs?" Most would say, "Brown." and be done with it. But Shetlands are a breed apart, and so we have eleven colors, and to make it even more interesting we have some 30 different markings (all with Gaelic/Norse names). Now last year, we had Blackjack (a.k.a. Jack) who popped out looking black, and in the light of day worked out to be dark, rich brown. Moorit, as we call it. But these two have only the dark brown hair on their heads in common; on both the fleece is lighter, and on the ram lamb it is lighter than his sister. Oh yeah, Shetlands fade, too. So the birth color is often not the adult color. And the adult color can fade as they age, and change with hormones/seasons. Look at Hattie - she was a black lamb, and has faded with age (being a ripe, old 6 these days) and her fleece has enough black fibers to make the end result a nice silver when spun, but at a glance one would call her "white". And the light coloring around her eyes and muzzle will be gone in a few weeks. Apparently the stress of motherhood turns her almost katmoget...that's one of the marking categories. (*sigh*) Harder than it looks doesn't even begin to cover it...

Guest blogger: Madison - Baby Chicks

These two are named are J.P{left} & Speedy{right}. They are five days apart from birth. They are 3 weeks old. We hatched them in the incubator. It was very hard to wait for them to hatch. J.P has a bad leg injury when he was born, so we treat him carefully. J.P is five days older than Speedy. They are both bantams, and they will not be as big as the normal size adult chicken.

Lambs!

Yippee! We've got lambs! Hattie gave birth to these two, this morning around 6:00 a.m. The ram is in the forefront, he is a bit smaller and lighter in color. The ewe is darker, but has really cute white hair in her ears and a slash on her head. It's been excruciating waiting for her to have them (although I'm sure Hattie would argue SHE'S been the one suffering...) - I'm learning patience is harder than I thought in these matters...

Snakes in the cellar

Well, we knew moving to the country meant more wildlife, but we certainly didn't expect to have it in our cellar. Here's the first cellar snake of '06, a ring-necked snake, one of over a dozen non-poisonous snakes indigenous to New York. It's still a baby, but a snake's a snake! Lucky (the cat) brought it upstairs to the kitchen so we could all get a better look. After the photo shoot, we let it go in the rock wall. It was about the same size as the ring-necked snake from last year, but much smaller than the milk snake that made it up to the dining room the first year...

Day 1 1/2

This little post is to reinforce what I think I learned about posting the first time...plus, I ought to show everyone what the wee farmstead looks like, should anyone care to take notice...This is a look down towards the lower lot from the front porch. Right now, the lower lot contains the Shetland Sheep, and the organic garden plot, and a lot of other interesting stuff we are learning to manage. Plus, I might add, a great deal of poison ivy. I have my first case of the season (scratch, scratch)...

Day 1

Well, like so much else that I try these days, this isn't as easy as it looks...I stumbled into blogging by accident, trying to post on someone else's blog...be patient with me. As I get my brain wrapped around this new technology, I'd like to share with you my other big life experiment: Our Farm.