September 5, 2009

    Okay - so the first shearing didn't really happen until today - 4 days late.   The rule is that the most brutal/dominate goats get shorn first - but Phoebe is off to the slaughter house on Tuesday so I couldn't shear her.  I chose the next most aggressive one to the dairy does to shear first - hope it helps save Blue and Coal some extra butts.  Then there was "queenie" Sienna.  She's not mean - just keeps everyone in their place, but she wasn't particularly cooperative for shearing - lots of dancing as I did her back legs in the stand so had to do them when she was down.  The first couple are always the hardest to get doing on - I choose colored goats to do first because they are easier; and in our herd the colored gyrlz are more dominate - I'll do the new white gyrlz in between, the older white gyrlz next, the kidz and the bucks are always last.

    The best part - we have new fiber to work with - fall clip is always longer and cleaner than spring clip.  I hope to get the best fleeces washed before Common Ground Fair so we can offer them as just washed mohair - especially the browns and grays.  I love the look and feel of the baskets of clean fleece with each goat's special traits being shown off.

    Tomorrow's major project is to take down the fences and clean the boyz pen and huts for winter.  Little Mr. Kafka (our buck kid) really needs to be separated from Mom and the rest of the herd so this should do the trick so he can't escape any more.  The reward for accomplishing the feat will be dinner with old friends.

      Just send out an email to our spinning group about celebrating the Autumnal Equinox (September 22) by gathering for the first spinning gathering of the season.

August 31, 2009

    Things are usually dependent on the weather on a farm.  This farm and mill are no exception.  Although Saturday would have been the perfect day to clean the boyz pen - we had some dry weather last week - instead it poured rain.  Sunday was nice but the pen was too wet to work in.  Kafka - this year's buck kid that we are saving needs to be separated but he somehow has figured out how to escape the buck pen and get back to Momma.  Those boyz - they are attached to the mums.

   After a number of days of high humidity in the mill (can't run yarn when it gets too high - fiber wraps on the rollers) - it finally dropped and we started on a run.  Next thing we know - Rapunzel  (the spinner) is possessed!  Most of her would shut off - but not two rollers - what a mess and I went thru 3 aprons.  Got that fixed on Sunday and today she is wacking out with draft numbers jumping from 8.8 to 14.2 - no rhyme or reason - honest - I didn't touch a single button - just watched in amazement.  She's shut down for the day.  Hope Dr. Jerry (one of the Mini-Mills guys who know all the electronics) can diagnose the problem, I can fix it with what I have,  and she'll be back up and running tomorrow - my fingers are crossed.

   The Common Ground count-down is now really serious - essentially 3 weeks.  Kate and I are pretty set with roving but there is always a push to do more and/or different.  Sunday I asked Marcia for some colors because I was having dyer's block again - so we have a new roving in the works  "Snap Dragon".  She's really good at inspiring me to work on some of the lighter, more pastel colors.   Also because she likes both food and flowers that is usually what she comes up with for me to translate to roving - remember Necco Wafer?  Today I was going thru some dyed mohair just to see what might be available for a "mish-mash" run - that is when we take a bunch of small leftovers  and do one of a kind - never to be seen again - small  batches.  The fiber muses rose up from the tote and spoke to me - I designed the roving and Kate named it - the first one is Royal Confetti.  Tomorrow there may be a new Purple Confetti.

     Tomorrow is September 1st - on the farm calendar that means I begin shearing does in the afternoons.  I'm not even completely caught up washing all the colored spring fleeces (whites are done and most of them dyed).  All that new fiber to be washed, dyed, dried, and made into new creations.  The goal is to have the does done before Common Ground - Bucks and kids can be done in October.

    There is still some panic about getting everything done before winter - barn and pens cleaned and I had really hoped to get some outside painting done.  I have trim to finish which means setting up the contractors saw outside to do it - not enough good days to get it all done.  This of all years is so true about Maine having 4 seasons - Getting ready for Winter, Winter, Cleaning up after Winter, and the 4th of July.  We were in Alaska for the 4th so this year we only get 3 seasons!

    The gyrlz are currently in the backyard doing the trimming around the yurt.  They were out there on Friday since we don't have shop hours I put the fence up and let them have the whole section.  Diane stopped by with friend, Kris, and she invited Blue and Coal into the yurt - now they think they should be able to go in any time so camp out on the steps.  .  Although the dairy does went out first thing this AM, the Angoras were protesting, they wanted fresh stuff, because they had been out there one day they thought there wasn't enough for them to bother with.  Finally around 11:30 when they figured out they weren't getting any other options for food for the day they finally went out to do the grazing/mowing/weedwacking.  I'll try to find the picture of the gyrlz hanging out grazing and lounging and post later.

     Off to finish the dyeing for Snap Dragon...

August 19, 2009

    Upfront I said the journal would be sporadic - it's been almost 3 weeks but it has been a very busy 3 weeks and now it is too hot to do much so I am sitting at the computer doing work/research for our latest ventures.

    I spent the week of the 3rd getting ready for and being at the Monmouth Fair.  We do the small farm and animal display  soneed to be there most of the time.  This year the exhibitors were super in helping me out with coverage.  Marcia was still on crutches but was able to join me at the fair for dinner each night.  Friday and Saturday were the start of the Maine Fiber Arts Tour so she was home watching the Yurt.  Very little traffic here for the tour - we're so far away from other participants plus we are open year round.  I think most folks try to hit the studios and farms that are only open special times like Open Farm Days and the Tour.  Sunday was fair clean-up - I was home by 11 after cleaning the barn and moving the bunnies home and was totally useless the rest of the day.

    Last week was fairly productive - dyed yarn, worked in the mill and worked on getting critters ready to leave the farm.  We did eye checks and wormed on Thursday.  Since we make the goats fast for 24 hours before worming we shut off the barn monitor so we don't have to listen to them.  They can be pretty noisy when they are hungry!  Just one yearling in rather bad shape - lots of edema so she got special treatment in a side pen until today.

    Beth, an old spinning & critter friend, was on the Mongul Rally for the last month.  I had been trying to keep up with their progress via their site on the web.  Although she and her also crazed traveling companion, Keith, were not very good about posting I got a few emails and I did check up on them via another team's site.  They had hooked up with the Yorkshire Terios and they were much better about posting on their blog.  The Rally goes from London to Ulaan Baataar, capitol of Mongolia.  Check out the website - it is pretty amazing.  Beth and Keith made it to UB on the 13th - took them 27 days and it was over 8,200 miles (all in a 1.2 liter car).  Have just heard she is on her way home - can't wait to hear the tales.  She saw lots of yurts and got to ride a Gobi Desert steed!

    Saturday (15th) Blue and Coal joined the rest of the herd.  Not surprisingly - they have had a few rough days of it.  Blue's milk production is half what it had been, I did expect a drop - an unhappy goat is not a productive goat.  I don't mind in that I had wormed her too and couldn't use the milk - gave it to friends to give it to their pigs.  The heat started climbing and really hasn't stopped (though today should be the end of the worst of it).  Sunday morning we put in 149 bales of hay - our first of the season (last year we had 600 bales in by July 16).  It was also goat-pick-up day - last of the kids to go for the year.  New goat owners got another hoof trimming demonstration and they and their 3 new goats headed off.  Then 4 more went to their new home later in the afternoon. 

    Come Monday it was just getting hotter!  We put in another 360 bales of hay before 10 am.  It was great that Chad and Zak were here to help; Marcia didn't even have to come to the barn.  I'm sure it was at least 95 degrees upstairs in the barn.  It was so hot, even in the house that Katie, Marcia, and I could do no more than sit and chat around the kitchen table.  Next we knew it was 1 pm.  Not much got done after that.

    The gyrlz all got to go out to new growth pasture this AM.  I have them in the area with the woods so they should be a little cooler today.  This afternoon Tyne (one of our old does) will be coming home.  She has been at Autumn Hollow with her boyz who are Karen & Sharon's new fiber pets.  The boyz will be coming to be castrated.

    The heat & humidity has been so bad there is no way to do outside work or even in the mill after about 2 pm.  So, afternoons have been spent on getting things in order for - hopefully-  our new on-line ordering.  This has been in the works since last December - it might actually happen before the end of the month.  We also have 3 animals going to slaughter and I have been working on getting a label approved so we can sell the goat meat.  Amazing how complicated things can be - we have to have the label approved and printed so it can be applied as it is packaged - there were things on the application I didn't have a clue how to answer.  Okay - I have a Master's Degree and I couldn't answer things on an application for resale of meat?  Then we have to fill out another application and get a license to be able to sell that meat from the farm - that means an inspection to make sure the freezer is cold enough.  All of this and what I really want are the peltz - the meat for us is secondary....but trying to make it on a farm means you have to sell or use everything you have.

July 31, 2009

    I wasn't sure how the day would go when I went to milk and Jet Blue (my very first dairy doe) kicked the bucket (literally) and I lost about a quart of the morning milking.  She doesn't kick out of spite because of my milking - it's the bugs that bother her.  Okay - so I will be a half day behind on cheese making, I was just hoping it wasn't going to be a sign that the whole day would go badly.

  Arrangements had been made that I would deliver goats to their new owners today.  First, I needed to catch and pen them so I could worm, delouse, and trim the kids feet.  I did manage to capture them into the side pen.  I completed the morning chores and then started to load them.  Poor Marcia had to hobble down the side steps with her crutches to help me do a scrapies tag on Nymph - the doe who was being sold.   That went fine - then it was kid foot trimming time.  Two were good and one was a monster - I have the scrape and bloody leg to prove it.  Off I went with the four goats, 3 wethers and a doe, in the truck.  Since I was going thru Augusta I decided to treat myself to a fast food breakfast - yum - we don't eat much fast food except when we travel.  The new owners were ready and waiting.  I told the goats they were moving into great "digs".  A brand new barn - just a few sheep as current residents and a newly fenced pasture that includes some trees and undergrowth - they will love it.  I love to see folks excited about their new critters.  These are experienced animal folks - cattle, sheep, and an occasional orphan goat -  just never Angora goats - they know how to trim sheep feet and shear - they're all set.   Oh - did I say that he expected two goats but she bought four? 

    On the way back I was to do fair preparation errands - pig food - oops - no pig food from one of the sponsors - out until Monday (I really don't have time for another trip to town - oh well).  The straw and shaving were no problem at the local feed store - put the burlap bags for the pig scramble - no go.  But I have to have burlap bags - it's the law.  Once home I made calls to all the feed stores in the area - no burlap bags.  The internet is my friend.  Who would have thought that the supplier we use for bags for the shop and mill carry burlap bags?  Yes - I had to order 50 - I'm set for 5 years but they were cheaper!  Another call - no the plaque for the fair book dedication bench won't be ready until Monday - guess we won't go to Auburn until Monday even though we need dog and cat food.  Is all of this because of some spilled milk?

    My last batch of cheese (made it last night) is now draining.  I'm experimenting with a new chevre recipe for tonight's dessert.  Have to have something a little special (I hope) since it's leftovers for tonight - moose stroganoff.

    It's raining so I'm sort of procrastinating about going out to milk and do chores.  Guess I need to get on with it.  Tonight's project is to cut hats and pillow kits so I can get them stitched over the weekend.

July 26, 2009

    Over the years I have started a number of "journals" about my life on the farm but I never kept it up.  Then blogs became popular but I could never figure out the blog software.  For some reason I have become compelled to finally start a journal - I used to require it of my students when I taught Language Arts many years ago.  In all likelihood my postings will not  be regular - just when I am inspired by an event, chore,  or simple happening here on the farm which is my life.

    Today it has been raining off and on, Marcia is recovering from foot surgery and spending her time on the couch.  Over the course of the day (Sunday) we had folks stop by to see the yurt, meet the goats and see the mill.  I dyed 24 skeins of yarn getting ready for the Maine Fiber Arts Tour weekend, made a gallon of chevre, and just retrieved the errant goats (does and their kids) with the help of Sadie, my Broder Collie cross.  We have bunnies who are ready to wean so I cleaned the cage and got everything ready to make the move tomorrow.  I really should have gone to the fairgrounds to paint today but just couldn't make myself go out in the rain.

    Dinner is started - American Chop Suey - beef from a friend, home grown tomatoes and onions.  All I have left for evening chores is to milk Blue, she's our new (last Sunday) dairy goat.  After 20 years of raising fiber goats and 3 years of playing around making cheese I finally got a dairy goat (a whole other story).    One day this spring I thought - so what is one more goat or two on this farm? 

    The dogs are like velcro right now - there is some thunder and lightening - Mudd usually finds something to hide under, Sadie just stays really close by - the velcro part.  I just gave the sauce a quick stir - all is well with dinner.  I'm going to have to figure out how to make this journal a part of the website and post it - may or may not happen by the time I need to milk Blue and get dinner ready.

    So - off I go with the journal - hope you enjoy reading it - if you want to make comments you can send us an email.