Saturday, December 15, 2012
Six eggs today; one and three fourths gallons of milk.
While I was milking this morning, Sally and Willie went around the North Field checking the fence as Sally could see it was down. They had a good time.
We finally got our birdfeeder going with the chickadees coming in. We put out some suet and they were all excited. So far we see only chickadees.
We’ve been having fun reading the Fedco Trees catalogue. We’ve picked out a new rose called “Harrison’s Yellow” which is supposed to be hardy in Maine . We want it along the top of a rock wall which is becoming increasingly unstable (after 150 years or so) to keep kids away from it, besides looking pretty. We also want a mulberry or a crabapple near the barn to feed the chickens.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Fern gave about a gallon and a hald and I found four egs.
Sally was her usual whirling dervish of activity. She has now excavated the pit stall down to terra firma for about 4’ into the room necessitating a great leap sown into the place. AN amazing steaming heap is being built up out in front of the barn.
She also made a very fine pie called Winter Pie that is half apple and half dried fruits such as pineapple and apricot.
I made some slight progress on my editing.
The sky is heavy with snow. We are to expect a foot tonight.
Good news from Mitra Here is her account of loading her pigs. One of her customers, Rafael, borrowed a trailer and hauled them s with his truck:
Yesterday: Roshan and I built a fine chute. I guess these past 4 months of yelling "BACK BACK BACK!" as I come through the gate with their food has them well trained to stay away from the gate. It took a LOOOOONG time for one of them to finally cross the threshhold out of the gate to inspect "goodies" in the chute. There he drank a gallon of milk before testing out the ramp. He went into the trailer and started snuffling in the fresh hay. He was making happy noises. The other two have yet to step over the threshhold. I suspect they will when I'm not watching. Tomorrow is the big day. Raphael is planning to arrive around noon. I hope they're on board by then. He will hook up the trailer to his truck and drive us to West Gardiner.
Later:
Raphael has a very big truck that doesn't have the extra step I need to get myself up into that passenger seat. I decided I'd drive my van and he could follow me with the trailer. I also realized that when we were done, he could go home without having to go out of his way to drop me off.
We got there and unloaded the pigs "almost" without incident. The last pig to get on the trailer was also the last to get off and when he did, he decided to make a run for it by trying to squeeze past the trailer and run into the driveway. Raphael managed to stop him thank goodness. Then he thought he might try to escape by going under the trailer but his shoulders were too big! Between us we got the pig going the right direction, into the building and down a long isle and into the pen where his two siblings were getting agitated waiting for him. There were at least 20 other pigs there in the various pens making lots of noise. We seemed to be the last to arrive.
I had brought a tub and a carboy of water which I set up in their pen. They were thirsty and appreciative. I said goodbye and goodnight and we left.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Got at least a dozen eggs, we found a new nest. There were five frozen in the new nest. Less than a gallon and a half of milk.
Lots of snow this morning, it snowed all night and all day. We had to brush off the bird feeder and the little birds were very happy to see their food again. We had hoped to see DS Mark but the weather deterred him. So we ate delicious lamb chops without him.
We put some molasses on the cows’ feed because they were being persnickety, and they did indeed then eat their hay up. Sally hopes to be able to put the sheep back in their own stall soon and there will be fewer problems with them. This was the first day the animals hardly went out at all.
No sign of heat from Fern today but she is a 23 day cycler so we don’t expect to see heat signs till tomorrow or the next day.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
A little over a gallon and a half of milk; seven eggs.
On Tuesday Fern was in heat by evening. We notified the tech and he came this morning right after milking. He said she was in good condition for breeding. For a bull I chose Alexander, an A2 bull. She should calve in September if she settles.
DS Mark came about two o’clock. We had a nice lunch ready for him of a meatloaf and vegetables. He brought two fine loaves from Standard Bakery in Portland . He made some very helpful adjustments on my computer that were highly appreciated. He admired Willie who had just had a nice bath. He also taught me some exercises to improve my posture and lung capacity. He had to go back to Portland .
While Sally was cleaning the sheep pen she found our lost shepherd’s crook which has been gone at least a year. In the afternoon she called her son Rafe in Alaska . He said he had been watching his dogs leaping and barking at the trees and he realized that a flock of grouse were feeding among the branches. So he took his . 22 pistol and managed to get two of them for dinner.
Every nest we could find had two or even three eggs in it, for a total of 14. A little over a gallon and a half of milk.
It snowed last night and about midmorning it changed to rain. After awhile it rained very hard and started to blow as well. Now we have frozen ground, snow and slush, and it’s still raining. The animals are all snug in the barn though. All except our beautiful cat Tamworth who decided to stay in the barn yesterday evening and then come in later, and was evidentially taken by the dog or coyote that has been coming around. We all loveTamworth and hope he returns, but so far he hasn’t. Willie will miss him a lot, they were great friends.
We had company for lunch so spent a lot of time cooking. Sally had hoped to finish the barn project but didn’t quite make it The pile outside the barn where she unloads the manure is now as high as my head. She did manage to defrost the freezer today since some of Mitra’s pork will be coming here.
I talked to DS John who has been talking to his sons in Tasmania . They bought a 200-acre property there which they hope to make into a farm. They hadn’t had much time to go over the property before this visit and are pleased to see how much fertile bottom land they have.
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