Saturday, March 16, 2013

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Today it was about twenty degrees. We got a gallon and a half of milk and about 18 eggs. The milking machine worked much better . I took it apart in the house and looked at it and put it back together. Maybe I got it tighter.
One more sheep seems to be starting to bag up. We called the shearer the other day but are not sure what his plan is.
Nancy Hutchinson came over about 11 am. We had coffee with Abby’s molasses cookies, and then she helped Sally with a project we have going, making a raised bed in the walled garden by the carriage house. That area has a lot of issues with water in the spring and we hope to find that this is effective. I look forward to finally seeing flowers there after years of neglect. Sally is using some of the original 150-year-old maple beams from the carriage house that collapsed a few years ago. The beams were all hand adzed and about 10”x10”. It was interesting to speculate about what the world was like when those trees sprouted.
Sally is about to plant seeds for cream colored marigolds for that area, as well as other flowers. Our mixed heirloom tomato seeds are up and we have sweet peas about to come up too. Abby kept busy cleaning things but she says she didn’t actually do anything. I disagree.
In the afternoon Abby saw a hawk sitting on a ledge above the big barn door, inspecting the chickens. He flew off when he saw her, before he got one.

Sunday, March 17, 2013
Fern gave a gallon and a half of milk, and I found 20 eggs. We found another new nest and Abby pointed out another setting hen that she had permitted two eggs. We don’t want too many baby chicks this early in the year.
I made sourdough waffles this morning. We had them with sour cream that I had set to culture last night along with various home-made jams and local maple syrup.
Max came over after lunch. He brought us a round bale. He had to work a long time chopping ice and digging with the tractor to get the barn door open as there was so much snow frozen in front of it. Abby raced around organizing the trash which he took to the dump for us. He also cut us a couple more beams for the walled garden.
It was quite cold again today, about ten degrees early in the morning though it warmed up some later, and a bitter wind.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Got nearly a gallon and a half, and about eighteen eggs. Maybe they are hiding a nest. Our Banty hen Tiny (daughter of a hen we got from Bernd Heinrich’s mother Hilda) hatched out four tiny eggs today. The babies are colored some black and some orange. Sally tried to give one to the hen who has been sitting for about five weeks, hoping her eggs would hatch at last. She was happy with it but when Sally tried to move her down to a safe house she got confused and pecked the baby, so we had to put it back with Tiny. Later we moved Tiny and her chicks and they are all doing very well.
The cows aren’t that thrilled with their new round bale. Other bales from the same source have been greeted with more enthusiasm. However, they are eating it.
The sheep are doing fine. One called Suzy is definitely bagging up. I was able to feel her udder last night. It isn’t tight by any means but it felt heavier.
Sally hauled manure down to the fruit trees for awhile today. It was snowing so conditions were just right for the sled. After awhile it started snowing and blowing harder and she had to stop. Abby made a run into town for grain for the livestock and movies for us. She said the driving conditions were scary. I was supposed to have gone for an eye appointment today but they called and cancelled as this storm is expected to be quite bad. I am rescheduled for tomorrow but I’m not sure I’ll be able to go then either.
Yesterday Abby made a delicious meal of home reared pork with a cream sauce, served over curly pasta. Today we had it as leftovers with various vegetables added. Sally made a faux mincemeat pie of apples with cranberries and chopped dry fruit. We had it with homemade sour, a great success.

Thursday, March 21, 2013
It snowed hard all day Tuesday. The whole state closed down and my eye appointment was postponed until Wednesday. The driving on Wednesday was OK. Abby drove me. What with nearly an hour and a half each way and 1 ½ hours for the appointment, the day is always consumed. My eyes seem to be in a steady state. I got another shot of Lucentis. I am still tired but this is partly because I have handed over my edited book to Max to work up for the picture insertions. Now I have the blahs.
Sally hauled more manure down to the fruit trees with the cargo sled. She must have hauled 20 loads. Each tree now has a ring of manure around it. Willie trots along behind each load.

I made an interesting observation two days ago on the Spring Equinox. This house is exactly aligned to face the eastern sun on this dry. Upstairs on the first landing the hall banister along the open stair well runs directly back from the east facing window which is above the east facing front door. The sun shines directly in that east window and the bean is exactly along the hand rail. The builders in the early 19th Century when this house was built ofen aligned houses to match the points of the compass. They must have had a good compass or else awaited the Equinox in order to get this one so perfect.

A weasel took two of the Luick pullets. Max wrote:

I feel considerably more relaxed now that I don't have weasel stress. Those animals are such mean killing machines. I had to bend considerable time and resources to the priority of stopping it. As with the previous weasel episode, getting a successful shot off was a matter of timing. I happened to be looking out the upstairs window and saw him humping along in his weasely way through the woods and I ran out with my shotgun. The shot was rather long and he instantly disappeared. I discovered he had gone into one of a series of tunnels he had made through the snow to approach the first coop. I began crushing the tunnel by stamping the snow down until the only place left was under a dead spruce partly buried in the snow. I started pulling the tree up until I glimpsed brown fur and fired through the snow and got him. When I examined his rather fat body I saw the only pellet that hit him from the initial shot went through his lower jaw, so even if had somehow escaped he was done for. “
Now we are waiting for Martin and Amy and the kids to get here. They are on the way to camp. I invited them to stop in for chili but we don’t know when to expect them. The rest of us have eaten. I can vouch for this chili.



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Saturday, March 02, 2013

Saturday, March 02, 2013
About thirty degrees when we got up. No sign of mastitis today and Fern behaved well. We got about sixteen eggs.
All of the setting hens are doing fine. They get up and eat breakfast when Sally comes out and does the early chores, or she goes and gets them. They eat and hurry back.
There is a new nursery in Maine that is selling willows. We are thinking of getting some for streambank reinforcement, and so that we have more available for the animals to eat. We read a research report a few years ago showing that willows are an antihelminthic (they kill internal parasites). It’s in Liberty, Maine, and is called Frost Family Farm.
Abby came back from her job as her patient is in the hospital. He proved to be sicker than had been understood. He is in the hospital for a few days’ observation. She may have to go back but for now we are very pleased to have her.
Roshan is thrilled with her new cello which they went and picked up today. I can’t wait to hear her play it.
I made a beef and vegetable soup using the bones and scraps from a beef roast we had a few days ago. We also had strawberries and whipped cream using berries I had frozen last summer and Nellie’s cream. Max brought the cream yesterday. We never have much cream from Fern with only 1 ½ gallons a day.

Sunday, March 3
The weather continues mild and damp, right around freezing. The roads area good but the driveway is treacherous. Wee are getting about 1 ½ gallons from Fern. We are beginning to lose track of the number of eggs. The hens are laying with enthusiasm.
Today was the Maine Youth Orchestra concert at Nordica auditorium in Farmington, in which Shireen plays viola. Max came over and picked me up so that I would not have to drive. They played a number of audience friendly pieces including the William Tell Overture. Afterwards we went up to their house and I got to hear Roshan play her new cello. It sounds lovely. I don’t often get the opportunity to hear her play and was impressed by how much she has advanced.
When I got home, Sally was thrilled to announce that the first chick of the season had hatched. The little hen had only been sitting on two eggs, one of which disappeared last week.

Monday, March 04, 2013
We got a gallon and a half of milk. There was a new nest with fifteen eggs, plus a whole lot more (fourteen). We moved the mother hen with her one chick down into the chick pen. She was very angry and pecked me on the nose. However, she soon settled down with her chick in the new pen and was quite hungry. She got chicken food, clabber and water. The other hen’s eggs haven’t hatched yet.
Abby and Sally went in to Rumford. They got groceries and visited the What-Not Shop and got various second hand things, always fun. They also visited a second hand bookshop that opened about a year ago and has now moved to main street. They got a lot of books mostly to send to Kazakhstan to Gabe.
Mark, Annie and Hailey came today. They are staying for two nights at Martin’s camp. Tonight they are having dinner with Max and Mitra and the girls.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Last night Sally, Abby and I were invited up to camp to join Mark, Annie and Hailey for a lovely meal. Shireen and Roshan drove over from New Sharon to join the party. Mark and Annie cooked a big Luick chicken. They had to cook by candle light as a breaker popped and has to be replaced. But everything was delicious except Sally had made a raspberry pie which we somehow failed to bring. Today on their way out of town they stopped in and ate it.
The weather continues the same. It hangs around the freezing point with occasional snow showers and occasional sun.
Sally’s daughter Rosemary called, she is on her way to Antarctica to be a cook again. She will be there for the Antarctic winter and will return in September.
At the evening barn chores Abby was able to catch one of the two last roosters which we were very pleased about. Sally dressed him off. Young roosters are very pesky. They give the hens no rest. They tear off the hens’ back feathers so they can’t stay warm and they don’t dare come out of the rafter for fear of being molested. Consequently they lay few eggs. Now with the declining number of young roosters we are getting a coupe of dozen eggs a day. The three beautiful mature roosters have more dignity and cause no trouble.
The other setting hen still has not hatched out her two eggs. Sally is worrying that she may have moved them during their last two days, which one is not supposed to do.

Thursday, March 07, 2013
Fern gave 1 ¾ gallons this morning and we got lots of eggs. My little Spangle bantam given me several years ago by Hilda Heinrich died last night in her sleep. She was a pretty old little hen.
It was quite a bit colder today with a brisk wind. Nobody spent much time outdoors.
Abby made more cookies. Sally made bread and a corn and cheese pudding which we had forr supper.

Friday, March 08, 2013
Less than 1 ½ gallons of milk today and only one dozen eggs. Undoubtedly there was a nest I did not find.
The ewes are looking wider all the time. I felt the udders on two of them but there was no bagging up.
Abby and Sally went to town on errands. I stayed home to edit. I need to spend every spare moment on task. They brought home clothes from the free store.
DS John in Australia sent a picture of his son Tom’s new dune buggy. Tom is still wheelchair bound. The buggy has hand controls. He and his mate will be able to go out in the countryside in it, they hope. The thing looks like a moon landing vehicle.
We had some delicious leftovers for dinner and then a banana cream pie that Abby made; it was excellent.
We pulled down a huge wasp nest that was built over the front door this last summer. The door is rarely used and clearly had not been used at all last year. Inside it was a three-tiered pagoda of nest cells, each one bigger than the last- really a quite extraordinary construction.

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