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.

**********************************************************



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad