The great storm Nemo bore down on Maine last night but concentrated on the southeast regions. The Western Mountains where I live was spared the worst. I don’t think we got more than a foot of snow. There was plenty of wind to rearrange it into pretty good sized drifts, though, and the plow has made the mailbox inaccessible, knocking it sideways. We did not even bother trying to reach it, as the mail lady doesn’t leave the mail if the box is compromised. Ted Flagg came in the afternoon and plowed the driveway in case we need to get out.
In Portland where DS Mark and DIL Annie live, her car was completely buried in snow even inside the parking structure in their building. The snow blew in sideways. DS Martin farther south in Biddeford sent a picture of their back deck that has a 40” railing; the entire deck was filled with snow to the top of the railing. And here are Mitra’s cows eating their pickled hay during the blizzard which started on Friday.
DIL Mitra sent a picture from yesterday morning while the sun still shone. Her cows and poultry were blissfully resting next to the big hay ring which was covered by a big blue tarp. Seeing that tarp was a light bulb moment for Sally and me. Voila! An answer to our endless struggle to keep the sheep from jumping into the hay ring to eat standing on the hay! Sally lost scarcely a moment before tying a blue tarp over our hay ring. So far this appears to have stopped the sheep. Here is the picture of Mitra’s barnyard:
Abby got up at five and lit the fires and let Willie out for a little walk. Evidentially she’s been watching too much Downton Abbey. (Then she went back to bed.) Now she is making a cheesecake with quark that I made yesterday. It will have a peach topping.
We got a gallon and a half of milk and eleven eggs. We found a hen on a new nest but haven’t looked under her yet to see what kind of eggs she has (old or new).
February 11, 2013 Monday
I climbed up on the hay bales and braved a very fierce little black setting hen. There was only one egg under her and it appeared to have been frozen. She would not leave her nest.
DD Sally took her a little dish of clabber. She was starving and ate every bit. Sally gave her two good eggs. We also gave two eggs each to two other persistently setting hens and have marked the calendar for April 4.
Sally whacked one rooster yesterday and another today. They are so annoying. The poor little hens daren’t leave their perches for fear of being pounced on by six roosters. I do so admire Sally’s willingness to dress off the damned things. One feels like shooting them. Sally points out that they are another farm crop and not to be wasted. If you kill them at the end of summer they are virtually free meat. At this time of year they are all stuffed with expensive feed and are costing me money. Thanks to Sally, I always have a chicken to boil for soup or stock.
Sally put the sheep in their own paddock today and carried them their hay so that the cows could eat alone. The tarp over the hay ring is doing its job of keeping sheep from hopping on top but they still push in wherever the cows are trying to eat and make them very cross.
Sally and Abby were all set to go shop in Farmington today but then we heard from Max that the weather was turning bad. It did indeed start to snow and has not stopped all day.
Feb. 12, 2013 Tuesday
Twenty above this morning and the milking machine worked much better. We’ve been putting molasses on the hay in the morning after milking and saying “Molasses, Fern” to teach her the word. She has learned very well and comes hurrying to get it. Today we gave the cows the nearly empty bucket and they cleaned it out very well.
We put the sheep in their paddock again.
Abby volunteered to drive to Farmington and Sally went along as her boots were in such bad shape that she was forced to buy new ones. They shopped at a lot of little stores. They met Max and Mitra at the Better Living Center and got some extra milk from them. Farmington is a particularly charming little college town with fine brick commercial buildings and classic New England residential architecture, mostly white clapboard, with shutters. They brought home alfalfa pellets for Fern, and black sunflower seeds for the wild birds. They got home about three o’clock very anxious for their tea.
February 14, 2013 Thursday
1 ½ gallons of milk & 14 eggs. Temperatures remaining bearable, around 35F. Sally dressed off two roosters that I had caught last night; a huge cauldron of stock now simmers on the stove. Sally & Abby went to town & fetched Northanger Abbey to watch tonight from the Library, and two bags of feed from Towle’s. I went down & watched Sally trim apple trees in the garden. I worked on editing most of the day til we sat down to Abby’s dinner of mini meatballs in gravy over rice & homegrown Brussels sprouts, and for dessert the doughnuts she’d made earlier. Then we treated ourselves to watching the movie.
We heard from DS Bret that Maia’s Samoyed Cecil had come home, after having been gone for 10 days, with the appearance of having caught its foot, possibly, in a trap, and very skinny. This was in Fairbanks & he must have been close to freezing to death. The trappers in Alaska are allowed great license. We think perhaps he had been freed by the trapper at last, as his foot was more or less in one piece.
February 15, 2013 Friday
We got about 14 eggs today and less than a gallon and a half of milk. This is the third day we’ve been supplementing with alfalfa pellets but haven’t so far seen any increase in the milk supply. Fern loves it though.
We’re continuing to keep the sheep in their separate paddock. Today it was sunny and warm and the sheep were digging through the snow looking for grass. The snow is only a few inches deep. Abby opened the gate so they and the cows could mingle and go out into the south field to see if they could find more grass there.
It got up to around forty degrees and seemed warmer than that in the sun. It was so warm that I knocked the snow off the chaise longue so as to sit in the sun, but instead went down to the garden and watched Sally prune the fruit trees. We agreed on various major pruning decisions. Willie kept his eyes on our progress.
For supper we had leftovers of the Brussels sprouts and meatballs from yesterday. Abby made a delicious coffee flan. We also had little heart shaped red gelatin treats made from organic cherry juice. I made a topping that Sally suggested by whipping cream and adding quark cheese (similar to ricotta) and honey. I will make this again soon as it was fantastic.
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