Saturday, June 22, 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013
The weather remains warm and mild reminiscent of New Jersey, “The garden state”. It’s great for growing plants but also suits mosquitoes.
Sister Barby phones to tell me that her son Jon’s family have decided to pass along their recently acquired puppy to her. They live in a 4th floor condo and it wasn’t ideal for a puppy. I feel sure that Barby and the puppy will get along well as she is very much a dog person and has a well fenced yard. The puppy is a very small mixed breed..
Nancy H worked long and hard brimming the grass Impinging on the electric fence. Abby gardened for hours and made three loaves of bread. Marcia worked digging over more ground for another raised bed in her flawless veg garden..
Aided by some long distance help from Sally, I worked on my talk.

Sunday, June 23, 2013
The hot humid weather continues. Things are popping out of the ground.
I started some home grown baking yeast. All it takes is fresh raw milk and flour about 40/60 in favor of milk. In this weather it will be ready by tomorrow.
Abby and I joined Marcia and Abby Rose for dinner. She grilled turkey/shrimp patties with home made feta. Truly excellent. She also made rhubarb ginger ice cream.
My sister Barby has taken over on the puppy that her son Jon and family recently acquired. Nobody was very happy with the puppy living in a condo I guess. Barby adored the pupp, a miniature Schnauzer X Australian silkie. Never heard if either breed but it it's tiny and cute. Barby has a big fenced yard and adored the puppy.

Monday June 25
My computer wouldn't work at all this morning. I tried everything and finally in desperation turned it off at the power bar; this worked. When I turned it back on again it behaved itself. Hot weather continues, it got to 88 today and is dripping with humidity. Abby went to a job interview for a caregiver job today, she is still making up her mind whether to accept the position. The garden is growing like crazy and everything looks absolutely beautiful, the flowers and vegetables. All the roses are blooming now, including Fantin Latour which is a little later than the other roses. This is the rose that an overzealous helper cut off at ground level three years ago and it has come back with five foot high canes. I cleared out around a favorite pink peony that was getting strangled. The animals seem to be doing very well in this hot weather. There are a lot of huge mosquitoes but the black flies don't seem to be too bad this year, or the flies. Fern is giving about two gallons a day and all is going well there.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday night was the appointed time to take four sheep to the butcher. I re-thought the number which included two tams and two ewes, all about 15 months old, and ended up only sending the rams. So far as any of us ingnorant shepherds know, thhe ewes were not bred but I would feel pretty bad to later learn they were pregnant.

I cooked food for a dinner at Martin’s camp for the volunteers taking the two rams to Castonguay, I braised the last two lamb ribs from the freezer and made a batch of brown rice. Amy made a sald using Marcia's fresh lettuce and Abby made a custard. Brett Shifrin, Martin’s friend and helper with the sheep, made a layer cake. Before dinner the men, Martin DS Mark and Brett, and kids went swimming. After dinner the men came to the farm and loaded the rams. I took the precaution of running out first to the barn to call in the sheep before they detected the presence of strangers, so the sorting and loading went pretty well. The rams were very heavy, maybe 200 lbs each.
Mark spent the night here.

Here are some chickens supervising the sheep loading operation:



And here is where we drop off the sheep (lit by brake lights from the truck):



Today I made the depressing discovery that my upright freezer where I expected to store the new meat had quit. Bloody melt water greeted me when I opened the door. This nearly pitched me into clinical depression
It is at least 20 years old and the gasket is shot and the freezing coils have to be propped in position so I doubt it is worth repairing. I If we all have to go Medieval I intend to be a good sport about it but I admit I picked up the phone and offered thanks for living in a time and place where I can count on a new one by Friday. I ordered a 15 cu ft as my other freezer is at least as old. I stuffed everything into it for now. All my new strawberries were thawed. Sigh.

Marcia came down to garden but then the sun went in an it rained torrentially for a long time. The mosquitoes remain truly awful.

Thursday, June 27, 2013
Abby took the dogs for a walk over to her field. It was a wet day and they all had a fine time running around. The dogs went swimming in the river. Milo has been trying to get his courage up to climb up on the couch which he now has done. I don't think he is allowed on couches at home but this is his vacation. He's been coming along and putting his chin on the couch to see if I was noticing. No doubt he sees that Willie is allowed on the couch. Martin and family are off to Montana.
The mosquitoes are awful this year. The cows don't seem to be too bothered though fortunately.
Abby brought in a fine bouquet of sweet peas which are in bloom now. They are an old-fashioned mixture and very sweet smelling.
I worked on my talk for the Nourishing Traditions conference in Atlanta where I am speaking on November 9th, which I worked out on the calendar is the exact due date for Fern. Today I worked on carbon sequestration.
It rained and drizzled and everything is wet.

Friday, June 28, 2013
I went to Farmington with Marcia. We stopped at Agway again which has wonderful plants for sale. I bought a Flame elderberry. The leaves are a beautiful lacy chartreuse resembling a Japanese maple and it should have beautiful berries. I also bought a hydrangea with puffy pink flowers. I've always wanted a hydrangea. I haven’t decided where to put it. It was raining hard all day and we didn’t need anything at the Farmer's Market so didn't get to see Mitra. Marcia was endlessly patient in helping me to buy new sandals.
My new freezer was delivered today. The delivery people were very helpful and took the old freezer out and put the new one in, first finding some pallets to set it on . My cellar floor is often wet.
Fern was saucy this morning and production was down about a quart.

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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013
The peonies popped open last night..
The perfect weather and a ride we took over Sally’s field, inspired Martin who is u p for the weekend, to cut some hay. He limed his sister’s field last year aad it has responded with nice thick grass..
Amy, Martin, the kids and I had dinner here. I served braised lamb neck bones (scragg end), a superb dish when cooked long enough which this was.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Agnes, the ewe that was mother to the twin lambs that died, still has quite a bit of milk. I tried milking her this morning.. I didn’t get much but it was evident to me that she could easily be made into a milker. She is easily handled when tied. She just needs to be desensitized with rubbing her udder so she got used to being handled.
The weather for the first part of the today was good for drying hay. Martin was able to rake and cut yesterday’s hay and by 3 o’clock was baling..

We were a small team, just Martin, Amy Abby and I. I did the easy job, just tipping the bales off the top end of the elevator. By 4:30 it was in the barn. It started to rain the moment the last bale went up the elevator.

DD Marcia hosted a lovely dinner at camp. Martin and Amy had to get home because of the kids’ school but Mitra, Roshan and Mitra’s parents Marie and Alex and our cousins Holly and Richard were present. Shireen has started her summer job at Kawanhee boys’ camp so we did not see her.. Marcia made pasta with her machine and served it with a primavera sauce.
Monday, June 17, 2013
We had alternate rain and sun.
My writing is a struggle. But I got some done. DS Bret and old friend Billie Berten sent me reminders that it was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Pacific Sun newspaper in Marin County CA. Merril and I founded this paper together. It has now had a couple of different owners but is still going strong.
http://www.pacificsun.com/marin/life_in_marin/article_7ac2b2ac-cd61-11e2-ac97-001a4bcf6878.html
Tuesday, June 18, 2013s
Abby planted the last of the squashes today. I think she said she had planted nine varieties.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Marcia’s salad garden is a thing of beauty. Magazines put gardens like hers on the cover.
We have had two day s of perfect weather Nancy and I walked the electric fence line. The pasture looks lovely with wild flowers among the grass.. Nancy took both of the trimmers for repair and trey are now working well.
Fern was down a quart today for no reason I could detect.
Friday, June 21, Summer solstice and Martin’s birthday
Marcia and I took the day in Farmington. Marcia picked up some furniture for her guest rooms. We were too late for Mitra’s farmer’s market, a disappointment, but we had a good time shopping.
Fern’s production is back up.
Abby's corn is well up.
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Saturday, May 04, 2013
It froze again last night but we had protected everything adequately. We are doing the same tonight. It is a cold dry spring. I can report that the wonderful green is now mounting daily, The evening sun created green gold halos on all the trees.
Abby succeeded in getting the string collars off of the two rams. Sally was worrying about them with good reason. Abby took my sharp sewing scissors out to the paddock, put down a bit of grain, and they did not even notice when she snipped..
So far all we have done about separating the rams from the flock is make plots and plans.


Abby made a nice fork-able dinner that we could eat in front of the TV so as to watch the Kentucky Derby. She has decided not to take the job in CA.

Monday, May 06, 2013
Yesterday (Sunday, Cinco de Mayo, DD Marvia and GDD Abby Rose hosted a lunch for DD Abby and myself and DIL Mitra and her mom Marie and Shireen. Roshan was at her string group at Amy Leblanc. Marcia served an elegant version of hamburgers accompanies by roasted squished potatoes in a sauce and roasted stuffed beets sprinkled with walnuts caramelized in maple syrup. both sides were a big hit. Mitra brought a strawberry rhubarb pie. We ate outside. The weather was excellent.
And today, in response to the new grass, Fern broke the 1 ½ gallon barrier by nearly a pint.
Marcia gardened here today. She worked on digging weeds out of the asparagus patch and was rewarded by the first spear. She reported starting her day by making very successful mozzarella with milk from Mitra’s Nellie.
DD Sally called from MI where she is having a fine old time with her DS Gabe and the aunts and uncles.

Tuesday, May 07, 2013
It has been another day of perfect weather and the world is daily growing more lovely. Fern’s production continues to creep up. If only spring could be bottled for an occasional February tonic for her.
DD Marcia worked in the garden again. All her tiny vegetable seedlings are now up. The predicted low for tonight is 40F. I believe I can safely leave the tomato seedlings outside.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Another very fine day but rain is predicted.
SS Abby an DD Marcia took a long hike up through the woods following the spring line. They fixed a break.. It was easier this time than last because at Nancy’s suggestion they took along a thermos of hot water to soften the plastic pipe. Unfortunately it was still not possible to get any water from the spring.

Friday, May 10, 2013
The spell of fine weather had merged into light rain just enough to bring Marcia’s carrots up and not hard enough to damage the apple blossoms. They are just starting. Most years harsh winds do shake the darling buds of May and discourage the pollinators. I hope the dear old tree will bear this year.
My new edition of KFC arrived back today from my publisher, Chelsea Green, the stage which used to be known as page proofs. I am getting brain cramps as I attempt to expand my Word skills to meet the editing and proof reading requirements of the task.
Fern had a touch of mastitis this morning. I could tell as soon as she walked into her stanchion and moved to the far side. I didn’t do anything for her and there was nothing on the filter but tomorrow morning I will apply the lard and cayenne treatment. I picked a bunch of new comfrey for her breakfast also.
Davis Florists brought me a huge bouquet of flowers from “All your sons” What a treat.


DDs Marcia and Abby, signed up for a woods walk for wild edibles conducted by some woods dwelling people over in Temple near Farmington. They learned a lot. I am told.. Abby said she would not have gotten much out of it had the sponsors not passed out head nets. Black fly season has started.



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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday, April 27, 2013
The sun rose on a clear and cloudless sky. The day remained cool but sunny enough for the gardeners to work in shirtsleeves. DS Martin arrived with the kids around one. DIL Amy stayed in Biddeford where she was serving as volunteer with community group giving tours of the old brick mill. It has many secret passages, relics of an elaborate hydraulic system which formerly powered the mill. At one time it was a Pepperell woolen mill. The mill now has many commercial and residential renters.
Martin helped us move the dresser out of my bed room. I have given it to granddaughter Abby Rose whose dresser stayed in CA. My tiny room will be less crowded. We later had an impromptu supper at his camp where we were joined by Marcia, Abby Rose and Violet. Henry wanted to dance so Martin put on music. The kids are enthusiastic dancers. Henry in particular was highly animated. He is just getting acquainted with his little cousin Violet who soon shed her shyness and joined in.
The lake was exceptionally beautiful. There was a flat calm reflecting opalescent cky and dark hills.



Monday, April 29, 2013
The weather on Sunday was warm and lovely. Abby back flushed the springline in hope of getting it running but it just gurgled. There must be a break in the line.
Fern’s production is creeping up now almost to 1 1./2 gallons again. She is finding a little grass. The chickens are ranging far and wide.
In the evening Martin went down to our cousin Leavitt’s place and he and Cousin Bill scouted the field for turkeys. The spotted a group. Today at the crack of dawn he was down there with his gun and got to big toms, about 17 pounds, the other 15. Sally dressed them off for him. It took her a long time and she said it was very interesting. They are fine birds.


I had an eye appointment today. I am no worse.
The lamb. Nadia, is growing well. Abby has seen her chewing her cud which is reassuring. She spends part of the day with her brothers.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013
We can almost say now that the fields are more green than brown. I am able to sit outside on my deck and drink my morning tea. Today while I did this I heard wild geese flying over- it was a pair. We also have barn swallows inspecting our barn. Yesterday I saw a bear cub, presumably with its mother nearby in the trees which were close, about a quarter of a mile from here. Abby says that there are many flickers in the field by her house.
Abby did a lot of work on the flower bed outside the carriage house, and elsewhere. Marcia worked on her beds and reports that she has many seedlings up already. Sally’s tomato and marigold and gloriosa daisies are looking very nice. She has been potting the tomatoes on as they were getting crowded and it isn’t time to plant out yet.
Nancy Hutchinson came over and did a lot of yard cleanup. I got out in the garden several times and picked handfuls of lovage and chives, and admired the daffodils which are coming up everywhere.
Abby has been trying to encourage the spring line the last couple of days. She has backflushed it several times, and today she walked the line for a long ways until she found a break in it, which she fixed. An hour or two later it started to run, which is always a very exciting moment.
Mitra saw her doctor today for the third time since her operation. He seemed to be quite satisfied with her progress, and said that this was the critical week in a person’s recuperation. We are all very excited for her. She is now putting on comfrey that I had in the freezer. It is pureed comfrey and a bit of water, and she puts it on the fingers where they are exposed. She says it feels very good. She also puts Uddermint on them.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013
We did get a light frost last night despite the weather report promising mid 30’s Fortunately Sally had brought in the tomatoes. I think nothing was harmed.
Sally worked mostly in the walled garden which is now divided into a geometric design. She set out a lot of pale marigold seedlings, very healthy looking plants.

Marcia’s vegetable rows are sprouting lots of things like lettuce and turnips. There will soon be asparagus. Wild dandelions are ready now and fiddleheads will be up any day. For the first time ever my forsythia is making a real show. It is blooming with the daffodils and together they are very lovely. In the distance many large trees are blooming, notably the red maple, a showy tree.

Sally and I banded the lambs’ tails.

Sad news: we went up to inspect the spring and found the cap stones around the well disastrously collapsed into the water. I don’t know if it can be rescued or not. Martin is going to see what can be done.

Friday, May 03, 2013
We h ad to say goodbye to Sally today. Alaska calls. H er sister Abby drove her to Portland where DS Martin met them and took her to their house for the night. She flies tomorrow to Chicago where she is to meet her DS Gabe who is home from Kazakhstan for a visit. They wills see relatives for a few days and she will return to Haines on the 8th.
She is greatly missed already.
It was warm and sunny all day but frost is again predicted for tonight. Abby and I brought all the potted plants and seedlings in again. Sally has Remay over the little plants in her knot garden.
Abby has a job offer in California and may leave quite soon. That will make it hard to manage the sheep because the two yearling rams are increasingly annoying. I just had this good idea that they can be put in the paddock garden by themselves. Planting that area can be delayed for a month as it is to be corn and squash. It has a good fence and half of the area (where not plowed) is good grass. Now to figure out how to get them in there without a sheep dog..




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Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Tuesday, April 09, 2013
This morning Mitra tripped while carrying two gallon jugs of milk and fell forward into a pile of broken glass, milk and blood.; her left wrist was slashed. "You never saw so much blood in your life" were her words spoken from the parking lot at RiteAid folowing an ambulance ride to the ER. Fortunately a friend was present who called 911. The tendon to Mitra's left index finger is cut along with various blood vessels. They stabilized her at the Farmington ER but tomorrow morning she has to go to the hand repair center in Portland to try to get her tendon re-attached and remove more glass.. Max is pretty upset. He just started back to work today in MT - arrived in Kalispell this morning.. We will of course help her in every way we can.
Sally has been fencing non stop and has almost completed repairs to the fence on North field. It is not yet sheep proof but is cow proof. She left the gate open for them. There is nothing but last year’s dead grass of course but they like to explore anyway.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Long hiatus due to my computer being at the repair shop. It had contracted a virus called Total Dysfunction (or some such thing) (Zero Access was its name) which apparently is transmitted via Adobe updates. Fortunately my sister Barby was here to keep up my spirits.
Shortly after she came we took her to Marcia’s house on Lake Webb for tea and to admire the lake. She and I spent as much time there as possible when we were small, at our grandparents” camp which is just a few houses down from Marcia’s. She has not seen Lake Webb with ice on it in many years.
Marcia has come here several times to get going on the vegetable garden. It’s been wonderful having her here. The plan is for her to raise vegetables in my main, lower garden, and Abby to raise the corn and squash in what we call the paddock garden, up by the barn. Besides all the flower borders around the house, we also have another garden we have been working on that is in the foundation of an old barn. We call that the walled garden.
On April 14th our Suffolk ewe named Suzie presented us with three lambs. We named them Winken, Blinken, and Nadia (the first two are males). Unfortunately Suzie didn’t seem able to care for so many and Nadia has ended up as a bottle lamb. However she seems to be taking the raw cow’s milk well and is getting stronger. We nearly lost her several times.
Mitra seems to be doing quite well. Her surgery to reattach the severed parts took three and a half hours; the surgeon said he couldn’t remember a worse cut on a wrist in his thirty years of surgery. Hard to imagine how he could put so many tiny bits back together. Go Mitra! Her mother Marie should be arriving tomorrow to help out. Until now her daughters and many wonderful friends have been keeping the place going. She is not allowed to use her hand at all for three months.

Friday, April 19, 2013
A warm and balmy wind blew today. Much garden work was done by Dally, mostly tree planting. She put in two mulberries and many willows.
The two male triplets, Wy nken and Blynken, are thriving but Nod is a little weaker than they. We had to separate her from the others because Susie will not let her nurse and she quit trying. Susie just butts her and now she has a bad limp in her right front leg. Abby and Sally are bottle feeding her. She is terribly cute and we think she will live, no doubt to be a great nuisance.

It is granddaughter Abby Rose’s birthday. She and Marcia and little Violet joined us for cake at lunch time

We are having an unexpected visit from my son Bret. He arrived in Boston to attend scientific meetings (Experimental Biology 2013) and give a poster but due to the tragic bombing events, today’s schedule was cancelled. Martin and Amy and family were in Boston visiting Aunt Anita and were confined indoors for many hours as a result of the generalized lockdown., Mitra’s mom, Marie arrived today to help Mitra. Mitra feels OK so long as she keeps up her pain pills. Her damaged nerves periodically are extremely painful along with the many incisions..

We ggave Bret a nice duck dinner. It was a duck that Martin shot last fall.

The cows and sheep eat hay in the morning before going out to try their luck with grazing of which there is really none but they keep hoping.

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

See www.real-food.com for the pictures!!!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The milking machine worked like a champ this morning and Fern gave about 2 cups more than yesterday.

                The barn is filling  up with setting henss. Of those we can find, each had two eggs. No doubt there are more somewhere sitteing  on a rafat of eggs.

                 Little Hannah – well soon to be 7 – found a natural spring .  Maartin writes:

It's in the woods behind our house, maybe 5-600 yards away.  I haven't tried the water yet but I have a filter and will run it through and give it a try.  It runs beautifully.

Somebody just shot off their rifle several times down in the field below the river, out front.  What does one shoot at night?   Sally just walked by & told me how she and all the kids when they were very young, were walking up towards some little tiny lakelet near their house in Haines AK & shots were fired up through the trees at them.  She had the kids hide behind trees & went barreling down the hill screaming obscenities --  two guys & a small child were down there and froze with terror when they saw this She-Bear coming out of the trees, bawling in outrage at them --  Sally at her finest! (Written by Abby)

That’s my girl!

I went through some water damaged books today that were stored in thhe carriage house attic, looking for a missing volume. They were terribly moldy and it gave me quite a reaction. I am  not ordinarily especially sensitive to mold but these were baad.  My face got painful and Sally said I turned red. I am still walking around with handfuls of tissues.. 

Marcia and Barby were approaching Memphis TN at noon.

Monday, April 01, 2013

Yesterday was Easter. \We started the proceedings by getting the sheep sheared. Max has to leave soon for work in Montana. We took advantage of the only day both he and Mark Phillips, the shearer, could make it.They got started about 10:30 in the morning after eating hot cross buns that Sally made early in the morning.  He took around fifteen minutes per sheep and it all went very well, with the sheep being cooperative and then happy to pop out the back door into the sunshine.  Once they were sheared it was possible to see that at least two- the older females, Agnes and Susie, are definitely pregnant but we don’t think they will be ready to lamb for a few weeks yet.  We aren’t sure if the two younger ewes (now one year old) are expecting, but think they probably are. but they are well behind.

   It was a fine warm day, and all the sheep and cows went out to see if they could find some grazing.  Sally is working on the fences so that they will soon be able to go out into the North field which is usually the best in the early spring.

   We had an early Easter dinner, with Max’s family and Mark Phillips.  Mitra had brought ham and chicken from their own farm, which was delicious.  Abby cooked vegetable dishes including an outstanding corn pudding.  For dessert there was an apple pie Sally made using the last of some Northern Spy apples that I had bought last fall.They were still in nearly perfect shape.  They are a particularly delicious apple .

Today Sally and Abby took a load of stuff to camp. These are preliminary furnishings for Marcia to use while she awaits the arrival of her pod. We expect Marcia and Barby on Wednesday.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

It has turned pretty cold again. The lasat several day have started out  in the low twenties and a howling wind. We have been keeping the shorn sheep in until noon at which  point they are mad to get out for some exersize. There are at least 2 dozen eggs every day  now. Only Fern is not doing too well. She is giving less than 1 ½ gallons. She will improve when we get some grazing. So far I have not seen one trace of new green.

            The travelers arrived about 6:30pm. They look very well indeed. I made chicken soup and Sally made a blueberry  pie. Abby made cookies and is taking great care of Marcia’s four chihuahuas. 

   Our two little families of baby chicks are doing fine.  We have another two or three hens who are about to hatch out more, if all goes well.  We think the sheep will wait another couple weeks before their babies appear.

Friday, April 5

It was twenty degrees in the morning and it felt colder.  We got about a gallon and a quarter of milk, and about a dozen and a half of eggs.   We think that the hens have found a place to hide their eggs.

  Fern was restless during milking; she waved her foot around and got it caught in the machine, kicking it off.  I got it put back ok but I think I got less milk because of it.

   We didn’t put the sheep out right away because of the cold.  They went out about noon.  We’ve been letting them run with the cows later in the day so they can go and see if there is anything to eat in the pasture.

   Sally has been working on the fences on the north field.  Abby has been doing a lot of housework.

   Martin and the kids came over about 7 pm.  He worked a long time on my computer.

Yesterday (Thursday) Marcia drove to Auburn and picked up her DD Abby Rose and baby Violet. They had been visiting friends and Abby Rose’  sister Caiti in VA./

My sister Barby and I took a stroll around the garden and she spotter the first tip of a daffodil poking up.Everything is still brown.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Fern gave a skimpy 1 ½ gallons. We have stopped counting the eggs, there are so many.

The weather is stuck in a holding pattern around 25 to 35 F with some sun.

                Last night I went with Martin and family joined by Max and family to hear the Franklin County Fiddlers, a high school age group that Max’s girls are in.  They performed at the Grange Hall in Weld with about 200 people present.  They did a rousing job with mostly Cape Breton style fiddling.  Roshann and Shireen play viola and cello.  Afterwards we stopped over at Martin and Amy’s camp and walked around on the frozen lake under a brilliant moon.  The stars were vexceptionally clear and you could see every one, I think.  Orion was right in front of us.

   Before going to the concert  Martin and family joined us for a chicken and rabbit casserole..  I made it with a rabbit that Martin shot (not a cottontail) and a farm chicken.  Everybody seemed to like it.

   Abby and Sally separated the two rams from the pregnant ewes as lambing is coming up.  They have the rams in a little side pen in with the cows, next to the ewes’ room.  There was a lot of complaining but eventually everyone settled down.

Monday, March 25, 2013

    We only got about a gallon and a quarter of milk,  and about 20 eggs.   We have three or four setting hens now, each with two eggs.  The young chicks are doing well.

   When Sally went to the barn the rams had escaped their pen in the beefer pen and were standing on the cow hay.   She managed to get them into the sheep yard but later when we put the ewes out the rams squeezed out the gate and rejoined the flock.  They are starting to try to butt everyone who comes near and are generally so annoying as to have caused us to decide that we will have to make terminal arrangements.  It is sad as we are really very fond of them, alas. They are terribly cute.

   Martin and Amy came to lunch.  They said they went yesterday to Bowley Brook Maple Syrup Farm.   Bowley Brook makes particularly fine maple syrup.   Abby cooked them a nice lunch of hamburgers  and then they left for Biddeford.  We had our hamburgers for dinner later on, and found them excellent.

   It was a very fine grey sort of day, well above freezing.  The snow is disappearing fast.

    My daughter Marcia is moving back from California, we are excited to report.  She and my sister Barby started driving today.  She will be opening up her camp at Weld.  We think they may arrive in a week or so.

  Son Bret sent a picture of his daughter Maia in her prom gown.  She is the prom queen.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Yesterday Abby and Sally went to Rumford her eye appointment but it turned out that her insurance had not kecked in. Abby had already dropped her off and driven away when she discovered this but she knew where Abby was shopping and pelted down the hill for several blocks and caught her. She was at the What Not Shop (thrift store) and they both found treasures..

Fern’s production is dropping and I know one reason is the inflations on the milking machine need replacing. I will do that before I go to bed tonight.

Sally and Abby took a carload of stuff to Marcia’s camp today so that she and Abby Rose and little Violet won’t be sitting on the floor until their stuff arrives. They drove through New Mexico today.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Yesterday’s milking was a struggle. I could hear a whistling air leak somewhere. We put   in new inflations but it was worse than ever.  I found a couple of little apertures in the central casting of the claw and got it to function be holding my fingers over them, Afterwards we discovered that the metal     loop by which the claw hangs when not in use had fallen off leaving these little holes. Clearly, it had been getting loose for a while. Sally jammed it back together. We’ll see how I  t goes tomorrow.  It it still leaks I will cover the holes with duct tape.

The weather today was moderately warm and very moist.

Abby and Sally assembled items to furnish camp and Abby did a lot more cleaning. Sally checked fences. A man called Sally to see if he might access the river across her field so that he could trap beavers. She said no. They aren’t doing much harm.

                Marcia and Barby have passed Amarillo TX.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Fern gave less than 1 ¼ gallons this morning.  I held the hanging loop in position to prevent vacuum loss. Sally was hoping this would do it so that we don’t have to relinquish thee loop but tomorrow I am going to tape it over. I will contrive a loop from wire or cord. When we get green grass her production will rise but that is at least 6 weeks away.

                I made a grand garden tour and admired all the manuring Sally has done around the fruit trees and berry bushes. She was not able to do all of them because so much of the snow has melted that she can’t use the sled.

   Abby has been spending many hours doing spring cleaning.  Today she made a banana cream pie which was a big success.