Working for the farm today

There was suspicion in the barn yard this morning, they knew something was up and sent Awan out to check it out. It was shearing day and they quickly figured it out. It's old hat for them as we figured out that this is our 12th year of shearing!

Our shearers, Jeremiah (left) and Rick (right) arrived promptly at 8:00 am and went right to work. The usual screaming, spitting, kicking went on while some just took their shearing with grace like Pru and Maddie.

They have their summer do's, paid the shearers and went right to work...

on this! While they took all our fleeces for this year and last for processing, they brought the past two years of Teddy! I got right to work!

I made kits and got some of the fiber right on the spinning wheel to be plyed with a darker alpaca. Stay tuned for some new wool and 

fiber blending combinations for some new yarns!

Our little farm hands...what could happen?

Our little farm hands, Scarlett and Noah were here for a day of fun on the farm. Here they are so excited to go in and collect eggs from the chickens. What could happen when a 4 and 3 year old collect eggs you ask? Well...

Scarlett gives Grandpa her eggs as he waits at the bottom of the hill. "Here you go Grandpa" was heard. She was so proud of her eggs as she handed them off. She has been working very hard on her fear of the chickens.

Here Noah gives "Uncle" his proudly collected eggs. He was confident and sure of his skill as an egg collector! Not a word muttered as he handed over his days collection.

Soooooooo, when you get cracked eggs, you make scrambled eggs, right?!!!!! We will need to work on our finesse on how we gently place the eggs in the basket. They had fun and their pride in their daily choir was so cute.

Celebrating World Bee Day!

Happy World Bee Day! A day put aside for the world to recognize the importance of our pollinator, the bee! To honor the day I decided to do I quick inspection and check how all were doing. This was quite interesting as I inspected Hive #5, I noticed they re building comb tilted upwards slightly. It's actually sideways but still interesting to see them building comb in a slightly elevated direction.

My goal today was to mark the queens and I grabbed this new queen marking cage I bought last year. It is a wonderful tool in theory but failed to keep the queen in a stationary position to mark. It was like marking a moving target. It was easier to get her in to but did not give you the ability to keep her in position to mark.

So needless to say, she was marked on her back and her wings! I am not happy and may not attempt to mark them any longer. So, Happy World Bee Day everyone! Remember to treat our pollinators well, our food system relies on them!

Repurposing for a cause

As I added another hive to our apiary, the equipment I had on hand sufficed, except one component. I really love these top feeders which were put out by Brushy Mountain Bee Company that has gone out of business. I put a post up on some local beekeeping sites that I was looking for a couple of these and got responses. Some as far as South Carolina, but I was looking for more local. A man responded that he had two he didn't want so Tim drove me down to meet him. They were exactly what I was looking for. They are a little weathered but with a little TLC, they would look great in no time. 

A couple coats of paint and they look good as new!

Placed on top of this hive and we are ready to go! This hive is empty, as we often do in the event we get a swarm call or one of our hives decides they are going to swarm. 

Movin' on up!

Well it was time, time for the babies to move up to one of the chicken coops. They were quickly running out of room in the brooder.  Autumn was quite concerned and supervised every moment of the move. Nothing goes awry under her watch!

Here is Autumn as if to say," blah more animals to watch over!"

It appears out of the Black Copper Marans we have one rooster. Out of 4 that's good! I was worried we would have 4 roosters due to straight run. At first I thought it was 2 and 2 so I am pleased with the stats! These are beautiful chickens and our first feathered legged ones!

They are set up for comfort, food, water and their chick plate to keep warm at night. They will have more than ample room to grow and will spend the next month at least in this space before they can go into a small run area. Last years chicks have been kicked out of this one and moved to the larger coop, they were not too happy, but by day two they know where to roost and lay their eggs now. I am finding random eggs in weird places but that too will pass.

In they went, they were a little afraid for the time being of their new surroundings but once I closed the door and opened the window I saw them peaking out. They are fascinated with the older chickens. The legbars are in front here, they are sure turning out beautiful. The others are hiding behind the Marans, but in no time they are adjusting. Tim is happy to get his work bench back too!

Taking a trip to my dream place!

Today I put on my mask and ventured out to complete a life goal. I am always too busy, something comes up, we have to go somewhere, farm chores are building up or help someone and I decided to use this time to do things I wouldn't be able to do. Also driving anywhere is very stressful for me. I have dreamed to go to Gilbertie's Herb Farm in Westport, CT. I was watching something lately and the person said, during this time of quarantine, get to things you wouldn't normally be able to get to, so I decided to go somewhere I wouldn't normally be able to go to.  So off I went!

I arrived and was so excited to see this sign!

The greenhouses were amazing! Filled with every herb you can imagine! I never knew there were so many varieties of Basil, Oregano, Thyme and Rosemary just to name a few! It's not like I am new to herbs, I was once in a study group for many years and would frequent a local herb farm when it was open in my town. I love herbs, they are purposeful and have so many uses. 

Never have I ever seen a Basil like this! Lettuce Leaf Basil, who knew?!!!

I fell in love with this sign! I may have to make something like this one!

Who knew there were so many varieties of Rosemary!!!

Another Greenhouse to explore!

A whole section of Fairy Garden accessories! Such cute things!

They had a store with the most incredible and unique things in it! 

OMG! This raccoon statuary was so adorable!

To sum up my trip to Gilbertie's, I saw every herb from A...

to Y since there is no herb that starts with Z! I was so thrilled to finally visit this place. It was truly a dream and I will be back! Of course there are some things that I wish I had gotten so you never know!