Ending 2022 with Gratitude

As we end 2022, we do so with gratitude. This year we did suffer some loss. One was our beloved old rooster, Henry. I still find myself looking for my buddy and then sadly I'm reminded he is gone. Time took my boy but will never take the memories I have of his kind soul. 

We also lost our last and final goat, Maddie (left). She was taken by time as well, but she lived a wonderful old life bossing the alpaca boys around and that is a priceless memory I will never forget. She did not take kindly to being bossed around and would let it be known mostly with a head butt. She lived life on her terms and made no exceptions. 

As we end this year, we do it with gratitude. After the past few years and getting through Covid, this year paid us back with a record year, helping us to rebound from the previous years. As we locked the animals up this evening, we discovered 2 eggs. We haven't had eggs in 2 months. Perhaps this is what's to come in the year ahead, but we can only look with hope and remember that our gratitude for all we have in health and family is more than enough. 

All of us at Coon Hollow Farm would like to thank everyone for your support. 

We wish you all a wonderful and great New Year ahead!

 

The End of an Era

Sadly, our old rooster Henry passed away today ending an era of the world's sweetest rooster to ever rule a flock. He was such a kind soul but did not suffer any shenigans in his flock. He came to us almost 10 years ago with a batch of 9 chicks that a schoolteacher in NYC for her students. I don't know how they got in touch with me but somehow those chicks made their way here. We ended up with 6 roosters and 4 hens. Henry was the last of them all. I will miss him so much, he escorted me constantly, even watching over me. He kept the other roosters in line right up until yesterday. He had been slowing down and spending more time taking it easy. His best friend Helen, our blind chicken would enjoy breakfast together each morning.

So now, Barney will step up to guard the flock. He is a year and half old Barnevelder rooster, hence why we call him Barney! He's been hoping for this promotion since he became a big guy.

Our other rooster, Chester will remain the beta rooster. His disposition is just like Henry's, just a kind sweet lover of the hens everywhere. We have had a few losses this year, but losing Henry hits a bit hard. We will miss him, but Tim will not miss his crowing!

 

New Gift Ideas-Dryer Balls!

Give the gift of sustainability with these handmade Dryer Balls from our very own alpacas!

Each Dryer Ball s individually handcrafted through a felting process. It's a timely process that happens through time. Dryer Balls help cut down on drying time, soften your clothes, have no chemicals in them and absorb moisture. 

 Each set is $20.00 and is offered on our Etsy page. Give the gift of small business this year!

Dryer Balls-alpaca - Etsy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well Strutter and his girls are marked safe from the Thanksgiving table and always will be! Strutter spent his day with two nice meals and strutting about the back yard for his ladies and anyone who would tell him how handsome he is. That's all you have to tell this boy and he will display all day for you! He has no problem with being humble, not! 

Gigi prefers the bird bath water over the fresh clean water that was just filled in the coop. How we can tell this is Gigi, she has a red head. Gigi tends to be broody often and is still laying eggs which we wish she would stop! She loves to fly up on the coop and sing her turkey song.

Flossy, who has a blue head just happened to be walking by and stopped as if to pose for this picture. It was perfect. She had a hard molt but has finally recovered well and has grown in beautifully. All the turkeys displayed a lot of gratefulness today. This heritage breed is a favorite here on our farm and their antics could be watched all day if we didn't have so much to do! 

 

New England Fiber Festival 2022

This year's Fiber Festival did not disappoint. We did a record year and were beyond busy. I did get a small window to see some things before I was called back. This work on this rug was amazing. The use of colors, shades and layers is just amazing. I adore birch trees so this one just made me stop and stare in awwwww.

One vendor had an amazing privacy wall. 

This caught my eye in a needle felting stand. They had some great pieces but of course this was one of my favorites, mom and baby coon. 

           It's a carriage full of bunnies! These folks came by with bunch of angoras.

By the end of the show, all the animals were done...

This llama and baby cria were beyond exhausted. As we put this year's festival in the rear mirror, we thank it for once again being good to us. Until next year!

 

That's all folks, for now!

 It looks like it's the end of egg season. Our girls have all but ceased to lay eggs. we are getting about 2 a day out of 30 chickens! 

It happens this time of year as they are molting to bring in new feathers, the loss of daylight and they begin to conserve energy to deal with the cold. 

If we get a surge of eggs with this unusually warm weather, we will be sure to post that we have available eggs. The cost of eggs in the grocery store is insane these days as the feed prices have also gone up. It looks like for us, eggs will be a luxury.

Oh poor naked Flossy

Oh, poor naked Flossy is having a really rough molt. She has literally dropped every one of her feathers! She is practically naked! We have up'd her protein intake. The colder weather is setting in and she is cold and shivering. We do see the new winter feathers coming in on her wings, but it looks like a turkey was slaughtered with all the feathers scattered everywhere!

GiGi on the left, molted some weeks back and has already grown in her new winter feathers quite nicely! While poor Fossy on the right is as naked as a jay bird! If you are wondering how we tell them apart, GiGi has a red head while Flossy has a blue head.

Strutter also molted some weeks ago and his was quite quick. He has beautiful new tail feathers and is showing them off to everyone!

 

Loosing that one special one

 

When someone says "it's just a chicken", they didn't know our sweet "Broken Girl". We lost her this week and boy there is a void in the coop. As a chick, she came to us with deformed feet but that never stopped her. When she went into her broody state, there was no reasoning with her. She was tough, protected her eggs and when she wanted something I would get the look, up and down and you could feel just what she was thinking. 

She lived a very good and old life, she was at least 8 years old and right up to the end would give me the business when collecting eggs. I'm already missing her special soul, it's just not the same without her.

Happy September and Sunflowers!

When turning the calendar to September, it ignites a whole different season, Autumn! September reminds me of sunflowers, cooler weather and a prequel to October which is my favorite month. I decided to make some batts from brown and yellow alpaca and a few accents to help. I looked at pictures of sunflowers, to get the sense of colors. 

I pulled out some Angelina, Starfire and metallic threads that I had in the perfect colors.

 (Pictured above is Starfire)

I cut up 3-4 inch pieces of shiny threads in fall colors.

(Pictured above are metallic threads)

This color was perfect to give it a coppery color.

(Pictured is Starfire on top and Angelina below)

I dyed some alpaca yellow but used some natural brown from our alpaca "Awan". The brown is a much deeper warm brown than the camera picked up.

The results of the first batt was close to what I envisioned. Blending became a challenge when I realized I broke the drive band for the carder, but to no avail, I hand worked the gear which took longer but I am not about to wait for the new one to get here. 

Pulling it off the carder was beautiful. Sadly, the camera didn't do it justice. The brown is a deeper brown and there are lots of shiny accents too. 

Onto the next batt and this one is coming out better than the first! 

Welcome to September and Sunflowers!

 

Not the same

 When we look at these two angora does, they look the same at first but there are subtle differences that tell us that they are different colors. Genetics of the angora rabbit are fascinating. Depending on the color and what is bred to another color, you can come up with quite an array of different colors. 

The rabbit on the left is a chestnut. If we look at her nose and up to the ears, you can see her coloring. Both their coats are somewhat alike but look at the rabbit on the right. She is what is called a chocolate tort. These come in many colors including blue tort, chocolate tort and black tort. 

These girls are growing quite nicely and are providing lots of good quality wool!

Victorian Cones

I have become a bit obsessed with making these Victorian Cones. Last Christmas I made them for everyone but kept exploring and as my friend Naomi says, I went down a rabbit hole! I have had so much fun exploring textures, colors, styles and the unlimited possibilities of what you can do. we will have them ready for fair season. Pricing is between $8 and $12 depending on the supplies and time it took to make it. I believe I'm up to over 60 made so far, they are so much fun to make. 

The Victorian era is filled with so much color, but often soft colors such as pink and mauves.

I found this fabulous music note ribbon and happened to have some music note card stock.

Black and silver gingham with a flying reindeer. I am onto making some great holiday ones too!

This is a fun cone but the ribbon was a bit pricey. These two colors go so well. I did add lavender tissue after the picture was taken.

A string of pearls for a paisley cone if i do say so myself.

This one is in the making. I'm looking for birch bark ribbon but so expensive online. It's going to brew while I think of something. I have a ton more to share but look for us at our fairs listed on the side bar. I's cone mania around here!

 

Oh, the Molt!

Oh, the molt has begun early this year and the girls are looking a bit skanky! This Barnevelder girl is a bit bare. Many of our girls are starting at the neck so we have quite a few bare necked chickens running around. This process for the chickens usually begins later in the summer. The loss of daylight signals the molt.

This Maran girl is beginning around the neck as well...

where this girl is starting with full frontal nudity! I did not get any pictures of our turkey's, but it looks like someone plucked a turkey out there with feathers all around! With the cooler weather they will grow back thicker and fuller but for now, naked chickens around the barnyard!

 

Rings of Color

This years angora babies did not disappoint with color! Lots of color. I'm hoping these pictures will even come close to the colors represented by the babies. 

Above is a beautiful Blue Tort buck that has rings of fawn, white and blue. He's also quite a big boy so his wool production should be off the chart!

This Black doe is absolutely my favorite and we are keeping her. There is so many shades of black and gray with a nice touch of white in the bottom layer. Everything about this baby is just perfect right down to her personality, sweet and lovable. She loves to be held and cuddled. Her name is officially "EMBER".

Even this handsome Pearl buck adds color that I wasn't expecting. He has hints of tan and rings of white too.

This Chestnut buck 7 layers of color! By far the Chestnuts are my favorite in color. They hold their color well into adulthood and never disappoint with what they have to offer. 

Yet another Tort, I have not quite nailed down if this is a Blue Tort or a Chocolate Tort, she keeps changing! Still lots of rings and color.

And the final bunny, this amazingly unbelievable Chestnut with some of the most striking colors I have ever seen! She also offers at least 7 rings of color but there may be more. She is going to be quite a wool producer and her striking colors will not disappoint!

 

Exploring Rain Barrels

Happy Memorial Day, as we remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice

. This year we have added rain barrels to the garden. During an earth Day celebration event, there was a State sponsored program through the water company. They were selling these rain barrels and compost bins. I couldn't resist! The designs have everything a rain barrels should have. We bought 2 and just installed them. During the drought months, these should really come in handy! 

The top design is made to catch every drop that hits the top of the container. With grooved areas and a tipped in flow down, the water goes in through the screen very efficiently. 

The bottom spout is in a perfect position to drain out. We put these up on a hill above the gardens to get maximum flow rate. 

 There is an overflow hose, which I don't find necessary, but they have thought of everything in the design of these rain barrels. If you are interested in rain barrels, check out a program in your state. If you're in Connecticut visit https://nvcogct.gov/ for more information.