After a long winter I got up to the bee hives today and was somewhat pleased with what I saw with the exception of a single Varroa mite I saw on one of the bees, which alarmed me. I instantly rushed down to look up how to treat this. I had a preventive in my hive over the winter but to no avail, the hive appears to still have them. I looked up some treatment but then went to Long Lane's bees site and found an organic treatment for the bees.
Some of the gang after four straight days of record rain and no worse for ware. Finally some sunshine! Some of them look like drowned rats but with some nice sunshine they should dry up nicely! They choose to stand out in the rain even though they have lots of shelter, what are you gonna do?
As we celebrate the birth of our new lambs this morning, we turn to the sadness of losing our Alpaca, "Jax". He died suddenly on the hill...we will miss him so. He was so gentle and easy going and will miss his calm spirit...thank you Jax for your gentle way and the occasional kick that I always seem to catch when you intended it for one of the others...God speed Jax...
Here are "Sweetie's" new lambs, finally! It's like deja vu, a white and black lamb, except these are two very healthy rams! This morning I was watching the "lamb cam" and noticed Sweetie was not in her place but Belle was pacing and calling for her babies. Then off in the distance I could hear the newborn lambs. I flew down to the barn and discovered these two beautiful boys! All is well, both are strong and mom is doing good too! Lambing season 2010 is done, it's a lot of stress for this lamb grandma!
Here are the lambs at two weeks of age. They are so big and healthy. Today they had their tails done and their first vaccines. They are not to happy with us right now. Soon after the bands were put on their tails they began to run around and drop to the ground like they are having a seizure, then run to mom for some milk and comfort. It hurts for a short time but it really must be done for sanitary purposes.
Let's talk about composting 101...it's just about Spring and many of us are thinking about our gardens, designing, what to grow and the thought of wonderful vegetables to enjoy throughout the summer. A compost bin is very simple to design as you can see mine in this picture. It was made from an old cage I had with a top on it. You can make a compost bin from old skids, hay bales, buy a professional one or just start a pile. This time of year is great to get started as we clean up our yards, old leaves that are already rotting, food scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, banana peels, just about anything organic will do. Remember never meat! That can make the compost unhealthy and the worms that are sure to come up from the ground (to make your compost even more awesome) can get sick from it.
Belle and her babies...all is well, everyone is nursing and we are watching from the house via the "Lamb Cam"...
Belle's second lamb is our first White Babydoll born here on the farm...he's such a handsome prince...
Belle surprised us this morning with the birth of her two new lambs, she wasn't due for at least a few more days, but as nature will always have it, they come when they come! The first lamb to be born was a little ewe (girl) pictured here. Olde English Southdown Babydolls come in Black or White, as you can see her ewe is black...Spring is here on the farm!
The winter brings some down time here on the farm, so it's a great time to sit by the wood burning stove and spin while staying warm. Here are three skeins of Alpaca fiber that was spun. It comes from our Alpacas, Winchester and Cyrus, who are our white Alpaca boys. It is soft and six times as warm as wool but not as heavy. These skeins will be available in our farmstand. The winder you see was given to me by a friends mom who has retired from spinning. If your interested in purchasing some just give us a call...
Maple syruping season is officially off to a good start. As we can hear the ping, ping sound of sap dripping into the maple sap buckets, one sight you will see for sure is Tim sitting patiently at his homemade Maple Evaporator. Here he sits watching the sap boiling down, almost in a zen state of mind...
Free to a Good Home...Alpaca Manure!!!
It's officially Maple Syrup season on the farm!!! This picture is a drop of sap suspended in air. It took me a couple of shots but I got it! We have a total of 20 buckets on various trees throughout the property. It is one of our favorite times here and we have already yielded about a gallon of syrup. We are hoping to have one of the best years yet and by the way the trees are flowing we're off to good start! We should have a lot of syrup available in the farmstand this year!
Today we took some trees down, it was trully a Laurel and Hardy act out there with Tim and I at the helm. Thank goodness my friend Joe from the Community Gardens came by and helped us as we were just getting ready to take out one of our bee hives. The gang however, enjoyed a wonderful snack of beech buds, hemlock branches and whatever else we took down. Note to self, we are not tree guys!
Update on the bees: One week later and I checked the beehive, the bees have consumed some of the candy board. When the hive was opened, the bees were at the top of the hive eating away at the newly installed candy board. The hive appears healthy and strong with a lot of bees present. We are very pleased with this and at this point would highly recommend purchasing one. Contact http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/ to purchase a Candy Board or to learn more about the fascinating art of beekeeping.
Here is a freshly spun yarn half dyed royal blue alpaca and the other half white alpaca, from my "boys". It was spun on a jumbo wheel so there is probably about 200+ yards. I will know better when I get it off the wheel and put it on the winder. It will be in the Farmstand this spring with many hand spun yarns that I am busy working on throughout the winter. I am calling this one, "The Winter Blues"...
BeeKeeping Candy Boards--I have been doing a lot of research on how to better assure that your bees survive the winter. Food supplies can begin to be in short supply depending on the amount of bees that have survived the winter. I purchased this from a bee supplier on line. It is a flat board with sugar on it that has been boiled down to make a candy consistency. The brown things on it are something called "pollen patties". This should bring a lot of food so the bees will be good and healthy until they get to spring. I have it hanging over the sink because it is very sticky! I brought it up to the hive and put it in, checked it a short time later and the bees were all over it, telling me I was just in time because they probably were down to the last of their food supply.
"Royal Eminence" is his name and awnry is his game! Royal keeps us on our toes here on the farm. He loves his friends and doesn't want anyone messing with them. He has been known to give us a hard time if he thinks for one moment that one of his friends is being harmed. He does however, have good dental health, here in this picture he is flossing. He picks up a piece of hay everyday and goes side to side with it to make sure his teeth are good and clean! He's a stricking Alpaca, such a good looking boy!
A Cold Frame is Born! Here is our new Cold Frame constructed in just one day, with minimal swearing (haha)! Measuring 5 feet in width it is quite a Cold Frame. It will soon be home in our new garden along with our yet to be constructed Potting Shed and Chicken coop. If you would like a copy of the plans contact us either by e-mail or phone and we'd be glad to send you a copy.
Alpaca Fingerless Gloves
Our Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep, from the bottom in the front is "Rose", behind her is "Sweetie", then "Fred", next to him is "Scar" and then in the bottom right is "Belle". Hopefully in the spring, "Sweetie" and "Belle" will have lambs. 
An army of Vinegars available in our farmstand which will be open November 27th and 28th, '09, the weekend after Thanksgiving. We will have many handmade items, as well as Alpaca stuff, soaps and gift baskets for Holiday shopping.
Little needle felted animals designed by me, a lot of heart goes into each and every one of them. These are available in the Farmstand which will be open the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.
