The long hard winter is coming to an end!

This winter is almost over, and not a moment too soon! The chicken coop is half way up the wall with snow. It is dark in the run with snow.

The girls have had it! They don't even want to talk about it!

Teddy says "is it Spring yet"? The snow is starting to melt and with that comes the mud! Not sure which is worse around here! But with Spring, comes many new things. Stay tuned to see what will be new on Coon Hollow Farm!!!

Our very own Oscar and Felix!

It amazes me the personalities that these two have. Fluffer our buck English Angora is so laid back, keeps his cage clean and even when he is out for exercise never into things, just a well rounded easy going guy...

but Tawny, she is quite the opposite! Always tearing her cage apart, fresh and protective of her cage and always getting into something when she is out for exercise. A real fresh diva through and through! I laugh when people say that rabbits don't have personalities, they have never met these two!

It's back,the Lamb Cam!!

What would Spring be like without lambs? The lamb cam is in position as we watch and wait for the lambs to arrive. Lily, Ophelia and Daisy are all expecting very soon! For now we are watching the alpacas at night in this stall as we get through a very tough winter indeed! However they are going back up to the upper barn very soon!

March is welcome!

What a winter it has been! We closed February out here in Connecticut with the coldest one in history! And boy was it cold! We woke with many a morning having the thermometer in the negative range.

The animals, especially Nigel here seems no worse for wear. They have enjoyed their nights in the lower barn on a thick bed of nice dry warm straw.

However, Teddy here seems to have a different expression as if to say, "What the heck, another snow storm?". So with yet another snow storm bearing down on us, the animals are tucked away, we are sitting by the wood burning stove and are really kind of okay with winter. Spring will be here in due time!

Tawny and her amazing wool!I

It has just been so cold to shear Tawny, but she was so dense with wool and it began to matt even with daily brushing.

It amazes me how big she looks when she is in full coat.

This picture shows the depth of her wool. It amazes me how healthy and thick she grows. Just look at her little body!

...and after her shearing day. You have to wonder if they feel better. I literally got at least a pound of wool off of her!

now to see just how fast it will grow back! The softest fiber in the world! (my opinion there!)

Maple Sugaring season has begun!!!

After a long and record breaking cold winter here in Connecticut, a sign of the end has begun. It is Maple Syruping season. Tim began tapping trees as he trudged through more than knee deep snow to get to his trees. The buckets are hung with care as we await the dripping of sweet yummy sap!

Composting=Worms love paper!!

This time of year most of us are doing this and that, cleaning out old paperwork, preparing for taxes, and getting rid of old mail. Last year I discovered that worms love paper! I began using a pelleted newspaper litter for my rabbits and was tossing the used stuff into the compost bin and was amazed at what results with the worms I had. I then tried it around the blueberry bushes and had the best blueberry crop ever!

So shred those old documents, old newspapers and feed the worms! You will be surprised at the results, I promise!~~~~~

Yet under another cold snap and snow storm!

We are under yet another deep freeze warning with negative temperatures for the next few days. We have been also having none stop snow storms too! All part of Connecticut living! 

After laying down a thick layer of new straw, the girls had to have a taste although they had hay to eat.

Straw, hay, straw, hay which should we choose??!!

The boys waited patiently on the other side of the fence until it was their turn to come in and then they came running. That's Virgil on the run to get in, get warm and settled in for the night on his thick layer of warm straw!

Spinning lockspun yarn!

I have been sorting through my fiber stash, and found this bag of wonderful mohair locks dyed in many shades of pastels. There was at least 3 pounds of it!

I did pull some of the longer locks out and made some neck ware that I will post later.

Such beautiful colors, softly dyed

So I threw it on my Country Spinner and...

here is another shot of it. So many colors...

pastel pinks, blues, salmon, greens and lavender. Such a soft and beautiful yarn. Just another great thing about winter, sitting by the wood burning stove, spinning away the time.

Fox tracks, oh my!

We discovered fox tracks around our chicken coop! However, are we worried, no! Our coop is built sound and predator proof. Wildlife will always be where chickens and lifestock are, but being proper advocates for our animals will always assure their safety. With more snow on it's way for tomorrow, we await to see what other types of tracks we will have!

A coat for Garth

This winter has been one of the most harshes ones we've had in a long time. Very cold and lots of snow, or are we just getting old and feeling it more? I know old Garth our Suri Alpaca is. He doesn't grow his fleece in like he once did. So Auntie AJ provided a lovely coat for him.

But Cyrus wants to know where his is?

Rainbow Corespun

This time of year I just love how much spinning time I have. I have such a fiber stash and was going through soe bags and found this English Leicester dyed in beautiful rainbow colors.

I corespun it around a cotton core. It's a huge skein of rainbow loveliness! We are faced with yet another snow day here so I will be back in there, searching bags for more inspiration!

Snow Day in Connecticut!!!

Connecticut was under a blizzard watch. Many rushed to the store, got their milk and bread, gased up snow blowers and generators, getting ready to hunker down for what was said to be an epic storm. There is quite nothing more exciting and nerve racking all at the same time! This is our snow covered road to the left and to the right is the same beautiful winter scene. We live on a very bucolic road with not many neighbors, just trees!

Teddy says "just some hay and shelter is all that makes me happy!"

Sorry it's hard to take pictures of these guys! The ewes are in the store and the middle stall. They are not complaining one bit. They rode out the storm in there just fine!

The chickens had nothing better to do than stay in their coop, under the heat lamp and lay eggs! I was shocked when I saw what they had laid! We haven't gotten more than 2 to 3 eggs a day for a month from 18 chickens. So the storm was not as epic as they had predicted but it was a wonderful day off hanging out, sitting by the wood stove and knitting away.

Head and Ear Warmer Knitting Obsession!

I love when I become obsessed with a particular thing! And lately it has been knitting head and ear warmers! I have been knitting them thick...

with handspun, corespun mohair locks in a thinner ear warmer...

more corespun alpaca, merino blend...

and in a thicker larger one for those with a bigger head. Why do people ask me why I love winter so much? Sitting next to a wood burning stove with a cup of tea knitting, in my opinion, is priceless!

Making homemade suet for the wild birds!

We are under a huge freeze here in Connecticut and today I was looking out the back door, watching the wild birds at the feeders. I then realized that I didn't have any suet. They so need their fats this time of year to keep warm. I then remembered I had a container of vegetable shortening used and poured back into the container from the holidays. That was when I got the idea!

I grabbed my big cookie sheet, spread some of the shortening along the pan.

Opened the cabinet and thought about all the leftover baking supplies from the holidays.

I found a small bag of coconut flakes, not nearly enough to use in any recipe. I found some cranberries, raisins, corn meal, graham cracker crumbs...

I added some birdseed of course. Then some flour, a little sugar and whatever else I could find.

I mixed and spread it all out on the cookie sheet and baked it at 350 degrees for about a half and hour!

I then cut into squares and tomorrow morning I will put it into my suet holders for all the birds to enjoy!

Boy it's cold out there!

Hopefully our animals are cooping well out there. We have done many things to prepare them. One being the new sub floor Tim has installed to get them off the cold floor. Even though we have tons of hay down, it is a help. Frozen water is a problem too. Shelping hot water down to the buckets, keeping the chickens in the greenhouse is a help too! They are toasty in there too!

Happy New Year 2015!

Happy New Year and looking forward to the year ahead. Our farm had the most  prosperous year we have ever had. We changed things up, and were quite successful doing it. However, this new year will be bringing major changes and Tim and I have a different direction we would like to go in. Our first decision is to sell our "Babydoll" sheep herd.

Our 5 generations of ewes enjoying a snack.

We wish all our followers and supporters a prosperous and healthy Happy New Year!