Welcoming twins and a surprise!

Lily finally had twins! Poor Lily has been big as a house, but yesterday she was panting and acting squirrely. I was doing a barn check at 9:30, came out of the house and heard their little cries. She had just had them on the hill. A ram and a little ewe. The little ewe had a rough time but she is up and strong and nursing! She gave us a scare this morning, Tim turned on the camera and thought she was dead, she was so soundly sleeping. I rushed down and when I walked in she lifted her head and stretched!

And this is our surprise! Can you guess what it is?

New products and changes coming to the farm!!!

With our beeswax that we harvested last year, we are adding some new products to our line of farm things.

Today I melted down some of the beeswax,

strained and poured it into some of these new molds I got...

and molded them into quilters wax. This is a great tool for quilters, it keeps the strands of the thread strong so they don't break. I aways use it when making a new quilt! Stay tuned, a lot of new life coming to the farm, as well as some farm friends moving on to new chapters for them. Lots will be happening on the farm, stay tuned!!!

Ivy is no longer the baby

Ivy is having a really rough time with the fact that she has a new brother and she is no longer the baby! She has been crying for her mom and then follows around Daisy and Patrick. This picture was taken just after Ivy head butted her little brother, and the mom Daisy gave her a very hard head butt from behind! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Daisy is seen comforthing Patrick while Ivy sulks!

What is a girl to do when she is no longer the baby? Poor Ivy, she just doesn't know what to do. Someday she will be a mom, but until then she is holding onto her baby status!!!

When rabbits attack!!!

This broom never stood a chance!!! I guess it's a form of fiber right? I have been told an unsupervised rabbit is a bad rabbit, looks like the broom is yet another victim of their rampage!!!

Welcome Spring, with a snow storm?!

Yes indeed, we welcomed Spring today with a snow storm! This winter is not about to give up easy. The hives need to be cleaned out and readied for the new bees coming...

and our garden "Pan" statue is covered once again in snow. However, it is officially Spring just the same!!!

Welcome Patrick!!!

We woke up to this little guy this morning!!! He was born to Daisy. If I were a betting woman I would have sworn Lily was going first. I guess you can never tell, they are going to come when they are ready!

The lamb watch begins...

Today marks the beginning of the "lamb watch." According to the gestation chart we are here and any time after. So from left to right, we have Daisy, Ophelia in the back and Lily on the right. I predict Lily will go first, she has been going off on her own and I keep finding her in the barn, tucked in a corner. But we will see! Lamb cam is on 24, 7 as we wait!

With Spring comes mud season, uugghhhh

The chickens are happy to spread their legs and finally get their coop cleaned out! Frozen chicken manure can be quite tough to cut through!

On top of our barn is the melting layers of the many snow storms we endured this winter. I thought this was kind of cool.

With all those layers of storms, brings layers of manure, then ice. We pull one layer off and then have to wait for the ice to melt to get to the next layer.

The pitch forks are frozen into the ground, which is making it interesting to clean without your tools!

We are cutting trenches to re-direct the melting ice. So with warmer temps it brings mud, and so on and so on...

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!