Hurricane Preparation!

We spent most of our day today preparing for Hurricane Irene that is expected to hit us through the night. The most important part was getting the animals ready for the storm, making sure they have enough shelter and protection from the storm. We separated the sheep and put them in the lower barn and put the Alpacas in the upper. As you can see in the picture, "Belle" is not at all pleased about her living arrangements, but she'll over look it for some extra grain! The hardest part of a storm like this is the stress it puts on us
because we are very concerned for their safety, so needless to say we probably will be up most of the night checking on everyone.
One thing we did notice throughout the day was the pacing and humming of the alpacas, the sheep seemed to hide more, the bees were unbelieveably busy, almost to the point I thought they were swarming because there was so many at the entrance, the longer I stood there, it was apparent they were frantic to get inside. 

 In addition to preparing, Tim found some scrap wood and covered the top of the greenhouse in the event a branch falls on top and breaks the glass panes. The chickens are housed next to the inside, separated by wire, so we are worried about glass hurting them...
and then the bees! I was busy putting everything in the storage box and put this cinder block on top to prevent the cover from blowing off exposing the bees to the rain and winds. If that were to happen it would chill the brood and kill them, as well as the bees. This is my only hive to make it this year and I want to take every measure I can to make sure they are safe.
So for now, we are ready and prepared for everyone to ride out this storm and hope and pray all is well for everyone, as well as family and friends!

Dyeing for Color...

After a wonderful summer and taking a bit of a break it's time to get back to business, so over the past two weeks I broke out the dye pot. With my trusty dye pot and armed with many different colors of dyes I went to town...

 I dyed wool as well as alpaca fiber and got some
interesting results...

On the left is a color I did called "Salmon". It was interesting how the Alpaca fiber on the left took the color the way it should but on the right the wool took on a color of it's own.





Under the watchful eye of my terrier mix, "Autumn",
(who never leaves my side for too long) I
dyed several colors using both alpaca and wool.
I will be attending a "Creative Artisan's Campout" Labor Day weekend and will be 
teaching Needle Felting so I want to have many colors to choose from. I am so looking forward to this trip, re-connecting with old spiritual friends and looking forward to making new ones. Also looking forward to learning some new crafts, enjoy a ladies tea party, drum circles and bon fires. It is going to be the ultimate way to end this awesome summer I have had!

Katy and Jeremy's Wedding Topper

I am finally getting around to sharing a wedding topper that I did for a very special co-worker and her husband-to-be this June. She showed me a picture of what she wanted so I went to work putting my own creative spin on it. She gave me the color swatches of her brides maids dresses and I went to work.
They are made of 100% Alpaca fiber from my boys.

I was really at a loss of what to get them for their wedding so this was perfect. The legs were the hard part since I am not a metal sculpture,  it was quite difficult but I did it. She brought them to her mom who crafted a top hat for the boy and a veil for the girl. I can't seem to get the picture to import to post it of the finished product which is really cute. The eyes are made out of glass beads and I scalloped the tail to give it a better look. It was my pleasure to do this for them on their special day!

Going Native or Bust!



"Mountain Mint"

"Witch Hazel"











              




 Last week my friend Donna and I ventured out to visit a nursery that sells only Connecticut native plants. I never imagined how many plants are actually native to Connecticut,  and the selection was endless. The name of the nursery was called "Earth Tones" and it is owned by Kyle and Lisa Turoczi. I first met them at Ansonia Nature Center where they have done many things there. It is my goal to replace most of the non-native and invasive plants on my property with ones that are of use in our quest for sustainability. The top picture on the left is "Witch Hazel" which is distilled and used as an astrigent. The picture top right is "Mountain Mint". I am researching this plant but know that the Native Americans used it for many things and it's smell when the leaves are rubbed and is like no other mint I have ever smelled. It is just a beautiful plant. The bottom plant is a native Monarda or also known as "Bee Balm" or "Double Mint". This plant also played a big roll first being discovered by the Oswego Indians and used in teas. That's another name for it, Oswego mint, Horse Mint among others. What I find so neat about it is the double and triple flowers it has. So I have decided to go "Native"! Well within reason anyway, so the azaleas and Japanese maple tree must go! I am doing my part to rid my little place in the world of plants that are more ornamental and replace them with native ones that are. My next plants on my wish list are Wintergreen and Winterberry. The website for "Earth Tones" is http://www.earthtonesnatives.com/ If you get a chance venture up to Woodbury and visit this very unique nursery who is making a difference!



"Bee Balm" or "Double Mint"

 

Flea Market finds!

Last week Tim and I were on vacation. We did our best to rest, get some fun time in and get some things done around here. It went by way too fast as they usually do. Our last day was spent going to the flea market and we came across this apothecary box which is really nice. I am going to store buttons and many other small, "where did I put that" kind of stuff in it. The price was good too, the dealer was tired of carrying it around.

I also picked up this book which is like no book I have ever found. It has more stuff in here and is from the early 80's. It will help me in my teachings and open up some new ventures for me I am sure. It is hard cover and very thick and is filled with some much info. I just love the flea market, wish I could go more often!

Fencing work, hoorah!

 We decided it was time to tackle the fencing! It was very overdue to say the least. In the picture to the right is the worse of it...

During the past winter, we had a lot of rain and snow which brought the dirt and mud down the hill and built up against the fencing. We lifted up each section and dug and dug and dug. Our neighbors benefited from much topsoil loaded with worms the size of snakes!

However, no good project goes without a watchful supervisor! Ours was "Angus" himself who made sure the work was getting done...

With a generous grant from my mom, we have been able to get a couple of paid workers to help. In the picture to the left is Max, a neighbor and friends son. What a worker! Not pictured is Kenny who came and also gave us a much needed hand and worked his behind off!

Here it is cleaned up, however we still have to move the boards up or it's just going to build up again, but for now it is cleaner and not putting so much pressure on the fencing. One job done and many more to do...oh the life on a farm!

Mini Eggs!

Once in a while we find a mini egg in the nesting boxes. I checked up on line and there were a couple of opinions as to why this phenomenon happens. It can be from a chicken who has not had her body adjusted to laying yet or sometimes these are two eggs merged. Either way it is really weird. I broke one open and there was no yolk in it at all just egg white, weird!

Farm Days 2011

Farm Days 2011 has come and gone. We had such a good time kicking back as people stopped by, some people who traveled from very far, from Florida to see us, Dev. We saw some old friends and made new ones too...

 We had many homemade things, such as this Sunflower pillow from "the boys"...

The theme for "Farm Days" this year was "Community Sustainability", and we did our best to represent as much as we could. Here our some chicks and ducklings from our neighbor, Dave. Fresh eggs, yum...

 Pottery from my good friend, Karen who does some amazing things...

even "The Queen" made an apperance. If you look close you can see the white dot on her back, placed by yours trully!

We even had a cool set up explaining beekeeping. Once you get me going you can't shut me up...








The problem with the two days was I got a little relaxed and forgot to take pictures until the end. We had two other awesome vendors here, Amy and Jody who make the most incredible items out of recycled wool sweaters, burlap, jeans, old silverware, you name it. I am going to contact them and see if they have some pictures to share. I had so much fun talking, giving folks tours, showing the Greenhouse, even chatting with a cool reporter who stayed for well over an hour talking, he was the nicest guy! So as Farm Days has come to an end, we have decided to take some down time and close the Farm Stand until September. This way we can focus on our bees, animals and gardens so our harvest will be plentiful! We will have eggs and anything else you might want, or just stop by and say hi! Enjoy your summer and remember to do just one thing towards Sustainability in your life, it will make for a better you and will help the planet too! Happy Farming!

Farm Days Open House

Where: 156 Punkup Rd, Oxford, CT 06478


Date: June 25, 2011 / June 26, 2011

Time: 10:00am–4:00pm 

Coon Hollow Farm will host it's annual Farm Days Open House from 10 to 4 on Sat Jun 25 and Sun Jun 26, 2011. Visitors can visit the resident Alpacas, Llama, Sheep, chickens, gardens, farm stand as well as see the 3 bee hives. There will be tours of the newly recycled Greenhouse. On hand will be chicks, ducklings, Needle felting demos,clothing recycling, an Observation Hive complete with a marked queen for all to see. Info on raising chickens and overall Sustainability of our Community is the theme for this years event. If you would like to display something, join us or would like more info call Tim or Dawn Sotir @ 203-881-1986 or email us @ CoonHollowFarm@aol.com.

Website: http://www.CoonHollowFarm.blogspot.com

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the great dad's out there and to the best father I have ever known, my husband Tim (pictured here on the right with his brother and sister). He is the father of both our wonderful kids and he is one of those dad's who is always there when they need him and would give the shirt off his back for them. So Happy Dad's day to my love and best friend, Tim...

The making of a Nuc Hive

After two failed attempts to order a queen for the Ansonia Nature Center's Observation Hive, with each time arriving dead. The opportunity came up when one of my hives decided to raise not 1 but 6 new queens! So I decided to split the hive for the Nature Center. I put a frame in the nuc hive with 2 queen cells, honey, brood and some bees last week, closed it up and gave them all a few days to allow the pheromones from the previous queen to dissipate. 

We opened it up today and they went to checking out their environment, cleaning out those who had died and went about checking out the garden bench which will be their home for the next few weeks. The poor UPS man or anyone coming up the walkway for eggs will sure get a start when they see the hive, but the bees won't harm anyone I am sure! I will check back in a few weeks to see if one of them has hatched and then she will need to leave for breeding, only then will she be ready for the hive which should be just in time for insect summer camp!

This post marks our 150th post to our blog...email me at CoonHollowFarm@aol.com and answer this question to win a give-a way:
Which bees are sacrificed in the fall? Good luck and thanks for checking out our blog!

Healing and Bath Salts...

One thing I know about myself is that I don't stay idle well. As I mentioned in my last post I recently underwent some surgery and am home re-cooping. I can only do limited things. Today I noticed that I had exhausted my homemade supply of bath salts so I got busy. I broke out my trusty coffee grinder, oils, sea salt and ground down the herbs...

I blended a variety such as lavender, rose, rosemary, ylang ylang, orange peel, juniper berries, nutmeg and so many more. I made about 5 different blends as well as these two to the right. Needless to say my kitchen and bathroom smell so good giving me an aromatherapy lift in my healing process!

Making "Black Gold" right in my backyard...

Now that I am at home recovering from some surgery I had to have, I am finding small things to do around here. Today I went onto the back deck and proceeded to plant some seeds and pot some plants up for my son Timmy and his girl, Jackie.

I went back to my compost and collected this beautiful "Black Gold" soil. There are so many worms in it they were jumping off the shovel with every scoop. This was achieved all from vegetable and fruit table scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, hay, grass clippings, leaves and whatever else organic we can find. It's healthy and amazing and you can make all by yourself!

My how they have grown...

I just can't believe how fast 8 weeks have gone by. Just look at the size of them! The big one is one of Belle's boys, he's huge. Belle will retire from breeding this year and enjoy her retirement. She has started a beautiful line that will forever have our farm linked to her line.

 Today was the lambs big day, they got their last CD & T shots, were wormed and then it was time for them to get ready to go off to their new homes. We are keeping one of Rose's ewes, but deciding was so hard. We settled on the smaller one, she's always had my eye since she was born.

They were fitted with harnesses and loaded into the back of "Grandma Liz's" SUV for their trip up to her house to spend the night and then off to their new homes in the morning...

and yes it breaks my heart to see them go, I would keep them all, but we breed them to help put our mark on bringing back this rare and once endangered breed, the Olde English "Babydoll" Southdown sheep.

Free fencing, you can't beat that!

Once again, you seek and you shall find. We have
been having quite the time with our chickens getting into our gardens. They managed to root up our garlic, onions, strawberries as well as the rhubarb. Our friend Kenny was over last week and we mentioned that we had to get fencing to fence the garden. He stated that he had some laying around he was getting rid of and brought it by. The next thing we needed was some stakes, our friend Pat was no longer in need of a bunch he had so he gave us about 20 of them, instant fence!
There is no telling what people have laying around

and this helped us out quite a bit!

So Tim and I set out to put the fencing up today and did so with very little problems. We put up about 60 feet all the way around. If you look close at the first picture top left, there is a chicken on the other side of the fence saving our vegetable garden. In picture bottom left, we moved the cold frame, and put the strawberries in there. Tim still has to build a gate as well as another raised bed but for now I can just pull this little bit of

fencing closed to keep the chickens out. So there you go sustainability with a little help from our friends, Thanks guys!

Shearing Day, finally!

On this cloudy dreary day we finally had our farm animals sheared! Tim and I set the easy up up last night, locked the sheep up and hoped they'd be dry in the morning.

 The alpacas instantly knew we were up to something when we caught them all and put their harnesses on. There is nothing like a stressed and suspicious alpaca, they hum and pace as they plot an exit.

Finally our shearers, Jeremiah (standing) and Rick arrived and after a brief set up went right to work. We started with "Royal" because he is just plain evil, if we did not do him first and put him away he will attack to protect his flock.

 They tether each animal and stretch them out. This is safe for the animal as well as the shearers. It keeps the animal still and stops thrashing and injury. It's the only way to do it in my opinion. They are done in just a few short minutes this way.



                                                     
 another shot of Jeremiah shearing "Awan". In the foreground are the bags of fiber. Because it was a somewhat rainy day the fleeces are all over the house drying right now.

 and here is a shot of the gang naked! Check out those skinny necks, you have to see them in person it is really funny. They will be so cool come the hot weather...

Here's "Royal" the evil one, naked as a jay bird! He has no idea that we only have his best interest in mind. Tim and I have to sleep with one eye open, he is probably plotting our deaths!

 One thing I find most funny on shearing day is after the ewes are shorn the lambs don't recognize their moms for a short time. They run around and scream out because they don't know these strangers that are in with them! Where's my mom they scream (if they could)...




and here are "Rose" and "Belle" looking clean and cool. No more panting for them. So until next year shearing is behind us, no what to do with all this fiber and fleece!