Keeping Everyone Happy on a Chilly Day

January 2nd, 2008

A cold front has brought quite bitter weather for us here, temps haven’t even reached 30F yet and a brisk wind makes it feel even colder. Fortunately I purchased a pair of ski overalls in a thrift store a few years ago and they sure make a nice difference. Everyone got their regular morning meal at 6 this morning and even though we filled the buckets with hot water some of them had frozen over again. So out again at 10:30 to give everyone a midmorning hay snack and warm up those buckets. Did it feel wonderful to come back in and stoke up the woodstove! There is a split pea soup simmering on the back and the tea kettle in front which takes up almost all the top of this little Jotul. Daisy, the 15 year old Lhaso mix and my shadow has taken up station right in front of the stove and feels quite toasty.

Yesterday I started a batch of chevre and that is now ready to be hung to drain, chevre is the easiest cheese to make and requires little supervision. I use DVI cultures that come in foil packets, for chevre I normally use MM100, let it culture 10 min. in the milk and then add the proper amount of rennet for the volume of milk. Let it sit over night, hang to drain over night, herb & salt and eat! For those interested in making cheese I just recently found another site that you should check out: http://www.dairymaiden.com/about/about.htm

Another to-do is getting the ground wheat soaking for bread making tomorrow. I grind up 2 cups of whole wheat berries, add 2 cups of goat milk and let it sit out. Now if it’s very warm I’ll use water instead but this soaking really helps the full flavour of the wheat to shine. When ready for bread making, I add instant yeast, another cup of water and unbleached flour to make a dough and let rise in the pans - I like to bake the bread at 425F for 20 min. As you can tell I like to keep the breadmaking simple since we go thru 4 small loaves a week.

A cold day is just the reason to sit near the woodstove and peruse seed catalogs, design the drip irrigation system and a new Hen House. I found a UK site with designs I really like aesthetically and they really look pretty straightforward to build. I don’t feel too bad about using their designs as a springboard since they aren’t sold here in the US but for folks in the UK, check them out: http://www.hen-house.co.uk/index.html I think the Hargrave will definitely make the Hens quite happy.

Hope you all are staying warm and happy too!

Emergency weaving bobbins & winder

December 30th, 2007

Here I am, loom finally dressed with her new warp in white and Copenhagen blue 10/2 pearl cotton and no free bobbins! And the idea of paying postage on such a small item when I should have ordered them with the new warp materials had me feeling a bit frustrated. But in the far reaches of my brain a little voice said - straws. Uhmmm. SO off to the market and viola they actually work! And since I need 4″ers I can get 2 out of 1 straw. Then the question was how to wind it. Bob suggested the portable drill, I found a 3″ nail that was just right and away we went but not too fast! I have a few inches of the new cloth woven and those bobbins are performing admirableably - now if my weaving would only improve. Actually it’s the first inch or so that makes me cringe because this is where I am figuring out how much to beat, whether the tie on is straight, yada yada yada. Perhaps I should just do the hemstitching up that high and figure the first bit as waste. Well after I wind this bit around so you can’t see it I’ll post a photo. Sure hope the straw idea gets someone else out of a jam - Happy weaving!

Introduction to our farm family

Here is a quick look at our family, Bob and I are both 3 generations from farming so we do lots of things a little differently. First and foremost is our philosophy that everyone will live out their natural lives here. We have been vegetarian/vegan for almost 30 years now so while we hope everyone can contribute to the well-being of the farm and land we do so with respect and a view that all beings are created equal. I'll save the rest of the animal respect soliloquy for another post tho. Just want you to know from the outset so there won't be any misunderstandings and that when we speak of our family we do mean it in the full sense of the word. Other things we do that may not be the norm for some folk is being as holistic as we know to be. That starts out be designing our farm from a permaculture point of view. Rotationally grazing and keeping pastures rested. Having some of the chickens in with both the sheep and the goats to help keep parasites in check. And I make an herbal tonic that everyone gets to boost health that and we all eat kelp too! As a whole this seems to be working, everyone is hale and hearty but we have much to do and much to learn.

I hope you enjoy some of these photos and please do ask questions if you have any.

Here is Fancy of the 3 Dorset girls that began our flock. They are friendly, easy going and have lovely fleece, that is soft, crimpy and dyes like a dream.

Soon after the Dorsets, we found a wonderful breeder of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, Barb Halligan of Cornerstone farm. From Ellie, Grace and Zoe was the beginnings of our herd. Llew the black llama gelding is the herd guardian and he is ruled by Lashes who also likes to sunbathe.

A small flock of Jacobs, a rare 4 horned breed, from Stratton Hall in NJ joined us last year. There is a lot of individuality to their fleeces. Kira and Jester have the softest but still with a little lustre. Bethany's is maybe what one thinks or reads about for Jacobs. This group of 2 ewes and a wether also included Issac the ram, so then we had ....

Lambs! Having 5 Mums give birth really explodes the flock, now the flock numbers 19 in total. What we were surprised about was how colorful the DorsetxJacobs are, so I'll have lots of brown wools to both sell, as well as spin and weave with. Do stop over at our web site www. littlemeadowsfarm.net to see most of our sheep and our Adopt a Sheep Program.

Mr. Bunny came to live with us last Feb., his original name was Thundercloud because he was all grey. After his first shearing tho he is now a white coated guy. Still a sweetie and is doing very well living side by side with Ranger a French Angora bunny gifted to us by Meg. Their fiber is carded into the sheep wool to spin up warm & soft yarns. They do not live in cages but in special enclosures on grass.

This summer we added 3 lovely Corriedale girls to the flock, Betty & Mabel are Precious' twins and the three of them have blended in well. Precious' fleece is micron tested at 24 so is extremely soft - we expect Betty & Mabel to have very similar fleeces too.

Iris and Gardenia, the Alpine Dairy goats are the newest girls here, they are milking a gallon per day so we have lots of milk for soapmaking and cheesemaking.

I am missing photos of our hens so that'll have to wait for another time. In the meantime thanks for looking and reading!