From Away

We are away right now, enjoying a lovely visit with Darling Daughter and her Dear Husband.  We are in Pasadena, California and nearing the end of our time here.  Although I have enjoyed the time here I will be glad to be home.

 The Maremmas have been trying their farm sitters - the way students will try on a substitute teacher... We are very very thankful to those who have taken on farm sitting tasks which has allowed us to get away.  Again, three sets of helpers were needed for us to be away.  Three seems to be the magic number.  A big hug of thanks to each one of you!

There is much to do when we return... 

Lambing will begin in a month, around April 9th.  The rams, Abe and Birch, need to be removed from the flock.  The expectant flock needs to be vaccinated and at this time in their gestation it will provide some protection to the newborn lambs when they hit the ground.  Grain feeding must begin.  In the late stages of gestation the ewes cannot consume enough roughage to meet their nutritional needs so grain is necessary.  They consider grain candy, so, I, as the Candy Man, will increase my popularity immensely.

Calves are coming.  I have been communicating with our dairy farmer friend from here to arrange for three bull calves and some more hay.  With the prolonged and intense cold these last few months we fed more hay than planned.  Plus, I over wintered more animals than originally planned, so a small delivery of hay will be necessary to carry us through to good pasture.

I have yet to bundle the newly milled wool rovings into packages for sale.  I must get this done soon as these sales will help with the hay and calf purchases.

I recently purchased some used garden hose reels.  These are for electric fence wire.  I have bags of wire, much of which gets knotted.  Winding it onto the reels will be very helpful.  On wheels it will be much easier to string out the wire along the temporary posts.  In addition I want a strand along the top and bottom of the Front Field's permanent posts to minimize coyote access to new lambs.  Spring is also a good time to clear the brush away from the bottom of these fence lines to set up the string of electric fence.  Too much brush will ground out the current.  As a bonus, I have some more garden hose that came with the reels.

And we are still awaiting the arrival of another barn cat, a Bogart for our Humphrey.  Several dead rats have been found now so Humphrey is doing his job well.  An addition will give him company and a sporting companion, too.  There has been a hold up at the source where the woman at the rescue where we are getting the cats has experienced a family crisis.  Perhaps the dust will have settled by the time we return.

There is the vegetable garden to plan as well.  We thought we would try some heritage seeds this year.  I have yet to order them and must do so soon.  There is a provider in Easter Ontario but it will be necessary to order them for mail delivery.  This year we have a rototiller of our own which will allow me to do the job across more than one intense weekend.  Last year we broke new ground while this year it should be easier.  I don't know how much manure I can get onto the site beforehand.

I will have to consult with my neighbour regarding a shearing date.  We will use the same shearer.  He takes about two days to do her much larger flock.  This fellow, Charlie, shore the lamas for me last year.  I will not shear Henrietta this year but leave her coat for another year to get longer.  I will observe her closely too to see if she is as bothered by bugs this year as last year.  I did get bug spray for them but they didn't like the sprayer.  Shearing day was a fun day last year with the folks who came out to help, so I will plan that again.

And we have to find a tractor.  It really is a necessity.  It may take some time to find and shop around.  We need it for mowing, hauling wood and other things.  I will also have the new job of snow removal next winter.  If we get a front end loader we can switch to round bales of hay too.

The weather here in California has been quite cool - for Californians - until yesterday.  I finally got to wear sandals.  And although the cold snap broke at home for a few days we are aware that the cold has returned and it continues to be well below normal temperatures for this time of year.