Spring Update 2016

There are 3 new hens and a new rooster who have come to live at Cabin Spring Farm.  Little Momma is very happy, since Sal took over nest sitting.  All the chickens are delightful and friendly and follow me around when I am about.  Cirrus has settled down and I don't have to wear my armor anymore.  And now we are going away again, but just for 3 days.

Today, Beverly and I represented Cabin Spring Farm "Fiber Camp" at a local camp fair.  The idea is, parents preview the summer camps available for their children.  Looks like there is much interest again this year.

I ordered and received this year's seed (mostly for a pollinator garden) and constructed 2 hugels.  Once again I feel like I am almost on schedule for this time of year but……

I got my hair cut (fairly drastically) and my hairdresser (what a funny word) asked me if the sheep have gotten their hair cut yet this year.  I told her the date was coming soon.  This reminds me that the second year the sheep were sheared it was by a friend who used to cut people's hair.  She has sheep and shears them with scissors and did the same here.  That was great.  Now we have a big event, which reminds me I need to get some more notices out.

So much for being on schedule.

It's Complicated

On our last night of vacation we were sitting in a pub and on one of the televisions there was a Big Truck competition.  I have always thought they were very strange looking.  Here is the farm version.  A typical chicken nest is about an 1/8 this size if that.

Just before we left, Sal started laying eggs.  Geese usually construct a nest, lay 6 or 7 eggs and then start sitting on them.  They don't necessarily lay an egg every day so I figured she might be sitting just before we returned.  I alerted our farm sitter of the situation.  When we returned this is what we found.  

A couple of days before we left another hen disappeared.  I suspect a hawk got her; they are the daytime predator that leave no trace.  I had been planning on getting a few chickens from Karen, but wanted to wait until we returned from our trip to make sure everyone settled in together.  I hated to leave the last hen alone but decided to stay with the original plan.  

This hen has always been a good sitter and a good mother so maybe she found the goose eggs in the nest and thought this would be something to occupy her time alone.  Sal doesn't seem to mind but she does take a turn sitting sometimes.  Maybe she is still adding an egg once in awhile.

  This evening when I went to feed the sheep, Sal was on the nest and Little Momma was waiting in the barn and peeking under the wall of the closet, to see if Sal was coming out.  It was getting dark so I waited to see if the hen would go to the coop if Sal didn't come out soon.  Sal came out and squawked  at the hen sending her to the coop, but she came out again and ran back up to the closet.  I waited to see if Sal would go bother Little Momma but it seems like whoever is sitting has possession.  Sometimes one has to just let things take their course.

I want to get more chickens in the next couple of days.  It will be interesting to see if Little Momma is interested in new chickens or decides to stay on the Big Nest.  

Unfortunately,  the automatic chicken door is not working again, so I want to figure out what the problem is before more chickens arrive.

It is COMPLICATED.

Artistic Vision And Layers

Where was I reading the other day about artists visioning through/across spectrums?  Not sure how it was phrased but what they were talking about was how artists draw inspiration from a totally different art form than they are predominantly working in, but being artists, they know how to incorporate what they are experiencing outside of their art form into their next project.

I have been flip flopping all over the place recently being INSPIRED by all I see and hear.  This winter I sewed a wool jacket, knit a baby sweater, brought out my watercolors and my watercolor pencils, designed a new garden, dug a hole, designed birdhouses in my head, and have been doing much research to support all of the above.  I have been watching birds and fish (and sheep of course) and observing colors.

Today, I went to a GROW symposium that focused on Native Plants.  More inspiration!!  Now all I need is a little warmer weather and 2 or 3 interns.  I guess I could use a little direction as well.

Tomorrow, maybe I will confer with the sheep and see if they can offer any wisdom.  They usually do a great job of settling my flurrying mind.

One of the take-aways for me from the symposium was

+/-

which means, at least as I understood it, "you can get what you want to achieve by taking away what you don't want" Something like that.  A dynamic way of looking at creating a new garden area.  

And one of the speakers challenged us to look at every setting we come across and count the layers.  That can translate into painting and fiber work as well.  For some reason, I always feel better dressed in layers.  To me it is about relationships between the different textures, colors, and lines.

It is a lot to take in and process------ I am glad I have 9 sheep to confer with.

More March Snow

I hesitate to post yet more pictures of snow, especially in March.

When John and I decided to go visit a friend in March, I checked back on blogs for the last 3 years, to see what the weather could be.  I was surprised to see so many pictures of snow. Here are some more.

It started snowing late yesterday afternoon; a really wet snow.  The sheep looked so weighted down at the evening feeding, but I didn't have my camera with me.  This morning was beautiful.  We got about 3-4 inches but it compressed very quickly.

The driveway hardly had any snow

Even the barnyard didn't really accumulate and the sheep had shaken off the snow mats of last night.

And then by the end of the day,  the snow was gone.  I love the light in this picture.

What a strange last few days we have had; all over the place from 60 degrees to 20s to snow and back to 40 degrees. 

 Sal started laying eggs with the warm weather.  I wonder how that will all go this year.