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.

The Riches of Reading

Life is always better when I am in the middle of a good book.  Right now, I am in the middle of two.

At the library, the other day, I was looking for a book on tape and ran into A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami.  How could I not take this one out with a title like this, a great picture of sheep on the cover, and written by a man that shared my father's birthday.  It is a wild one for sure.  It is a pre-loaded digital audio book which means it is all contained and you just plug your head phones in and listen.  You can't tell how long it is because you don't change disks which is strange.  The unit is small and you can put it in your pocket and walk around.  The head phones I am using are the big ones that look like noise protectors.  I was wearing them the other day when I went down and let the animals out to graze.  The geese, particularly, thought the headphones were strange and let me know.

The animals seem to mostly comment on new things around my head.  A different hat, a hood, sunglasses, head phones.  Oh well.

It is a good book but loaded with details that I think are going to come together at some point and don't quite.  I am glad that I am listening to this one because I don't think I could read all of this detail and yet it adds to the story.  I can't quite see where it is going and, like I said, I don't have a sense of how much of the story is left, so it is certainly an unusual situation.

The other book I am reading is The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea.  It too, is filled with elaborate description, some of which I scan.  This one has many phrases in Spanish which are not translated.  Sometimes, I feel like I am eating lobster and steamed artichokes at one meal, both time consuming but delicious.

I wonder if the sheep would like me to read to them.  Sometimes animals like to be sung to, maybe reading would be the same.  Some warm spring day, I will check it out, but for now, I will sit in my van and be read to by Rupert Degas, as the animals graze the one pasture with grass left, below the driveway,

No "no school fiber day" Today

 This is what the driveway to the farm looked like when the kids would have been arriving.

The sheep were disappointed.  so I had to give them extra hay.  As you can see though, they don't mind the snow.

Cirrus is checking to see if it is still snowing.  We got 5"-6".  Still a white sky, but it may change over to sleet or freezing rain.

A good pajama day.  My overalls fit over my pajamas to go to the barn and shovel the walk to the fiber studio (never know when you are going to need a tool or some supplies).  But, since the driveway and the road, for that matter, are not plowed, I can't come up with a good reason to get dressed.

It is lonely without the kids but I think I will work on some fiber projects anyway, on my own, in my pajamas.  I hope the kids are all dressed and enjoying the snow.

A Really Good Friend

I read this morning that a good friend is one you can ask to come get dirty with you.

I was telling Karen what I had read, a couple of hours later, when she came to help me trim some hoofs.  She just laughed and said she was already dirty.  So, I would like to say, a really good friend is one who is already dirty when they come over!

The sheep at Cabin Spring Farm love Karen and today I realized why.  Not only is she relaxed when she holds them and chats with them the whole time but, she also sings to them.

I love when things go so smoothly.  Sometimes, it is just hard getting the sheep where I want them, not today.  Sometimes, one of the sheep gets anxious and I get pushed or get stepped on, not today.  Sometime, I accidentally clip a little short and draw blood, not today.  Sometimes, I slip on something or even over my own feet, not today.  Today, was delightful!

I remember one time one of the local vets I really like, came over to trim Beau's hoofs.  He was so easy going and we moved slowly and chatted while he trimmed Beau's hoofs.  Beau seemed very relaxed and a few minutes later the vet was done.  He remarked, "this is a very polite llama".  I was so proud of Beau but the vet made it easy for him to be polite.  He didn't sing but he probably would have, if he thought it was necessary.

I just hope Karen knows I would do anything for her.  I don't even mind when her buck goats are really stinky, thats just who they can be.  I forgot to remind  Karen of this, this morning, but I will tell her next week, when we are both clean and sitting at the new Thai  food restaurant in town, for lunch.