The Whatchamacallit Broke

Last Friday The Farmer and I took our oldest daughter off to college. She wanted to leave by 8:30, so that she could have plenty of time to meet her new roommate and get settled in the dorm room before her orientation meetings started. We knew that, and prepared by getting up early enough to get all the chores done.

Feed ewe and ram lambs--check. Feed rams--check. Feed horses--check. Feed cattle--check. Run feed in automatic feeders in chicken coop in preparation for Saturday's baby peeps arrival--check. Make compost--check. Shower--check. Wait! We forgot to turn the heat on in the chicken coop to warm it up for the new babies. (They need it to be 90 degrees when they are a day old.) Run back in the coop to start the five furnaces.

And only one starts. What can it be? Is it the tremendous humidity? We accumulated over 5" of rain last week, more than all the rest of the summer put together. Or just the bad luck that seems to haunt us whenever we have pressure and need something to work?

We ended up leaving for college 45 minutes later than our daughter would have liked. And The Farmer smelled a bit like a chicken coop, despite his shower and formerly clean clothes. When we left the college campus, we would have liked to stop at a restaurant on the way home to celebrate The Farmer's 45th birthday and talk over the events of the day. Instead, we rushed home to try to fix the four furnaces that didn't work...

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Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that ...

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.) Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have...

Lambing Jugs

We usually let ewes begin lambing in the large pen, with the other expectant ewes. After the first lamb is born, The Farmer will let her care for it for a few minutes. Then he will go in and pick up the lamb (or lambs, if he's arrived after multiple births) and move slowly out of the large pen. In this case, the lamb is the bait that makes the ewe move, too. She is very concerned about her lamb, and will follow closely, calling out the whole time. The ewe and her lamb(s) are placed in a small lambing pen, called a jug. I have no idea why they are called jugs. If anyone knows the origin of that term, I'd love to know. They are kept there for 1-3 days to ensure that they bond, and that the ewe is caring for her lambs well. No distractions. We set up a whole row of temporary jugs during lambing time. This is one of our hay storage areas, so we need to be sure that we've used most of this hay up before lambing begins. After their time in the lambing jugs, the ewe...

Farming in the shade

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