Farming in the shade

Just over a week ago, the kayaks touched water for the first time. It was a spring-like day, and the guys just couldn't resist. They didn't stay out long--just paddled about a bit to get a feel for the kayaks. The kayaks are finished, except for the varnishing.

I recently read a statistic that 75% of wildlife habitat in this country is provided or protected by agriculture. I am amazed at what I saw today. I took a walk earlier this morning, but didn't look up. The Farmer, on one of his missions, saw this big bird, and told me about it at noon. It was still there after lunch, so he called me from the cab of the tractor to tell me. Can it be? Whoa... I think it is! (Click on any of the photos to zoom in.) A bald eagle. Amazing! Apparently I was paying a little too much attention to him (or muttering my amazement too loudly), as he flew off. See the white tail? Beautiful...

In theory, our two flocks of sheep (Suffolk and Polypay) should lamb sequentially. First the Suffolk and then the Polypay. We time the placing of the rams so that it happens this way. In theory. But for some reason this year, many of the Suffolks seem to have been bred later than we'd hoped, causing us to worry about overlapping lambing seasons. You guessed it; our worries have come true. Lamb count (so far) today is 15. More to come, The Farmer says...

As I posted before , our tractors are all fairly old. It's okay, since tractors are designed to last longer than your average car or truck. But there comes a point as you are executing yet another repair when you stop and think: "Is this worth it?" These are hard decisions. We are a small enough farm that we run with a razor thin cash flow. And we don't much like debt. So it's not easy to think about buying another tractor. If you buy something used, you may be buying someone else's trouble--more of the same constant repairing. Yet anything new is so expensive! We ended up finding a barebones (meaning no onboard GPS, surround sound or auto-massage seat) two-wheel drive tractor available from a dealer. It should do nicely for our haying and cultivating needs. Larger than our smaller tractors and smaller than our largest tractor. This brings the fleet up to four, officially, but we may let the smallest tractor go back to live with its rightful owner, my father.

Many of us who sell on Etsy belong to teams. Teams of sellers can be formed because of location (like the EtsyWMI team) or other reasons. The first team I joined was the SHEteam--the Schooling at Home Etsians (a.k.a. homeschooling) team. These sellers are scattered around the globe, but united by the fact that one way or another, we learn with our kids at home. A few of the members of the SHEteam have offered up prizes for a week-long giveaway. If you'd like to win some goodies, click on the button below for more information.

The tractors on our farm are older. The newest one was manufactured in 1981. The oldest one dates from the early 1960s. They break. We fix them. They break again. We fix them again. Lather, rinse, repeat. We have a saying: "Stuff only breaks when you need it." It's important to laugh about dire things, so that you don't cuss or cry. But when you've got just a few hours to get the hay finished and the tractor breaks, it's really no laughing matter. So today, The Farmer found a deal on a tractor that he just couldn't pass up. I'll post actual photos when the adoption process is complete, but this will give you an idea... In the meantime, as the bookkeeper for the farm, I see that this is a bit of a leap of faith. If you could spread the word about the Tractor Sale in our etsy shop, I'd be grateful. And if you've ever wanted to purchase something, but are the type to wait for sales, this is it. We don't really do the sale thing... until now. C

Progress has slowed a bit, but the kayaks are coming along nicely. It's a long process of fiberglassing and sanding. Repeat. The "glassing" brings out the beauty of the wood even more. The potential kayakers want them ready for whenever it hits 50 degrees.

From another farm blogger: "One of my favorite sites, Grist.org, ran an article yesterday by farmer and writer Steph Larsen, entitled "When are we going to stop seeing farmers as rubes and hayseeds?" She brings up an excellent discussion point, and I think it's just the tip of the iceberg, because I think it goes beyond analyzing just the general public's perception of farmers--it's the attitude toward food in this country. Because the corporate-government machine has made food into a commodity, most people have adapted that mentality about it, too. In the movie Ratatouille, the main character, Remy, is told by his father, Django, "Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage." Frankly, I think that too many people have adopted exactly that mentality regarding their diet. Read more of the article, "Perceptions About Farmers" here . I'm sharing this blog from some

While we were busy in the barn, we had several folks demonstrating in our little on-farm studio. "Studio" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? It's really a converted chicken coop where I keep my looms and we host events like this. Joyce demonstrated knitting socks on her antique circular sock knitting machine. Folks of all types are fascinated by these machines. Barbara demonstrated needlefelting. She also had quite a crowd gathered around her, amazed at what she could make with a little wool and some felting needles. You can see her work here . Kari, Chris and Lorrie demonstrated spinning wool into yarn. Kari was getting folks involved in the spinning process. I know this isn't the best photo, but I just LOVE the concentration on this little man's face. We had our wool products for sale in the shop, and were helped out by Annie, Vonnie and Grace. Couldn't have done it without our demonstrators and helpers! Thank you so much... So folks were able to wander