Our home, decked out in Christmas' finest....
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
We love Halloween
... A little late, I know...
Loralee and I love making our kids' costumes for Halloween... This year, we cheated a little on Tim's, but he sure enjoyed it! Patrick, however, was the star of the show as R2-D2...
Loralee and I love making our kids' costumes for Halloween... This year, we cheated a little on Tim's, but he sure enjoyed it! Patrick, however, was the star of the show as R2-D2...
Monday, September 29, 2014
Spectacular Fall
I think this is the most beautiful Fall in at least five years; the colors are stunning.
We have also managed to do some really great stuff over the last few weeks as well, including apple picking at windy ridge, the Danville Corn maze, and the Burke Fall Foliage day.... It is amazing how much there is to do in our little neck of the woods!
We have also managed to do some really great stuff over the last few weeks as well, including apple picking at windy ridge, the Danville Corn maze, and the Burke Fall Foliage day.... It is amazing how much there is to do in our little neck of the woods!
Monday, August 04, 2014
Summer projects
Never a dull moment around the farm. Here are a few projects we have been working on this summer. First up, our field-stone retaining wall & perennial garden. We gathered the rocks from around our property and old walls buried in the woods:
Of course, no childhood would be complete without a tree-house... The boys and I built the platform last year, but this summer we have framed it and will be adding a roof soon:
Of course, no childhood would be complete without a tree-house... The boys and I built the platform last year, but this summer we have framed it and will be adding a roof soon:
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
A Riot of purple
After nearly 8 years in the house, our flower gardens finally look established; especially this time of year. The gardens grew organically without much planning, hence the lack of variety in color or timing of flowering plants. Most of these came from either my Father's garden or my Grandmother's which is a great way to create a lasting legacy garden...
This summer, we are rebuilding the rock wall to make it taller and more structured, and hopefully will add a second tier behind the existing garden as well. You can also see how well our apple, pear and cherry trees are doing-- these were mere whippets a few short years ago!
Meanwhile, our lambs look great.
This summer, we are rebuilding the rock wall to make it taller and more structured, and hopefully will add a second tier behind the existing garden as well. You can also see how well our apple, pear and cherry trees are doing-- these were mere whippets a few short years ago!
Meanwhile, our lambs look great.
Monday, May 05, 2014
Lambing season 2014
It was a busy weekend around the farm this weekend. We have four pregnant ewes, and two were 'due' at the end of April. Well, one ewe had twins on Saturday AM... two healthy lambs, although one was very small. That morning, I shifted her to the jug I made, and all was well. The lambs were getting milk, and seemed to be thriving.
The next day, I was working in the barn, keeping an eye on that one ewe and her babies. I noticed she was struggling a bit, and when my wife came out, I said "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was in labor again..." Lor thought perhaps it was post-partem contractions, and went inside to google it... I kept my eye on the ewe, and kept working in the barn... about 15 minutes later, I checked her hindquarters, and saw a bubble protruding from her rear-- On closer inspection, I saw a tiny hoof.... "uh-oh", I thought- A triplet still-born...?
I let nature take its course, as the mother seemed to be having normal, rhythmic contractions.... within minutes, the entire package was out... but what I got was another living, breathing, full-term lamb! Mom, however, was not done... a few minutes later (well, 15-20), yet another baby had joined the first... and then, finally, a third!
Impossible! She had just birthed twins the day before! At first, I thought perhaps I had made some terrible mistake- perhaps this ewe was NOT the mother of the previous day's litter... and yet, I was completely certain there had been no mixup, and I had correctly separated the mother with the two babies that had bonded with her...
.... This was confirmed later in the night, when the second pregnant ewe gave birth to a singleton.
So, now we have two moms and SIX babies! While the babies seem to be doing well, I know that the ewe with five cannot keep up with milk production, so we have started supplementing with milk-replacer. We have a couple calls in to area vets in the hopes to learn more about such a big litter, but no call-backs yet.
What an adventure!
The next day, I was working in the barn, keeping an eye on that one ewe and her babies. I noticed she was struggling a bit, and when my wife came out, I said "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was in labor again..." Lor thought perhaps it was post-partem contractions, and went inside to google it... I kept my eye on the ewe, and kept working in the barn... about 15 minutes later, I checked her hindquarters, and saw a bubble protruding from her rear-- On closer inspection, I saw a tiny hoof.... "uh-oh", I thought- A triplet still-born...?
I let nature take its course, as the mother seemed to be having normal, rhythmic contractions.... within minutes, the entire package was out... but what I got was another living, breathing, full-term lamb! Mom, however, was not done... a few minutes later (well, 15-20), yet another baby had joined the first... and then, finally, a third!
Impossible! She had just birthed twins the day before! At first, I thought perhaps I had made some terrible mistake- perhaps this ewe was NOT the mother of the previous day's litter... and yet, I was completely certain there had been no mixup, and I had correctly separated the mother with the two babies that had bonded with her...
.... This was confirmed later in the night, when the second pregnant ewe gave birth to a singleton.
So, now we have two moms and SIX babies! While the babies seem to be doing well, I know that the ewe with five cannot keep up with milk production, so we have started supplementing with milk-replacer. We have a couple calls in to area vets in the hopes to learn more about such a big litter, but no call-backs yet.
What an adventure!
Friday, April 04, 2014
April is here...
...Or is it?
We are *Finally* getting more seasonal temperatures, but at this rate it is going to take some time for all the snow to melt. This image was taken at the farm on Friday, April 4th. We finally put sap buckets up last weekend:
We are *Finally* getting more seasonal temperatures, but at this rate it is going to take some time for all the snow to melt. This image was taken at the farm on Friday, April 4th. We finally put sap buckets up last weekend:
Monday, March 17, 2014
The Blizzard of '14
March weather does not seem to want to let go. Weeks of 'below normal' temperatures (meaning, -10 below, -16 below over night) interspersed with the rare above freezing day has made for a wild ride. We have not yet put up our sap buckets, and I am wondering if we will even have much of a season.
Over March 12-13th, we had the wildest weather of the year, as a significant storm system dumped at least 24" of new snow on our farm. I had the unfortunate privileged of driving to Albany, NY for a GE Healthcare conference during the 'weather event', and driving was definitely NOT FUN. Back at home, the farm is inundated with snow, but at least the kids are having fun:
Over March 12-13th, we had the wildest weather of the year, as a significant storm system dumped at least 24" of new snow on our farm. I had the unfortunate privileged of driving to Albany, NY for a GE Healthcare conference during the 'weather event', and driving was definitely NOT FUN. Back at home, the farm is inundated with snow, but at least the kids are having fun:
Monday, March 03, 2014
In like a rabid lion...
March is off to a very cold start. Today at the farm we awoke to 8-below zero, and the rest of the week looks cold as well. We have a good 18"-24" of snow on the ground. Over the weekend, I managed to complete pruning & releasing of the remaining 5 apple trees on my WHIP contract. It was not fun, but the images below can best describe our recent winter weather: Bleak, cold, snowy & miserable.
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