Hello on Sunday January 5th, 2014.  We have been having incredibly cold weather and wind chills below zero here in Vermont.  I can tell you, it certainly doesn't take me long to do chores.............YIPES!  We have been shutting the barn up at night with all of the sheep inside.  My ram Custer and his three wether buddies, Chet,Cecil and Spartacus, are in a pasture with two sheds, packed with hay and they seem to be doing O.K.  My three little boys Fergus (7 month old Shetland ram) and his two wether buddies, Franklin and Fritz, are up in a shed and very cozy in their house!  It's a beautiful sunny day this morning but then we have rain/sleet coming in Sunday night into Monday.   I have to say this is some crazy weather and I sure wish Spring was a lot closer.  The attached picture was yesterday morning's sky.  It was so beautiful but so very cold.

I am thrilled that Aries, the ram I picked up from Hope in NH,  has found such a good home at Sheltie Meadow farm.  Also my handsome Thistle has gone to a wonderful farm "A WIng and a Prayer Farm" in Shaftsbury,Vt.  Both boys should be very happy with their girls.  It certainly makes life alot easier here at Maybelle Farm to only have a couple of rams.  We had a nice Christmas with our children and grandchildren. New Years Eve was very quiet and I didn't even stay up to see the ball drop.  We wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy New Year. So-long from Maybelle MaMa.

Kathleen wrote this last week, but we are just catching on our online posts today...

Its Saturday December 28th and I can't believe this will be the last farm blog for 2013.  It has been very busy here at the farm since the last time I wrote something.  Lets see, where do I start!  I got a call from a lady in New Hampshire  that bought a ram from me 7 years ago.  She was desperate to find a home for Aries as she could no longer keep him due to health issues.  Jonathan and I ended up going to Hillsboro, N.H. to pick up Aries.  It was a very wild trip home as he broke the door on the crate on the way back to the farm.  I put him in the pasture to hopefully breed Opal ( a Border-Leicester/Cormo cross), Snowflake (a Border-Leicester/Shetland cross), Omega (a Tunis cross) and Star our beautiful black Shetland ewe.  Well he wasn't satisfied with those girls for more than a day when he started to beat on the fence, trying to get to some other ewes in a different pasture.  After a few weeks here,  I ended up finding him a wonderful home at Sheltie Meadow Farm in Ghent, N.Y. where he has now moved along to breed 11 more ewes! That should hopefully tire him out!  

My handsome ram Thistle went to a wonderful farm in Shaftsbury,VT in mid December. He has moved to "Wing and a Prayer Farm" with three lovely shetland ewes.  I was then able to put Custer, my white Shetland ram,  and his two buddies Chet and Cecil in the pasture by my studio with Spartacus.  Spartacus had been with Thistle ever since he came to Maybelle Farm and now he was without his buddy.  It has all worked out now with the four boys are together with two sheds and seem to be getting along great.

My two little white shetland ewe lambs and my little chocolate merino ewe are a constant source of entertainment.  Fergie, Florence and Finukin are such a silly little threesome.  Finukin (the little merino) even went up the stairs in the barn looking for a little more grain!  I am so enjoying all my sheep, plus its so much easier not to have so many rams.  I had Donald come and clean out the barn today.  I have a wonderful supply of hay this winter, thanks to Tammy.  There is a wonderful hay guy  that will deliver the most beautiful hay ( I think with a little vinegar and salt, I could eat it) and now I can sleep at night, not having to worry about hay.

I was a vendor at our local Christmas Bazaar at the Wardsboro Town Hall at the beginning of the month. I sold a lot of my socks, yarn, needlefelted critters,etc...  Jonathan is back working for the MOOVER and that is a good thing. I have a wonderful homecare job taking care of someone only two miles from my house.  So life is good at Maybelle Farm.  We had a very nice Christmas and today I'm enjoying the afternoon with my beautiful old Akita Lettie.  She has been sick,with seizures, but the Vet gave her some medicine that seems to have helped.  My Christmas gift was just to have her here, take her for a walk and enjoy what time she has left.  I want to wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy New Year from all of us here at Maybelle Farm.  So-long from Maybelle MaMa.