Our first lambs have arrived. Juliette - our Shetland/Coopworth cross delivered all by herself on Wednesday morning in the wee hours. Chloe and Cecil are hopping around the lamb jug under their mother's watchful eye. Chloe weighed a whopping 7 lbs and Cecil a bit smaller at 5 lbs. Stay tuned for more updates... we have three more ewes ready to deliver any time now!
Hello from Maybelle farm.
Its Sunday night April 24th, 2011 and WOW what a few days we have had. I will start with early Friday morning. 5 a.m. to be exact when the phone rang and it was my son-in-law Todd. He was trying to get his wife (my daughter) Darcy and had been trying since 4 a.m. and couldn't reach her. Todd was in ICU as a patient (not working at the hospital as he was supposed to be) and needed to talk to Darcy. He was having chest pains and they put him in the ICU unit and so I stayed with Rowan and Declan and Darcy went to Brattleboro Hospital. They did blood work and all sorts of tests. Darcy called and Rowan went with my sister Bev and my niece Carleen to Brattleboro Hospital to be with her parents. I stayed with Declan and he had a nap. Darcy came home in the evening and they were keeping Todd to try to figure out what was going on. Darcy talked to Todd's mother Judy and Todd's brother Jay. Oh yes and Rowan's birthday is this Saturday, April 23rd. Darcy,Todd,Rowan and Declan were going to Concord, N.H. to stay at the Fairfield Inn for Rowan's birthday and Saturday Todd was taking an EMT test. Well needless to say this was all canceled and so Rowan cried all the way home but then came to YaYa's house for a sleepover Friday night and which made things a little better. Saturday morning we woke up to the ground covered with snow and its sleeting/snowing and basically a terrible day. Darcy took Rowan and Declan and went to Brattleboro about 11 a.m. to pick up Todd but when she got there.....he had to stay for more tests. I made a chocolate cake for Rowan's birthday and fixed supper so Darcy could come here with the children and try to celebrate Rowan's birthday. Rowan had another sleepover at YaYa's house and this morning I took Rowan home to discover that the Easter Bunny had arrived at her house sometime during the night with a large basket of goodies for both Rowan and Declan. Saturday night when I did chores, my little Ripley was not talking to me and he seemed very off-balance and like he couldn't see. He also didn't eat but I thought maybe he was just a little agitated from all the sheep coming in to eat. This morning I opened the barn door and listened for Ripley to say "BAAAAA", but there was total silence! That was not a good sign. I kept calling to him as I went down the stairs and nothing. I got to his stall and he was laying down, shivering and totally unresponsive. I moved him and covered him with a flannel blanket, gave him some Banamine (for pain) because he was grinding his teeth and I realized he couldn't see. I had Darcy go out and we talked to Todd. I gave Ripley a shot of Thiamine and some more Banamine and left for the Museum. I opened the Tasha Tudor Museum for a family from Japan that had just moved to Virginia three months ago. Seth Tudor met me at the Museum and was able to talk to them and they had a wonderful visit. I left the Museum at 12:30 p.m. and went to the hospital to see Todd and to pick up Rowan and Declan. When I got home, my son David was coming from the barn and said that Ripley was really bad. I called the Vet and Deb came to the farm and at 6 p.m. so she could put Ripley down! My poor, sweet little Ripley sure fought a good battle but Deb said she was sure it was something neurological and it was a good call to put him down. I have to call to see if the Sate Vet has to come to take some brain samples before we can do anything with him. It was such a tough decision but I know it was the right thing to do. "Farewell my sweet little Ripples". Next, just to make sure life doesn't get to dull and boring. I let Tinka, Arly,Juliette and Aphrodite (The Pregnant Girls) out while we were dealing with Ripley and they ran around the pastures. I let them in with a little grain and lovely 2nd cut hay. Tinka (that is the food vacuum), walked by the grain and hay and went to the corner with her ears laid back against her head, craning her neck/head and I'm like "Good lord.....are there lambs ready to be born tonight"? I'm calling my brother Everett and my son David for my maternity back-up crew!!!!! This is just an extra added bonus to two days that were wild to say the least. Well I'm going to close and go back to the barn shortly just to check on my MaMas! Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa. Hello again from Maybelle Farm.
Well shearing is over for another year and the poor sheep are shivering in their boots! I am feeding out 2nd cut hay,cracked corn and a little grain to everyone but it doesn't seem to be doing too much. I'm about ready to put a wood stove in the barn and warm them up a little bit. I always dread shearing and thank goodness Darcy and Todd went out and set the barn up and did the shearing with Craig and Philo Marcotte. I just made the donuts and took care of Rowan and Declan. Delores Clark care up to help and what a lifesaver that was. She did such a great job and I really appreciate her help. I'm going to send her a little gift. Oh yes, Thursday morning April 14th the same time as shearing we got a call to come pick up the baby chicks. So Rowan, Declan and I loaded a cardboard box lined with newspaper into my car and off to the feed store we went. They each picked out three baby chicks and named them. Declan named his "Egg, Toast, and Jam"! Rowan named her chicks "Rose, Tulip and Daffodil"! The chicks are really growing and its fun to see how much they change each day. Today is my son David's birthday. He is 36 yrs. old today and I can't believe that my baby is that old! How does time fly by so fast? He is taking his family to Fitchburg, MA. to stay at the Marriot and go to a water park. We went out to breakfast yesterday morning to Manchester,Vt. with David,Rachel,Ella,Austin and their dog Jack. This was to celebrate David's birthday. When we got back to Wardsboro, we met Spencer, Elizabeth and Sarah Gray (Elizabeth is my husband Jonathan's niece) and had a very short visit because it was so cold outside. Saturday my sister-in-law Katherine went with Jenna and me to Brattleboro to the Tasha Tudor Museum to do the Egg Decorating class. It was such fun and everyone did a beautiful job. I'm going to add a picture so you can see how nice the eggs are. I'm also going to add a picture of "Naked Thistle" my ram after shearing. He looks like his horns are too big for him. I also got an e-mail from the Battenkill Fiber Mill that my roving and yarn is ready and I can't wait to go pick it up. The lady said that Spartacus yarn is such a beautiful shade of dark gray. Well I've made a quiche for supper and have to go do chores and then take supper to my sister. We have a Monday night supper date and then watch "Dancing with the Stars". I took my needle felting critters to the Thompson House Nursing Home and showed the residents how I make my critters. It was such a nice morning and I love visiting with the people. I then went to buy steel toed boots as my big toenail finally came off last night. I broke my toe in Nov. and have been gimping around all winter......I can tell you that my toe is very tender and I would scream like a banshee if someone stepped on it, so I decided steel toed boots were the best idea. I worked at the Museum from 12 noon to 2 p.m. and then came home to fix the wood stove, feed the dog and make the quiche. Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa Hello from Maybelle Farm.
It's Monday April 11, 2011 and a cloudy,gray day. Yesterday was my "Wool Hoarder Sale" at the farm and it went well. I only sold one whole fleece but I certainly had lots of fun visiting with all my fiber friends. Jenna, Alison,Cheryl, Rayleen, Deb, Marjorie and Margie all made the day such fun. We all visited with the sheep, checked out lots of raw wool and had a nice chat in the Fiber Studio. The only complaint is that the time is too short and we don't get enough time to visit and play with the wool! I'm attaching pictures of my gift from Rayleen. I am so touched by such a thoughtful gift and I will use it to keep my needle felting supplies organized. Rayleen has bought wool from me over the years and I knew she was working on projects but I didn't know I would be the one to receive such a beautiful gift. I am just thrilled and can't wait to show it off. Jenna ,Alison, Cheryl, Margie and I will be the "Fab Fiber Five" at the Wardsboro 4th of July and will be doing a demo of drop spindle, spinning on a wheel, wet felting, weaving and needle felting. After I showed everyone my gift from Rayleen, we asked her to come sit with us on the 4th of July and demo her work! Darcy, David, Rowan, Declan, and Jonathan all helped me clean out the upstairs of the barn. David and Jonathan went to Stratton and got me 24 more bales of hay. The next event will be shearing on Thursday April 14th. I will get the sheep in the barn on Wed. and they are shut in and can't have water or food Wed. night and not until after they are shorn. I will be so glad when Thursday evening is here and shearing is over. I dread it every year and am so glad not to be out in the barn during that process. I will take care of Declan and Rowan on Thursday and we will go to Dance class. When Dance class is over, I can come home and breathe a big sigh of relief.......SHEARING done for another year! HURRAY! The snow is just about gone and I am so glad to see my daffodils peaking through the ground. It makes me think that spring is finally, FINALLY here! This Saturday is the "Easter Egg Decorating class" at the Tasha Tudor Museum. If anyone reading this blog is interested, there are still 1-2 more spots available. It is going to be such fun and we are decorating Goose Eggs! Well, I've got to go get busy on some more projects and then clean the living room. So long from Maybelle MaMa. Hello from Maybelle Farm. Its Saturday night April 2nd, 2011 and its been a gray, rainy day. At least the big snowstorm didn't amount to much yesterday. I can say that April Fools joke was a good one.....not the heavy large amount of snow they thought we would get. Lets see, since I last wrote on our blog, I took 100 lbs. of raw wool to the Battenkill Fiber Mill in Greenwich,N.Y. I'm having most of it made into roving and Spartacus fleeces will be made into beautiful gray yarn. I'm very excited to get it back and it was wonderful to get that much wool out of the barn.
I am having a "Wool Hoarder Sale" this coming Sunday April 10th ,2011 12 noon to 3 p.m. at Maybelle Farm. I have to sell the fleeces because we shear again on Thursday April 14th. I have over 40 fleeces still in the barn and will sell them for $10.00/lb. I have a large skirting table so people can skirt the fleece before they even take it off the farm. I have to sell the fleeces and hopefully earn enough to pay to have the sheep shorn this year. It has been a very costly winter with all the sickness of the sheep. Now the cost of grain and corn has jumped. Thank goodness I have found a wonderful hay supply that is only about 10 minutes from my house. That is going to be wonderful for this next year. Yesterday was my class at Marlboro College and it was Conflict Resolution! Yipes, it made me realize that I am basically a chicken-liver and would do anything to avoid a conflict. Well there is an exception to that statement. I definitely do have the "Old Mother Bear" instinct so that is a warning........don't mess with my family or my animals!!!!!! Well I guess that is all for tonight. Good-night from Maybelle MaMa. |
AuthorKathleen - Farm Partner, Flock Shepherdess and great storyteller and (occasionally) Darcy - Farm partner, business "manager" and current web designer. Archives
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