Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It's Saturday evening June 23 and its been a wonderful day.  My grandson Austin came to help me first thing this morning at the farm.  We cleaned out in the barn because there is an Open House at the farm tomorrow.  I'm very hopeful to sell some of last years fleeces and be able to buy hay for the coming year.  We also went to the Fiber Studio and got everything ready for my Landscape felting class that was 1-3:30 p.m. today.  I had four ladies for the class and it was such fun. 

My brother Everett and his wife Katherine had a family picnic this afternoon at their house. I baked beans and made a tomato, corn and basil salad.  It was so much fun except that it rained, the wind blew and was really pretty chilly compared to earlier this week when it was soooo hot.  There was so much wonderful food.  The children could run and play all afternoon and ended the evening making "smores".  It was so nice to have so much of the family there and everyone seemed to have so much fun.

Tomorrow Darcy, Todd, Rowan, Declan and their dog Kara leave to go on vacation.  Kara is staying with Todd's mother for the week.  Darcy's family is going to the Thousand Islands for the week.  I will be taking care of the sheep and chickens.  Donald Hall  came and rototilled Darcy's garden today and will come to clean out the barn tomorrow.  Darcy mowed around the fiber studio and her backyard.  The port-a-potty arrived and so we are ready for all the classes this summer.

It is really starting to get busy with classes at the farm and I'm so excited that Maybelle Farm is going to sponsor a "Cheese Making Class" on July 25.    Dancing Dog Farm in Dublin, N.H. will be coming here to Wardsboro to  teach this cheese making class.  The cost is $45.00/person and you learn to make 6 different types of cheese.  I learned  about Dancing Dog Farm while watching the television show " New Hampshire Chronicle" and contacted Carol to see if she would travel over to Vermont to teach a class.   I cannot wait to try making cheese,  especially the  lemon-honey dessert cheese (mmmmmmm!)  If anyone is interested in signing up for this class, please e-mail me or call the farm to reserve your spot.  It is a limited class size of 10 students so sign up early.

Well, i have to go to bed now and get up early to be ready for the Open House.  Goodnight from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello from Maybelle farm.  Its Saturday evening June 16th and all is well at the farm.  More news happening on and off of the hill.  I posted earlier in the week the beautiful picture of Winnie, our new Shetland ewe that arrived on Wednesday.  Next was Declan's celebration day from "The Little School" in Weston, VT.  My little grandson will be going to kindergarten in the fall.  I have been taking care of him, for 5 years and now he is a big little boy off to school with Darcy and Rowan.  I'm adding a very sweet picture of him all dressed up for his special day. 

Last night Jonathan and my farm helper Olivia went with me to Dummerston,VT where we picked out a beautiful sheep named Snowflake - she is a Shetland/Border-Liecester cross.  She originally belonged to Lorna McMasters who lived in Chesterfield, N.H. who sold some of her sheep to Enid.  Enid and her husband have a wonderful farm and absolutely beautiful sheep.  It was really hard to pick out just one but I knew I needed a very mellow sheep to put in with Winnie.  I'm attaching pictures of the two ewes to this blog.  When I walked out to the barn this morning, Winnie was in one little shed and Snowflake was in the other little shed.  I went in the pasture with my camera to try to get pictures but they are like having two dogs and just followed me around.  They are both such sweet sheep and I'm so happy with my two new girls.

Darcy helped me last night move the Moms and lambs to the front pasture. On Thursday evening two little lambs got out and went into my brother Alan's garden!! Yipes, they could have been lamb chops!  They are so far so good, staying in this new pasture.  This morning Darcy helped me move the three boys into the show pasture and they are very happy.  So life is good, everyone has nice eating and so I'm headed to bed with a big smile on my face.  When my sheep are happy, then I'm happy.  Good-night from Maybelle MaMa.

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  Very exciting news as today as my new ewe arrived from Kindred Spirit Farm!  Her name is Winnie and she is incredibly sweet, friendly and so beautiful.  I am just thrilled to have her here at the farm and plan to breed her with my handsome ram Thistle.  I look forward to the beautiful lambs they will have.  Ken and Donna arrived from their farm in NH just before lunch with Winnie in their VW Bug.  She was a very good traveler and hopped out of the crate, into my pasture.  We had a wonderful lunch with lots of stories and laughs.  I just wish they lived closer, like just down the road! Donna and I would be in so much trouble because our sheep are like potato chips for some people......just can't have just one or two!

It has been a beautiful, sunny day and the next several days are going to be sunny and hot.  I have to work tomorrow night and then take care of Declan on Friday.  I hope to work in the Fiber Studio on Saturday to get things put away as we are having the Open House on Sunday June 24th.  It would be wonderful to get rid of some of the fleeces from 2011 and use my skirting table.  Got to close for now and get some things done here at the house.  So-long from Maybelle MaMa

                                                        WELCOME WINNIE!

Hello again from Maybelle Farm.  It's Sunday June 10th and I have another sad bit of news.  Yesterday morning when I started to do chores, all of my ewes came through the barn to be moved to another pasture.  As I turned to close the gate, there was a sheep just standing in the middle of the barn.  I went over to her and recognized Annika.   I patted her on the butt and said, "Go along with your friends."  She went through to the group of ewes out in the front pasture, I then realized she was blind.  She got outside and couldn't figure out where she was and almost fell in the water tank.  I ran to the house and got Darcy, and we were able to get her in the barn.  I put her in a stall with her mother Vinca and put a call into the Vet.  Green Mountain Bovine is my regular Vet but they have Walpole Vet. Clinic cover for them.  I called and told them what was happening and they said they would try to be here around 1 p.m.  I called and talked to the Vet about 2:30 p.m. and he had a couple of emergencies and would be here as soon as he could.  He had me give her 5 c.c. of dexamethazone and 3 c.c. of Penicillin.  He arrived about 5:50 p.m. and after checking her decided it was neurological.  As we were talking of treatments/plans, she had a seizure.  With a very heavy heart, I told him to put her down.  It was a very tough call but not when you know there is no hope of recovery.  So fare-well my beautiful Annika girl.  I have attached a picture of her with her full, very heavy coat and she was such a sweet sheep.  She loved to come over to the gate to visit with anyone and I will miss her terribly.

So I will now go on to some happier things.  Olivia and Rowan stayed with me yesterday and worked in the Fiber Studio.  We are trying to have it all organized before all the classes start and we have a lot of work to do!  Darcy and Declan went shopping with Papa in Walpole, NH to the Tractor Supply store, Pinnacle View, Mahindra Tractor and R.N. Johnson.   I think Declan got his tractor fix for the day!  They had a really nice lunch and a good day.  K.B. and Debbie came up to talk about the fields and ditches, then K.B. mowed the whole field out across from the farmhouse.  It really looks nice and now I can fill in some holes before I let the sheep out in that big old field.

I left the farm last night about 6:15 p.m. and picked up my sister Bev.  We went to Dorr's barn in Manchester, VT where I played in my brother's band for a barn dance.  We played from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and then I came home, fell into bed and woke up at 6 a.m.  Time for a new day at the farm.  So- long from Maybelle MaMa.