Crosswinds Farm

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

2012-01-12T17:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a glorious day. The sun was shining and it's warm rays were gently caressing the soft breeze. I spent most of the day working outside in just a sweatshirt.......well, I also had pants on....my neighbors think I'm weird enough already, thank you.

The thermometer in the chicken coop already read into the 50's when I was out doing chores in the morning, and by afternoon the mercury was almost at 60 degrees- unbelievable for January day in Iowa. The entire winter has been unseasonably warm, so warm in fact, that the plants are confused.

My Clematis vines are still actively growing.

As are the Dianthus....

..and the Asters.

Of course the Wild Geranium is flourishing...because it's a weed.

I must admit, I had to smile at the Dandelion's tenacity to muster a bloom even in the dead of January.

It has been so nice to have the grass stay a little greener during the winter months, and I really enjoyed finding previews of spring under the dead leaves as I was cleaning out gardens yesterday.

The barn cats spent the day doing what cats do on a warm day...... synchronized sun-bathing.

The hens scratched about in their yard while Yellow Man kept a watchful eye on his lady friends.

And the hens rewarded the warm day with a bounty of eggs.

WELL....THAT WAS YESTERDAY.

This is today.

There was a 'high' temperature of 16 degrees today with 25 mile an hour winds. Factor in the wind chill and, well, I don't even want to talk about it.

With the exception of the hesitant ewe lambs that had never experienced snow before, the sheep didn't seem to mind the drastic weather change. The ewe lambs took a bit of convincing to leave the safety of the warm, straw-filled barn, but once they bravely ventured out into the unknown, they seemed invigorated by the cold.

The dogs didn't mind it either....obviously.

Even Jolly Ball didn't mind. I hope Emma doesn't lose that darn ball in a snow drift again this year.

BUT, do you know who did mind?

Me! I minded a lot!

I was loving the warm weather. I was loving that it was unnecessary to bundle oneself to look like Ralphy's little brother in A Christmas Story. I was loving that I could fill buckets from the hydrant without the wind blowing water onto my clothes, instantaneously creating frozen, crackly pants. I was loving that I could keep my boots on the back porch and slip into them on my way out the door without finding them filled with snow.

Ugh. It is Winter, so I suppose I need to deal with it.

In the meantime I will wrap myself in a blanket, grab some tea, and busy myself dreaming of planting gardens, and perusing the pages of some chicken porn...errr...ummm....chicken catalogs...

Yes, Chicken Math will be happening again soon.

But, for now, Morgan and I share the same sentiment about our current weather situation.

Make no mistake, she is not smiling here, this is her way of thumbing her nose at the weather....sadly, she doesn't have opposable thumbs....

I promise to be less cranky next post...if it's warmer.

I am here, I am here, I am here!

2012-01-06T19:46:00.000-06:00

IS ANYONE STILL OUT THERE??

I will be surprised if any of you are still reading my blog after my long absence! You can cancel the missing persons report, call off the cadaver dogs, I am still alive!

The problem is- it is winter, in Iowa, and I have been feeling a little like this.....

Let's see....where did we leave off?

Ah, yes, when we last 'spoke' the chicks were but wee little fledglings. By now the chicks have grown by leaps and bounds and they are looking like.....well..... real, live chickens.

You may be wondering what ever became of the little Egyptian Fayoumi? Well, as suspected, the truth became apparent when the chicks reached the tender age of 5 weeks old. One morning I opened the door of the coop and was greeted by a pitiful attempt at a faint crowing sound - similar to a crackling voice of a teenage boy - this confirmed my suspicions, she is a he. He is almost all grown up now.

I must admit that he did not grow to become as hideous as I had anticipated.

....except when he crows.

I was also 'gifted' another rooster in that batch of chicks. Note: even when you uncheck the box that asks if you want a free rare breed chick with your order, you will still get one, and you can be pretty sure it will be a rooster.

This guy is an Easter Egger.

"Aren't I cute though?"

In sheepy news, when last we met, the rams had just been set up on their blind dates and I 'promised' to let you know which ewes were bred to which rams. You should know by now that my promises are meaningless! OK, so I am a little slow, especially since the breeding groups have been broken up for nearly a month already, but here it is.

Firth Of Fifth Avyt.

Avyt sired some gorgeous lambs for me last spring. He won Supreme Champion Shetland ram at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival last year. I was thrilled to lease him from Sommarang Farm in Wisconsin for breeding again last fall. Here he is pictured with his owner, Lori Stephenson.

Yep, he is a pretty handsome guy even with his broken horn.

Blind dates #1 and #2

Mira ( Sheltering Pines Mirabile Visu) and Ash (Crosswinds Ashumet) were two of Avyt's lady loves. I am hoping to get some gulmogets ( the pattern on both of these ewes) or possibly a spotted gulmoget from Ash, since she carries spots and Avyt is spotted.

Bachelorette #3.

Crosswinds Luna. I. LOVE. LUNA. Luna has gorgeous conformation and really nice fleece. She is the dam of Athena, my ewe lamb that won third place in a large class at the Jefferson, Wisconsin show last fall.

Love her.

Bachelorette #4

Crosswinds Menemsha. Menemsha is a beautiful, mioget girl with fabulous fleece.

Girlfriend #5 is Sommarang Edrea.

Edrea is standing funny in this pic, but she has great conformation and lovely fleece.

Lady #6 is Sommarang Dolly (Lilly).

Lilly has very nice conformation and good fleece, she is not the fanciest ewe, but she consistently has some of the nicest little lambs. She was paired with Avyt last year and gave birth to a stunning set of triplets.

Lucky #7 is Crosswinds Natale Holly. She is a pretty katmoget ewe with very fine fleece, and she carries spots....and an attitude. Holly's hobbies are: taking long walks in the pasture and head-butting the other ewes, finding chicken escapees and head-butting them back to their own pasture, and making threatening postures to our 12-year-old Golden Retriever on the other side of the fence...who she would like to head-butt if not for the aforementioned fence between them. She's a lady, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a lady.

And, Last of Avyt's ladies, but not least, is Crosswinds Mountain Laurel. She seems to be doing the splits in this picture, but she is a very nicely conformed ewe with great fleece. She gave me twin spotted RAM lambs last spring, so I am hoping for girls from her this year. C'mon Laurel!

Next we have a nice ram that I got from my friend Garrett- White Pine Nessie's Monster Mash......or, as we like to call him, M&M.

M&M is just a young lad, so he only had two girlie friends. This little guy has gorgeous conformation, fine fleece and, so far, his horns are looking really good. He took third place in a large Ram lamb class at the Jefferson show last fall. He may carry spots ( fingers crossed).

His lady loves are:

Crosswinds Halley.

I paired her with M&M because she doesn't have the best conformation in her rear end and I don't love her tail...M&M has a very wide, square rear and a perfect little tail, so the hope is that his good traits will correct her faults in any lambs they have...that is the hope. This could be an interesting pair. Both Halley and M&M may carry spots. He is katmoget, and she is gulmoget. Halley also carries solid...not sure about her boyfriend. So there are lots of lambie possibilities. Katmoget, gulmoget, solid, spotted, kat/gul (both katmoget and gulmoget patterns expressed ) or any of those patterns with spots. It's almost like Chicken Math!

And the last of M&M's soon-to-be baby Mamas is Crosswinds Bellona ( Bella). I am really hoping that M&M and this little lady will throw some spots. She is my wild child, but her fleece is yummy!

Well, boys and girls, that gets you caught up on the sheep and chicken shenanigans for now, plus you can now be pretty certain that I am not dead, so there is that.

I will be a better blogger. I will be a better blogger. I will be a better blogger....that's for you, Little Cuz.

Happy rams

2011-11-16T21:17:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed that the 'Lamb Watch' gadget on my blog is up and running again....guess what that means? It's that time of year again. Romance is in the air at Crosswinds Farm, and the 2012 lambs will be here in about 5 months.

I normally put the rams in with the ewes right around Thanksgiving time, and for some reason, I was thinking that I still had a while before we would be playing the Sheep Dating Game, but as I was looking at the calendar last week, it occurred to me that it IS Thanksgiving time and I needed to get sheep moved around....I have no idea where the year went, but here we are!

The sheep certainly didn't forget what time of year it is though. There have been lots of lustful gazes going back and forth across the pastures.

The boys have been waiting patiently to meet their dates....OK, maybe not SOoo patiently.

And there has been A LOT of unlady-like behavior from the girls.

" I smell boys!"

Even the ewes that are normally the best of friends have been acting like guests on The Jerry Springer Show.

" You're goin' down, sister!"

Have you noticed a common denominator...or, I should say, common dominate-r, in most of these photos?

Awwww, it couldn't be sweet little Athena, could it?

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, it's totally her. She may be the smallest ewe, but what she lacks in stature, she makes up for it in attitude.

The rams and ewes were put together in two groups last Sunday, putting an end to all the fighting. Little Miss Athena and Lucina ( the black ewe lamb) are safely tucked away in a pen to protect their virtue; they are way too little to breed. I can't promise that there will be no fighting in that pen though, 'cause, well....Athena is in there.

Mama Llama is just happy that things have settled down....

She was getting a little stressed with all the fighting.

" MAKE IT STOPPP!

In my next post I will let you know which ewes are with which ram. ; )

Fall and stuff.

2011-11-07T20:28:00.002-06:00

Fall weather has definitely arrived here in Eastern Iowa, and the crisp temperatures keep reminding me of all the projects that need my attention before the dreaded S-word starts falling. Come on you guys, I meant SNOW!

The weather has been fickle lately, to say the least, which makes it awfully hard to plan things, but it does make for some very interesting, and beautiful, Autumn skies.

The Squmpkins have been harvested, and for those of you who inquired as to the contents, they did end up assuming more of the pumpkin characteristics than the squash. The outer skin even started to take on a bit of an orange cast a few weeks after harvest, and by all accounts, they were delicious!

With the new batch of chicks growing like crazy, one of the projects on the 'to do' list was to get the small chicken coop fixed up to use as a brooder house. The coop is ancient, it was here when we bought the place, and it was in extreme disrepair at the time. We debated on whether we even wanted to bother keeping the old eye sore, but, in the end decided it was worth salvaging. We have patched it over the years, put a new roof on it a couple of years ago, and finally decided this year to put all new siding to finish it up.

We started working on it over the weekend, and got it completely done - except for adding a window....my husband doesn't know that he will be doing that in the spring. Also, unbeknownst to him, he will be adding window box...and a barn quilt over the door. I neglected to mention that I wanted those things at the time because couple-bonding over home improvement projects with power tools can sometimes end badly, so it is best to get the basic necessities done without bloodshed before mentioning the extras.

This is the back side.

I wanted to paint it something other than white, but we had white paint, so it's white. Don't tell my husband, but we will be painting it a different color in the spring too.

This is the front of the coop. We had a lot of volunteer building inspectors making sure we did an adequate job. In fact, some of them were such good helpers that they now have white paint speckles on their feathers.

There is ventilation all the way around the building, and there is a screen door to let the fresh air in on warm days, but for now the chicks are closed in because they still need the heat lamps and a draft-free environment. Once they are big enough, they will run free with the big girls.

The chicks have lots of things to keep them busy in their new home. For one thing, they been mastering the fine art of roosting. They have been doing pretty well, but it is still a challenge for some of them to keep their balance.

The little Egyptian Fayoumis is looking, well, Fayoumis-y. Hopefully it isn't a rooster, and hopefully, it doesn't live up to the breed's wild reputation.

"OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! LOOK! Not to change the subject here, but does anyone else have green legs???"

"Oh, wow, yeah, those are really green, you should probably have that looked at."

Boys will be boys!

2011-10-29T16:38:00.004-05:00

There has been a long-held belief, that up until now has remained unproven. This unexplained phenomenon is not limited to culture, geographic region, or economic status.

What is the hypothesis that I now have irrefutable evidence to prove true?

Little boys never grow up.

Last Saturday, my sister called me from The Habitat for Humanity ReStore, she said that the Store had just received a donation of several Rubbermaid stock tanks, and they were selling them for $20 each! The tanks had been used by a local company that makes concrete sculptures, and they would need a good cleaning, but were otherwise in good shape. I jumped at the chance. New, Large stock tanks can run about $100- $150 dollars and, even though I didn't have an immediate need for one, they have endless uses here on the farm. I asked her to buy 3 of them for me.

I picked up the tanks, and since the weather was nice, I started power washing them right away.

As I was washing the tanks, I noticed that my 87-year-old father-in-law, Fred, was intently watching me work. When I looked at him questioningly, he sheepishly asked , "Can I try that?"

"Sure!"

So I handed him the pressure washer wand and walked away for a while to let him work. When I returned several minutes later, I couldn't help but notice that he was still focused on the same small area that he was working on when I left. OMG, I thought, this will take for-ev-er. I then took a closer look at his work.......

I started to giggle and shook my head as I saw the proud grin on his face.

So, you see, it's true, boys never grow up. Give a boy a wand of any sort, and they are going to write their name on something.

Kinder, gentler Chicken Math

2011-10-28T12:14:00.003-05:00

Some of you may be wondering, where was the Chicken Math this year? Yes, my friends, there has been an inexcusable absence of Chicken Math. The spring was fraught with family emergencies of one type or another, leaving us with little time for, well, anything, let alone new chicken acquisition. I ended up picking up a couple of chicks here and there. You may remember, in April I got a few Blue Copper Marans chicks, they have grown into gorgeous hens and are just starting to lay eggs.

I also got a couple of Welsummers at the time I purchased the Marans.

During the summer I got 6 Black Sex-Link pullets that were a few months old and just at the age to start laying from Wesley Acres.

My friend, Chanin, Chicken Mathed me into some Orpington chicks back in April that are all grown up now too.

She gave me some Blue splash Orps. Can you tell this girl has an attitude?

As well as a few Buff / Blue Orpington crosses. They turned out kind of cool, except....

As often happens in Chicken Math situations, it became apparent as the chicks grew, that one was a rooster.

So he now hangs with Rooster Cogburn and Mr. Swagger.

With only a handful of new fowl friends added to the flock this spring, and an aging population of retired hens in my flock, my egg production was down significantly and my market customers were clamoring for eggs. I had to do something.

I normally keep all of my old girls forever, but with the large flock that I have, and so many older hens no longer laying ( but still happily gobbling up feed...a lot of feed ) I made the decision to find a new home for some of the old granny chickens. There was a problem though, I would only give them away to someone who would keep them forever - I didn't want anyone eating my girls!

Who would be willing to take a bunch of old chickens? This was probably going to take some time.

In talking to one of my Farmers' Market friends, I was able to find just the person to take them. Linda, from Tuftee's Garden. I discovered that she LOVES the old hens and would be happy to take a few to live out their lives on her farm. She told me I could bring 10, but in the end I could only part with six of them. The six that I chose were all between 5-6 years old and hadn't laid an egg in....well...a long, long time.

Marie and I brought the chickens out to Linda's lovely place, and they settled right in. They have a large barn, surrounded by greenhouses, with an outdoor run. They will be allowed to roam outside on the property during times when there is someone at home to keep an eye on them.

Marie and I were just getting ready to leave, when Linda was silly enough to mention that, since it was the end of the season, we should take some plants home with us. The greenhouse was closed until spring and most of the plants would not winter- over, so they had to go. She had no idea what she was saying. I thought she knew Marie better than that.

Within seconds, a pile of plants began to form at Marie's feet.

I'm not gonna lie, I got a few plants too, but my dear sister Marie is just as addicted to plants as she is to shiny things. There was a lot of conversation like, "Oh, noooo, Linda, I couldn't possibly take one of these......I shouldn't..............they are really pretty though... Ok, maybe just one then."

And then, this traveling greenhouse happened in the back of my truck. These are just the hanging baskets, the small plants are hidden in the back. Plant Math.

Good thing this bad boy was anchored down, or I'd have been hauling that home too!

The old hens were settled into their nice new retirement village, so we headed home with The Little Shop of Horrors going on in the back of my truck. But I still hadn't solved the problem of needing younger laying hens.

I decided that I should order some chicks soon, so that they would start laying eggs by spring.

If you've read this blog, you know how I love to get chicks from SandHill Preservation, but since they don't sex their chicks, and they always send a lot of extras....a lot of extras, I really, really wasn't prepared for full-on Chicken Math going into winter. I opted instead to place an order for ALL PULLETS, of good egg production lines, from Murray McMurray . My friend Cassie, from Farm Genevieve wanted a few too, so we were going to split the order.

I was ordering 25 chicks, and Cassie wanted 10. I placed the order for 15 Black Stars ( 10 for me, 5 for Cassie) 15 Easter-Eggers ( 10 for me 5 for Cassie) and 5 Red Stars for me, 35 chicks in all. McMurray has a box on their order form that you can check to receive a "Free rare breed chick", I always make sure that box is UNchecked because, with my luck, the free chick is certain to be a rooster. The order for the 35 chicks was to be shipped on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week.

The Murray McMurray hatchery is only about 3 and a half hours from here, so the chicks usually arrive at the Illinois postal sorting- station, about a 30 minute drive from here, the same evening that they ship. I left a notation on my order for the sorting station to call as soon as the chicks arrive, and I would pick them up to minimize the number of transfers that the little chickies would have to go through. I also called the sorting station personally with a reminder in the event that they didn't get my original message on the order form. Why does that surprise you? You know how I am.

I didn't receive a call on Tuesday evening, so I assumed that they must be going to ship out on Wednesday. No call came on Wednesday, so I called the hatchery and was told that, yes, they would have been shipped out on Tuesday or Wednesday, and that I should receive them soon.. I called the sorting station..again...."Yes, ma'am, we have your note right here, we'll call when they come in."

Thursday came, and still no chicks. OK, I could have driven to the hatchery and back 12 times by now.....where were they? Thursday night I called again...." YES, WE HAVE YOU MESSAGE!" I am 100% certain that by this point I had been placed on several governmental watch lists, but I didn't care. Where were they? Friday morning around seven, the phone rang, I heard a chorus of peeping in the background. "This is the Davenport post office, we have your chicks, do you want to come pick them up, or do you want us to send them out with your carrier?" Well, duh.

I am not sure why the sorting station didn't call, or why they went ahead and sent them on to the Davenport post office....maybe they were too busy assembling a security team in case the Crazy Chicken Lady showed up.

In any case, I got to the post office in about 15 minutes to find that all of the chicks were healthy and fine. Whew!

As soon as I got them home I pulled each one out of the box, dipped their beaks in the water to get them drinking, and counted them. 35, 36, 37....wait. 38.....39, 40?????

So, apparently Murray is somewhat versed in kinder, gentler Chicken Math. We only had 5 extras. When Cassie came to pick up her 10 chicks, I was gracious enough to allow her take 3 of the mystery chicks. ...that was all I could talk her into. One that Cassie took appears to be a Phoenix.

One of the extras that I kept, I later discovered, is an Egyptian Fayoumis, which, sadly, as adults are not quite as attractive as the artist's rendition on the hatchery website would lead you to believe.

....Drawing on the website......

Aaaaand, the frightening reality....YIKES!

The other extras appear to be more of the same breeds that we originally ordered.

Here are some photos of the cuteness.

" Should we make a break for it? I heard the people at the post office say that this lady is a little CRAA-ZY."

Pears on the ground, pears on the ground, what you gonna do with the pears on the ground?

2011-09-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

I thought I was done making jam this week......

Then it got windy yesterday.

I guess I am making more pear jam.

There are still a lot left on the tree too. Yikes!

"Don't worry, we'll help you clean these up, won't we Emma?"

"Yeah, anything to help out!"

" Nom, Nom, Nom."

"Boy, this is hard work!"

"Oh, Emma, why must you be so vulgar?"

" Waitress! Dahhhling, could you please wash a few of these pears and slice them for me? Not the ones from the ground, pick some off of the tree. I would also like a chilled glass of Moscato- and be quick about it!"

A tale of two Cucurbits and other scary garden stuff.

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

Every year I start planning out my gardens in January when all the colorful, attractive seed catalogs start to arrive. Every year I swear that this will be the year I have a magnificent garden, this will be the year that my garden stays weed-free and I will have the most beautiful vegetables in all the land. I say that in January. The sad reality is, every year I start out with a lovely, well-tended garden...and then life happens, or, Mother Nature happens. For the past three years, spring has started with obscene amounts of rain, followed by dry, dry, dry summers....great for growing weeds...not so much for vegetables.

The most troublesome crops for me to grow have always been pumpkins and squash. I have no trouble planting the seeds and getting them to sprout out of their nice little hills, lovingly constructed of composted manure and rich garden soil. I water them as their vines take over the garden, the yard, the pasture. I watch as they flower and start to set fruit. Inevitably though, the Vine-Borers arrive, and they bring their friends the Stink Bugs, feasting on the plants until vines begin to wither and die. Once the bugs start, the damage is done, and I have wasted a huge portion of my garden space with nothing to show for it. Last year I was able to baby along a few measly Pumpkins and some wonky little acorn squash to maturity, but upon cutting them open, I found that they were mealy and mushy inside. All of my efforts ended up in the compost pile. That was it! No more growing of anything in the Curcubit family for me! Too much space lost, too much time, work and effort. I was done!

This year I only planted crops that were more manageable, more cooperative and less...well, buggy. I envisioned a pristine garden with immaculate rows of glorious vegetables and perfectly tilled walkways......yeah, I can envision all I want, but that didn't happen. With the now all-too-familiar rain/drought scenario of the previous summers, my garden went the way of gardens past and reverted to it's, ummm, it's more natural state. The good news is, if anyone is in need of Pigweed, Cockleburs, Water hemp or Lambs Quarters I can totally hook you up.

Yes, I had pretty much thrown in the proverbial towel on my garden.

Then, one day I happened to pass by the compost pile and saw an enormous vine snaking it's way across the pile, winding through the manure and straw . I took a closer look and noticed the familiar leaves of a squash or pumpkin. It apparently sprouted out of the remnants of the composted vine-crop disaster of last year. I chuckled and thought to myself, those will never grow, I can't get them to grow even when I plant them on purpose! I left them, certain that they would meet their demise once the insect population was in full-swing. Well, they didn't. They kept growing, and growing, and growing. They laughed at the insects. They soon overtook the Asparagus bed.

Not only did the vines grow, but they began to set fruit.

They took over fences.

And they claimed the wood pile.

They grew right into the raspberry patch.

As the fruit matured, and after we had a little rain to wash it off, it occurred to me that they really didn't look like the same variety of pumpkins that I had thrown in the pile last fall, they are much, much darker and the creases are deeper. I am thinking that there was cross-pollination last year between the Acorn Squash and Pumpkins and the resulting seeds that sprouted are hybrids.....Squmpkins, if you will.

It's a good thing that other vine crops can't cross pollinate like squashes and pumpkins can because then we could be looking at a crop of Squattermellon, or Zuccumbers- that would just be wrong.

I have yet to cut one open to see what the innards look like....I will keep you posted..I know this is all so riveting!

My other garden misadventures involve my Sweet Potatoes. The vines were fabulous, but when it came time to dig them up, I felt more like I was performing an autopsy than gardening.

Because we had so little rain this summer, the ground was hard, and dry, and didn't allow the roots to spread out to form nice, long, plump taters....

Instead I got what looked like intestines.

And a heart.

OK, so maybe I have a vivid imagination.

I did find a couple of decent-looking Sweet Potatoes.....unfortunately someone else found them first. Darn varmints!

That's it! I'm done! I am pretty sure that I will soon be fencing off the area where my big garden is and adding that space to the ram pasture. I have discovered in my old age that, contrary to what I have always believed, I can't do everything...or at least I can't do everything well. I still have a smaller garden area that is closer to the house, and it is still more than adequately sized to keep our pantry stocked through the winter. I'm not giving up completely, I am just giving myself a break.

I can't wait until the seed catalogs start coming! Did I just say that?

Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival

2011-09-16T21:13:00.009-05:00

So, our maiden voyage with Harrison Ford ( the truck, not the man ), went well and the drive itself was relatively uneventful. He got us safely to our destination in Jefferson, Wisconsin.
Surprisingly.....or maybe not so surprisingly if you are a follower of this blog...we still needed the assistance of my new GPS to find our way, even though we have been going to this show for many years.
When we arrived at the fairgrounds on Friday, it was so great to be greeted by all of our sheepy friends, and it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many beautiful Shetlands. What a great weekend! This year we had two amazing judges from the UK - Kate Sharp and Alan Hill, they have both raised, and judged, Shetlands for many years in the UK. These two judges know more about Shetland sheep than I could ever hope learn in three lifetimes.

And they are just plain fun!

My only regret about the weekend is that we didn't get to the fairgrounds in time to take part in the Judges seminar that was conducted Friday morning. I was able to join in on the ram/ewe inspections later that day and learned so much more about our breed and why preservation of certain conformation traits is so important. For more detailed information, check out my friend Theresa's blog. There will also be a DVD available soon of the judges seminar ( I can't wait to get one since I missed the seminar), it will be full of great information for anyone with Shetland Sheep ( Email Kelly at okacres@hotmail.com to reserve a copy).

I brought 6 sheep with me with the intention of showing two ewe lambs, two ram lambs, and one senior ram. I also brought one ram lamb to sell.
I ended up showing only one of the ewe lambs, two ram lambs and my senior ram.
I was on the fence about whether or not I should show my ewe lamb, Athena; she had just turned 4 months old ( she was the last lamb born this past spring on May 5th) and I thought she may be a bit young to compete - but I ended up showing her, and she did great, taking third place out of a class of 36 really nice ewes!

I also showed Sommarang Gilroy, placing 4th in the senior ram class. Gilroy has sired some awesome lambs for me. He was bred by my dear friend Lori Stephenson. Lori has some of the nicest Shetland Sheep ever and she has been a mentor to me and she has been a huge part in helping me get my flock where I need it to be with fleece and conformation. Thanks, Lori!

All the show results will soon be posted on the Midwest Shetland Sheep Breeders website. There were some really exciting wins for some of my friends, so it was nice to see them get recognition for all their hard work and dedication to the breed.
Here are more pictures from the show.

My buddy Juliann Budde from Little Country Acres with one of her lovely polled rams.

The Fulks family with their small flock.

My favorite part of going to this show is catching up with old friends, and making new ones. Most of us are scattered across the US, and this is the one weekend during the year that we really get to spend time together.

Here are just a few of the usual suspects....I miss them already.

Left to right are Mike and Kelly from OK Acres, Briony is in the middle....she doesn't own sheep, but often gets dragged into the show ring when people need an extra pair of hands showing their sheep. She also cooks a mean pot of vegetarian chili! Lastly, but not least(ly), Garrett from Ramsay Farms, Garrett is like the little brother I never wanted....errr..ALWAYS wanted, I meant always, Garrett..

After the show was over, there was some sheep rearranging to be done.....some 'Sheep Math', if you will...Sheep Math is a lot like Chicken Math, so try to follow along.

I brought Pegasus and Apollo to show, with the intention of keeping them. I brought Helios to sell. I brought my two ewe lambs only to show, I had/have no intention of selling them, and I brought Gilroy to show and deliver him to my friend Laura, from Psalm23 farm, so she could lease him for breeding this fall. So, the plan was: Sell Helios, drop off Gilroy, bring home Pegasus, Apollo and the two ewe lambs. That was the original plan. Leave with 6, come home with 4.....until I decided to lease Avyt for breeding again this fall, so it no longer made sense to keep his two ram lambs, Pegasus and Apollo, so Pegasus was sold and will be making the girls at Under The Son Farm in Indiana happy, while Apollo will be residing in Minnesota at Ramsay Farms. Helios, the ram I was planning on selling, ended up coming home with me, along with a nice katmoget ram lamb from Ramsay Farms, plus Avyt and the two ewe lambs....so, I came home with 5, but if you followed any of that you can now proudly say that you are a scholar in the fine art of Sheep Math.

New katmoget ram.WhitePine Nessie's Monster Mash (M&M). He was 4th in a very large class of ram lambs and helped secure a 3rd place in pair of ram lambs!

Since Helios is an Avyt son too, he still needs a home. He is a nice moorit ram lamb and he carries spots. He has a super-sweet temperament.

His fleece is fine, very crimpy with a lot of ((SpRiNgY)) to it.

I am already looking forward to the show next year!

Wow, there are a lot of links in this post!

And the winner is...

2011-09-09T07:18:00.001-05:00

OK, so if you have looked at the poll stats, you've already seen who the winner of the Name the Truck contest is, but if you haven't looked, the winning name is HARRISON FORD!
The name was submitted by my good friend/ neighbor Miss Effie... more accurately, Mister Effie, (better known as 'Honey') thought up the name, and Miss Effie submitted it. So he/she/they are the winner(s). But I have decided that since they live right up the road and have access at all times to the aforementioned fabulous and exciting prizes, and considering the fact that I have issues and would worry that others that submitted names will feel left out ( hence me giving 8 name choices rather than the three that I originally intended), AND taking into account the fact that Miss Effie has a cult-following that may have influenced the poll, I am going to also award prizes to the two runners-up.
So, without further ado, here are the winners:
Sally Kennedy from Utopia Farm was the first runner up with the name Roamin' Roman.

Christine Bryne from Front Porch Indiana was second with Mike, as in Mike Rowe- who I adore...

Congrats! Contact me with your choice of prizes, ladies! Miss Effie, you know where to find me.

I'm off to Jefferson, Wisconsin in Harrison Ford for the weekend!

First blog post EVER without pictures??!!??

The polls are now open!

2011-09-07T08:06:00.003-05:00

OK, so this was waaaay harder than I thought it would be. There were so many great names submitted for the "Name the Truck" contest that I couldn't pick just three truck names for you to vote on, so I narrowed it down to...well, several...for this completely unscientific poll. The poll ( on the RIGHT upper corner of this page ) will be open until 1:26 AM Central Time on Friday, the 8th of September ( yup, that's tomorrow ). What? It's my poll, I can pick any ridiculous time I want for it to end.

If you don't see your name, it doesn't mean I didn't like it, some of the names submitted were names of family members or pets that we have......or my ex-husband's name, so that wasn't going to work out.....nope, that would be a bit strange.

If we have a tie between two or more, I will narrow it down and may have to extend the voting for a second round.
Vote once....who am I kidding? I have no way of telling how many times you get your coworkers to vote for you.
Annnd, GO!

No rest for the wicked.

2011-09-05T21:14:00.003-05:00

I am sure that many of you spent Labor Day relaxing with friends and family, enjoying each other's company, and taking a break from the usual hustle and bustle. Unfortunately, not everyone had the luxury of relaxing away the long weekend. There was none of that lollygagging around for my rams, they had important work to do! They decided to observe the Labor Day Holiday by taking full advantage of the beautiful weather with a little light house-keeping and a nice little remodeling project.

I think what they were working towards here was the clean, open look of Contemporary-style interior design, with a nod to the Garden design style, offering views of the flora and fauna, really bringing the outdoors inside for a light and airy feel.

"Walls? We don't need no stinkin' walls!"

"It's so much more Feng Shui now."

This is what happens when Autumn is in the air....or the scent of ewes in season... and a young ram's fancy turns to thoughts of love....and the ewes are on the other side of the property.

And that's why they are called "Rams."

There have been some really great names submitted for the "Name the Truck" contest, I have no idea how I am going to narrow it down to only three! You can still submit names until....well, until I add the poll on Wednesday morning...I'm not great with rules.

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend, and all of your buildings are still intact.

This is your assignment, should you choose to accept it.

2011-09-02T21:26:00.003-05:00

Yup, I did it again. I have abandoned my blogging duties. But, after several 'gentle' nudges, and some not-so-gentle nudges in the form of comments left on my Facebook page, I got the hint that it was time to update.

First off, for those of you that don't follow my Crosswinds Farm page on Facebook, I have some sad news. I lost Willow, one of my favorite older ewes, a couple of weeks ago. We will miss her very much. I know that many of you have followed her on this blog over the years, and many of my market customers have made lovely garments from her fleece and looked forward to purchasing her fiber every year. I know they will miss her as well. That is all I want to say about that.

Other sad news.

I had to say good-bye to Larry, my truck, recently as well. If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you have met Larry through the tales of the misadventures that occur every time my sister Marie and I take a road trip. As my husband so aptly put it, "You and Marie have been lost in some of the best parts of the country in that truck." He was not even joking when he said it. Dead-pan serious.

I've had Larry for over 10 years and he has carried sheep from every corner of the Midwest, pulled horse trailers on the way to trail rides, hauled goodies home from various flea markets, and kept us safe through all kinds of weather, crazy traffic and misguided directions from a GPS that wanted us to drive off a cliff.....don't say it....

Good-Bye Larry :(

There is good news though. There is a new man in town. Meet.........ummm...

this guy.

Here's where I need your help. This guy does not have a name yet. We used to always say, " Let's take Larry." But now is like... " Hey, let's take...ummm...the truck." It just seems wrong.

We are going to need a name before our first official road trip in this truck to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival the 9th, 10th and 11th of September...I know, it's only a week away! I have faith in you, you can work under pressure.

You can leave name suggestions either in the comment section of this blog, or on my Crosswinds Farm facebook page. I will pick the top three favorite submissions on Tuesday night...sometime...not midnight 'cause I have already been in bed for a couple of hours by then. I figure the deadline should be Tuesday night because that will give those of you who only read blogs and check Facebook while you are at work ( you know who you are) a chance to catch up after the long weekend ....it's OK, I won't tell your boss. Besides, this is so much more important. So, just get your suggestions on here soon(ish) and then I will add a poll on this blog on Wednesday so you can all vote on your favorite of those three.....geesh, I hope this works. In return, the winner will have the dubious distinction of being the person that named the truck, and in some small way you will always be a part of our awesome adventures. Thrilling, I know. As if that wasn't rewarding enough, there will be fabulous and exciting prizes.

This took a bit of deciding, and as most of you know, I am not good at deciding.

SO, the winner will receive their choice of:

An 8 ounce ball of roving .

Two - 2 ounce skeins of handspun yarn .

For those of you that are not fiber enthusiasts, you can get 6 of my famous, homemade Salted Nut Rolls.

Here are the rules:

1) It has to be a people name...because it is much more fun to refer to him by a name associated with a human being, mainly because it really confuses people at a truck stop. For example: when you say, "Should we stop and wash Larry before lunch?" it gives you many more raised-eyebrow-reactions from by-standers than, if his name was something like..The Blue Avenger.

2) It has to be a strong name...this guy is going to have to put up with a lot......like, listening to Marie's Queen CD's over, and over, at a decibel loud enough to shatter glass in passing vehicles..... I seriously have no idea why our husbands never want to come along on these adventures...I digress.

3) The new truck is a Ford, but it can't be named Henry, or Henri, because both my dad and my brother are Henris....Henries....Henrises....what is the plural of Henri, anyway? My point is, it would just be too confusing.

There you go. That is your assignment. Do it soon so we can decide on a name before the trip.

If you can, join us at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival. It is a huge, ginormous amount of fun. Make sure you stop by the Shetland Show on Saturday, there will be Shetland breeders from all over the country there with lots of pretty sheep ( and lots of other breeds as well )....you can watch me embarrass myself by trying to drag a 120 pound ram around the show ring....I really should have started halter-training a long time ago. It. Will. Be. Awesome.

Don't worry Garrett, we have a new GPS, so we won't be driving over any cliffs this year....in theory.

Lazy Sunday

2011-08-08T12:40:00.005-05:00

It was a lazy Sunday for the residents of Crosswinds Farm.

Jordan did a little sunbathing.

White Chicken and her friends took a nice dust bath.

Rooster Cogburn and Mr. Swagger rested in the shade.

"Yaaaaawn."

"Yaaaawn."

"ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzZZzzzzzzzzz".

Bailie rested as the fluffy clouds floated by.

" Ahhh, yes, I get a much better view of the clouds this way."

The ram lambs took an afternoon siesta as well.

Yup, a lazy summer Sunday............ for THEM maybe!

I woke Sunday morning to find a littering of pears all over the ground, shaken loose from the tree by some strong overnight winds. So, after I did my regular rounds of feeding animals, cleaning water tanks, and counting heads, I started my morning by filling bucket, after bucket, after bucket, with pears. I was still a little sleepy so it took me a moment, but as I was filling the buckets it occurred to me that pears don't easily get knocked off of the tree, which could only mean one thing....oh, no, the pears are ready to harvest already! I don't have time for this now! I checked the fruit that was still left on the tree, and, sure enough, they snapped off very easily.

Pears are kind of odd in the fact that they ripen from the inside out, so if you wait until they look ripe on the outside, they are actually over-ripe, and at that point, the fruit pulls right off the stem, like this...

Luckily, I only found a few that were to that point...I guess I will be making pear jam this week....A LOT of pear jam. I am really glad that my other variety of pears ripens much, much later- usually not until late October, but then again, the Bartletts have never been ready this early before, so I may be in for early harvests all the way around, UGH.

Yeah, and it looks like I may have a few apples too...just a few..

After I dealt with the piles of pears, it was time to move on to other things.

I had another rack of hay that needed to be emptied, stacked, and the rack needed to be returned to my neighbor/hay guy.

Another 129, sixty-pound bales of hay unloaded, stacked and stored for winter. Yes, of course they are stacked a certain way....why do you even ask? You know that I am insane.

Hay was done, now eggs needed to be gathered.

Next it was time to cut grass....

..and cut grass...

....and cut grass.

Next, I checked the garden and found that something was eating my tomato plants.

Upon further inspection, I found these big fatties- Tomato Horn Worms.

They are both cool, and disgusting all at the same time. The chickens, however, did not find them to be disgusting at all, in fact, they found them to be quite tasty.

With the garden de-bugged ( yes, Alanza, your Tomato-babies are safe now), I moved on to watering, watering, watering everything since, once again, we have had very little rain and the gardens are looking a little stressed....with the exception of my Amish Cockscomb, which seems to be doing very well in spite of the hot, dry weather.

After all of the outside morning chores were done, I still had the usual inside household tasks of cleaning, doing laundry, and washing dishes ( No we don't have a dishwasher, unless you count me), and before I knew it, it was time to start all over again with the evening farm chores.

Where was Gary while I was doing all of this, you might ask? Well, he wasn't exactly slacking either. He took a week of 'vacation' time from his regular job, to work 14-16 hour days at his part-time job all week.

Yup, just another lazy Sunday.

" Blah, blah, blah, Sheep Lady. Work, laundry - whatever, can you keep it down? I am trying to rest over here!"

"Ahhh, yes, there is nothing like taking a leisurely dust-bath on a quiet Sunday afternoon."

"Wait, what?"

"What did you say Sheep Lady? What's a stew-pot? Was that supposed to be funny? I don't get it. You're joking, right?"

Don't worry chicken, I was Joking, of course ; ).

Now that's a sheep of a different color!

2011-08-01T19:10:00.002-05:00

First, you should know that my sheep are still alive after the 'tree-eating incident', we have reconciled and I haven't sent them off to market....yet!
We finally got some rain here last week. The temperatures are still above normal, but they are somewhat less oppressive than they have been. I guess 90 (ish) degrees feels more tolerable after you have been living with 100 (ish) degrees for a while. Even the animals seem much more comfortable and the pastures look as though they will turn green once again.

I have been evaluating ram lambs, as well as taking a closer look at the ewe lambs that I am keeping. I need to make some decisions about which ones I will take to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival to show, and which of the ram lambs I need to sell. I have found a few surprises in my little lambies...good surprises, mostly.
I have a lot of sheep in my flock that carry modified color genetics, so I expect some surprises in color variation from time to time, but this year I have some crazy colors going on. The sire to most of these lambs was Firth of Fifth Avyt, who has a lot of modified genetics in his pedigree as well.

Remember these guys? Apollo and Thor.

I noticed some fleece changes in these boys when I was evaluating Thor ( black flecket) to send him to his new home at OK Acres last month. I don't have any 'grown-up' pictures of Thor, but I did take some fleece pics before he left.

When I parted the white spots on his fleece, I was surprised to find streaks of modified black underneath. Very strange.

I then checked his twin, Apollo, to see what was lurking under his white spots and found similar changes, although in moorit tones.

Under the moorit spots ( moorit = brown for my non-sheepie readers), I found light mioget...that's not unusual, but.......

........under the white spots are variations of modified moorit.

This is what a sample of the white spots look like. White tips with shades of modified moorit in the middle and then back to white at the skin...it's like fleece Candy Corn...only non-edible....weird!

Now I was curious as to what some of the other lambs' fleeces were looking like.

Remember this guy? This is Pegasus, he was born with very straight fleece that looked like dog hair.

Well....not any more!

This is a sample of his fleece.

AND...it's a little hard to see in this picture, but he is modified as well, he will be Shaela. He only has a very small white spot on his chest, so I can't tell if he has the same color changes as the other lambs under the white. But his black is definitely changing.

Even his ears are kind of funky!

This is Athena, she was the last lamb born this year, so she is quite a bit smaller than some of the others.

So far there isn't much change under her moorit spots, but as I mentioned, she is younger by almost a month, and her fleece hasn't grown as much as the others yet.

But, there is a lot going on under her white spots!

I am certain that her fleece will change at the skin like the boys have, but it will be fun to see what it does.

So far those are the lambs with obvious changes, and those are all 'keepers'.

I have been watching this guy ( Helios) and he hasn't changed much. He looks slightly lighter at the skin, but there is not enough change in him yet to definitively say that he is modified. He is also out of Avyt. Helios is on my 'For Sale' page on this blog.

OK, so all you color genetics fanatics, what's the deal with the on again, off again color situation??

Side note; there are no ag genes at work here.

Discuss amongst yourselves...but hurry, I have to figure out what to register these babies as.

I will check some of the other lambs this week.

Discuss.

Sheep shenanigans

2011-07-29T12:18:00.000-05:00

Do these look like the faces of hardened criminals to you? Well, they may not, but there is a reason that they are behind bars. Don't let the sad eyes and fluffy faces lure you into sympathizing with these evil-doers. The are baaaaaaaaaad news!

" Eye ^didn't do it!"

Note: there are no photos of the actual event in question, because at the time, this shepherdess was too busy thinking of new curse words to supplement the ones already in free-fall from her mouth....seriously, I think I heard a collective gasp, and felt the warmth of the blushing faces from the truck-drivers at the Iowa 80 Truckstop 12 miles down the road.

When I went out to feed my lovely flock this morning, I was already in a less than jovial mood. It was already hot and sticky, and I was thinking about all that had to be done to get ready for tomorrow's farmers' market. I was also dreading the possibility that we might be dealing with some flooding in the downtown area where the market is held because the towns North of us, along the Mississippi River, got about 15 inches of rain on Wednesday, sending a deluge of water down river. In addition there are two major events going on downtown this weekend, which will make parking a nightmare. So, while my mind was aflutter with deciding whether or not I wanted to even bother going to market, something caught my eye. I saw several chickens wandering around the horse pasture, and then my attention was drawn to a few more chickens in the sheep pasture. I immediately panicked, thinking that some predator had gotten through the chicken fence and had scattered the frightened chickens. As I rushed to the gate, expecting to find chicken carnage all over the place, I was greeted by several of my sheepie friends....IN the chicken run. Yup, it was better than chicken carnage, but still, this couldn't possibly be a good thing.

There is a gate between the sheep pasture and the chicken run, to which we have been intending to add a more secure latch....intending to...for months. Somehow my crafty little fuzz-butts opened said gate and had gotten into the chicken run. Upon discovery of this troubling situation, my first thought was for the safety of the sheep. Was there anything they could have gotten into that might have harmed them? Did anyone get stuck in a fence, or the chicken coop? Then as I surveyed the area, my concern for my little ovine friends turned to shear anger ( this is where the bad words came in..I will spare you the particulars).

First I noticed something different about my Honey Crisp apple tree. I planted the tree three years ago in the chicken run to help shade the chicken coop and allow the chickens to eat the windfall apples that I couldn't use. Something was strange, the tree was looking all shiny. Now, normally I am drawn to shiny things so, of course, this captured my attention. What I was seeing was the shiny trunk, devoid of any bark.

At first glance, you might think, as I did, that this doesn't look so bad.

But, upon closer inspection....no bark, all the way around, as high as my little darlings could reach.

As if this weren't bad enough, they did the same thing to a newly-planted Cleveland Pear....a tree that I have been carrying buckets of water to, every day, during our drought, in 120+ heat index.

....and they ate a Pussy Willow all the way to the ground. Side-note; Apparently chicken wire fencing only works for chickens.

The Pussy Willow should be find, but the trees will die. The bark brings the nutrients, gathered by the leaves during photosynthesis, down to the roots to feed it, so without the bark, the trees will starve. Now I am going to have to find some replacement trees, at the end of the season, while the garden center's stock is all depleted...and carry buckets of water to the new trees. D@mn sheep!

They also discovered a tasty treat in the chicken coop. I have been buying these mineral blocks for my chickens and I really like them. I just bought this block the day before this incident, and I was going to mention how well I like them in one of my chicken-related posts, but I guess the sheep can tell you how wonderful they are, they have reviewed them, and they give them two enthusiastic thumbs, or hooves, up.

I fed and watered my woolly, little, tree-killing sheepies this morning, but I am ignoring them for now, until I am less angry. I guess I should be mad at myself. Rest assured, that new latch is going on the gate this weekend for sure!

" What do you mean, 'it was my job to watch the sheep?' They told me they were going to surprise you by pruning your trees for you!"

It's gettin' hot up in here.

2011-07-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's been about a month since we've had any measurable rainfall here, and daytime temps have been stuck in the upper 90's for some time, yesterday was 100 degrees. Today we are supposed to hit 101 with a heat index of 120+ and unbearable humidity. It has been a huge challenge to keep the animals cool. I have several fans in the sheep barn, and we added two more high velocity fans a couple of days ago. The fans help, but they can only do so much when they are just moving hot, soupy air around. The sheep keep their noses plastered to the fans all day and then go out to graze at night after the sun goes down.

I also have sprinklers running all day over the barns to cool them down.

The chickens are having a very difficult time as well. I lost my big Blue Cochin rooster and one of my Easter Egger hens in spite of my efforts to keep everyone comfortable : (.

The chickens are all walking around with their wings up, trying to cool themselves.

I have a sprinkler going into the chicken run, and over their barn to cool it too. The chickens find some escape from the oppressive heat by picking around in the puddles.

Even my little Barn Swallow baby is lifting himself up out of the nest to stay cool. He is an only child so he is doing pretty well....no siblings to heat the place up.

Rooster Cogburn and Swagger seek shade under the apple trees....and beneath the weeds in my overgrown garden during the heat of the day. That's why I left all those weeds in there....yeah...that's it.

The horses are a little tougher to keep cool. I have fans in their barn as well, but the fans don't offer much relief in this weather. I hose the horses down with cool water a couple of times a day. Jasmine feels the need to taste the water as it comes out of the hose, making it kind of difficult to spray the rest of her body down.

Then, of course, after she is all clean and fresh, the obvious thing to do next is to roll around in the dirt and replace all the gunk that just got washed off.

Dead horse.

Aaaannnd shake it all off.

Ande has his own way of keeping cool. He has his sprinkler...

...and his swimming pool, albeit a little small for him.

Sometimes he likes to combine the two for that true 'water park' experience.

He is, however, not too excited about the prospect of sharing his water park with Emma and Jolly Ball.

We have chances of rain in the next couple of days and temperatures are supposed to be more bearable....like 95.....it had better cool off because I promised my critters that if we can just get through today, we will be OK.

I hope it's cooler wherever you are!

Now I have to make jam for Farmers' Market. YAY! Boiling water and hot, molten fruit!

Fun with Japanese Beetles! Caution, this doesn't end well for the beetles

2011-07-15T19:11:00.002-05:00

Well, I have no excuse for my long absence from my blog. The summer is flying by and there have been a number of things that I could have blogged about, but time just seems to slip away so quickly. I vow to be a better blogger....or, that is to say, I will blog more often...it won't be any better 'cause I am still the one that is writing it, there will just be more of.....well, whatever this is.

Recently our farm has been invaded by Popillia Japonica-no, this is not some hip, new rock band-we are talking Japanese Beetles here.

At first, there were just a few of them munching on some of my flowers, which was not much more than an annoyance.

Then they brought their friends- along with their voracious appetites..

Then they started dining on some of my fruit trees.

Oh, heck no! I am not havin' any of this!!!

Something had to be done, and since I really try not to use any insecticides on the property, I had to get creative.

In past years, I have gathered up some of shiny little insect-offenders and thrown the mercilessly into the chicken run, to be gobbled up by my hungry flock. It was pretty much a win-win situation.....unless you were a beetle.

Hard-shelled beetles provide extra phosphorous and calcium - not to mention lots of protein for the chickens- which means happy chickens, less feed for me to buy, and, as an added bonus, by keeping the number of beetles down , my plants looked less like Grandma's lace doilies. But, collecting the evil little creepy-crawlies was a bit time consuming- as well as a bit disgusting when they decided to fly into my hair, so I needed a new, improved method of revenge.

I considered placing one of those Japanese Beetle traps in the chicken's run, but I didn't really want all the beetles to land inside a trap where the chickens couldn't get to them, so I improvised -as I sometimes do.

I bought the bait that is intended to go into the trap - apparently it is scented with beetle pheromone and the beetles are lured into thinking that they are on their way to some sort of insect swinger's party, when, in reality, the only date that they will be having is with their maker.

I tried to think of a way to expose the bait, while ensuring that the chickens couldn't get to it. The bait is supposedly non-toxic - the beetles are only lured by the scent and then are captured in the trap, but I still didn't want to take any chances. I had a few ideas to keep the chickens safe from the bait, but some of them were not very practical. At times like these I go to our junk- garage and take inventory of all the useless stuff that we have been hanging onto "just in case we need it".

I found a couple of old vent covers...hmmmmm...one of these could work.

The back had wire mesh, so there was no way for the chickens to get through it.

I found a board to attach my new-fangled trap to.

Opened the bait and secured it to the board.

Covered the bait with the vent cover.

And then nailed it into place...OK, so I am no Bob Vila, but I got the job done.

I almost forgot to mention that you will need a good supervisor for this project.

I then selected a spot in the chicken run to place my new chicken feeder, and waited for the fun to begin.

Are you wondering why you only see a few chickens in the video when you know that, in actuality, I have....well....a lot of chickens? It has been obscenely hot here and most of the girls were seeking shade at this time of day. One of the older Barred Rock girls, however, was particularly persistent!

Is this going to solve the problem? No, but it will give me a little satisfaction knowing that there are a few less beetles eating my yard!

Useful piece of advice for the day..

2011-06-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

If you are going to leave your 'barn shoes' out on the porch overnight........

Just make sure you take a quick peek inside before you put them on.

Just sayin'.

A few ewes and a flea market.

2011-06-15T15:12:00.001-05:00

First of all, I am not dead, thanks for the inquiries ; ). I just haven't been very bloggy as of late.

I have added some of my ram lambs to my 'Shetland Sheep for Sale' page on this blog. Some of the ram lambs are still being evaluated; it takes a while to figure out what those darn horns are going to do! I have been trying to take pictures of the ewe lambs in between the rain storms, but haven't been very successful thus far. All of my ewe lambs are spoken for...so I almost hate to post more pictures of them...it's kind of like saying, "Hey, look at these sheep you can't have!" Hopefully next year I will have more ewes lambs than ram lambs to offer.

Here are a few of the girls that I did get pictures of.

What? I said, 'I ALMOST ' hate to post pictures of them.

This pretty spotted ewe is going to an unregistered flock in Indiana.

These two black ewes, Juno and Forseti, will be living with a nice family in Iowa.

The new owners picked the name, Juno, for this solid black ewe.

And Forseti is this pretty girl's name.

Freya will be moving to Decorah, Iowa.

This little moorit ewe will be going with Freya to Decorah...I always like it when they have a buddy to go with them.

I will try to get pictures of the rest soon.

About the flea market.

Those of you that have been following my blog are familiar with the Flea Market routine. We (my sister Marie and I) get up before the crack of dawn and meet so that we can make the hour and a half road trip to West Burlington, Iowa, for the monthly flea market. You are probably thinking, "Wow, there must be some great stuff there to make it worth getting up that early!" Ummm, not necessarily, it's just the possibility of some really great stuff that keeps us going back.

So, this time, my husband Gary was brave enough to join us for the trip. Sunday morning we were on our way before 4:30.....yes, AM.

Note the age of my truck by the fact that I have a cassette tape player in the dash board.....more about my aging truck later.

We arrived right around 6 AM, and Marie started finding bargains right away. Large Coleus plants for $2.

Annnnd a few accessories that we opted to not purchase...

We found these purses that would go with...well....umm, nothing that I own, but here are some purses.

And some fancy beads....it was like Mardi Gras- without the nudity.

?????

I've been looking all over for this stuff!

And this, apparently, is a Bunny vacuum cleaner cover...to hide your vacuum...'cause this is more attractive than a vacuum?

Nothing says flea market like a heart-shaped hot tub!

We met some interesting people. This guy was nice enough to model his hats for us.

I thought it was adorable how this man and his dog kinda had the same expression.

This kitty picture is for my son-in-law, Andrew, because the only thing he loves more than a squishy-faced cat, is a squishy-faced cat wearing clothes. Not joking. He loves this stuff.

I found an old table and a bench that needed a little TLC, but with some sprucing up they might be kind of neat. Hey, they were a dollar each, so what the heck.

At this point we had wandered around for about three hours and were starting to accumulate a few things. Gary was holding up pretty well, his job was to keep an eye on Marie so she didn't wander off too far; there were shiny things there, so it is sometimes difficult to keep track of her.

Pay no attention to the pink Barbie Christmas tree.....it has a special purpose bwahahaha!

By the time we had wandered around for almost 4 hours, Gary started looking at knives...I am not sure what that was about....hmmm. I think he had reached his 'fun' limit.

When we were just about to leave, we made an astonishing discovery. I thought I was pretty good at geography, especially when it comes to the great state of Iowa, but something we found told me otherwise.

Apparently, Iowa is farther West than I originally thought...like, West, as in, the desert, West.

And Iowa is much larger than I thought-stretching all the way to the ocean. I must live a sheltered life because I have never seen dolphins in Iowa. Good to know.

And who knew that Iowa reached all the way to the South Eastern part of the U.S.? I had no idea that Iowa was in the land of Dixie!

OK, now I am really confused.....

I better study my geography.

After we had just about all the fun that Gary could stand, we headed home. After leaving the flea market we made a brief stop to gas up and hit the road. We only got a short distance from the market and my truck (Larry) started making strange noises. The RPM needle was going up and down and the engine seemed to be "missing". We wondered if we should try to baby the old boy home, or try to find an open service station in one of the tiny towns ( most of them with populations of less than 300) along the way...on a Sunday morning... we opted to try to get him home....which we did...still waiting for a damage report on that one....I think the mechanic is afraid to call me.

More lambieliciousness

2011-05-27T09:34:00.008-05:00

I realised today that it has been three weeks since my last blog post, so I guess it's time to do an update on the lambies - they have changed so much since then.
I promised my cousin Steve that my next blog post will be about something other than my woolly friends...so I lied...that's OK, Steve's wife appreciates my sheepies. So today we are going heavy on the sheep photos. First I will show my 'keeper' ewes.
This is Luna's ewe lamb, she was the last lambie born this year. I am using a Mythology theme for names this year, so this little girl is Crosswinds Athena. She is amazing, and will be staying here.

This is Ashumet's black ewe lamb, Lucina (Lucy). I wasn't planning on keep any solid color lambs, but how could I resist this little girl, and that fleece?

Cassie's daughter, Bellona (Bella). This girl has been a show-off from day one. Pretty girl, with nice, single coated fleece.

Now, the rest of the crew...or at least some of them.

Crosswinds Thor. (sold)

Amazing fleece. No britch wool. Fine, crimpy softy soft soft....did I mention that he is soft?

Thor is scurred and one of his little scurs fell off the other day, so half his head is neekked.
He is going to make some lovely lambs : ). For those non-sheepie readers, my friend Juliann has a wonderful website that explains polled/scurred/half-polled genetics if you are not familiar with the terminology.

Thor's twin brother, Apollo. ( reserved pending scur growth)

He's a fancy boy too!

Below is Loki, he has some of the nicest fleece of any of the lambs. Loki is a half-poll as well. Loki is one of Lilly's triplets so he has matured a bit slower than some of the other rams, but he is coming along nicely. At this stage, my only complaint about him is that he could use some width, but I think that might come as he matures.

The longish looking end of his tail is just baby hair, he actually has a nice tail.

OK, I guess I need to post fewer pictures of each lamb or we are never going to be done here.....

Holly's katmoget ram, Atlas, with Loki. If I can't find a nice, fine-fleeced, spotted ram to use this fall I may use Atlas on a few girls if his horns continue to look good. He would be for sale later in the fall in that case. Atlas carries spots.

Gunnar is Willow's boy. He is ag (grey) with full horns and very fine fleece. He has a tiny little tail like his dam. Gunnar carries spots. He is on hold right now, may be for sale.

Zeus is a really nice, solid-sided gulmoget boy. He looks like he will have full horns, but his sire is a half- poll so I am not sure yet. Gorgeous conformation, nice fleece. I may use him on a couple of my gully girls this fall before I sell him.....if he has full horns. He carries spots.

These are Lovey's boys, Neptune and Helios. Both of these boys will be for sale. Carry spots.

Helios looks to have full horns. His fleece and conformation are gorgeous.

Neptune is a tank. Big. Wide. Tank. Nice fleece and conformation. I am not sure if he has slow growing horns or if they are aberrant.

"MOooooooooo!"

This little guy ( below) is Crosswinds Pegasus, I am still waiting to see what his fleece is going to do before I offer him for sale.. You may remember that he was born with very straight "dog hair". It looks like there is crimpy fleece coming in underneath-finally. I should know in a few weeks.

This is Daisy's ram lamb. He will be going to an unregistered pet flock.

OMG, I forgot I had so many sheep.....with the exception of my 'keeper girls', this blog post only included most of the ram lambs! This could take forever! Sorry, Steve, I will have to have a another separate post about the ewe lambs.
I will try to get my "for sale" page on this blog updated.
For some reason, blogger comments seem to not be working. The only way I have been able to leave comments is by using the "anonymous" button in the comment section.

Tah- DAaah!

2011-05-05T12:26:00.001-05:00

Luna finally delivered...and boy did she ever deliver! I got my wildly spotted, ewe lamb that looks like she will have very fine fleece, just like I ordered. Thanks, Luna! I'll have some better pictures once she is all dried off and she is outside, but for now she is snuggled inside the barn bonding with her mama...and me ; ).

I don't have spring microns back yet, but Luna's fall micron was:

AFD. 24.0 / SD 6.2 / CV 26.0 / CEM 13.8 / <15 3.3/ CF 86.1/ SF 24.5.

Avyt, the lamb's sire, had a November micron of::

AFD.24.5 / SD 4.0 / CV 16.3 / CEM 6.9 / CF 94.1% / SF 22.9.

Perfect little Shetland tail too!

Now that lambing is officially completed, I will start putting together my 'For Sale' list....and get some rest! Oh, yeah, and think of names....

Official count 11 rams, 10 ewes.

Signs of Spring? Maybe.....

2011-05-03T11:19:00.001-05:00

Spring is still attempting to make it's appearance here in Iowa. It has been very slow in coming this year. Overnight temps are continually going down into the 30's, and there was scattered frost just North of us last night. I know spring is coming though!

My pear trees are blooming.

The Barn Swallows returned around May first, as they do every year.

There has been a turf war, of sorts, going on between the returning Swallows and some opportunistic Sparrows. The Sparrows took up residence in the nests that the Swallows built last year, they filled the empty nests with junk and feathers and made them their own. Now that the Swallows are back they want to reclaim their nesting spots. I am not going to lie, I am on "Team Barn Swallow", I'm not a huge fan of the messy Sparrows.

Speaking of nests, Gary noticed a pair of Starlings collecting nesting material out in the driveway the other day.....then he saw them flying up underneath my truck and coming back out without said nesting material....so, a check under the hood revealed....

Maybe I need to leave the farm more often.

The chicks are a month old now and have reached the...ummm....not so cute stage. This is one of the Splash Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. They will be really pretty some day....really, they will.

The Asparagus is growing like crazy...I'm not sure why I planted it, it's not a favorite of mine, but the sheep sure like it!

I have even gotten a couple of trees planted in spite of the cold weather. What do you mean, you can't see it? Yes, there is a tree there, don't laugh. Look closely!

You probably think I have lost my mind, but this is a Curly Willow and they grow 4-6 feet per year.....and it is planted in 5 years worth of well composted chicken manure, so, see, I'm not that crazy......well.

The chickens have kicked up egg production-just in time for the start of the Summer Farmers' Market.

Well, that is, most of them have kicked up production...someone clearly is not pulling her weight!

The last of the lambs (Ashumet's ewe lamb) has joined the rest of the flock outside.

Ohhh, wait......that's not the last lamb...because Luna STILL hasn't had her lamb(s)! You probably want to ask, "Are you sure she's pregnant?"

Yup, pretty sure!

COME ON LUNA!!!!!!

Come on Luna!

2011-04-28T21:09:00.002-05:00

Well, things are winding down in the Crosswinds maternity ward. I have one ewe left to go - Luna. She is actually due the 30th, but she has been staying away from the rest of the flock today and her sides are looking a little sunken in - a good indication that she is getting close. She has not lambed before, so It would be nice if she delivered before Saturday because I will be at market all day, and I hate to leave a first time mom alone.

Luna is closely related to Laurel (the ewe that gave me the flashy ram lambs) and they were bred to the same ram, so I am hoping for more wild spots.

BUT, to get you caught up, if you didn't see her picture on Face Book......why aren't you on Face Book? I digress...

The newest addition to the flock arrived on Wednesday. Ashumet (Ash) had a single ewe lamb. This little girl has amazing fleece. I think that makes 5 (?) black ewe lambs...I think...I have lost count...and sleep...and contrary to popular belief, counting sheep does NOT make you go to sleep..it just makes you overtired and a little crazy(er).

I need to get a close-up of this little girl's face. She looks like ET. Sometimes when lambs have tight, crimpy fleece, like this, on their body, the fleece on the cheeks and poll looks so exaggerated in contrast. So cute!

So, now you are caught up, but you really should be on Face Book.

Until Luna decides to provide more cuteness for us to ogle, I will just leave you with some random lambie pictures. Most of the lambs will be for sale, pending evaluations. First placements of lambs will be for people on my waiting list that have been waiting for lambs with specific traits or genetics....but, I have a lot of lambs....a lot.

Daisy's ram lamb.

Laurel's Black flecket ram (below) will be going to live with my good friend Kelly at OK Acres.

Holly's boy.

One of Lovey's rammies, looking very excited about having his picture taken. This guy is built like a brick house. Solid, wide and square. He has really nice fleece so far too.

Laurel's moorit flecket rammy. He is a half-poll.

Lilly and one of her boys.

I love the tiny 'moon spot' that Mira's girl has on her forehead.

Edrea's ewe lamb.

Halley's gulmoget ram may stay here at least for breeding this fall...it depends on whether or not he has full horns-his sire is a half-poll.

Lilly's ram lambs. Right now their fleece is vastly different, I am not sure what the black lamb's fleece will look like ultimately, it is very soft, but very straight...sometimes the 'dog hair' like he has is just birth coat and there is nice crimpy fleece underneath....let's hope! The moorit guy's fleece is just lovely and he looks to be a half-poll.

Daisy's boy again.....not everyone else cooperated for photos.

Hopefully somebody that likes grey will eventually make Willow's ram lamb their new flock sire...this guy's fleece is like buttah. But-tah. Full horns. We'll see how he looks in a few weeks.

Buttah. Just sayin'.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have a brand new lambie or two on the blog tomorrow....we shall see what Luna has in store!

The boys are winning.

2011-04-25T19:57:00.003-05:00

We have been really busy the past few days. Besides the craziness of the Holiday weekend, we added to the fun by making a few additions to the family. First, on Friday, Menemsha gave us a spotted ewe lamb. A very large spotted ewe lamb. She wasn't even two full days old yet in these pictures.

Then, on Sunday, when we were getting ready for Easter dinner, Halley decided to go into labor. I missed dinner, but I got to see these two nice lambs come into the world. A solid moorit ewe lamb.

And a gorgeous moorit gulmoget ram lamb. I think this guy is going to be stunning!

This morning, Holly started acting like she was in the early stages of labor-sort of. I was in and out of the barn checking on her, and on one of my checks she was standing at the hay feeder, with her water bag exposed, eating and not giving the slightest indication that she had any intention of pushing anything out of anywhere. I gave her a lot of time since she was a first-time mom...a lot of time....I waited, and waited, and waited, she did nothing. After hours had passed and there was no progress, the rest of the story involved a full length glove, a call to the vet, a hoisting of an uncooperative ewe into my truck...by myself, a trip to the vet (vets generally don't like to make farm calls for sheep), a lot of pulling and a very large ram lamb with some very large horn buds, that, apparently, Holly didn't really want to squeeze out of 'there'.

Both mama and this nice, fawn katmoget ram lamb are doing well. I generally don't like taking pictures of lambs while they are still wet...it's not their best look, but I wanted to show you these big ol' horn buds...can't say that I blame Holly for not wanting to push this guy out.

So, now the official count is 11 ram lambs, 8 ewe lambs.

And, of course, I had to do this. How angry can a lamb look?

Also, I would like to thank those of you who have suggested names for the lambs, I usually stick with a theme though so that down the road if a lamb's name comes up I know exactly what year they were born and who the sire was...I just haven't picked my theme yet...I have a couple in mind, I'm just a bad decisionationater.