Chores

Chores are twice a day, am and pm. Summer chores are really quite pleasant, and don't take too long. Here is how it goes...
1. Feed and water the cats on the porch...
2. Prepare ½ scoop grain, 4 scoop garlic, 1 scoop each of kelp & minerals for Bubba, the draft horse. Give grain and water to Bubba behind the barn. (The garlic helps deter the biting flys.)
3. Prepare grain and oyster shells for layers (blue plastic bucket). Make sure you close the lid to the grain bin. Give the layers water.
4. Prepare about a quart of sheep minerals daily….they have been eating it fast. Goes in the box in the field, free choice. Give them water too.
5. Turn off electric fence at the gate. Turn on water on the slab of new sugar house.
5.Check and fill chicken grain dish and water. Gather Eggs. Check mother hen and 2 chicks in the little tractor.
6. Count sheep’(and goats) but don’t go to sleep yet. (Really just make sure they are upright and happy). We just wormed two of them with the poopy butts. Watch out for limping, and if you see that check their feet.
7. Turn on the fence at the gates and turn off the water. Make sure gates to in barn and field are safely latched closed.
8. Take eggs to the refrigerator in the pantry.
9. Have a great day!

At dusk, repeat above list, except feed Bubba and the cats only once a day, and close in the chickens both in the field and in the barn. Make sure the fences are on! In the barn check for one rooster, 4 guinea fowl, and 2 hens. In the am let them the chickens all out. Protection from the fox is very important.

Early Blueberries

Yesterday we picked blueberries for the first time this year….beautiful, big, juicy berries and enough for dessert with plenty left over for another time. What a treat!

Ten years ago a group of us cooperatively purchased blueberry plants. We got 8 plants and heeled them in a garden space, not sure where they should live. The next year we made a bed for them and moved them. These are high bush blueberries, two varieties, one that is earlier than the other. The berries generally bloom in July and have berries the last week August.

The birds like blueberries too, and so do honey bees and sadly, Japenese beetles. We use blueberry netting over a frame made with posts. We don’t really like to share the berries with the birds and the beetles. The honey bees the neighboring farmer has placed near the bushes are a welcome addition to our farm.

When I think of blueberries I think of blueberries with sour cream and a sprinkling of brown sugar ~ b lueberry pie, blueberry cobbler, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crisp, and pop em in your mouth as you pick...yum.

More Hard Work

We moved sheep in the cool of the morning, and when we got home we were excited to see the crane in the yard, ready to put the big beams and trusses on the “Tesseract”, our fiber building under construction. The 4x8 beams and the trusses were stacked and ready to go, including the gable ends.







The first beam was challenging for Butch, the crane operator, because he could not see where it needed to sit and could not hear instructions over the background noise of the . A few hand signals and he was able to drop it into place.

Mostly Chris was up top, and Cam was on the ground guiding one end of each beam using a rope. There are 6 heavy beams along what will be the ceiling. Then Butch picked up the west gable end and gently placed it where it belonged.

Chris and Cam then leveled it up and fastened it in place.








There are two window openings that are in that end near the mud room which is facing the barn and the west field. I hope that will give a good view of the sunsets. We can now see there will be plenty of room upstairs to store raw fleeces.

It took most of the day to put up the 18 trusses that will support the roof over the entire building (except the store), and sweat was literally dripping off the workers. The next piece up was the east gable that will separate the new store from the rest of the upstairs, which also has space for 2 windows.


Then, over the store they added 4 sets of big beams forming a cathedral ceiling creating an open spacious space with lots of natural light from the 2 windows on the east end and places to hang things from beams above. The guys refused to stop for lunch and drank a ton of water.

It is very exciting to see the roof up. I hope they went home feeling very satisfied for a job well done. We expect soon to have the roof on and windows in. We have been in touch with the peoploe who will install the solar panels, plumming and electricity. Things are moving along...