3/23/23  Our lambs have arrived, with Elaine, a yearling, and Audrey, our 2 year old.  Audrey was pushing and pushing, and finally 2 rear legs came out - a BREACH.  One pull and the rest of the black and white Piebald ram easily came out.  An hour later on checks, Audrey also had 2 white rams to show us.   Such a gift to see the births.  We have lots of mud here.  My manure pile with hay is way too big, as last November I opted to wait till spring - wrong decision.  Our new shetland pony is a hoot, and we named him Charlie Brown.  Finnegan has accepted him and shares his hay.  The logging will stop soon due to mud, and restart in July to finish up.  The horse paths in the woods will need some work, and should be useable when all is done.   I have lots of fleece to sell on Etsy.  I plan to try couch throw pillows stuffed with 16 ounces of sheep fleece.  That's a lot of fleece, so they might be expensive or we can continue to sell the washed fleece on Etsy.  I tried my best to learn how to spin with my Pippy spinning wheel, but I cannot get the hang of it.  I tried out a 2 pedal style, and it was easier.  Lots of baking going on in this kitchen, buttermilk biscuits, raspberry jam, cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants made with flaky pastry.   Then the punishment is working it off through shoveling you know what.  Spring can't come soon enough! 

2/27/23  It has been so cold lately.  Minus 2, minus 1 last night.  We have been 5 days without it getting above freezing.  We have one heated bucket, the others, even the rooster water buckets have to come indoors to thaw out.  We have to pick up the eggs before they freeze and crack.  Rocksalt is always a help.  The new pony has become friends with Finnegan and we have nick named him Charlie Brown.  Our Ewes are getting ready for lambing starting March 15th.  We had to reassign pens as Fred is harrassing the girls.  The chickens continue to lay daily and we have a few regular customers.  The rabbits are in their cages, getting a blanket cover at night.  We are fortunate to have our wood stove.  I will never quite get used to having the animals freezing in the barn, but I can't take them in.  Right?  Somehow I hope to remember the bleak cold days next summer, but they will fade with the warmer weather.  

1/ 11 /23  With the holidays behind us, we are doing our daily chores with the 2 barns, and sometimes it is pretty cold in the morning.  I tell myself that the animals are hungry, and that gets me outside.  We have a few early reservations in February and April.  I recommend a visit from mid-March  through May, to see the lambs before they are sold.  Everything is frozen.  Our friend is doing logging of our woods.  He is a one man job thinning out our woods.  He has left much of the birches, and I am amazed at how many birches actually are on the farm.   I hear the skid steer start up and go down the trail, then the machine goes off, then I hear the chain saw, then the tree crash, then the skid steer starts up and he drags it back to the front near our driveway.  The logging truck is amazing to watch as he picks up the trees and loads them on the truck.  It is about 8 cords per truckload.  Some of our wood went to the person that we bought firewood from last year.   On another note, I have been taking Finnegan for daily walks up and down the driveway.  He puts his head out for his halter, and I can tell he looks forward to our time together.  He was at his best when he was giving weekly lessons last summer.  I try to close the outside lower half door so I can clean his stall, but Finnegan can undo the slide latch and open the door in about 2 minutes.  One time I will have to get a video.  He really has a mechanical mind.  We added 4 Isa Brown hens, now we are up to 21 chickens, getting about a dozen eggs a day.  We count our blessings to be here.    

12/8/22   Christmas is coming, and we have decorated and made some wreaths.  A good friende of mine, a nurse, has a wreath making party in the fall, and it was postponed for  2 years.  So glad that Susan taught me how to make wreaths!  We have been quite fortunate in not having a cold snap yet, and no frozen buckets yet.  We do not have running water in the barns and we lug about 20 gallons of water daily.  If our electricity goes out, we have a supply of 40 gallons in the cellar for the animals.  I wonder how they did this years ago.  It is hard enough now.  We have a guest coming in this weekend, but the VRBO has slowed to a crawl, which allows us to get away for a bit.  Our Barn Girl is a blessing.  She has helped me out for 5 years, and now is grown up with a full time job, but she will take care of our animals when we go away.   We now have one horse, as Jemma is no longer with us.  Finnegan is adjusting well, and now gets attention without Jemma worrying about where he has gone.  We have two sets of sheep, hoping that all 5 ewes are bred for the spring lambing around mid march.  "The Little ones"  are 3 young sheep, not yet a year old, and they are separated from the others.  The other group of 5 has Fred watching over them.  We did a fall shearing on 4 of them, and the fleece is beautiful.  Check us out on Etsy.  Birchfieldfarm.  Call me direct if you want some nice fleece, or a soft throw pillow which is my latest offering.  It is filled, of course, with Finn Fleece.   The wood stove is toasty.  We are having the woods logged and now have big equipment coming and going.  And our new Septic is great.  Not that you needed to know that, but this old place is worthy of an upgrade.  Have a nice holiday, and I hope you visit with family this season. Merry Christmas.