5 days without going above freezing, and we got a good dose of frozen buckets, freezing mornings and some snow. Worse, we have a weasel problem here and we lost 14 of our chickens. Bruce has plugged up every hole we could find, and we put the 4 survivors in dog crates inside the coop, and a Have-a-Heart trap, and a camera inside the coop. No signs of the weasel, which we suspect as the culprit.
Fortunately, we have never had predators around the sheep, and all 6 of them are in the sheep barn for the winter, with turnout. We have 3 ewes, hopefully all carrying future lambs, and Fred, and 2 wethers, Tony and Arthur. Alice, our ewe, went on a honeymoon to a friend's farm for 3 weeks, and our friend pronounced them Ram and Wife. He said they eat together, and sleep together. Alice is back at Birchfield, and we hope Vincent enjoyed her visit. I have some of Vincent's fleece posted on Etsy, and it is beautiful grey and brown fleece.
Spinning group is every Tuesday at the Sheepscott General store. This store has many handmade items made in Maine by serious crafters. It is worth a trip to explore this store. While there, try a donut from Chase Bakery.
Finnegan and Charlie have blankets on, but Charlie may do fine without a blanket, as he is a Shetland pony. I have applied for a horse through Maine State Society for Protection of Animals, but no guarantees on this. Finnegan needs another horse so we can ride the back trails together with a trail buddy.
Logging continues on, and on, and on. The birches are really prominent in our forest, and there are new trails to explore.
Holidays are busy, and we hope you take some time to slow down. We are so fortunate to have this farm as our lifestyle. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
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