Pumpkins, Cider and... Colds.

Tis the season. Got to admit, I thought it was a bit cheeseball myself to put pumpkins on the front porch this time of year. Whats with that anyway? Like the pumpkins grew there on the porch, or the cornstalks wrapped themselves around the column phototrohpically? I mean is that supposed to look natural? Anyway, somehow I succumbed to the cheese and ended up with three tiny pumpkins on the front steps. But listen people, its different when you grew the pumpkins yourself. Watching them grow for the past few months, cutting the stalks, walking them across the farm and showing them off on your step... that's different. Sort of.

The season also brings a wide variety of colored leaves. Autumn is definitely my favorite time of year, watching the trees prepare for winter, all the colors becoming so vibrant, its really inspiring. But I'm saving the "fall color pictures" for a future post; right now the leaves are just starting to change. I have to wait for the full effect as to not wear out my fall colors spiel. However, I am eating as many Macintosh and Honey Crisp apples as I possibly can. I love picking them up roadside at the local orchards and nothing, NOTHING beats a local honeycrisp apple. Or perhaps thats just how exciting my life really is. Of course with apples comes cider and donuts. I've moved on from the summer lemonade to the fall cider. I think you should too.

Do not attempt to adjust your screen. That is a machine for shearing equipment. I recently took a class on how to shear sheep. Again, my life truly is that exciting. Anyhow, a couple of key notes: A) There are some weird sheep farmers out there. B) If I spend so much time upside down that I too hang my clock like that in the barn, that tells you something. C) Its amazing to find out things you never think about such as how the wool sweater you might be wearing came to be, and who might have shorn that very sheep; I may have met 'em.

I'll end with these two things. The garden continues to produce, and I can't begin to describe the feeling of heading out past the barn early in the morning, through the dense fog and unlatching the garden gate to pick out breakfast. This weekend I made a quiche (yes I had to look it up the first time someone suggested I make it) with green pepper, onions and a scallion from the garden using the ever so amazing Windy Knob Farm Fresh Eggs. Wow what a healthy eater right?

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THEN HOW COME I HAVE THIS COLD ALREADY??? I couldn't even make it to October this year people. ugh. Tis the season I suppose.

Sunrise and Sunset

This was supposed to be the week to catch my breath. I feel like I haven't sat down since September started. School is well underway, you can tell by the stack of papers on my kitchen table, and I do mean stacks. I'm still trying to clear the fog of what I am teaching and when I teach it, and whose in what hour; all the "beginning of the year" shannanagans. The odd thing is school (work) seems like a small part of the day. Now I'm thinking of the jobs I have to do as I drive home. Move sheep, feed and water chickens, clean the eggs, label the cartons, harvest the garden, deworm the rams; I mean honestly, sometimes I don't know if I am coming or going.

Sunrises and sunsets. That's what came to mind. Being back in school, I am now up again to watch the sunrise every morning. I remember how much peace I find in watching it. Sometimes it feels like I am the first one or even the only one to watch it rise that day; what a great way to start the day. For me, its more important to start the day with a calm preparedness then a worldly awareness. And by not watching the news or catching the top ten plays on sportscenter, somehow... someway... I am more aware of my day.

I can't wait till (for)... I am trying to remove this from my vocabulary. The sheep have been on the farm for almost 90 days. Three whole months have passed! Thats a crazy perspective. Baka the cat, got him back in January but seems like yesterday. I don't want to live my life jumping from day to day where I am just looking for the next bookmark of life. By changing my thoughts to "I am excited for ..." (sheep shearing, lambing, fall color change, Christmas vacation so on) it reminds me that today is darn good too. Because if I live to get to said day in the "future," soon enough it too will just be a day in the past.

So not everything has to be deep and philisophical today. I'm going to end with a note about Ella. Ella is becoming my favorite ewe. She looks awesome, with big wool around her face, it almost looks like a lion's mane. She has a variegated fleece with these shades of chocolate brown and khaki where the sun bleaced the color out around her face. The thing that cracks me up is her personality; being the tough one of the group. She also has a crush on Drogo the llama and will follow him around the pasture pestering him. Just tonight though she was up at the fence of the back pastures, and calling out to the boys in the front pasture. While all the other girls were in the back eating, Ella is taking time out to flirt with the rams across the pasture. You could hear her calling out from the house. Cracks me up; chill out Ella, you need to at least play hard to get first!

Approaching mid September...

With mid September approaching, there are quite a few noticable differences around the farm. While we do have summer like weather during the days (can you believe sunny and 70s all week) the nights are cool, often down in the low 40s. Of course this creates a lot of fog in the mornings. As you can see in the picture above, the fog is lifting out of the pastures as the sun rises up over the bay.





With mid September comes fall duties which I'll get to in a minute. During the summer, we tried for the first time to sell Windyknob farm eggs down along the roadside. Not being sure what to expect in terms of "traffic" we were shocked to say the least when the eggs were sold out in the first 4 hours! The chickens were laying 18-24 eggs a day by mid July, and the roadside stand continued to sell out every weekend. With the summer tourism traffic gone, its a bit of a reality check - how can we sell 10 dozen eggs a week? You'd be surprised. There's quite a demand for free range chicken eggs by my coworkers at school.

In the fall its time to prepare the animals for breeding, as well as the long winter ahead. After having been on pasture for the past 6 months, it is time to get rid of any internal parasites the sheep might have picked up while grazing. Some farmers will give this toxin every three to four weeks in an effort to kill all the larval stages of the worm. By rotating my flock every 4-7 days, I am able to decrease the exposure to worm larvae, and thereby decrease the frequency that I must deworm my flock. This is part of a practice known as Rotational Grazing. Of course its important to deworm before breeding season as well, which will start about a month from today.



Of course over the winter, the sheep no longer have the pastures to feed on, which is when we turn to hay for nutrition. This is the view of the hay loft, with almost 160 bales of hay (first cutting and second cutting) we are ready to roll here for the sheep's first winter at Windyknob farms. The 100 bales on the right were picked up this week. We are good to go on hay.

The aroma of skunk.

Its September officially, but the weather reminds me of July, except in July you'd think it were October. Anyway, of course as I head back to school, the sun comes out and the thermometer hits the upper 70s; all while I break out the planner and get ready for my new students.

This week could have been calm and relaxing; except for Milos the Great Dane who wanted a little excitment. So on Tuesday night at about 9:30pm he went out one final time for the night and about 20 feet off the deck took off after a skunk. Being as large as he is, Milos must have caught every droplet of oil that skunk could muster up. And instantly this pungent musty smell just overwhelmed the air. Two hours of baths tempered it a little bit, enough to allow him the night in the basement. The next morning more Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda to make him tollerable.

Stinky and Outside!

Then 48 hours later, Milos broke out in Hives and a high fever. Turns out to be an allergic reaction to who knows what. An Emergency visit to the vet and alot of Benedryl, he seems to be okay now. Just another week for him.

It was also a great week for the bounty of the farm. It's amazing to grow vegetables from seed and then to harvest your food from ground to table. It's something everyone should experience. It makes you think alot more about the decisions we make as a society, and what we eat, where we buy it and what we order. In one day I picked two bags of potatoes, onions, corn and 24 eggs from the chickens. Not bad for a days work.

And finally the sheep! The girls and drogo have moved into the barn and paddock for the week. Its great to see them out the kitchen window and to be able to have them closer to the house. I'm always going in and out of the barn and they watch curiously and come into the stalls to see what I'm up to. It will be their home for the winter so its a prelude for them.