The Final Countdown....cue the music.

The final countdown begins with Monday, February 1st. Its time to once again separate the rams from the ewes, in an effort to get the ladies their added nutrition. Grain is gradually introduced up to a pound a day for each ewe, giving them the protein and nutrients they need to sustain growth for themselves and however many critters they have growing inside of them. They have been on a richer 2nd cutting hay for sometime now, but in this final trimester, the fetus grows 70% more than the other two tri's combined! This makes for a lot of cramped belly space, and the stomach simply cant hold the amount of calories it needs to. The rams are in a stall for the time being, to give the ladies a break from competing with stupid boys for the grain and added food. March 1st will be here before you know it, and Lisa, our veteran, will be delivery Windy Knob's first lamb! Will I name them? Of course. Every year there will be a theme, this years is fitting of course with it being "Presidents and First Ladies."

I have been making an added effort to enjoy the days, and sometimes I forget how beautiful a winter walk can be. One morning I hiked along the bay's shoreline, and was able to watch the sunrise over the ice shelves that continue gain in size with every frigid moment. It was spectacular, and an amazing display of beauty. I won't take it for granted, and I won't forget to take time for myself; to have such appreciation for nature and to take in God's beauty all around me. It's nothing short of a miracle, every sunrise... again, and again and again.

While on that hike, I was able to take a photo that has since caught me to be one of my favorite photos Ive ever taken. Not necessairly cause I think it looks cool (totally subjective) but because of the moment it captured. It was early in the morning, about 7am, and I found these prints in the fresh dusting of snow left from the night before. Now it's pretty windy along the shoreline, however even in this powdery fine snow the prints from a coyote were so perfectly imprinted, I swear if you looked closely you could see the steam from the warmness of his paw pads- the prints were that fresh! To me, its just amazing to be walking these places that you soon begin to feel are more intended for the animals then the humans that "own" it. A rocky shoreline, towering pines, a fresh snowfall, and a coyote out taking a stroll. And I was lucky enough to get a shot of it.

Mid January and counting.

It's mid January, there just isn't a lot going on. I'm busy, but its with the mundane. It's the "get through it" mentality right now. Get through the school days, get through the cold weather, get through the chores. It's tough coming off the holidays and visiting family and having days off... and when your sandwiched between that and sheep vaccinations and as you prep for lambing (6 weeks away at this point) the time just isn't all that exciting. Things are coming along just fine. Sometimes "dull" is good though, I guess.

I did have to change a few jacket sizes the other day. The girls have their wool coming in strong, and of course they are putting on the pounds as their bellies widen. I took a picture to show the contrast between the jacketed wool, and their.. er.. unjacketed. Clean wool sells, that is why I have these sheep wearing jackets, it can add 10-14 dollars per pound of wool. People tend to laugh when I describe that my sheep wear jackets. But you cant argue with this:

The chickens have been the talk of the farm these days. Their egg laying has gone up tremendously, honestly you'd think it was mid summer by their production. The hens are averaging about 4.5 eggs per week- each! There are anywhere between 18-22 eggs every day. Luckily through the winter, when the roadside stand isn't an option, the teachers I work with are buying eggs. I have a waiting list if you can believe that. I sell about 10 dozen a week right now. As I look to the spring, I am going to try and breed my own chickens again this year. Last February was the farms first "birth;" where a Hen raised a

clutch of 4 chickens. Of course my luck I had 3 Roosters and 1 hen. The roosters became a bit much, in fact they started hurting the hens, and scratching up their backs pretty good. Its too tight of a space to have 5 roosters in for the winter. I dont know how you may feel and Im sure some of you may disagree, but it's something that every one should do; prepare your own food. And that is just what I did with 2 of the roosters. It is really eye opening to take a life through the stages from "coop" to the dinner table. Its not something I take for granted, and I was confident that I provided one heck of a life for that rooster for 10 months, compared to what many of us buy in the freezer section of our grocery store. I can't describe it, its not "cool" or "neat," I didn't turn all braveheart or anything with war paint on my face; its just a time to reflect on your food, where it came from and what its' life was like. You gain a true appreciation for everything it takes to get a chicken from birth to table.

January 1st and halfway there!

What? Halfway where? We're halfway there. You know "there." As in lambing date! Yeah happy new year, hope 2010 is everything for you and yours, yada yada; but seriously, I'm thinking March 1st people. And don't worry, I'm taking every day as it comes, enjoying life, and all those bumper stickers. But c'mon, I got pregnant ladies on the farm! In about 9 weeks I will have lambs hitting the ground and its like Christmas all over again with the genetic guessing game and the statisitcs of a Black or Gray ram from the Lisa/Steel combo and the Nez Perce/Doherty pair and... and. sigh. Okay point taken. My therapist was right, I do need to get out more.

None the less, look at their bellies, you can see the round "sag" going. Now I am a rookie, and I could just be overfeeding, but the rams don't have it, and these two are my "veteran" moms (aka weaker abdominal muscles, their bikini days are long gone) and you can derive, like I have, that indeed these ladies are developing a new life within. Fertilization was a success and cells are dividing; the miracle of devlepment is well underway. One cell to two, two to four; eyes, muscles, neurons all developing from the same origin and tissue. Tell me life isn't simply amazing! Or like I said, maybe they are just getting fat.

Lisa and Vera Lyn

But it is the new year people. What are you calling it? Two thousand and ten? Twenty Ten? Is it the start of a new decade or the last year of one? Must be a slow newsday if those are the topics of the day. And isn't it funny how people need substantial bookmarks to turn the page in their life? Odd actually. We need something globally substantial, to "trigger" us to do something for ourselves. Why is that? Can't a sunrise be enough to make you stop in your tracks and start to appreciate what it is you have in life? Or just another day seem a little too blah, driving you to want to accomplish something or set new goals? I dont know, I wish we could all just keep the new years motivation for each and everyday throughout the year. You people all just need a kick in the butt if you need a "1-1-xx" to start resolutions... my new diet starts today and I am getting back in shape; whose with me?

This is Ronin. No segway. No smooth transistions. But just a picture that I adore very much. The break from school has left me home and enjoying what it is I love most. My farm and the animals that make it such. I'm at the transition in my life where I'm torn between social responsibility (aka sanity) and wanting to stay home for the night. I truly enjoy putzing around the farm feeding chickens and sneaking grain to the llama before the sheep can figure out what's going on. I like cross country skiing across the orchard so I can look back at what I have and all that I have done to make it what it is. Then comes Christmas and New Years, where I know I ought to go out and be social with friends and visit family downstate, and yet I dont want to. I want to stay home. New Years isn't about a party, its about knowing you dont have to leave the house the next day cause its a holiday! Now depending on where you're at in life, your reading this saying whats wrong with staying home! You dont have to go out! Do what you want in life, not what people say you are supposed to do! And then there are others of you going is this guy for real? Isn't he barely in his 30s and yet he has become the cooky cat lady or something. I dont know people. But what I know is that Ronin is something special, and if you look at his eyes in this photo, you might catch a glimpse of his "it" factor, and why I have a special bond with him.

And maybe you can't relate to the dog ordeal and staying in on New Years, but you are a naturilist at heart. And you read this 'cause you like the farm life and the essence of nature, and getting back to the roots. If thats you, this is the story you want. Eagles. Bald ones. As in a majestic bird with a four foot plus wing span. A symbol of our country because of its stately manner, flight, power, survival (sorry 'bout the DDT, our bad) and freedom. And when I woke up on Christmas morning, and saw not one, not two but (say it with me) THREE bald eagles soaring outside the window, you can't help but appreciate the majestic and splendor of God's world. Honestly. I wish I could just stop talking and let you experience it for yourself, but this is a blog not youtube. Kinda what I'm here for. So you will have to take it from me, when I describe this man child still waking up, running the length of the house nose pressed against each window as this amazing eagle was flying, no make that soaring along its' way, coming into view and leaving as I ran to each window. Nothing like it. Nothing.

I hope you are able to see through my sinister approach to the new year and through my half hearted attempt to joke about my love and appreciation for life and its miracles. I hope that its a great year for you and I hope you already have a passion within; where a goal and a sense of accomplisment exist all at the same time. And most importantly I hope you realize it. It's all there, realizing it is often my nemesis, could it be all of ours to a degree?

2010, twenty ten as I will be calling it, can be the start or the end for whatever you need it to be. I know I'm excited! More chickens and all the eggs I can sell, a possible SARE grant to be awarded, my first lambing season, and another graduating class of high school seniors being shipped off to the real world prepared to the best of my abilities. And thats just the first half. How can it not be a great year?

Snow......ed in?

So it had seemed like I was asking for it all along. The rain in October, the unseasonably warm November, and as of Thanksgiving... no snow. Weird. For northern Michigan, thats just plain weird. In the past, we had snowfall in October, accumulation in early November and perhaps a snowday (cancelled school) by Turkey day, but this year the weather kept prolonging the inevitable.
But then it hit.

We heard about it for a few days before it actually came. The storm that was tearing it up through the west, overturning the midwest and heading up through the great lakes was all over the news. The farm had about 8 inches of snow fall overnight, add in the strong winds (windy knob... remember?) and it was quite the storm! So much in fact that it shut down schools in the area on Wednesday. There is something about a snow day I tell ya. I swear teachers get more excited for them than the students. Anyway, the snow just dumped.

But that wasn't going to be it. Then the cold kicked in, with windchills well below zero districts cancelled school on Thursday too. And there you have it, the first storm of winter. What's that do to a farm? Well, it makes it darn cold thats what it does. So now the little chores, like carrying hay from the loft down to the stalls becomes numbing. And you consider leaving the gate open and letting the darn sheep just run off into the horizon when they break their feeder that you just made a few weeks ago (I know I know, poor build, not bad sheep). But still. I mean c'mon. How about frozen water pipes? Anyway, thats what the cold does, it brings out all of those little odd jobs that you didn't plan on nor have time for.

Luckily, you adapt. You start realizing you can stack 8 bales, keeping it out of reach of the always hungry llama, and manage to get a weeks worth in there; saving the loft trips for weekends only. The frozen water pipe (which would have been disasterous) was easily fixed by wrapping and insulating heat tape around the spicket. Broken feeder? Bigger screws! That may be a temporary fix, Ill keep you posted. But you learn to roll with it. For someone that had every minute of every day mapped and planned out, thats one thing I've had to learn in raising livestock, you roll with it. Well, you yell and cuss a little bit, then you roll with it.

And while I'm at it, here's a complaint about Drogo the llama. How is it he has managed to train me into feeding him in his private stall, rather than making him eat with the others? Picture this, two feeders, plenty of space for the 11 of them to gather round and eat (7 Ewes, 3 Rams and 1 very overzealous llama); you break up the flakes of hay into the feeders and viola, Ponderosa for animals. No, somehow the llama has "personal space" issues and starts clicking and clacking and rearing his tv entenna size ears in every which direction and the sheep have to back down and get out of his way. Well, one day he was in the stall still (free reign to come and go out of the paddock) so I gave him a flake of hay in the wall feeder in the stall. Aw cute right? Poor little guy. Well it hasnt been but a couple days and now you feed the sheep, and where's the llama? You guessed it, inside the stall, sitting next to the wall feeder. No sign of guilt, no remorse or shame, just those beady eyes like, where's my breakfast? I'm more mad at myself really. How did I get suckered by these animals so quickly?

Cold November Rain?

November is just about through, although you'd never guess it by looking around the farm. The blower is on the tractor, cutter put away in the barn; the Christmas lights are on and the chickens have a timer for "daylight" in the coop; yet even with all this, it still doesnt seem quite like the end of November to me without the snow. This time last year we already had school closings, 12 inches of snow on the ground and had I had done the driveway numerous times. I'm not complaining, I'm just sayin'.

The duties over the last couple of weeks included closing the gates of the pastures one final time. I had to bring the remaining sheep up from "pasture" and reunite them with the other two breeding pairs that have been separated for the past month or so. This included bringing Drogo the llama up as well. In order to do this I have to create an alley of temporary electric net to usher them from the pastures, up through the barn and out into the paddock. Things went pretty smoothly luckily. While all the sheep were up in the barn, we took the time to trim hooves and change jackets. It has been about 7 weeks now since they had been shorn and I was / am / (were for all I know) amazed at how quickly their wool grows back in. Clearly its not the 5 inches it was after a years growth, but certainly more than I had exepected, and surely enough to insulate them through the winter.

Of course it is the time of year to stop and remind yourself just how good (I'll speak for myself) I have it. I am truly blessed with an amazing job that I love (not to mention steady income and protected job) and on top of that I live in amazing house, with an amazing farm and some pretty darn amazing animals. While my trademark strength is my work ethic and drive, its also my downfall in that I don't stop to smell the roses so to speak. And with Thanksgiving, its a day to give thanks and appreciate all that one has been given. Though I missed visiting with my family this year, I was able to prepare my first turkey. The turkey was raised locally at a game farm in Mancelona, and 15 pounds - 5 hours later, and I was elated at how well it turned out. I'm not bragging, I'm just shocked! It worked! A turkey, 3 sticks of butter, the herbs in the cabinet, some potatoes from the garden and viola - turkey dinner. Once is luck, so check back next year to see how the turkey comes out. I might even be eating leftovers still at that point.

My turkey - celery, carrots, apples, herb butter-spread under the skin, and yes I did cook it too.

With even more goodnews, I would like to introduce Noah. With all the animals, there had to be a Noah here too right? Being that I had a few days off for the holidays (and yet - farmers can't travel, my parents love me alot but bringing 10 sheep, a llama, two dogs a cat and 40 chickens home with me for a few days- well, lets just say I don't think so) and with the time around the house I decided to go to the Humane Society to pick out a new cat. I've been blessd with this home, and I would love to share it with a cat who needs one too. Noah is 4 months old and already drinking with the dogs- I mean getting along with the dogs.

So here we go. October was busy, but November just flew by. Thanksgiving is just a memory now but to be thankful each and everyday is something I strive for. And now with December coming in just a few days, I don't imagine things will be slowing down any time soon. All the hoopla of Thanksgiving day sales, and black fridays, cyber mondays, shop shop shop. Ugh. Can't we just sit and enjoy the holidays any more? Good luck with your holiday endeavors everyone.

Evening sun sets on Windy Knob Farms.

Finding Home...

You know there are so many cliches about a home vs a house, and what it means to find your home; a sense of where you belong. I see it with students trying to find the right college that suits them, or with careers or social groups etc. What it comes down to is finding a place in which we belong. A place that gives us that innate sense of security that leads to a comfort that can only be found... well, at home.

I can honestly say how blessed I am to have been given such a "home." I use the word given loosely because a lot of work has gone into it to make it what it is today, but still it's the place, the setting, the barns and the animals that makes it home for me. A place that I can not wait to get home to, despite the work that has to be done and chores to manage, I love it. I absolutely love it.

Finding home seemed to be a theme here these past few weeks. One thing was in regard to the sheep. Last time I went to pick up 8 sheep and borrowed a long livestock trailer. It took me almost 12 hours of driving, lots of white knuckles (through Flint and Saginaw with a four horse trailer and tons of traffic on Michigan roads no less.... c'mon). But for merely two sheep... I was better off driving the truck. So I had to build a contraption.

I went downstate to pick the final two ewe's from the breeder that I purchased all of my sheep from. They had remained behind in order to be bred by other rams. This gives me the opportunity to have lambs in March, with different bloodlines then what I have on my farm currently. Its like getting all the goods of the ram (genes) without having to pay for him or raise him for the year. How's the saying go? Why buy the cow when I can get the milk for... anyway, below you see the two newbies... Lisa and Artemesia. Welcome home ladies to Windy Knob.

Unfortunately it's not all good news in finding home. I would use a word like ironic but that doesn't bode well for the mood of the context. If you were to read back a few posts in the blog, you would see I mentioned about taking each day as it comes and not wishing days away. I specifically mentioned Baka the Cat and how he had "found the farm" and came to live here back in January. I was referring to how quickly time was flying by.

About a week and a half ago (okay who am I kidding, I know exactly when it was: Wednesday the 4th at 4:50pm, on my way to Suttons Bay) I found Baka had been hit by a car and was laying at the base of the driveway. He died. It was surreal at first and Ill save you the details, but it didn't take long before it set in and I realized I had lost a good friend. Baka was special, and I will be the first to admit everyone thinks their pet is special and they truly are, but everyone loved Baka. After my sister visited, she loved Baka so much she went home and adopted a kitten of her own. And our neighbors had first found Baka in their barn back in January. He then charmed his way into their house, where they had a couple of cats of their own who weren't as welcoming; which meant Baka was in need of a home of his own. Windy Knob had some room and a few dogs which was the hold up, how is this cat going to do around a few giant dogs? Well, this is how it went.

Like I said, everyone loved Baka, even the 145 pound Great Dane - Milos. I wish I could show you video of walking the dogs around the farm, and Baka following about 20 yards behind. Or how he was too good for his own kitty water bowl; instead he had to stand on his back legs and drink out of the elevated dog water bowls. He lived up to his name, which was short for Sobaka meaning dog in Ukrainian. He had found his home, and just wanted to be one of the dogs. Baka was special and I was lucky enough to have him find me. I'm sad that it was for only 10 months, but I'll never forget him. Something about him just soothed everyone he met. I think I liked to curl up and watch tv as much as I liked knowing that he would soon join me. I never thought I could become so attached to an animal in so little time. And with that, just as quickly and unexpectedly that Baka came, it was time for him to go. Its the full circle about finding home. Baka had to go to make someone else's day, just like he use to make mine.

The buck stops (and starts) here...

The colors are in their final stages. You can see here the final glimpse of yellows from the lone stand of aspens on the Western edge of the farm. Mind you this photo was taking in the 5 minute break from rain that has been falling throughout the majority of the week. A few changes were made with the sheep. The ewes are into their second 17 day cycle, which means you change the chalk color, and watch for any signs of being bred again. This is in hopes of being ready when the lambs are born, or at least having a window of when they might arrive. The young ram, Doherty and his mate, Nez Perce were moved up to the barn. This left Drogo the llama on his own. So he was moved to the larger pasture with the big kids. Another two weeks and the whole gang will come together (including the final two ewes from the other farm), and breeding season will have ended.


The fleeces that were shorn at the beginning of the month have been the talk of the town. Sort of. Maybe thats a bit overstated, but I have been pleasently surprised with the activity. When I called a wool shop in Traverse City, they knew who I was and the product that I am selling, "a lady told a friend who told so and so, and it got back to me" she said. Up until now I had sold one fleece at the Leland Fiber festival, leaving me with 5 others. I really pushed to advertise this week with ads on Etsy.com, a few phone calls, and some posters up at the local kiosks, and what do you know; I got a phone call from a wonderful Northport resident who came out to the farm today with her friend. They loved the sheep and were very impressed with how clean the fleeces were. I sold two fleeces! Then I checked email, and another buyer is interested in coming out from Traverse City. What do you know, there is a market when you have good product. The picture is one of the information cards that comes with each fleece.


The final excitement I have for you is the showdown between Drogo and an enemy. I thought about making this sound like an elaborate borage of fangs and claws, and a showdown where one dies; but I'll save the drama. Here's the deal. Drogo is supposed to be my guard llama, fend off any would be sheep predators. The only thing I have seen him do is stare down my dogs, and spit at the rams if they get to close to his food. Needless to say I was beginning to have my doubts about his security-ness. Well, I peered out to the pasture the other afternoon to see the sheep running frantically to the far corner of the pasture, and Drogo, creeping up towards the woods... what is it? I was waiting, watching, and out of the woods came this 4 point buck. Not that he was interested in eating my sheep, but at least Drogo helped to protect the could be danger. He squared up to him at the woods, exchanged a few words, and the deer was gone. So maybe he is going to pull through for me after all. Good job Drogo.