visualize industrial collapse

Jett's Fleece

2011-10-19T10:29:00.002-04:00

Fall Shearing

2011-10-10T07:21:00.009-04:00

Where has the time gone?

It was already time for fall fleeces to come off this weekend. Melissa did all 17 in one shot and she did an amazing job. We even had some dissenters who took a really long time to catch. I was fortunate to have a lot of help this weekend including my brother Rob who did an amazing job helping me with all my farm projects.
Rob watching Melissa with the first sheep of the day!

One of this years lambs, Jokull, beautiful downy lambswool!

Twins Freyja and Snorri lead the rebel pack of four that took us almost an additional hour to wrangle. Exhausting!

Saga, my ram, went last. Once again, he had an incredible fleece. Although, his son, Jett took first prize this year for the herd and I decided to keep Jett's fleece to handspin myself! First time for me. I also held Pattur's fleece back to do something special with because sadly he is at the end of his wool production.

Saga being shorn.

A tiring but very rewarding day! I'm so proud of my flock. The fleeces are beautiful, parasite load is low, and everyone's body condition looks great. I am heading into winter with happy and healthy flock.

Fall Update!!

2011-10-03T13:32:00.011-04:00

Wow! It has been a while. It is time for Fall shearing and I realized my last post was Spring shearing.

I just returned from the Vermont sheep and wool festival totally inspired and cannot wait to get my fleeces off next week!

I took a three hour spinning class, and finally got on my wheel and started making some yarn! It was a great workshop!
Our awesome instructor Patty Blomgren showed us the ropes from raw fleece, to spun yarn.

Met these two ladies, Alicia and Michelle, who also raise Icelandics!!

I also completed my FAMACHA training with Chet Parsons from the UVM extension. This is so exciting for me because I am a huge fan of not overusing anthemintics in my flock, but have had some trouble with anemia in my lambs. I had a close call with Geysir, one of my ram lambs, in July. He already had signs of extreme anemia when I found him and luckily a dose of Ivomec worked....not usually the case when they already have 'bottlejaw' as he did. So, now, with my FAMACHA score card, I can look for earlier signs and treat appropriately. YAY!!
The great Chet Parsons demonstrating eyelid examination.
And here I am demonstrating I am fully trained thus earning the coveted FAMACHA card!

Spring Shearing

2011-04-11T14:55:00.007-04:00

The flock was shorn yesterday. All went well and the fleeces are on their way to the mill.

Check out my the new farm website for more pics and video!

Mathilda and Maisie

2011-04-05T20:06:00.004-04:00

I decided on names for the new goats. Maisie is the brown and Mathilda is the roan.

The dairy goats have been a work in progress...not just a random, quick decision. I was looking back an an old post from 2007 where I was ready for a dairy goat. But, alas, life got complicated and busy. The sheep thing really took off. And now, finally, a space has opened up in life and these two doelings fit perfectly into it. Reading the old post and having the goat dream realized really feels good. There is merit to thinking and planning in life. Things do come to fruition. Work and patience and good decisions, and even bad ones...they all play a part in the evolution of new things.

So I guess what I am feeling is a little bit of pride for investing in my ideas and making them happen in due time. I did it with grad school (the first go round!), a career teaching biology, a farm, Icelandic sheep, producing my own wool, the birth of a mule after a devastating first try, and now I hope I am doing it again with my doctorate. All in due time.

I leave you with some baby goat ridiculousness:

Newest Additions

2011-04-04T07:40:00.003-04:00

Here they are!

Two new doelings. They are 3/4 Nubian and 1/4 Oberhalsi Dairy goats. I am VERY excited. Still working on names...

Spring forward

2011-03-30T20:48:00.006-04:00

Things are coming back to life around here....

The hens are laying and the bred ewes are stirring with new life.

Shearing, lambing, and wool festivals approach. New wellies have been purchased and I am day dreaming of two new baby goats for my next adventure with dairying.

Some other new babies on the farm...

New Wool!

2011-02-08T11:37:00.002-05:00

The fall fleeces are back from the mill! As always, Still River did a fantastic job on both yarn and blanket/rugs.

Winter Sheeps!

2011-01-18T12:11:00.002-05:00

Gin is home!

2011-01-15T11:22:00.003-05:00

Start Your Engines is a thoroughbred I got off the racetrack a lifetime ago in California. Today I brought him home to chill in the backyard for a bit...not sure if this is a retirement for us or just a hiatus. But, it is good to look out the kitchen window and see him. He has been with me for a long time, and at 18 he still has a lot left in him. I hope I do too!

New Year

2011-01-05T11:09:00.009-05:00

Lots of friends and family around for the holidays...which meant some help with the chores!

Emmy! the original tractor grrrl....

Dad helped muck out the sheep and goat shed.

Aunt Marti and I prepared an awesome turkey dinner...
and she was game for doing all the feedings and chores!

Making jam

2010-12-19T07:47:00.008-05:00

This year I made my old standby Ginger pear preserves but I got pretty radical and also made lemon Ginger marmalade!

Snazzi

2010-11-08T11:42:00.005-05:00

The oldest member of my flock died over the weekend of old age. She was already a seasoned ewe when I got her along with her ewe lamb Olive. While I had her she gave me two wonderful lambs, Sukki and Kyra.

Sukki inherited her mother's incredible maternal instincts and has the most incredible chocolate colored fleece (her name which comes from súkkulaði the Icelandic word for chocolate).

This year's lamb Kyra, pictured above, is the spitting image of her mother and I hope she also has inherited her maternal instincts. (Kyra is named for the kÿr, the Icelandic word for cow!).

Fall Shearing

2010-10-10T10:04:00.004-04:00

Another successful Fall shearing! This year, for the first time I had a number of lamb fleeces. I am so excited to see how they spin-up. Also, the mill I use now has an antique sock machine so stay tuned for some super warm Three Dog Farm socks in all your favorite natural Icelandic colors.

Melissa brought her daughters who are shearers and sheep women in training! The girls did a great job helping out.

value

2010-08-14T18:53:00.004-04:00

there is value in the seeing the fruits of one's labor no matter how small.

Newest Lamb!

2010-05-23T19:39:00.003-04:00

More cute overload...

Lolly is an adoptive mom

2010-05-14T07:15:00.000-04:00

Frigga has her lamb

2010-05-12T12:45:00.003-04:00

Spring Shearing

2010-05-06T09:23:00.005-04:00

My awesome shearer, Melissa Higgins, drove up from CT yesterday and did the whole herd. She did a wonderful job and was very gentle with the two ladies who are still waiting to lamb.

Frigga and the gang

2010-05-02T06:41:00.002-04:00

Cute overload!

2010-05-01T22:02:00.003-04:00

This is Eyja

This is Esja and Eyja, Freya's twin ewe lambs.

giddy up!

2010-04-23T11:57:00.005-04:00

this is just all sorts of wrong...

Freyja's lambs

2010-04-21T14:08:00.005-04:00

Third time was a charm for Freyja...she finally got the mothering thing right! She had two very large ewe lambs. One will be dark grey (she has sugar lips!) and the other I am not sure! Perhaps gray mouflan or a brown gray? I have never had this color lamb yet. She was stuck and had to be pulled to life but was kicking and screaming as soon as she hit the ground. Fine, healthy lambs Freyja!

Here they are actually nursing! Finally Freyja!

trying to nurse!

2010-04-16T14:27:00.002-04:00

Let the lambing begin...

2010-04-16T14:12:00.013-04:00

I was not planning on lambs this year, but my ram Saga had other plans. Sukki was the first to go and produced lovely male/female twins. One moorit and one piebald. Of course it was the coldest day we've had in weeks and they were pretty cold. They got some extra TLC and plenty of colostrum before I let them fend for themselves.

My neighbor, Val, was on hand with hot towels from the dryer (her idea thanks Val!) and she also finally captured me in action. After three years of lambing alone, it was nice to have some company! Someone finally witnessed my adeptness at milking colostrum one handed while wrangling a yearling new mother!

href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-MzNi2bXYFc/S8ipoGv7ibI/AAAAAAAAAcE/Rs7PJS50VvE/s1600/DSCF2041.JPG">

Icelandic Wool!

2010-03-04T09:28:00.008-05:00

Finally these guys can start earning their keep!

Three Dog Farm has finally produced some wool. Thanks to my awesome shearer Melissa and the great work of Still River Mill, I have some lovely yarn to sell.

Check out my etsy shop for details.

The colors are all natural. From left: white, light brown, dark brown, medium grey, light grey, and dark grey (mixed black and white fleece from piebald sheep!) Skeins are single ply, about a dk weight, and approximately 250 yards/skein (40z skeins).

Vigor

2009-07-14T19:48:00.001-04:00

Here he is! I FINALLY have a healthy mule foal. My sister Mika was on hand to help and all went well. 'Hybrid Vigor' survived the ordeal, though had to be bottle fed for the first 24 hours. Rooster barely survived the bottle feeding, not to mention the every-three-hour foal check for an
entire month prior to his arrival!

There are not many mules in Massachusetts, so he is quite the neighborhood spectacle.

Shearing Day

2009-06-08T15:51:00.006-04:00

Here is Melissa shearing Pattur, my herd sire. Icelandics are not your typical lay down and be still breed. They require some patience and Melissa does a wonderful job handling them. Below she is shearing Bjorn, a fairly large, horned, grey whether.

brand new era

2008-06-08T12:55:00.006-04:00

updated: more photos here

clover woke me up at 5am-ish to go out. normally, on a sunday, this can be very annoying. today, however, i was thrilled she got me up because when i looked out in the paddock i saw a little dark shadow hovering around louise:

i was so surprised. i had just given louise a bath yesterday and determined she was still a ways away. but she had other plans.

i have been enamored with mules since i was a child. i always thought i would eventually get myself a saddle mule. it was one of the things on my list for when i got my own little farm. and the day has arrived. three dog farm has its first mule on the ground!

last one

2008-05-29T06:46:00.006-04:00

i thought that lambing was over with the delivery of olive's ewe. i was wrong. back in december, christmas day actually, my ewe snazzy (olive's mom!), was very ill and to make a long story short, we were operating under the assumption she was not yet bred and removed her from the herd. she remained away from my ram until about april.

once lambing was over, i started shearing everyone. and once i sheared her i noticed her udder was mildly developed. then, as i watched over the next couple of weeks, her belly expanded. so, i prepared myself for another lambing!

she gave birth early in the morning on may 27 to this adorable, tiny lamb:

i suppose that even though she was on death's door on christmas, she was in the process of conceiving! this is the cutest little lamb i have ever seen. so petite and such a rich, dark brown. we have named her sukki, which i derived from of the icelandic word for chocolate.

other babies

2008-05-02T23:14:00.004-04:00

i did an inspection of the young fruit trees to see how they made it through their first winter. out of the 20+ we planted in the back field, three didn't make it and there is a fourth i am suspicious of. i made a trip out to the farmer's co-op and picked out two dwarf sweet cherries as replacements so far, and got them in the ground. we will be making a trip back for some more apple trees soon, so we'll pick out the other replacements then.

while i was at it, i started replacing the nursery tags with the copper tags i bought last year. sometimes it is the small jobs that are the most neglected and procrastinated, so i am glad i at least got started on the labeling. i also need to make a tree map just in case someone loses their tag over the years.

frigga (warning! lamb birthing pictures to follow)

2008-04-26T08:28:00.008-04:00

olive had her lamb last weekend. i was worried about olive as she is such a small ewe. i had not intended to breed her this year, but it seemed she and pattur had other plans. i had separated them but there was a time in december where i came up in the morning to find the fence knocked over and everyone was together. i had to leave them that way for a day until we fixed the fence. and voila! about a month ago i realized olive was expecting.

so, she was under close watch as i waited for her lamb to come. i was thankful that it was early sunday morning; bright, sunny, warm and with the whole day ahead of us incase we needed the vet.

i knew she had started stage one of labor the day before. she was restless and laying down by herself a lot. but it wasn't until sunday morning that stage two was in full swing. she chose to lay down in the stall, so i just quietly closed her in there and watched and waited.

i was so relieved to find two front hooves and a little snout emerging

after a good deal of pushing, i realized the lamb was stuck! i had seen this level of 'stuck' before when i did the lambing week at the heifer project. i paged the vet and decided to try helping why i waited. i was able to carefully get the head 'unstuck'. but then the next few pushes were pretty futile. nothing was moving. i could tell this was a BIG lamb. so i decided to pull. at this point i think i have about every single lamb pulling technique and malpresentation problem memorized from this book, so i was fairly confident on what i wanted to do. i wanted to get one leg free so to angle the lambs shoulders making it as narrow as possible. thankfully it worked. as i pulled one leg forward and down, the lamb was instantly freed! with the next push there was a whole lot of lamb and olive took a break so i grabbed my camera:

then the next push and she was out. what a relief.

introducing frigga, a grey ewe lamb:

fast grow the lambs*

2008-04-15T19:00:00.012-04:00

my second year of lambing is turning out to be much more successful than my first. (a strong conclusion to draw from n=2, i know) i certainly learned a lot from last year's 'when everything goes wrong' experience. this year, i found myself much more prepared and much more confident. still, there was a good deal of nail biting and worrying. there still is. but, i am happy to report the twins are thriving....

bjork

bjorn

it is amazing how fast they learn from watching mom. at two weeks old, bjorn has figured out how to drink from a bucket. they both try to eat hay whenever freyja eats--it is the sweetest thing to watch.

freyja never did warm up to letting them nurse. she mothers them, tolerates them, and seems totally interested in them BUT she just won't stand for them to nurse. ever. not for a second. it is a maddening problem! i have to hold her for them to eat. many times a day. hence the continued worrying. are they getting enough? do they get ANY nursing in when i am not there? ugh. so, on any given day, you will see me climbing into their pen for some hardcore nursing sessions. at midnight in my pajamas (below) or right before i leave for work in a skirt and cute shoes. why yes, that IS a tuft of wool on my shoulder...

it is such a relief to see this little butt sticking out and the tail wagging furiously...

it can only mean suckling is successful!

*this title is totally stolen from one of my favorite garden/farm blogs fast grow the weeds

twins

2008-04-05T12:16:00.004-04:00

freyja had twin lambs this year. since last year's lambing didn't go so well (she rejected, and i eventually lost her bottle lamb to bloat) i kept a close eye. which means i slept two hours last night.

the delivery went well and the lambs were born feisty and ready for life. it was wet and cold last night, so after about an hour of not getting a chance to nurse i decided to intervene. i was able to tube a good amount of colostrum into each of them and then help them nurse by holding freyja still. she wants to be a mom this year, but she is a little too distracted and won't hold still for them to nurse. hopefully, as they get stronger over the next 24 hrs, they will get faster and steadier at nursing a moving target. for now, we will assist to make sure they are eating every couple of hours.

they are lovely lambs--a black/grey ram lamb and a moorit/grey ewe lamb. great fleece colors. even though they are solid black and moorit, you can tell they will be grey by their 'sugar lips'--the little patch of white on their mouths.

heavy on my thoughts...

2008-03-14T18:22:00.001-04:00

shearing freyja
Originally uploaded by allyhunterfox.

can it already be time to plan for this?

this pic was of my first time shearing and oh how much i've learned. i want to go to shearing school this year to really learn the tricks to easy shearing because so far it has been far from easy.

the winter was particularly hard on three dog farm. too much snow. we were thankful that we bought the tractor when we did.

my blogging has suffered as my day job has taken over my life. but, we are in the final stretch and i will have my first year of teaching under my belt. i managed to learn a few things that i hope will make next year much smoother!

on a final note, i am in total awe and utterly inspired by the extraordinary blogging skills of perri over at maggie's farm (now in my sidebar) i check in daily and it is always a good read. go see my little olive's birth story there!

yule

2007-12-25T21:58:00.000-05:00

lolly didn't sleep a wink guarding all the presents

she thought the biggest bone was for her but it was for fortinbras

big snow

2007-12-16T18:24:00.000-05:00

snow, snow everywhere

louise never minds the weather and chooses to stay outside

the donkeys came out for a bit, but prefer to pass the storm eating in the shed

new additions

2007-12-02T17:33:00.001-05:00

olive, an icelandic lamb

a tractor! mika and clover working off some turkey after thanksgiving

ouch!

2007-09-11T21:52:00.000-04:00

poor lolly!

11 years of dog ownership, and this was the first porcupine incident we've had.

i couldn't believe how deep the quills were--i ended up using pliers!

oh boy

2007-08-20T15:07:00.000-04:00

do you get the 'perezhilton' reference? if not, scroll down.

the lovely louise:

is in foal to this guy:

the resulting offspring will be a mule.

hooray louise!

lakation

2007-08-11T19:07:00.001-04:00

last week, we left three dog farm in capable hands for a five day getaway

we take a yearly summer trip to a family lakehouse in pennsylvania which we have dubbed our 'lakation'

the dogs love it. they get to swim and we get to relax and enjoy watching them swim.

we came back and everything and everyone was just as we had left it

with the exception of some new treasures...

preparing for the harvest

2007-07-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

i still have canned tomatoes from last summer's garden lingering in the cabinets. so, i've been trying to use them up to make room for the coming tomato crop. we have less plants this year, but we (we being fox) have been much more tentative to the plants and i think we may get a more robust crop than last year. we even have some tomato plants that have sprouted up from last years seeds either from tomatoes that had fallen or that the chickens got. it will be interesting to see what crosses they are. they are inches taller and much stronger than the plants we put in intentionally--got to love that hybrid vigor!

sunday i topped our local beef/pork meatloaf with a jar of homemade stewed tomatoes (everything but the vineagar, salt, and pepper from my garden)--here is is about to go in the oven:

and last night i busted out the last jar of yellow crushed tomatoes and we had it with eggplant from our garden and squash from a friend's garden. i love canning yellow tomatoes. they really make a nice sauce and they look so lovely in the jar:

being a local hero

2007-07-21T20:31:00.000-04:00

i've been slacking on my blogging to be sure. it has been a busy summer!

i've been really enjoying El's entries on her participation in one local summer. since i'm in the middle of writing my thesis, i have hardly spent any time in the kitchen or the garden this summer. but, i did want to post a bit about how living on 5 acres in a ruralish town has allowed me to begin to depend less and less on things from very far away.

we've been raising our own eggs for years and i have not bought eggs forever. in fact, i have an aversion to 'outside' eggs. i sell eggs to my entire department, neighbors, my vet, even my therapist! it always strikes me how much people 1) really LOVE fresh eggs, and 2) love getting eggs from someone they know who actually cares for the chickens. they like supporting me and my efforts to raise happy chickens and i get satisfaction in providing them with a product that i put my own time and effort into.

even though our town is right on the outskirts of a urban center, it is still quite rural. in fact, we are so very lucky to have a dairy right on our street! fresh milk in glass returnable bottles--i love it. it is one of the absolute best things about living here. recently, while i was stopping to get some milk the dairy owner noticed i almost had a flat tire and offered to pump it up for me. i pulled around back and he noticed the hay i had in the back of the truck. i usually buy my hay from the local feed store but the hay is imported from canada--it isn't local. he told me that he bales and sells his own hay and showed me some. i was sold! so now, right on my street, a source for local hay! here is a shot of louise enjoying some of it:

i've been getting my meat for years from a local farm. it is quality, fresh, naturally raised meat. you can see the animals and the family who raises them. i go once a month to buy my poultry feed from them and while i am there i stock up on meat. here is our booty from today:

and finally, my three sour cherry trees produced a small crop of cherries this year! it was our first fruit ever and to celebrate i made a small cherry pie. i am really looking forward to the next few years when we really start getting some fruit production and i'll be able to dry it, can it, and store it for the long winters. in the meantime, i am starting to buy lots of local berries to start canning preserves.

now, if i could only get these two hitched to a wagon so i wouldn't have to fill my gas tank so often!

product endorsement

2007-05-22T09:19:00.000-04:00

these are absolutely the best rubber boots ever made. i had to blog about them. we just survived an entire week of cold, hard rain up here in mass and these boots were and still are (mud!) being put to the test. they are better than the oh so trendy wellies in that they actually have a lug sole, arch support, etc. they aren't some thin sheet of rubber between you and the ground. and, bonus--they are so tough looking in a cute way. i know what you are asking though, what about the tongue? nope, totally waterproof. it is like an accordian tongue that is all one piece and tucks behind the laces. the only downfall, they are PRICEY (129US$). but, a sound investment as i don't think they will ever wear out. these are quality, swedish made boots y'all. check them out--make: tretorn model: ballena

more fruit trees

2007-05-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

my second order of trees arrived and this time i had help with the planting! i will say that i was more impressed with stark brothers than miller's nursery. both orders were excellent, but if i had to choose i'd say that stark brothers ship a more substantial tree.

here is what the trees look like when they come (these from miller's)

here is mikaj trying to dig yet another rock from the ground (we had to give up on this one--it was a boulder)

here is a newly planted and mulched apple tree

frisky

2007-05-05T21:43:00.000-04:00

at five days old, star has suddenly come to life. he is so fun to watch--running sideways and bucking.

i've got the feedings spaced to every 4 hours and i'll be stretching it to 5 by monday. i give the goats their hay right up against his cage, so he has been nibbling at it out of curiosity. i will begin introducing some alfalfa and grains this coming week.

still tons of planting going on as things arrive in the mail...the first 24 fruit trees are in the ground, strawaberries and raspberries are in the ground, and tomorrow go the grapes and blueberries. more fruit trees are on the way because we had room for another row and stark bros had a sale flier that i couldn't resist.
i'll end with a shot of the girls looking for their treats.

3 days old

2007-05-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

so far so good. he is very strong and feisty at feeding time. he seems very content to hang out with the goats as long as i show up with the bottle on time. we are working up to feeding every four hours at the moment, so i might get a little more sleep tonight.

today i had him out and about in the barnyard to get some exercise. gina thinks she could give motherhood a try. she is very sweet to him. he is curious about everything, but mostly he sticks right next to my legs as if i were his mama. his legs are looking a lot better and he has no problem bouncing around on them.

a star is born

2007-05-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

guess what?

i am now the proud 'mother' of an orphan lamb.

welcome the newest addition to three dog farm!

what a unfortunate first lambing. poor freyja had a dystocia (difficult labor). the lamb had elbow lock, and therefore was stuck in the birth canal a little too long. all of freyja's efforts and hard pushing were not getting her anywhere. i knew that once labor had progressed to the stage where the nose and front hooves were presented, that she should be thrusting that baby out pretty quickly. i did an internal exam, and literally could feel that it was stuck. she had some strong contractions while i was examining her and the lamb didn't budge even when i assisted her a little. Time to call the vet!!! my vet was there in a flash and in minutes she diagnosed that the elbows were locked. so, i held freyja's head while she pushed the lamb back in, pulled the legs out straight, and then pulled the lamb free. It was such a sad few moments--he was totally lifeless with a blue tongue. but, amazingly, he came to life after some good shaking, swinging, and vigorous rubbing. this was an enormously traumatic event for freyja, and because of it she totally rejected the lamb.

here she is wondering what that black blob is.

we tried for a couple of hours to get freyja to bond with him. he was a very weak lamb, beyond the normal amount of wobbly, and all freyja wanted to to was butt him around the stall. he had no suckle reflex and was beginning to get hypothermia. we were able to get some great colostrum from freyja and so the vet tube fed him and i wisked him into the house for some blow drying. i was able to tube more colostrum in his stomach as the night when on, and then finally at 1:45 am (after much much much persistance and patience!) he began to suckle from a bottle. hooray! a big sigh of relief from me and i finally felt as though he would make it. i stayed up the whole night, feeding him every two hours. i have to give a HUGE shout out to fox, who got up everytime i woke him to trudge to the sheep shack and help me milk freyja. it was definitely a team effort.

his legs are a little funky, to say the least. i'm wondering about a possible genetic/development thing--strange leg conformation/ elbow lock might not be a coincidence. regardless, i do know horses are born often with very loose tendons for a variety of reasons. once they are up and about for a few days, the tendons seem to tighten up and the leg conformation resumes something resembling normal. sometimes splints are necessary to help the situation. this little guy had a really bad right hind fetlock joint so i made him a cardboard/vet wrap splint and he began keeping the hoof on the ground as opposed to walking on his turned under fetlock joint. i'm sure he won't be winning any prizes for conformation, but we will love him just the same.

now, for the fun stuff...i think he is grey! he is black, but there is white in his ears, muzzle, and his undercoat is white/grey. as he is intended as a wool animal (he will be wethered--no breeding for wobbly legs!), grey would be amazing! i have some grey lopi, and it is just the most fantastic stuff. such a unique, natural color for wool. black is great too, since i have white and brown fleeces already.

and last but not least, his name is 'staralfur' which means 'starry elf' in icelandic. it is also the title of an incredible song by sigur ros which you can here a sample of here. we can call him star for short.

here he is today, enjoying the warm sun from the safety of his crate. i have moved him outside to the goat stall, lest he grow up thinking he is human. he has a full view of the goats so he will begin to get the idea of eating hay and drinking water eventually. his is looking strong and eating very well so let's hope he is with us for the duration!

happy birthday parsnip!

2007-04-22T21:32:00.000-04:00

parsnip is officially a yearling. she is about 11 hands now and donkeys grow until age 4 or 5 so there is hope she will get a bit taller. she will definitely get stockier--she still looks very much like a baby. that is a fur belly she has, not a hay belly.

fox and i teamed up and sheared pattur this weekend. you can see what he looked like before here. i think his adult wool is going to be a bit darker than his lamb wool was. (i'm very excited to see what color his and freyja's lamb will be!)

i'm slightly getting the hang of shearing, but not quite. at least this time i got the fleece off almost in one piece. shearing is certainly an art and i hope to master it at some point in life. for now, i will just keep practicing.

freyja's udder has become quite noticeable so i am hoping for a lamb this week. from the date i last saw them breeding, i calculated her due date to be the last week of april. she seems to be right on schedule! the passed couple of days her belly has just exploded and she sort of has a wide stance. i wonder if she knows what is pending--i always wonder that about animals.

making room for the orchard--part two

2007-04-14T20:31:00.000-04:00

today we used our burn permit for the first time. we had two huge piles of dead vine/brush type stuff and there was no chance of it going into the chipper shredder so burning was our best bet. i'm not an advocate of burning stuff just to get rid of it but since we will be planting 25 trees in return for clearing the brush, i think the carbon will balance itself out. this photo was taken from the same exact spot as this before shot.

here are some other veiws of our newly cleared land:

the goats and donkeys have been loving the land clearing because they get all the pine we cut down.

the easter tree

2007-04-08T06:46:00.000-04:00

the easter bunny left booty for all in our egg basket this morning. even sissy the cat got a little mouse. funny how when there are no human children around, pets make excellent substitutes. especially around the holidays.

this is my poor attempt at an easter tree. when i was little, easter was a big deal for my polish catholic grandparents. my grandmother and i used to make pretty elaborate decorations for the easter tree. we would carefully crack all of the breakfast eggs for weeks ahead of time and save the halves. these we would dye and then put the cutest little feathery chicks in. i wonder where my grandmother got those, they had real feathery stuff all over them. the easter tree was usually a big, blooming forsythia branch. so, here is my version: a pussy willow tree decorated with blown out turkey eggs.

also, my seed order came! i will start some things indoors this week and begin direct sowing others in a couple more weeks. we are still in the 20s at night. april is always a deceiving month and you have to resist the urge to plant. i NEVER put plants out in the garden before mid-may. the tomato seedlings will spend a lot of time in the coldframe before i trust may enough to put them out.

more garden space

2007-04-02T08:08:00.000-04:00

last year, i was really impressed that we even got a garden in. this year, we are already expanding by adding a few more plots.

there are two spots adjacent to the big garden that i want to cultivate--one for a pumpkin and squash patch and one for strawberries and raspberries.

sunday, instead of another day helping fox with the orchard clearing, i got to work on garden bed number one. it is a nice plot between the big garden and the turkey run (which is getting moved elsewhere this spring.)

the rocks that make the border to the left all came out of the big garden. so i continued the stone border trend as i pulled them out of the ground. there is no shortage of rocks here and although they make sinking post holes impossible (think one hole per 4 hours of work) they are handy for borders, fire pits, and grave sites. which brings me to my next point.

lady rose and my donkey gina were inseparable. they even shared a stall.

the young pear tree at the top of the new bed marks the grave of my old mare, Lady Rose. i had Rose since i was a little kid and i had her put down last april--a few weeks shy of her 35th birthday. she had been falling/lying down and then would not be able to get up without assistance. finally, the day came when i was not able to get her up and neither could the vet and i put together. so, we put her down right where she lay and my neighbors brought their backhoe around and buried her. i planted the pear tree for her because she was very fond of pears. she preferred them to apples. it is never easy to put such a large animal 'to sleep', but honestly she went so quietly and quickly. it makes me happy to know she had a good life and that i was able to care for her throughout her old age. and now she is part of the farm for good!

making room for the orchard--part one

2007-03-31T17:45:00.000-04:00

we put in our order for fruit trees last week and they should arrive in early may. so, we have about four weekends to work on clearing a place to plant them.

we ordered 26 trees but two are cold hardy figs and will go up by the house. the remainder are apple, plum, pear, and sweet cherry. oh, and i did get two cold hardy apricots as well. can you tell i have aspirations for jam and preserve making?

last year we planted about a dozen dwarf fruit trees around the perimeter of the backyard (and three sour cherries in an area that the sheep helped clear). there are no trees around the house--no permanent landscaping whatsoever actually--so we thought we would use edible landscaping to spruce things up a bit. of course, it will be years before the trees grow tall and look pretty but i am content with the wait knowing it will be lovely to have fruit trees right in the backyard.

today was the first day we busted out our brand new chipper shredder and chainsaw. we made these large purchases as our christmas gifts and have been anxiously awaiting the time when we would put them to use.

so, here is the back field before we started.....

a couple hours into it......

and at quitting time....

the pictures don't really show it but you can now actually see the stone wall that borders our entire property. not bad for one day of work by two people (married people at that!).

creative financing

2007-03-30T08:09:00.000-04:00

we just found out that the parcel and house that abuts (well, is right in the middle of our parcel) is going up for sale. sometime, long ago, a brother built his sister a house on his land and then the two deeds were split in subsequent generations.

we are just dying---wouldn't it be wonderful to get the whole parcel back together? wouldn't it be great to have use of the two outbuildings? wouldn't it be wonderful to now own water and power out near the fruit trees and sheep? wouldn't it be cool to rent the little house to someone interested in farming?

but then the reality of not having the finances hits. i am scrambling. there must be a way!

has anyone out there ever investigated a loan from a farm credit agency or the Farm Service Agency? i'm about to try...

from spring thaw to winter wonderland...

2007-03-25T08:20:00.000-04:00

wow. i woke up this morning to this. clover seemed just as surprised wondering where all her sticks from yesterday went. the forecast is warm so it won't last. but it is beautiful.

back to work

2007-03-24T17:24:00.000-04:00

this was the first official weekend that we went back to work on three dog farm. not that the daily chores aren't work, it is just that during the winter all the 'projects' come to a halt and then come to life again when everything thaws out.

so, the first thing on my list for spring projects was to get ready for freyja to lamb. first, we had to put a gate on the sheep shack so freyja and lamb can be separated from the boys if necessary and i have a handy catch pen for spring shearing, vaccinating, etc. (for instance, today i was finally able to catch snorri and get that halter off of him).

i set up their real water tub and filled it. i hope i am not cursing myself when i say no more carrying buckets of warm water 2x day. at this point, we should be safe from the tub freezing solid. the sheep did really well over the winter and i REALLY hope there is a lamb in there (freyja is pictured top looking pregnant (i think!) and below the trio: freyja, pattur (ram), and snorri (freyja's wethered twin).

i collect the little german (schleich) animal figures that they sell at our farmer's co-op. last week when i went to buy the sheep gate, i noticed they had little white lambs so i bought two to go with the ewe that sits on my kitchen window sill. i thought of it as well wishing for twin lambs. freyja is a twin and so is pattur, so the genetics are in my favor.

i also placed an order for some sheep supplies. i ordered a lamb feeding tube, milk replacer, a bolus of probiotic colostrum replacer, some nipples, and iodine for the umbilicus. i'm sure i will not need any of the lamb feeding supplies, but i know i'll feel better if i am prepared for the worst case scenario. i also ordered this book. i feel pretty confident about my knowledge of lambing but it sounds like a good book just the same. i attended a women's lambing week a few years back at the heifer project and i really learned a lot and had hands on experience assisting ewes, bottle feeding lambs, dipping navels, and tagging ears.

tonight we finalize our fruit tree and seed orders. time to start building the coldframes.

chicken pot pie

2007-03-06T10:06:00.000-05:00

i am from pennsylvania originally, and that means i love me some chicken pot pie. i decided i need to find something (beyond chicken soup) to do with all of the cockerels that end up in my freezer from time to time.

the small farmer's journal

featured chicken recipes in the winter edition. this included two pot pie recipes so i gave it a try with some chicken breast from a local farm. next time i will it with one of our whole birds.

it required making a rue, which my polish grandmother had taught me to do when i was 11 to make her famous kapusti (sauerkraut) soup.

it came out pretty good, a little too salty this time, but pretty much like i remember it from pennsylvania dutch country.

dairy goats

2007-02-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

i've been thinking a lot recently about goat dairying. there is a natural food store near where i go to school and they sell a lot of local (new england) and imported dairy products. i always try out anything new that comes from sheep or goats. last week, i bought some goat butter that was imported from canada. i was instantly attracted to the label--i love the detail of her name on her collar. it was really tasty and it made me think that i would definitely make goat butter with my goat's milk. i love butter and cook with it constantly, so this might be a good way to utilize milk that we don't drink fresh. of course there is cheese, but i have yet to take a cheesemaking class and want to do that before i dive in to that endeavor.

i have a nigerian dwarf goat named daisy (above) but i had zero luck getting her bred this winter. i was able to detect her heats easily enough, but unfortunately every time she came into heat was the worst possible day ever and i was not able to put her in the volvo and get her to the buck which is 1hr away.

i've been reading a lot about goat dairying and now i am beginning to consider getting a large breed dairy goat like the nubian shown above. i am going to finish my master's this summer and this should free up a lot of my time. perhaps i can find a proven doe with a kid on her side at the end of the summer--what a cool graduation present!

a good weekend

2007-02-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

i had a good weekend.

fox came home from europe with lots of belated valentine's chocolate for me.

i wasn't sweating it b/c i had already gotten him a really cute bonsai tree.

but, mostly i was happy thinking about spring and all the plans for three dog farm. i have noticed recently that when i go up to feed the sheep at 5:30pm, there is still some daylight left.

so we are over the hump and spring is around the corner. time to start planning: build cold frames, order fruit trees, order seeds, and keep tabs on freyja who should be giving us an april lamb. i have also been thinking a lot about goat dairying which i will do a separate blog about later...

three dog clover

2007-02-14T19:27:00.000-05:00

we decided to name our new puppy clover. she is growing so fast.

parsnip is also growing up as well. here she is in her winter coat! i have hopes of her being as tall as her mother which is about 12.2 hands. a great size for driving, but also large enough for me to be able to train her under saddle for kids. i am small enough to ride the ponies so if she is a sturdy 12.2, i may be able to get away with riding her.

my haflinger pony, louise, is only about 14 hands and she is plenty of horse for me. i have not ridden her all winter and as you can see, her mane and forelock need some attention.

three is a magic number

2007-01-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

my dad had this cool metal sign made for our driveway. it features the original 'three' dogs from this photo.

it took awhile before i could even think about getting another puppy. but, i knew when i was ready we would adopt another coonhound like slick. in december, we heard of a litter of coonhound puppies that were born in a pennsylvania shelter. we decided to adopt one and fox just picked her up today. we are still working on a name. any suggestions?

up to date

2007-01-07T20:51:00.000-05:00

so here is a succinct version of what transpired on three dog farm since last year...

in april, we got mail order chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery:

it always freaks people out that the chicks come in the mail. but, it is really okay. right before a chick hatches, it sucks the entire yolk in through its umbilicus and then doesn't eat or drink for at least 48hrs after it hatches. so, they are packed as soon as they hatch and are shipped overnight. the red blob in the left side of the box is a small sponge soaked with a vaccination against a particular strain of salmonella that infects poultry. that's lolly's nose on the right.

a few turkey hens hatched poults and we raised them for thanksgiving. here are three of them at a month old:

fox excavated a ton of trash and metal (see pile in foreground) from the site of the demolished barn so that we could have a garden. this was the part of the property that was in the worst shape when we bought it and i never imagined we would have a garden there in our first year:

but we ended up having a rather large garden and with all the manure and topsoil we added back things really grew well:

we had a lot of large pumpkins which i ended up feeding to the chickens and they went crazy for them:

in may we added three nigerian dwarf goats to help eat all the weeds and brush:

in august, we got parsnip. she was four months old and newly weaned from her mama when we got her. more on her later...

in september, much sooner than i had ever dreamed possible, i got my starter flock of icelandic sheep:

a long hard silence

2007-01-04T18:46:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a very long time but I am finally back. Shortly after my last post, which featured Slick, he passed away suddenly. He had hemangiosarcoma, a cancer that is known as the silent killer in dogs. And it was just that. At 11 years old, Slick had been in tip top health. He spent his last morning doing chores with me and laying in the sun. In the evening after dinner he came stumbling into my room and jumped up onto my lap and collapsed. I new instantly he was dying. I held him in the back seat of the car while fox drove us to Tufts. By the time we got there his abdomen was full of blood and the diagnosis was made pretty quickly. We decided to put him to sleep right then. He was a such good dog and had a good life up until then. We did not want to send him to surgery to stop the bleeding of a tumor that would only kill him a few weeks later. I'm so thankful that we were with him when he died.

I couldn't bare to blog about it or even look at the pictures on my last entry. So, this is why I fell of the blogging wagon. Once I was ready, life had just gotten so hectic that it was hard to get in the habit of posting again.

But fear not, Three Dog Farm has prospered in my time away and there are many many things to report. I will do my best to bring you all up to speed and to keep you apprised of my farming revolution.

So, this entry is for Slick Fox, coonhound extraordinaire.

free-range coonhound

2006-03-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

My dog Slick joined the young roosters for breadcrumbs on the lawn. Neither party seemed too concerned.

daylight hours

2006-03-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

The hens are really ramping up their egg production now that the days are longer. Today, there was a huge egg! Someone was working hard on this one for sure. Usually an egg this large has twin yolks.

Here are the girls getting some sun. The white hen in the upper right corner is Big Mama and she is 5 years old! I will dedicate a blog entry to her soon. She is quite a chicken.

Also, the turkey hens have begun to lay! The center egg is from a maiden Red Bourben Hen. It is only the size of the chicken eggs it is flanked by because the hens are so young and this is their first lay.

But, soon enough the eggs will reach full size and be quite large. We end up eating the first month of eggs because fertility is very low. Once the eggs are a decent size and the turkeys are mating successfully, I will hatch some in an incubator. Some I will sell as fertile eggs to other folks who want to hatch their own. And then finally in late May I will let the hens go 'broody' and hatch their own clutch. Last year, my hen Gretta hatched a clutch of Red Bourben poults all by herself. She let Pearl, our semi-blind turkey, help her raise them.

This is my Red Bourben tom 'Erik the Red' trying to impress one of his ladies.

books, books, books

2006-02-28T15:25:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by bugheart but sadly I don't have 5 people to tag. So, I will answer anyway because I do love and collect books.

My 5 favorite books:
I have so many favorites but here are five

1) Jane Eyre by Ms. Bronte
2) Wuthering Heights by the other Ms. Bronte
3) The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham
4) The Encylopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery(she even tells you how to deliver a baby in a pinch! a human baby! good stuff.)
5) Storey's Basic Country Skills

The last book I bought was on ebay:

The Social Destiny of Man by Charles Fourier

Last three books I read:

1) Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats (yesterday on the train)
2) The Mushroom Cultivator by Stamets and Chilton
3) The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler (still reading)

Five books that have been meaningful to me:

1) Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
2) Freakonomics--especially the chapter on baby naming in the US
3) Stolen Harvest by Dr. Vandana Shiva (all of her books in fact)
4) Ten Acres Enough by Edmund Morris
5) Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson

Books I am dying to read:

1) Against the Grain by Richard Manning
2) Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich
3) The Backyard Orchardist by Stella Otto

never a dull moment...

2006-02-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

On wednesday morning, fox came in from walking the dogs in the back field and said to get out the first aid stuff b/c Fort had cut himself. He seemed a little frantic, so I stepped out back to see the damage and nearly fainted. Fort had torn the entire front of his paw open! I saw tendons, bones, the whole deal. Luckily, I am super equipped for a variety of animal emergencies and was able to quickly assess the damage, flush it out, wrap it, and off we went to Tufts.

The good news was that none of the tendons had been lacerated and they were able to put everthing back together. The bad news was that Fort would have to go under anesthesia (a little scary for an old dog). But, all turned out well and Fort is home recovering as we speak. He is not amused by the collar he has to wear to prevent him from chewing at his stitches. In two weeks, I will remove the sutures and Fort will be back to normal. Here he is still groggy and not happy about his Elizabethan collar...

and here is his Frankenstein-looking paw! Poor Fort!!

In other news, the mushrooms did indeed flip open and they were incredible. We had them with some kale and garlic and they were literally the best mushrooms I've ever had! So, fox and I have officially put building a mushroom house on our list!

I received the wonderful, hand-made tea cosy from bugheart! It is my first official piece of donkey paraphernalia and it was bugheart's first tea cosy! I love it, truly, not only b/c it has a donkey on it but because it is made from recycled, felted wool sweaters AND it really works!! How I've gotten this far in my tea drinking life with out a tea cozy is beyond me!

Thanks bugheart! You rock!

creme brule

2006-02-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

I need to branch out in my usage for all these eggs. So, for valentines day fox and I made creme brule. I love creme brule so if I can master it with my own eggs all the better. It is really funny how yellow everything is that I make with my eggs. Many commercial egg producers do not feed actual grains to their birds--or any plant materials for that matter. Commerical layer mash is mainly animal bi-products. When you feed chickens actual corn, soy, grass, tomatoes, squash, etc. some of the carotenes and other plant pigments come out in their yolks. I am talking bright orange yolks! Also, as eggs sit on the shelf they lose their color. Fresh eggs have brighter yolks in general.

And, the mushrooms keep coming. We ate a bunch for dinner last night and now we are going to let these big ones keep going. In a day or two they will invert like an umbrella in the wind, and this is supposed to be the most nutritious stage for eating. Stay tuned...

snowed in

2006-02-12T19:48:00.000-05:00

What a storm! Eighteen inches and still falling. And freezing out there!!

Fox and I decided to stay in and make pasta. Lolly helped, too.

busy, busy, busy

2006-02-11T12:43:00.000-05:00

Here we are in the middle of the weekend and I finally have some time to blog...

Fox came home from a trip to europe on wednesday with a full supply of Ritter Sports in all my favorite flavors.

The very next day, our third and only running volvo broke down! You know you are in a tight spot when 3 out of 3 of your volvos are off the road. But, good news, it wasn't terminal and volvo #3 is back in action today. What to do about the other two is still undecided.

I was fortunate enough to find myself on Newbury Street in Boston on friday with two hours to kill. I went into a cute yarn shop that I had seen before but was hesitant to go into. We all know that major 'tude one can encounter from those who run these little shops but I was very pleasantly suprised! The owner was both friendly and helpful. I bought three skeins of Noro even though I haven't finished a project all winter. I just couldn't resist the wonderful color combos:

And, finally, the mushrooms just keep coming! It is incredible. Fox made a great sauce with them the other night and they are really quite tasty. I don't know, they seem to taste really mushroomy but maybe I'm just so excited about the whole thing.

Here they are on wednesday:

and then today:

sleeping dogs

2006-02-07T08:07:00.000-05:00

This is a common scene around here...from left to right is Fortinbras, Slick, and Lolly. Mornings like this make it hard to get out of bed. When these guys sleep, they really sleep.

mushrooms and eggs

2006-02-06T08:07:00.000-05:00

I bought a mushroom kit for me and fox for christmas and I just harvested the first mushrooms from it. We are very interested in growing mushrooms with our horse manure. To me, mushroom farming would be the ultimate union between biology and farming. Fungi are just incredible.

Here are the eggs I collected yesterday. I can't believe so many of my girls are still laying. I cleaned out the hen house on saturday and gave everyone lots of new straw. It seems to have sent them on a laying frenzy. Most days I get about 3-4 eggs. In the spring that will change to about 30 a day with everyone laying about an egg a day.

What is so cute about this picture is the difference in the sizes. Some of the new hens just started laying--they are just about 9 months old. Their eggs are so small. Look at the two blue eggs on the top left. The larger one is from a 2 year old and the little is from an 8 month old--both of the breed Araucana.

buckwheat! buckwheat! buckwheat! (for bugheart)

2006-02-03T07:16:00.000-05:00

These are guinea fowl. They are odd looking birds that originate from Africa. They are known for their very loud calls tha sound like 'buckwheat'. Personally, I think they sound like a cicadas. Baby guineas are called keets.

They are wonderful bug hunters and can cut down on pests in the garden--they even find ticks!

Check out: Frit's Farm a site by the author of 'Gardening with Guineas'

and McMurrayHatchery sells all varieties of day old keets.

Murray McMurray

2006-02-02T07:59:00.000-05:00

Hooray! The Murray McMurray Spring catalog has arrived!

Time to browse the different varieties of poultry available and make my dream list of new breeds to try.

I am thinking about adding some guinea hens to my flock this year. Anyone interested in guinea fowl should read the book "Gardening With Guineas". Outside the loud noise, they seem to be quite useful on a small farm.

This year, I am also going to buy some Icelandic hatching eggs to try and start on my own. The hen and rooster pictured above are Cuckoo Marans an old French breed who lay very dark-shelled brown eggs.

Morning Chores

2006-02-01T08:07:00.000-05:00

My donkey was exceptionally lovey this morning so I am posting a picture of her. This is Gina (aka Virginia Woolf).

She is always happy to see me in morning for breakfast. She is not happy about being on a diet. Gina needs to slim down so that she can 1) be healthy and 2) have a baby!

This spring, Gina will be trained to pull a cart.

You laugh now, but when the oil is gone and this country is a parking lot I will be trotting passed you in my grass-fed donkey mobile!

Tag--I'm it!

2006-01-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks to bugheart, I am a full-fledged blogger now!

Four jobs I've had:

1) teenaged slave at Sesame Place (circa 1990)
2) stable-hand
3) lab technician (x2)
4) research associate (what's the difference?)

Four movies I could (I do!) watch over and over:

1) Metropolitan
2)Barcelona
3) The Life Aquatic
4) The Royal Tennenbaum's

Four places I've lived:

1) State College, PA
2) Tulare, CA
3) Bow, NH
4) Grafton, MA

Four places I've vacationed:

1) Maui
2) Iceland
3) Italy
4) Harvey's Lake, PA

Four websites I visit (almost) daily:

1) ebay
2) nehbc.org
3) weather.yahoo.com
4) google

Four favorite foods:

1) thai coconut milk soup
2) pancakes
3) green papaya salad
4) french fries

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1) Iceland!
2) at home with my dogs
3) riding a horse
4) shopping!

A New Addition

2006-01-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I adopted a Haflinger pony named Louise. She is broke to ride and drive and I hope to learn some practical horse farming with her this summer. I've done some research and there are many farming impliments available for Haflinger ponies specifically. I'm not sure how much we can do with her on our small acreage...but I aim to try.

Welcome to my farming revolution!

2006-01-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

My intentions for this blog:

1) serve as a record of my quest for a more sustainable lifestyle

2) serve as entertainment or inspiration for anyone out there who is interested in setting up a small farm

introductory post

2006-01-05T19:09:00.000-05:00

"Our objects, as you know, are to ensure a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor than now exists; to combine the thinker and the worker, as far as possible, in the same individual; to guarantee the highest mental freedom, by providing all with labor, adapted to their tastes and talents, and securing to them the fruits of their industry; to do away with the necessity of menial services, by opening the benefits of education and the profits of labor to all; and thus to prepare a society of liberal, intelligent, and cultivated person, whose relations with each other would permit a more simple and wholesome life, than can now be led amidst the pressures of our competitive institutions." George Ripley c. 1840 Brook Farm, MA