winter rest

christmas was more hectic than usual.  an unexpected, quick trip to london for work up-ended my holiday prep.  no tree this year, but i managed to hang a couple of strings of lights and dig out the stockings before christmas day.  london power-shopping yielded gifts of tea from fortnum & mason, scents from penhaligon's and yummy-smelling concoctions in blue bottles from neal's yard.  as nice as it was to spend the holidays with family, it was also a pleasure to come home and relax with a good book.  i received a few great ones from james - "farm city" (novella carpenter's book about ghost town farm),  "storey's basic country skills", a huge bon appetit cookbook and two books about chicks ("living with chickens" and "the joy of keeping chickens").  

a couple of weeks ago, i received an email from a girl whose family owned a small hobby farm in ventura.  she was looking for a babydoll to give to her father for christmas.  sheep are flock animals and don't do well solo, so they agreed to take two - cain and abel.  yesterday, the whole family came to visit and see our sheep shed, since they need to build a shelter before they take the twins.  they should be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the boys, which is perfect timing since lambing season is fast approaching and we'll need the extra space.

sarah seems alittle further along in her pregnancy than skittle.  she is starting to "bag up", meaning the area around her teats is engorging.  for the past 2 years, sarah has delivered twins about 2 weeks before skittle delivers a single lamb (though, oddly, skittle always looks bigger than sarah).  both ewes have been avoiding the rams, and spend most of their time foraging.  they should both be close to 6 weeks away from lambing, so we'll start supplementing their feed with grain and alfalfa.  70% of the lambs' growth occurs during these remaining weeks, so the ewes become eating machines.  it's time for dr. martin to give both ewes clostridium and tetanus boosters, which will allow them to pass antibodies to their lambs though milk.  in a couple of weeks, we'll start separating the boys from the girls at night, in case the ewes deliver early.  we have a lambing shed, where we can isolate mom and babies for the first 48 hours, or until they're strong enough to be in the flock.

the leaves are nearly gone from the figs and pomegranates.  i picked the last few carrots, pulled out the bolted remains of lettuce and bok choy.  the oranges and tangerines are ripe, and being enjoyed by family and friends.  with the shorter days and cooler weather, the hens are laying less, and we are more appreciative of the eggs they give us.  soon, all the plants and trees will take a winter rest.  and just when we think the hibernation is complete, there will be new lambs wandering in the yard.

finally the rain has passed

after a few mad weeks of work and a car accident, i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  my back is on the mend and a christmas break is imminent.  i don't feel quite myself and am looking forward to some rest and reflection.

the small ponds around the yard are draining after a few days of rain.  the animals were finally out and wandering in the sun.  the sheep shed was soaked, but now has fresh, dry bedding.  we're due for a sunny week in the 70's, and we're all looking forward to it.

the garden is almost done.   i picked all the beets and most of the carrots.   the beet harvest was small - i froze most of them, and and canned some in red wine vinegar.  the heirloom carrots were very sweet - shorter and plumper than the supermarket variety.  i blanched and froze most of them.  i planted an italian heirloom variety of red onions, which are growing very slowly.  i uprooted a few and added them to our morning scrambled eggs.  we still have a few small, green tomatoes on the vines.  not sure they'll have time to ripen before the temps drop permanently.

some of the bantams were stowed in the standard coop at night this week, when the temps dipped to freezing.  i used to put a heater in the coop, but now the birds create their own warmth because there are so many of them.  in the morning, there was a layer of ice on some of the rain puddles, but the coop remained close to 50.

skittle and sarah should be about 3 months pregnant.  i can tell because they are the first out of the shed in the morning, looking for fallen fruit.  their appetites are bigger and so are they.  sarah seems more lethargic, and moves alittle slower.  i scored a couple of boxes of green apples at the shoot yesterday, which the sheep will enjoy.