Winter Weather

I am originally from Ohio so have no problem with winter in South Carolina. We do have an occasional interesting episode. Yesterday snow was predicted & it started coming down shortly after noon. It was 32 degrees when the snow started. I scurried around outside & refilled water troughs then drained the hoses I used. I also fed the dogs a little early & gathered my first round of eggs. We were actually seeing snow on the ground in about 2 hours.

I had been in touch with a friend whose husband had to travel west for a family emergency. They have a single cow & the husband had arranged for a young man to care for the cow for the 5 days he intended to be gone. Because of weather throughout the country, his flight had been delayed for a few days. He got word that his flight would be delayed one more day & that the cow had just eaten all of its hay. I offered to bring some over then called my sweet husband to ask if he could come home from work a little early so that we could do that before the roads got bad.

We feed round bales so decided it would be easiest just to take him the inner core of a round bale. Our sheep needed more hay in their pastures so Al stripped the outer core of the bale. We were hurrying as the roads were icing up & we wanted to get over there & back before dark. I ran ahead of the tractor, opening gates to the pastures that needed hay. I also took a few pictures. Those of you who know much about farming will see these first pictures & think, "This is how you end up as part of show & tell at farm safety camp." I would not recommend this to everyone but Al is spry & the tractor is well weighted. The footing was slick as the snow was falling.

Once we were down to the core of the bale, Al loaded it into the truck & we took off for what should be a less than 20 minute drive.

It took us a solid half hour. We were taking back roads & the trees protected the pavement from some of the snowfall. At the same time I was on the phone with the woman who owns the cow. She was trying to get home from work & was on a main road that was just a mess with folks sliding into the ditches.

When we got to her house, we quickly unloaded the hay near the driveway & then used a trash can to carry a few loads down to the cow. The last thing we wanted was to get the truck stuck trying to drive the hay down to the pasture. We managed to complete our task just as it began to get dark.

We made it home in half an hour. I think we were best staying on the back roads as we barely saw half a dozen other cars. Our friend called us when she finally got back home. It had taken her an hour & forty minutes to complete her usual less-than-half-an-hour drive. She was just thrilled to know that she was safely home & that her cow was happy.

Our sheep don't seem to be particularly concerned about the weather. They know they will be well fed & also have plenty of shelter should they choose to use it.

A Little Work

I have not quite gotten back into a routine since the holidays. One of the things that is taking a lot of my time is our 17+ year old dog, Amanda. She is a sweet old lady who is still quite alert but has physically declined to the point that I spend a lot of time carrying her out to the bathroom, bringing her food & water & readjusting her bedding. She really does nap a fair bit of the time but also needs plenty of attention. We adopted her from a shelter in Jacksonville a few years before we moved here. She is the last of our creatures who made the move with us 15 years ago.

My sweet daughter-in-law also went back to work at the hospital 10 weeks after our first grandbaby was born. I am so fortunate to be staying with Jane for a day or two a week. I resist the temptation to post lots & lots of baby pictures so will only share a single one from this week. Jane has learned that she can actually aim her little fist & grab things. So far, that seems to be a great way to spend time.

Our weather has been a little crazy. We have gone from single digit cold weather to temps in the low 50's within a single week. I need to do more dyeing but it is a little tricky when the dyed roving freezes on the line before it even has a chance to begin to drip dry. I simply kettle dyed this but it spent 3 days on the line before it was ready to spin. The first day it froze so firmly that it could have stood up on the table on its own. 

It did spin up a bit more orange than the wet roving looked like it was going to be but I am still happy with it. It is on the right. The work on the left is from some roving I'd dyed all the way back in October but pitched in my stash & managed to lose for a while. I am pleased with the way it is spinning up.

I have decided to discipline myself to spin for at least an hour a day, even if it means I spin up some white roving to dye after it is spun. It is hard to believe that market season will be here before we know it.

Ready for Some Cold Weather

We have had a fairly mild winter so far but things are getting exciting. We had rain all night while the temperature hovered around 40 degrees. It has dropped throughout the day and is now in the 20's. We are expecting to be in single digits tomorrow. Now, compared to other parts of the country where the weather has been just ridiculous, we are doing fine but we still do a lot of extra work to prepare for weather extremes.

We have an excellent hay man who does a great job keeping us in very nice hay. Al picked up another four round bales over the weekend. When he unloaded the trailer he intentionally lined them up as an extra windbreak for some of the sheep. We make sure everyone has plenty of clean hay since a full belly is like a little furnace running as digestion produces heat for the ruminants. This little Shetland is obviously enjoying the lunch selection.

When I was out at noon to feed the dogs and gather the first of the day's eggs I noticed that a lot of the animals had not yet seen the weather forecast. They were enjoying a brisk sunny day. I guess they were letting me do the worrying for them.

The free range chickens, however, were not too enthused.  They preferred not to "range" today but hung out in various buildings around the farm.  Fortunately we have plenty of warm spots out of the wind for them to spend the next few days in & they love snacking at the seeds that fall off of the hay. The wind has picked up through the day.  I spent time down close to the ground feeling for spots where the wind was blowing into the old barn & filling them with hay.

The cold is not predicted to last long but we want everyone to be as comfortable as possible through the next few days.  And I believe I'll have to gather eggs a bit more frequently throughout the day tomorrow to prevent any frozen ones!

A First for Us

It was 15 years ago this month that we moved to Upstate South Carolina.  At the time, our oldest child was about to turn 13 & he wanted sheep.  We had told the children that when we moved to the farm they could have any animal that they wanted to be responsible for if they would read 3 books about the breed & pay half the cost.  

Glen wanted sheep & we knew exactly where to get his first sheep.  You see, a few years before we moved to South Carolina, we were travelling from Florida to my parents’ home in Ohio.  We made our usual stop at Tamarack on the West Virginia Turnpike.  As we walked through the parking lot we saw a truck with a few beautiful sheep.  The owner was just walking back to the truck so we struck up a conversation.  It turned out that the gentleman was from Anderson, South Carolina.  We were familiar with the area simply because my father-in-law was a Clemson graduate (class of ’49!) & we came on the annual family trip to homecoming.  After a nice chat with the sheep farmer, we started to walk away but I turned back & asked if he had a business card on the chance we might one day visit on the annual Clemson trip.  I tucked his card in my purse.  That came in handy a few years later as Glen wanted to acquire a small flock of sheep.  It was Glen’s interest in sheep & the need for me to figure out what to do with their gorgeous wool that has helped us to evolve to where we are now as a farm. 

Five years ago, Glen married a delightful young lady whose family own a berry farm in Anderson. Kelli & Glen decided that they wanted their own flock of sheep at the berry farm.  Although Glen started with Tunis sheep here many years ago, he decided that they wanted to raise Romneys at the berry farm.  We all did a little research & he found a handful of ewes in North Carolina.  After we’d all visited the flock & Glen & Kelli had chosen their favorites, Glen & my sweet husband returned the following week with a trailer & brought them back.

Glen was not done, though.  He located a young ram in Georgia so one day he & I took a meandering drive over to check out the ram.  The plan was that we would go look at the ram & that Glen & his father would return later with the trailer to retrieve him. 

As we drove along, it became obvious that we were travelling quite off the beaten path & that it was a bit longer of a trip than we imagined.  I told Glen that I did have a tarp in the back of my car so perhaps we should just throw the ram in & drive home with him rather than make another trip.  We’ve done more foolish things in the past.  The ram was quite handsome & only about three quarters grown.  Glen bought him, we spread the big blue tarp & a few spare towels, wrestled him in & hauled him home.  I drive an SUV so Glen rode home in the backseat just in case the fellow should prove to be a jumper.  After a few moments of uncertainty, he plopped down & behaved for the two hour ride.

Glen & Kelli have taken very good care of their little flock.  They acquired Jack, a handsome Anatolian Shepherd pup, who has grown to be a wonderful livestock guardian.  And they’ve had several lambs through the years.  Their flock gets lots of admiring visitors at the Hardy Berry Farm.

Every spring my sweet husband shears their flock.  The Romney wool is long, wavy & has such a pretty sheen to it.  They have sold some of their fleeces but I also have some of them here.  When they announced that they were expecting their first baby at the end of October, I decided to get busy on a very special project.  I carefully picked through the fleece, washed the best  & spun a nice yarn.  Once they discovered that they would be having a little girl, I pulled more wool & dyed it one of Kelli’s favorite colors.  

Although I do knit, I wanted something “perfect” for our first grandbaby so I talked with a sweet friend who is quite the expert.  I met my friend, Jan, many years ago when Saturday Market was just starting.  She was a knitter who was sucked in by my weekly yarn display.  She would often come minutes before market technically opened to see what was new.  I had custom spun yarns for her in the past & was quite confident that she would not only do wonderful work but would enjoy being part of our heirloom project.

After some discussion & much browsing, we chose a pattern for a little asymmetrical baby jacket.  She sampled the yarn I’d already spun, told me how much more I would need to produce & went to work.  She even found the most perfect little sheep button!  She delivered the finished treasure to me this past week & the first thing my husband said was, “Well, now you have your final farm story for this season’s market.”  So here is baby girl’s wool jacket.  It is from Mama & Daddy’s sheep which were shorn by Grandpa, spun by Grandma & lovingly knitted by a very special friend.  And it seems like the perfect way to end our eleventh season at Saturday Market where I have been blessed to sell yards & yards of yarn through all these years!

Our very first grandchild, sweet little Jane Autumn Potter, was born on October 31st.  She was merely hours old when we presented her with her sweater.

A Little Itch

Bitsy loves the edge of the old tub that we use as a water trough.  I've seen her do this before but have never had the chance to catch a video.  The look on her face is priceless.  Thought I'd share!

Silly Sheep

"3" is one of our Tunis cross ewes who loves to spend time in the front yard. She & her rapidly growing lamb are quick to race to the gate so that they can come up front with me. Now that her lamb is about eight months old they don't spend much time side by side but do like to be within sight of each other. I let the two of them up front to help trim the lawn.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to gather some eggs & discovered this as I came around the corner. "3" had obviously been around the far side of the house in the grape vines. This leaf was snugly tangled in her fiber. It took me a while to catch her & finally yank it off but I didn't even try until I took a few pictures.

Quiet Sunday

It has been a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 70's with a bit of a breeze. Except for the tree leaves occasionally rustling, it was perfectly quiet. Everyone is just having a lazy Sunday afternoon. The sheep are mostly laying around ruminating. The chickens are meandering around looking for a few extra treats but have eaten well all morning. Al had put out a new round bale of hay earlier in the day so the scuffle for that is long past. Even the immature Guinea Hens that usually run around screaming what sounds to me like, "Come back, come back, come back" were just strolling through the pasture. I just quietly wandered taking pictures.