Spice 'O Life Farm

02/15/2022

Our matriarch died a couple of nights ago. She gave us several special lambs and many memories. On the brighter side, Houdi our blue and gold Macaw was talking while I was preparing her evening meal and what she was saying was, 'ow, ow, ow, hurt Dee, ow, ow, ow, hurt Dee, hurt Dee, ow, ow, ow, with all the correct inflections and then she laughed and laughed. Steve said she was an evil bird.

02/06/2022

"Adding one more knit stitch to my collection that is super easy and beginner friendly. This stitch has only 4 rounds to repeat where you need to know only knit and purl stitches. I like this stitch and already used it for the hat and still going to use it for the baby cardigan. I am showin...

02/03/2022

The matriarch of our little herd is 13 this spring. She has been a little tottery on her feet for awhile now and about 4 weeks ago she went down and we thought it was the end for her, HOWEVER the old girl continues to eat and drink. We gave her a whole bunch of stuff to help her feel better if she was going to continue living. She's like a queen, the others in the herd visit her, the dogs come and lick her face. She will rise up on her front legs for a little while but no use of her hind legs. She's always been half wild and super independent and I guess she'll let go when she's ready. For the time being she's treated like royalty.

01/01/2022

Things are looking better. I can get around the house without a cane tho I still limp. I have to have the cane when I go out and if I over do I still have pain but nothing like the first 6 weeks. I can sleep most of the night most of the time. Still can't drive because it's my right leg and using the gas and brake cause pain. I've been knitting a little. Haven't sent out greetings for the holidays because I just don't feel like it. Started a new diabetic med which causes nausea and diarrhea, so far very little reaction, thank goodness. Steve, the sheep, dogs, cats, chickens, geese and ducks are all doing well. The chickens are molting some of them look really rough like they escaped from a feather plucker, others aren't affected very much. That's about all the news from the farm. We're thankful it's as good as it is. Best wishes for a better New Year for our country and ourselves.

11/17/2021

The first week in Oct an old injury that has been eating away at my spine finally erupted into agonizing, crippling pain. I could barely hobble. No sleep, It hurt when I sat, when I stood and when I lay down. I have been eating Ibuprophen and muscle relaxers and getting enough relief that I could sleep a couple of hours in 24. I had an MRI today and I see the Dr. Friday to get the results and a prognosis I hope. We weren't able to shear the sheep this fall because out shearer works for FIMA and he's been busy with the latest disaster. If anyone knows anyone with milking goats let me know, my neighbor's son is seriously allergic to cows milk and she wants to buy some milking goats. I suggested she contact 4H for possible recommendations. I seem to remember someone who came to LTL who had goats and made lotions and such but can't remember who it was. They were also on the Farm Trail. Anyway happy Thanksgiving to all. I'll get back to meetings someday.

01/16/2021

Why is there a dead chicken in my bathtub? We live on a farm, have various animals which live and die in spite of our best efforts. Last night Steve went out to feed the poultry and found a chicken laying in mud from melted snow. She was under shelter but just laying there. He brought her in, we dried her off with a hair dryer to try to warm her up, put her in the bathtub, gave her some Survive, she perked up, was standing, moving around. This morning she was dead. Chickens like sheep don't deal well with stress and in spite of best efforts will die and that's why there was a dead chicken in my bathtub this morning.

12/31/2020

A few days before Christmas we got 40" or more of snow. It didn't really last long enough to qualify as a white Christmas, it warmed up and rained several inches and that snow washed right down the ditches. Then it cooled down and snowed an inch or so and that was our white Christmas. A white Christmas is kind of rare here. It usually snows before Christmas and by Christmas it's gone. It will then snow sometime after Christmas and instead of having a January thaw, we'll have a February thaw which is usually muddy and nasty. Sometimes we'll have 3-4 weeks of summer in March or we can have wet heavy snow up into April. You never know what you're going to get from year to year and sometimes even the weather bureau is surprised.

12/20/2020

12/08/2020

Winter's closing in. There were some really nice days last week but now it's cold. The chickens come out but don't stay out. In spite of their warm woolen coats the sheep spend more time in the barn than out grazing. Steve's been splitting the wood he cut last summer. A couple of years ago we had to have one of the four huge old maples that are across the front of the house, taken down and he finally got it split. It took awhile because the trunk was so large. It'll be nice and dry to burn in the Russian wood stove. I tried to count the rings but they were so close together I gave up. The house was built somewhere between 1816 and 1860 so I'm guessing the trees were planted about the same time for shade because the house faces the south and even in NY it can get pretty warm in the summer.

11/12/2020

There isn't a lot going on right now. The frost faucet at the barn has developed a leak right at the bottom of a 4 ft hole. Steve was able to get it dug out to about 3 ft but will require an excavator to finish the last foot. It rained a lot today and the hole is completely full of water. That can be pumped out so isn't a big problem. We kept the sheep in but the chickens were soaked, the ducks and geese loved it. Every day this week has had some kind of appointment to be kept, sort of aggravating. I don't really like going out every day, it kind of interrupts the flow of things.

10/22/2020

I've been painting pasture gates. The wooden ones were peeling and the metal ones were rusting. All have some sort of protection on them now. Most of the metal ones are primed with a metal primer and one has been primed and painted. Might get another one painted if the weather holds. Been doing some sewing. I'm knitting a sweater and took a break, all that's left is some work on the sleeves, the band around the neck and down the front and blocking. The juvenile delinquents have turned into little angels. They don't chase anyone anymore and they put themselves to bed at night. We're working on getting all the odds and ends ready for winter. Today was a perfect October day, beautiful sunshine, lots of color, a little warm but who's complaining.

10/07/2020

We evicted the sitting duck about 10 days ago, she had no viable eggs under her, just a pile of bedding. Apparently the eggs had broken because other ducks were getting in the box with her and the eggs were getting smashed, poor thing. The juvenile delinquents have settled down and aren't wreaking havoc on the ducks anymore, they're still the bosses of the poultry yard although I did see one of the older hens give chase to one of the geese, it ran. We're shearing tomorrow, probably 14 out of 19, the BFL's only get shorn in the spring and a couple of others need their wool for the winter. The frost hit the garden pretty badly and so the preserving is done. I did make some of the best green tomato preserves I've ever tasted if I do say so myself. Loving this weather, October can be the best month. Our little apple trees that we planted this spring produced a few apples but the hedge row apples were non existent this year. Actually kind of glad, getting tired of processing food.