Sunrise Haven Farm

The farm work sure starts to increase as the days start to get shorter and colder! It makes me realize how many things I put off during the summer, that will not last and will need to be addressed before NEXT summer. And, if I’m really smart I’ll remember this lesson and not put off the summer chores next summer. Only time will tell…

I have decided that I am going to invest in a ram.  I have found a good candidate, and will most likely bring him home in mid- to late-October.  You can be sure I’ll post pics of him here when I get him home!! I would also like to get a wether to keep him company when he’s not out with the ewes, but have not yet decided what breed, or even what species, I will get.  Right now I am leaning toward a fine-wool breed sheep, like Merino or Cormo, or possibly an Angora goat. 

Doe #3 got her head stuck in the fence yet again.  She now has an ear tag (LAUGH!) maybe this will get her to keep her head inside the fence from now on!

The grass isn’t growing as quickly anymore, less mowing required.  Tree leaves are starting to turn and fall.  I still haven’t figured out what the baby apple and peach trees are lacking, they’re not looking very healthy. And to make matters worse, the deer came through and nibbled (a lot) on some of them, particularly one of the poor peach trees, in between Deer Off applications.  They are strugging, but surviving.  I think I may have lost one of the peaches though.

The animals are doing well. The kids are still nursing which is a little disturbing, their moms should be weaning them by now.  Since I have been slacking off on farm work this summer, I don’t have good divider fences in my huge pastures, and don’t have an easy way to separate the kids from their moms to force their weaning.  I’m going to have to do some fence work very soon, either putting in an interior divider fence in the upper pasture, or fixing the fence in the lower pasture so that I can let the goats down there.  Right now the perimeter fence in the lower pasture has some very overgrown and sagging spots.  It is good enough to contain the sheep, but not the goats - they’re too smart and love to climb, so they get out of there pretty quickly!

Still trying to figure out what to do with my fleeces also.  I have washed and skirted them all, and picked/combed a lot of it, but I don’t know how to spin and don’t know of any places that will take quantities as small as mine.  I think there are places I can send it for felting, to make it into horse blankets and such, but I haven’t gotten a good contact lead on such a place yet.  The best use I’ve come up with in its current state is for pillow and quilt stuffing/batting. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about breeding lately.  I definately want to breed the sheep this fall, and the goats again too if I keep them.  But I need to figure out if I can/should get a ram to keep myself or if I should try to lease one’s services.  More research required.  I only want/need one ram for my flock.  I remember talking to people about this last year, and was told by some that keeping a single ram is not good, since they are herd animals.  They can’t stay with the ewes all year long, only for about a month while breeding.  And for the rest of the year, its bad for them to be left all alone, they naturally flock with a group. Add in the fact that the closest California Red rams I know of are a four hour drive from here… leasing may not be easy to do either.  But I shall work it out one way or another, that’s why I’m pondering this now, while I intend to breed the animals in November/December.

What’s new on the farm, you ask? Not much really. We’re taking it easy during these dog days of summer. The animals are pretty self-sufficient while the pastures are lush and green and growing well. I should be working on eradicating all of the thistle from the pastures, and building some interior fences, but honestly I just haven’t.  There are still a bunch of house projects that are taking up my time (bathroom remodeling, etc) so I haven’t been devoting any time to new farm projects this season.  That’s not to say I haven’t been busy! Just not busy with farm work.

Meanwhile, Doe #3 keeps getting her head stuck in the fence. I rescued her again this morning, for the 4th time in a month. It’s funny, she’s the only goat I haven’t tagged also because she’s the most skittish of the bunch.  I think next time I hear her screaming because she has her head stuck, I’ll bring the ear tagger out with me and get her done while she’s stuck. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that the last three times.

The sheep and goats are both flocking together in the upper pasture this spring, and seem to be getting along fine now that its just girls. The bottom pasture has been hayed once, and was 2nd cut this past weekend. It’s looking very green and lush. The baby apple and peach trees are struggling to survive though, between being nibbled by deer, and some sort of nutritional deficiency I haven’t figured out yet. Perhaps just low on water, I’m not sure, but the leaves have been looking very dry and getting yellow spots lately. They are still alive and growing, but seem to be fighting to do so. More farm puzzles to ponder.

The raspberries have finally ripened, a full month later than they ripened the four previous years! But at least they are here now to be savored.  I made up a bottle of raspberry sauce out of my first round of picking this past weekend, and have been adding a dash of it to just about everything for the last couple of days. I plan on doing another harvesting round today for the bulk of the crop.  Fresh picked fruits and berries are the sweetest part of summer - no added sugars required!

The fleeces have been washed, skirted and sorted, and I’m slowly picking and cleaning out little pieces of vegetable matter from what is left of the wool. It’s a very time consuming process doing all this by hand, and there ARE machines for a lot of this these days, but I’m enjoying experiencing it all ‘first hand’ so to speak.  The details of the process, the way the wool is constructed, the way the lanolin interacts with the fibers, the way the fibers respond to hot/cold/wet/dry/comb/brush/twist/etc!  Tactile interactions with the wool for long (!) periods of time through all of these conditions are helping me to understand everything much more deeply than I would if using machines at this stage in my education, I think.  And not just understanding the process, but understanding the wool - how it’s grown, what effects its different characteristics, and how different each and every fleece is.  Really fascinating stuff.

And so… I can see the goats trying to knock down young saplings that have sprouted in the pasture, to get those tasty little new growth leaves. The sheep aren’t in sight, they’re out in the shade of the woods at this time of day.  The baby apple and peach trees are soaking up the sun, and the pretty little Rose of Sharon has a few bright blooms poking out.  It’s a beautiful sunny not too too sweaty day. Time to get outside and get some farm work done!

I’m learning a lot about working with fiber and the process of turning sheared wool into felt or yarn for knit or woven things. It’s great fun to learn! I am going to try to wash my fleeces and pick them fairly clean, then see if I can send them off to a fiber mill for processing into yarn that I can knit.  If not, I will use this wool for practicing when I find someone who will teach me how to card and spin.  The sheep are much happier with short wool in the Virginia heat. We managed to eliminate most of the thistle that is growing at the edge of the woods where the sheep and goats graze, but not all of it. Some is just hard to reach with any machinery, so we’ll probably have to remove it by hand (since I don’t want to spray any chemicals).  The goats are enjoying the summertime also, and the kids are getting big big big! They are gorging themselves on all of the yummy fresh green shoots. I’m debating whether or not I want to continue raising goats after this summer. I’m leaning towards liquidating the goats in the fall, and investing in some more sheep (as well as breeding the existing ones) to grow the flock instead. Not sure yet, but I’m leaning towards that approach.  We’ll see…

Today was shearing day! Kevin and Rachel Summers, and their two beautiful little girls, came over to shear the sheep for me. And just in time too! By 10am we had hit 90F degrees with a heat index that made it feel like 109F. Needless to say, the ewes were very very happy to be rid of their thick wool coats. They handled it pretty well for thier first shearing. Violet and Tarragon went first and were fairly docile for Kevin to shear. Daisy and Rosemary decided to fight it some and got a couple of small nicks, but nothing serious. While the ewes were all gathered in the barn I decided to take the opportunity to give them a deworming drench, and trim hooves as well. I gave up trimming hoofs after doing Violet and Tarra - it was just too hot! Between my glasses slipping down my nose and sweat dripping into my eyes I couldn’t see a thing, and I was worried I’d hurt the ewes or myself. So Rachel stepped in and trimmed Daisy’s and Rosie’s hoofs for me too.  I’m so glad we met the Summers’ family, what a great bunch of people.

Losing one hen was bad enough. Last night we lost the other seven. It looks like the foxes got into the henhouse, I went out this morning and found nothing but piles of feathers - inside the fence, outside the fence, everwhere. 

I guess I will have to keep future chickens more confined, for their own protection.  Not sure when I’ll get more though, we’ll see.

Our home internet connection was down for a while so I was unable to post an update - we lost one of the chickens last week.  Well, we didn’t “lose” her, we suspect she was captured and eaten by one of the local feral cats.  She must have gotten out of the fence (which they do on occasion - the fence is designed to keep predators out, not chickens in).  There were bunches of feathers on the ground outside the fence, none inside, and a trail of them heading away west.  We followed the trail as best we could but did not find anything but feathers.  Poor girl.

Rain nonstop! We got two inches of rain yesterday.  I have put off the shearing attempt until it dries out a little.