A Winter Mystery

Sheeps & Peeps19 Comments

While much of the weekend looked like this, the animals and their humans hunkered down and tried to stay warm for the most part.

Bella stayed in her usual spot.  Even though she has access to three different shelters, she seldom uses them. 

The sheep usually only seek shelter in the very worst of the wind and snow.  Most winter mornings we are greeted by these big, snow and ice covered bumps in the pasture.

The crows are always nearby, hanging out, watching and waiting.  They watch for Bella and Samson to fall asleep after their long night of guarding the farm.  They wait for them to turn their back, if only for a moment, so that they can fly in and steal a nugget or two of dog food. 
And on these frigid mornings, when the whole farm seems to be a frozen, snowglobe, they also wait for their chance to swoop in and pick off big chunks of ice that have frozen on the sheep’s backs.  They quickly fly away with them and head down into the hollow, so that we have never been able to observe what it is that they actually do with them.  Are they after the ice for the water, or perhaps for the hay seeds that may have frozen inside?

joining The View From Right Here for Rurality Blog Hop

In the Fiber Room

Sheeps & Peeps7 Comments
“She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands”
~ Proverbs 31:13
While the weather outside has been pretty frightful, all the activity in the fiber room has been pretty delightful.  There’s always something going on.  Here’s a glimpse of some of the things we’ve been up to.

skirting

washing

natural dyeing (l to r) cosmos, rhubarb, cosmos + cochineal, black-eyed susan

carding naturally-dyed cochineal lambs wool



spinning
naturally-dyed millspun yarn – black-eyed susan and hibiscus

Skirting

Sheeps & Peeps6 Comments

We had some wonderful helpers in the fiber room on Saturday.  While Lena organized and filed paperwork, Harley helped at the skirting table. A few more lambs’ fleeces skirted, while the two of them practiced cursive and helped with wool records.  Harley decided that she was in charge of ‘fluffing’. 
All that wonderful help and entertainment, sure made the time fly 🙂

Sunday Muse

Sheeps & Peeps2 Comments
As a child, my father helped me dig
a square of dense red clay, mark off rows
where zinnias would grow,
and radishes and tender spinach leaves.
He’d stand with me each night
as daylight drained away
to talk about our crops leaning on his hoe
as I would practice leaning so on mine.
Years later now in my big garden plot,
the soggy remnant stems of plants
flopped over several months ago,
the ground is cold, the berries gone,
the stakes like hungry sentries
stand guarding empty graves. And still
I hear his voice asking what I think
would best be planted once the weather warms.

“Lonely Harvest” from Family Constellation by Margaret S. Mullins