Inspired by Drifty Hat

I recently purchased the book ‘The Red Collection’ by Mandy Powers because I fell in love with all the zig zags, the bobbles, the colors and the patterns.  But I realized it was really because of this pattern – ‘Drifty Hat’ – I love this hat – can’t wait to knit it – and I think I will even keep it for myself.  A sure sign of how much it is adored.

photo copyright Mandy Powers
courtesy of Ravelry

Over the weekend I became aware of the cause of this attraction.  These colors pretty much mean winter to me.  The flash of the red cardinal in the grey and white winter landscape is a common sight in our West Virginia hills.  As I realized this, I noticed just how often we happen upon this color combination in the course of a normal day. 
Becoming more mindful of that flash of red… well, I think that is what… really… in the end… gets us all through the greys of winter.

Thy Collective Name Shall Be Mayhem

You all remember those innocent little ewe lambs?  You know, the ones that the goat boys were constantly leading into trouble.  Well now that the goat boys have been moved, we are really not sure just who was leading who. Saturday morning upon making the hay and water delivery to the graveyard field, we discovered that Hermione had managed to get tangled in the net gate, winding it around her neck and legs.  She was fairly easy to extract from that mess, and upon investigation the evidence was found.  There was the ‘PowerLink’ chewed apart so that the gate was no longer electrified.  After checking to make sure that everyone was ok, feed and water were distributed, a new ‘PowerLink’ was retrieved from the barn, and the gate and fencing were repaired… not such a big deal, not a disaster but it sure puts a big dent in your morning (especially trying to reset fencing through the snow and into the frozen ground).

So… imaginie our surprise, upon arriving at the barn on Sunday morning, when we were greeted by these lovely faces. 

There they were, those innocent little ‘almost yearlings’ with Blackberry and Juliet in tow.  They had made their way through fencing, two gates and almost through a third on their way to causing who knows what kind of mayhem.  We quickly loaded up the Ranger with their feed, hay and water and drove out to their paddock.  They happily and very quickly re-traced their steps, leaping over the tangled mess of fencing and gates that they had left behind, back into their own paddock.  This time after everything was repaired, the new connector was woven through the ‘ElectroNet’ gates and attached to the perimeter electric fence.  Hopefully if they try to pull on the PowerLink’ (to chew through it once again), they will get a little nip on the nose from the electric and back off.   Fingers are crossed that this does the trick.

In further news… my hay-stacking karma has been sorely lacking this winter… looking for the book “Zen and the Art of Hay Hauling”. 

Belladonna Bonding





As she nears 6 1/2 months old, Belladonna’s training continues and bonding with the flock grows.  She still has a little too much unrestrained enthusiasm to be left with the ewes unsupervised, so weather permitting she spends much of the day in the corral.  There, woven wire fence allows her to interact with the ewes but does not allow her to cause them any anxiety.  She patrols her perimeter, barking loudly at any perceived threat.  She also enjoys bringing her chew toys over to show her buddies.  We divide a couple bales of hay and feed them leaning up against the fence to force encourage the ewes to spend most of their time near Bella.  For her part, Bella has developed her very own method of gaining sheep trust by pulling through and chewing on the odd bit of hay; thus establishing her spot in the flock.

Frigid Mornings

Like much of the north east, we have been enduring bitterly cold temperatures.  Yesterday morning dawned full of wind and snow.  The crows worked on Samson’s dog food taking advantage of the fact that he was holed up in his dog house.  This is an on-going game/battle, and if you observe for awhile, you can see that the crows even seem to work as a team with one of them sometimes acting as a lookout.  (Have you seen the PBS Nature episode – “A Murder of Crows”?  It showcases a lot of really interesting research involving crows; definitely worth watching.)

It doesn’t take long for tracks to disappear when the wind and snow are both going strong.  Some mornings boot tracks will fill back up with snow in the few hours it takes to finish the morning chores.  Overnight wind and snow had caused some pretty nice drifts on the road between the driveway and church, and on the barn lane, especially at the top of the hill.  The Ranger made short work of the drifts, but with a bit of wallowing and fish-tailing.  We were ever so thankful for the invention of bungee cords, by the time we made the mile-long trip from the old barn back with a load of hay.

There, the girls were patiently waiting.  The sun began to peek through, and despite the wind and  frigid temperatures they preferred the field to the barn; surely a testament to the warmth and the comfort of wool .


Winter Colours Week – (Unofficially) Brown

While Poppytalk’s Winter Colour Week is officially over, here at Sheeps and Peeps Farm today is Brown.  This is necessary in celebration of the many Brown pictures taken for Wednesday, which actually was officially Green.  We hope you will enjoy this unofficial Day 6 of the farm girl take on Winter Colours Week.

Icy brown seed heads, not yet devoured by the birds

Sturdy beams of the old barn still providing shelter
and the memory of the quiet strength of family members no longer with us

Top of the old barn and our precious
hay crop



Bertha
our sheep… wool… providing warmth to combat the wintery chill



Winter Colour Week inspired us to find the quiet beauty in the everyday…
oft-times unnoticed and passed by
Thank you, Poppytalk!

Winter Colours Week – Silver and Gold

All week long we have been participating in the Poppytalk’s Winter Colours Week, and here’s our farm girl contribution to day five.   The photo count is approaching 2,500 in the Flickr Pool.  Today it is Silver and Gold.

The carding cloth of our recently purchased Strauch “Mad Batt’r!”
We are very excited to get this “Batt’r!” going.

Ladders and ‘scaffolding’ in the old barn;
still receiving some TLC

Some of the over 600 silver teeth in our
Pat Green Triple Picker
We love our Bergey and its silver tower!
Installed by Matt and company at PIMBY