Thursday, July 17, 2008

New hay, summer flowers, etc........


It seems it's feast or famine with our weather patterns. It's either so wet we are complaining about too much rain or we are in drought conditions, such as we are now. The gardens are dry and we are watering just enough to keep things growing. The only good thing about this dry weather pattern is farmers can put up hay. We added this 6 ton load to the barn on Tuesday. Another load like this and the right side of the barn will be full. The left side I fill with square bales. I love to see the barn filling up. It's a secure feeling knowing we will face another Maine winter with a barn full of hay.


Unskirted, unclean wool

When I'm not haying or in the gardens I'm skirting wool, getting it ready to send to the processor. This is white finn wool. I did get three large bags picked over and delivered yesterday. It will be washed, carded, and spun into lovely two ply yarn which we will hand dye and take to Common Ground Fair in September.



Dove

The boys moved the electric fence and the sheep have new pasture to graze in. They were all so excited as we opened the gate to let them out. This little ewe lamb, Dove, was jumping like she had springs in her feet. This was a mid-air photo. She has beautiful markings and she's going to have gorgeous wool.

butterflies on the bee balm

The gardens are enjoying the warm, muggy weather we are having. We are enjoying our first cucumbers and eagerly waiting for the green tomatoes to turn red! The cabbage has been delicious as well as the zucchini and summer squash. A variety of lettuce, mescalin mix greens, rainbow swiss chard and easter egg radishes make great salads at dinner time. My pole beans are struggling and I think it's lack of water. The bush beans are flowered with little beans on them so we will have a harvest. Not at big as I planned but the pole beans may surprise me.


The bee balm patch is huge this year. The butterflies are loving it! In years past my bee balm gets mold before it flowers but not a sign of it this year. The other day we saw a dozen butterflies at one time. It was a beautiful to see them all.

6 comments:

Nancy K. said...

Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you turn the flock onto fresh pasture? Your little Dove is a beauty! How many sheep do you have? I'd love to see more pictures of them.....

;-)

Paintsmh said...

Oh the lamb! Can I come play with the lamb? Please! She's beautiful!

Deb said...

nancy k,
Seems I have been building pastures ever since I moved here....every time a new one grows and I can put the sheep on it, it's a great day! I have about 40 sheep +/_ :) I'll try to post more photos - I love to show off my sheepies!

paintsmh,
of course you can come and play with her - she would love it!

threecollie said...

I simply love reading about what is going on at your place and seeing your pictures. The butter making is really interesting.

Hayden said...

Dove is a lovely color.... what breed is she?

Deb said...

threecollie,
thanks - I feel the same about your blog :)
I really enjoy making butter...and my family is very spoiled now. They wouldn't eat it out of the store again.

hayden,
Dove is a shetland/finn cross. I was surprised she was that color. Both the ewe and ram are white. She's a twin and her sister is marked almost identical. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment :)