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What?! It is January, and it is almost over? Oops, sorry!
Where have we been you ask? (Because I know you worry about us sometimes, which is good)
We are busy! Now go away!
Okay, here is a a snippet...
We now have sheep. Yep, that's right Mom, we have sheep so we can eat them. They also happen to be as distracting and entertaining as Facebook on a good day. So far there are three of them: Gravenstein, Buckley Giant, and Blenheim Orange, and there are rumored to be more on the way. We hope they are pregnant, that was the main premise behind buying sheep before winter set in and not in the spring like most sane farmers. They truly are magical, and quiet, and sneaky, and they smell like a comfy old sweater. We found many weak points in our fences, are becoming regulars at the local hotspots for livestock advice, and never get tired of how soft their muzzles are when they are eating grain out of our hands.
We also are spraying, scratching, planning, seeding and pruning the Terra. The chickens are restless, not all of them made it through the winter, sometimes it seems like not all of us will make it through either! And we found out that our dear Freja is allergic to not only wheat, which is becoming more and more common, but also to eggs. Yes, I typed correctly, we live on a farm with lots of chickens and she cannot eat eggs. So we pouted for a few weeks, and then reinvented ourselves in the kitchen and are now quite the masters of some amazing wheat-free, egg-free bread that we do not just keep to ourselves, but also sell to our friends around town.
All in all, life is good, the sun continues to rise, and as Gus said the other day, "It is amazing that there is enough air for us all". Yep, pretty amazing.
Thanks.
2 comments:
Ah, you must have "heard" me grousing at my computer yesterday, wishing I could read more news from Holmestead! How lovely to wake up and find a new post!
Aye, wheat allergies. My brother and I suffered through quite a panoply of childhood allergies, but most of them diminished for me in adulthood. (My worst one continues to be mold/yeast. Thanks for that, oh Pacific Northwest Childhood!) But allergies do push one's envelope in the kitchen. My brother and I learned early on the wonders of various ethnic cuisines as my mother strove to cook with a wider variety of less reactive ingredients.
And you have sheep! What fun... they may not be smart about many things, but they ARE good fence testers, aye? We have too many coyotes here to keep any animal that can't defend itself. That said, a farming buddy of ours may have just talked us in to housing a proposed shared pair of heritage-breed pigs. He promises to help us build a permanent structure this summer and he will pay for the initial breeding pair: Tamworth boar & Devon sow. I guess we'll be investing in some more electric fencing, too!
Good to hear all your news. Happy New Year, indeed!
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