Yesterday the warmth began to melt a little snow, then the water began to make a lot of mist then a lot of fog, then we lost the horizon. Gone. 
I thought that today I would have a little round up of what’s happening so we can get the next few months in order. Kind of. At least until another spanner is throw into the works. But you know how I feel about problems. The best thing about problems is when you know what the problem is. Then you can say That is MY problem so you can go about fixing it. Yesterday had no big problems. Nice.
Sheila’s midwife came to visit in her little van yesterday and Sheila has had her dose of the hormone that has the best chance of bringing her into heat. Now we wait with bated breath (how does one bait a breath? with a carrot? a wriggling worm?). Well, my breath is surely bated. My Shakespeare did a lot of that bating (holding back) our breaths. By the weekend we will know if Sheila’s fertility is going to come out to play.
The milking machine came yesterday evening. The man in a big truck parked at the end of our drive, then called on the telephone and said, Are you there? He could see nothing. Am I in the right place. Is there a place here?
We looked up the drive. We could see nothing too. Nothing at all. So John told me to watch the dinner then zoomed down on the tractor to see if in fact there was a big truck parked at the end of the drive with my new milking machine on the back.
There was. So he came back and took the red truck down there and collected my milking machine from the big truck. He said thank you very much to the delivery man and Drive carefully. All the melted snow was freezing solid again. Not a good night to be on the roads.
Yesterday I spent all my free time chipping away at slowly thawing barn floors. The milking parlour has been used as a dining hall for cows all winter and needs a thorough clean, scrub and whitewash. Yesterday’s warm weather gave me a good start.
It was so warm that Marcel came out to the barn with me. Look behind Mama; can you see that little pen, I popped him in there and he ran about making a lot of noise, chewing on stuff and attracted a lot of sniffing and snuffling attention from Mama. While Boo spend the entire time with his nose jammed between two boards making sure he did not get lost. Later I took Marcel back inside to his crate and he lay down and slept with great relief.
Bees: The Italian Bees are up to date with their food and the Russian bees are due May 12. Their new super has arrived and I have to clean base boards and lids and make two more supers full of frames for both hives to grow into.
Daisy is due March 14.
Queenie is due April 04. So I have to have one big pen entirely clean and ready for calving.
100 Lavender plants are due April 9. These are the first big flower crops to make the essential oils. Also I have a great many wild flower seeds (including milkweed seeds) to plant down by the creek that is really a ditch. We need a lot of flowers for bees and the monarchs.
If, with a good deal of luck, we are able to get Sheila pregnant there may be piglets sometime in June. I will shift her across to the pig pen today. They say that shifting a pig can sometimes help them come into heat too and it is time she was back on the east side. The sunroom pen must be cleaned and got ready for Daisy’s calf.
But for today we have very high winds, snow melting and then ice and freezing rain, snow flurries and another good day of work ahead. But still above freezing. Then the temperatures take a dive again.
But that’s OK.We can see what is ahead and I am making good inroads into getting the barn ready for spring. (Whenever it may show its face) So I am pleased.
I hope you have a lovely day. Today’s sunrise is 6.37. Days are getting longer.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Fitting the Puzzle Together”
Just reading about your life on the farmy gets me in a tizz-wozz….I wonder to myself how so much can be done in one day, there never seems to be any let-up. You are always on the go , doing this and doing that….cleaning here and there…never ending tale of life on the farm…..BUT ain’t it exciting…the prospect of more new babies.
that remind me I have book called Farm Babies that my Mother bought for me in 1943 and I still have it, so that book is now 72 years old…..must have another read
I do hope Sheila comes into heat. As cute as she is, there’s a bigger market for pork than for calendars. Our weather was no better. I just got back from a quick run to the market. The roads aren’t in great shape but traffic is moving, though very slowly. Your milkweed-filled ditch may become a refuge for Monarch butterflies. They need the help. Your plans remind me of a similar ditch in Michigan. The farmer has planted patches of creeping phlox on both sides. Over time, these patches have grown together, each is about 2 to 3 feet across, and the colors are red, white, lavender, and blue. The entire ditch is carpeted now and it’s like a scene from the Wizard of Oz.
Thanks for the information regarding the phox! Will order all those lovely colors!
You’re welcome. There are 2 varieties of phlox. “Creeping” stay low to the ground, and will spread over time, creating a carpet. They’re Spring blooming. The “tall” phlox are 2 to 3 ft tall and bloom all Summer long. They, too, will spread but more like an aster or other perennials would.
I love the idea of so much colour in the ditch (which is 20 foot deep so it is a very doable proposition) do bees like phlox?.. Next time you come we can walk down the track. you will see what i mean.. c
I’ve seen both bees and butterflies on my tall phlox. My creeping phlox is in the front yard and blooms early in the year. I don’t recall seeing bees or butterflies on them but I’m not around them nearly as much as I am the tall ones in my back yard. I don’t see why bees wouldn’t like them. The flowers are the same; it’s the plant that’s taller or shorter. “_
Yes the bees do like the creeping phlox, I have loads around my pond. Also have the tall phlox and it smells heavenly!!
How hard you work. It makes me ashamed of how little I do. Lovely that Marcel is doing so well, under the watchful gaze of Boo. I wonder if his nannying instincts are aroused when (not if) Sheila gives birth.
We have sunshine, and the first daffodil in the garden. 2 lambs and a very scruffy ewe next door. Spring is springing.
Daffs and lambs, wonderful to see.. and you have done piles and piles!! It was a Viv Hat morning this morning, so you and your work are still working over here.. c
Just READING about all you do and have to do leaves me breathless!
It does sound like the puzzle is starting to come together…it’s those middle pieces I hate..I usually just stop with the corners! 🙂 I love that photo of Daisy in the door with her calf all spread out behind her lovely head…We grow lots of lavendar here…so much so, we have lavendar festivals…my friend who is a lavendar farmer puts a sprig of it in her jars of honey! Your bees will love it! They swarm all over it here and on my thyme lawn…I think they love the color lavendar the best!
Marcel was probably so relieved to get back into the house with his mama Boo…I’m sure he doesn’t know he’s a sheep yet. 🙂
Oops that’s lavender not lavendar. Have you seen that beautiful white laven(der)?
Robert went for a walk the other day and sent me a photo of some lambs jumping about in the field and I thought of Murphy and spring and jumping about. How lovely that will be. So, in case you don’t have enough work…lol, here is a link to a girl who raises sheep and spins her own wool for sale: http://woolfarmgal.wordpress.com 🙂
I would love to spin again.. But I am waiting for a spinning wheel to pop its head above the waves.. it would be great work in the winter, but can I spin and write? c
absolutely!
A windy day for sure C! Sounds like a great day on the farmy yesterday. Hopefully the fog has lifted today. 🙂
I don’t know how you cope with a winter like you’ve had. I need a cup of coffee to warm my hands just so I can look at your pictures. I’d for sure send you some of our California sunshine if that was in my power.
I am glad I am not alone in thinking it has been a very long winter. I was blaming my temporary medical ban on driving since last September, as the culprit. 😦
Oh no drtving since september! If someone says you are not allowed to do something it is even harder isn’t it.Maybe you will be free again when summer comes? I will be too. My little car goes nowhere in this weather, i have had to be driven everywhere in the big red truck.. c
It is no fun and have neither a red truck or anyone to drive me. Hopefully March will bring an answer. She says with fingers, knees and toes crossed!
Those photos are so cold that I nearly shivered! Stay warm, c, and good luck to Sheila.
We had your winter last year – long, snowy and very cold. It seems like these higher latitudes are having a mild if somewhat wet winter. I never thought I’d be mushrooming in wellies in February at 60°N.
Wow, you’ve got a lot on your plate – it’s quite a job with so many animals depending on you not to mention a garden to prepare and a home to run. I am hoping that Sheila comes into heat as I think tiny Sheilas running around in June would be wonderful.
Yes, i have not mentioned the gardens, i cannot even see the ground so i have time i think! morning marie.. c
The fog occurred late in the evening here in Chicago. Not being able to see more than 100 feet in front of you seemed very isolating. Good thing you had all the animals to beckon to you!
That last moody image is spectacular.
Fog here too – I’m visiting in northern NSW, and the clouds are sitting down low on the brows of the mountains like grey angora berets. Anything above beret level is in a thick white cloud, and the view I know is out there has disappeared. That Daisy is a big as a house; it’s going to be a big calf, I think.
what a wonderful description of the fog on the hills.. angora berets! perfect.. c