CHICKENS! HELP!

I don't have any pictures today. I am so glad that I wasn't even home to see the eviscerated hen. We don't know why she died, so we don't know if the other hens killed and ate her or she died first and they ate her. Alex went out to feed the girls and get eggs. She found a hen shell. There were only bones and wings. The chickens are well fed. The get all they can eat of layer pellets. We give them cracked corn at night. I have noticed that they are not eating their layer pellets lately. The will eat all of the corn given. We try to give them fresh veggies but that is limited due to cost. I called the feed store and they recommended that we switch to a different texture layer pellet and a block of compressed feed/seed. I'm heading there first thing after I get off work in the morning. I went out before I left for work and gave them a whole box of Chex Rice cereal, a whole loaf of stale bread and 2 whole acorn squash. Maybe it was overkill, no pun intended, but I really can't stand it when they do things like this. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Winter Wednesday

We hope that all of our blogger friends are staying warm and toasty this winter. We have had a really hard winter so far and are making it. I joke and say that we are learning to be Mainers. It is said with amazement and respect. These are hardy people with skills up the wazoo for surviving.

After suffering through -31 degrees we finally had a warm up and got about a foot of snow. It was too cold to snow. I went out this afternoon and took some pictures of the pasture and the front of the house. It is beautiful and I never get tired of the snow. We did find out that our thermometer goes to -28 and croaks. Our neighbor has the old fashioned kind and was able to tell us what the actual low was. Ok, I'm not the most graceful person and I'm glad that no one was taking a picture of me today because I fell in the snow and had the darnedest time trying to keep the camera up and get up too.

We called around and found someone, probably the only person who still has seasoned wood, and ordered 2 cords. Why do we need wood? We were in Home Depot last week and they had a wood stove on sale for half price. I guess this was an impulse buy but one that paid off with the low temps we had.

We traded out this lovely old antique, but not really functional ,for this not quite state of the art wood stove. Anyone want to purchase this turn of the last century Imperial Clarion? It is made by Wood and Bishop Company out of Bangor, Maine. If so just let me know and we can arrange something. It has it's own water tank. It needs refurbishing but is beautiful. We can make a deal!
The chickens are surviving well. We added another brooder lamp, which makes 3, when the temps are really low. So far they are doing well. We get about 2 dozen eggs a day. Notice the new feeder? We bought it at Perco Feeds so that they will keep the shavings out of their corn.

A great way to end the day is with a big pot of homemade soup. It warms the kitchen and warms the soul. May everyone be well and blessed. Keep warm and happy. With Love from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Off the Farm Time

Alex and I just came off of 3-12 hr night shifts, slept all day Friday because we were just beat. We decided that Saturday needed to have some off farm fun. So what can we do? We aren't the party all night crowd, not the shop till you drop crowd. We are more of the chicken and sheep folks. We were watching the news and there was a segment about Belt-Sander Races. What is that? I had never heard of it and never imagined it. So we decided to go. It was for a good cause and sounded like fun. We arrived at Dino's Pizza in Brewer, Maine and this is what we found.

Grown men and women with families in tow involved in a very serious drag race using modified tools as power source. It was a hoot. Everyone was having a great time. The reporter said that this sport started in a bar. I can just imagine how many beers it took to come up with this. I love it. A nice, family place to have a few beers, pizza and hot wings. Notice Santa on the Belt-Sander. He sand and bounced all the way down the track.

It was sponsored by many companies in Maine and put on by the United Bikers of Maine, Penobscot. This is the track, notice the power cord grooves in the center. These things flew past to everyone's amusement.

Then when all the races were completed it was time for the kids to get into the fun by themselves. I never knew that my palm sander could lead another life and purpose.

Notice in lane one a turtle, land two Scoobie Do, Lane three Nemo, Lane for T-Rex. It looks like Nemo took the blue ribbon. Scoobie was my favorite. He was a bobble head and he really rocked.
After a great afternoon we headed south to Thomas College in Waterville to pick up my son Teddy. He turned 19 today. We all went out to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. Here is his room mate Juco and Teddy's girlfriend Tarah. What a beautiful ending to a fun day off the farm. I hope everyone is having a great New Year. Good night from all us chickens.

Kelly

Whew! The holiday flew by.

What else is there to say. We had a wonderful Christmas with family galore. We did have to work Christmas Eve. Ted brought my daughter Tiffany and granddaughter Jasmine up from New Hampshire. They picked up my daughter Leah, Victor and my granddaughter Brianna from Bangor. They got there just in time for Alex and I to leave for work. Alex took time to nab a big hug from Brianna.

Leah had time to braid her hair and put beads in. I think she must have started listing to port with that weight. She was awake enough for a smile and a few dozen kisses before we had to leave. My daughter Sue and Tonya brought Alex's son Jake up and arrived early morning.

We got home on Christmas morning to a wonderful smell. The girls had started cooking. The turkey was in the oven. It felt so good to be home. We were so fortunate to have so many kids home at the same time. Jasmine is helping her Mom unwrap her presents too.

We started a Christmas tradition of building a gingerbread house. Each year the kids seem to get more on themselves and less on the house.


Tarah and Teddy came up from New Hampshire after visiting her family. They will both be at Thomas College this year together.

Even Ivy the Pug had a good time. We are working through a cold spell with lots of ice. We took a slide downhill backwards in the truck today. After that we went and got a small load of sand to spread over the drive. Hopefully we will have more traction tomorrow. We hope that everyone had a wonderful and happy Christmas. It seems that a lot of the everyday farm activities have slowed. Jasmine and I cleaned the chicken nesting boxes out yesterday. It smells better and the chickens seemed to approve. We hung another cabbage up in the coop. It was gone by the time we went to pick up eggs in the evening. No trace that it ever existed. We got 30 eggs from 40 hens today. That is pretty good for winter. We are having to keep the big brooder lights on in the hen house to keep them warm. It will be down in the 10's again this week. Brrrr...... Take care. Thank you to DC from Winnipeg for my first online soap order through my Etsy shop. That was a real thrill. We will be working three nights straight. Take care, keep warm. God Bless.

Getting Ready For Christmas

We were plowed out last evening and went out to finish the last minute Christmas shopping. Today is the day to clean, clean, clean. This has been a very busy day. I love a clean house but I would rather not have to do it myself. No housekeeper so we cleaned. We both have family coming Christmas Eve and Christmas. The house is decorated, and it does look warm and cheery. The stockings have a home. I have no expectations that our stocking will be filled. They just look really cute.
We have to work Christmas Eve so the girls are doing the cooking. We have a turkey and ham defrosting. Next year we hope to have one of our own turkeys ready for roasting. I have never had a fresh turkey, I'm told that there is no comparison. The last of the baking needed to be done so Alex started rolling out her Phyllo dough for Baklava. (I weigh 10lbs more now)







Notice the wicked looking knife?



Notice the evil gleam in her eye?

It's because I kept stealing the Almonds.

Here it goes into the oven.



Mmmmmm..... warm crunchy Baklava straight from the oven.


Our first egg nog of the season. Anyone up for a diabetic coma?

Here is an easy recipe for baklava, it is calorie free, fat free. Any recipe that starts with "melt 1 cup butter" is dangerous.

Filling:
3 cups chopped walnuts
3 cups chopped almonds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
Mix above ingredients together


Syrup:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 cup honey
1 TBS lemon juice
Heat above ingredients until dissolved

Melt 1 cup butter


In a 9x13 pan (buttered), layer phyllo dough, buttering each layer with a brush. Be gentle, start with 10 layers of phyllo dough, cover with 1/3 of filling, then add 6 layers phyllo dough, top with 1/3 of filling, then an additional 6 layers of phyllo dough and the last of the filling, and end with 8 layers of phyllo dough. Brush butter on top, cut or score squares prior to baking. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Take the hot baklava from the oven, cut through scored layers, carefully pour hot syrup on entire pan, allow to cool.


We still have presents to wrap, egg nog to finish, take care, have a warm and safe evening. Watch out for crummy roads. Nite from Mainely Ewes Farm.


kelly

White Christmas in Maine

We worked 3 nights in a row, went grocery shopping just after work, went to sleep and woke up to this. Per the Weather Man we had 17" with three foot drifts. The wind is still howling up to 35mph. The sun is just now starting to shine, just in time to set at 3:30. The snow covered wreath on the front door was made with our very own hands. Alex was wearing gloves (allergy to pine/balsam). The wreath is Balsam, Pine and Cedar. We took a class at Mapleshade Farm in Garland Maine from Rachel and Linda Clewley. They do a really great job and ship all over the place.

The front pasture is knee deep, this is our outside Christmas Tree. I'm sure the snow plow folks appreciated the cheery lights as they plowed up and down Rt 221.

This is the wonderful job those heroes worked on. North 221 looking toward the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, Mount Katahdin in the far distance.
This is Metropolitan Bradford ,Maine. If you have a furrowed brow, it's a joke! Note our one and only blinking light. We don't even have a real traffic light. I love this place.

This is looking across the street to Kevin's, Cheata's and Nikia's house. Those people are the heroes I mentioned above. She was out plowing all night for DOT and Kevin is a Mechanic with DOT. Nikia came over to hang out with us this morning while mom and dad were working. She is a great kid. Notice, he is prepared with hay on a trailer. Cows will be happy.

Notice how pitiful the barn looks in the snow? Well it don't look so great without snow either. This is our summer project. If you notice the house trailer door on the side it gives you a great idea about some of the other "repairs" that were done in the past. The snow is way too deep for the girls to be outside. They have been on coop arrest. The snow slid off the barn roof on top of the coop and collapsed it in. Another summer job.

This is the beautiful pasture with an extra 50 fence posts. No fence, just posts. Winter surprised us this year. Use your imagination and think of a peaceful scene with wire, and sheep. While you're at it imagine green grass and summer too.

This is my winter look. I did not throw that shovel! Alex has a wicked sense of humor. I personally think I look good in Carhart.

(What is this Momma?)

I was reading a blog while at work the other night, (ok, so I like to play on their computer, it's much faster than ours) and read about giving the girls something to occupy their time. They tend to peck at each other when they get bored. We bought cabbage and hung it from the rafter on jute.

Hmmm....... what are we suppose to do with this?

Oh! Chicken Tether Ball

We wanted to leave you with a cute pic of Timba the fierce mouser in the rafters. Don't feel sorry for him he sleeps in a four poster bed complete with HDTV. We have another storm due Christmas Eve and on the following weekend. Winter has arrived. Take care and have a safe and Merry Christmas. best wishes from Mainely Ewes Farm. Love, Kelly and Alex.

No, it can't be December 1st!

How can it be December 1st alreay? It seems like Fall only arrived. We have been so busy and time does seem to fly by. I know that everyone feels this way. There have been a few milestones to mention. This is one of the very special ones.



Brianna is my youngest granddaughter. She turned one on November 11. What a cutie. She now has 4 teeth in and screams at the top of her lungs, just for fun. We were blessed with family up from New Hampshire for Thanksgiving. Alex's son Jake came up as did his brother Cliff and his new wife Sara. They have 2 beautiful children, Mia and Peirce. Alex is so happy to have a grandson now. Welcome to the family. My daughter Sue and her girlfriend Tonya came up, and brought my other granddaughter Jasmine with them. Leah and Victor came and brought Brianna. Teddy came home from Thomas College and brought Tarra. We had a table full. It was truly a blessing. We all fit! i hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays.


We finally got the wall up in the mud room. We had to insulate and install new wall board.

Then we had to paint and put up shelves. This is where I store alot of my soap and lotion making supplies. If you don't know what this color is, it is called "Cow Belly". I know this because I found a sticker of a cow, took it to Home Depot and had them match the color on the cow belly. I then proceeded to name it. "COW BELLY"

We bought a pellet stove from Lowe's. Ted unloaded it from the truck and put it into the basement. Then Alex and I proceeded to "install" it. I'm very proud of us. It took a few frantic calles to the stove maker to get things right. At first not enough heat and too many pellets. Then we got the air intake right and now have a wonderful heat. Can't live in Maine without heat. The basement is downright warm. We have vents in the floor of the kitchen, office and mud room alowing for the heat to rise.

This is the other source of heat we use. The propane logs in the living room heat the whole second floor, my room, living room and dining room. Not bad and more reasonable than oil. We will be finishing the floors in the next few months.

We did get to have some fun. The Christmas tree is up and we are getting into the Holiday Spirit. I think it makes the house even warmer.

And, not to be forgotten. When I opened the door last night this was waiting for me. I love Maine. I love the snow.

May everyone stay warm, be surrounded by loved ones, and find peace. Good night all.

Kelly