Meet the Ladies of Mainely Ewes Farm

We just came off of 3 nights on and are just getting rested up. We have had a little time with our Icelandic Sheep and after much contemplation we have come up with the girls names. This sweet, shy lady is now to be known as Elspeth. She is 2 years old but very mature for her age. She stands back and will only come up after she knows that everything is okay. We have been hand feeding them since they arrived. At this time they do not need grain. We continue to feed them so that they can become more friendly.

This saucy wench will remain Carlotta. She flips her head/horns when she doesn't get her way. So to us she just seems to have a little attitude. The name just fits.

Please meet Moriah. She is sweet and quiet.

This ewe is more outgoing and reminds me of my mother. They both have the same color hair. LOL. I'm okay, she doesn't have the Internet and I'm safe. Both of their names are Esther. I have to tell her about this. I'm sure I will pay and dearly.

As time goes by the girls become more accustomed to us and today they have started bleating and come running when they hear our voices. We spent the day in the pasture putting up the insulators for the electric fence. The would raise their heads and check our progress. I guess they don't want to appear too forward.

You may be asking yourself, why is Alex standing between two posts? Maybe not!
In previous posts I mentioned that she is an artist and even featured some of her paintings on the blog. She has been busy painting our sign. Now that we actually have sheep we can put up our sign. We are so proud!

We all are very proud of this outstanding and greatly expected day.

The tail of the sign is for smaller signs as we have products of the farm available, like pasture raised chickens and eggs, handmade goatmilk soap, wool and roving, lamb, kid (we have a USDA butcher near) and anything else that we can think of.

We are exhausted from so much work on the farm today. The garden is coming along, we attacked a few weeds, mowed the lawn, cut some limbs, cleaned the nesting boxes out and put a nice dusting of diamaticious earth to prevent mites and lice, and a nice comfy layer of hay for the girls, cleaned out the goat stalls, built a hay rack for the goats, and cleaned out the barn. Whew!

I thought this was an appropriate picture to bring this blog to a close.

The End!

Much love and prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Kelly

Poults and Chicks 2009

This year we thought we would expand our learning experience and take on Turkeys. We ordered them from Blue Seal in Bangor, ME at the same time we bought Bella, Edward, and Sophie (the goats). We wanted to keep them in the coop with the other chickens since we opened up an additional stall in the barn for this winter. We had our two 6x6x2 brooders we built last spring. We got everything cleaned out, the water containers bleached, the heat lamps cleaned and checked for working bulbs. Put clean shavings in the brooders and waited with baited breath for our new additions. Finally, the call came that we could come in and pick up our 2 hens and 6 toms. All together now, awwwwww..... how cute. They came in a cake box with holes for air vents. We put the box in the brooder under the heat lamps so the poults wouldn't get chilled,

then opened the box carefully not to startle the little ones. They may not look like it now, but they are Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. The will have a metallic sheen of the feathers which change from copper to bronze to burnished gold. They sound pretty impressive.

Imagine him being the Lord of the Barnyard?

How about these guys?

We had ordered our yearly Jumbo Cornish X Rocks from Murray McMurray Hatchery and the call came from the post office in Bradford to "come pick up your chicks" on Monday morning at 7am. I popped up and got ready, ok, I groaned, rolled over, pulled the covers up and thought, crap I have to get up. You see our animals are on our schedule on this farm. We generally get up and going by about 8am. We work nights and don't get home till 8am in the morning, so when we are home we try to keep the animals on that same schedule. I am truly impressed with the folks that are up by 6am. I just can't switch over to early mornings when I'm off. Hey, it would really confuse the animals! Yeah, that's it. Sounds good to me. Back on the subject, I did get up, put coffee on and head off the the Post Office and get the chicks. Boy were they noisy.

We always order Gro-Gel with the chicks. It reminds me of gut load for crickets. It has vitamins, minerals and absorbs water for the chicks to eat. It sounds good. It may be a rip off but the chicks seems to love it each time.

Izzy was interested in the small box of treats.

Again, we went through the same motions getting the chicks set.

A little dip of the beak in water.

Then they all get to sit on the feeder and eat gro-gel till their little gizzards are full.

What cute little faces.

This was our extra surprise chick. It has the sweetest eye liner on. Any ideas on what kind of chick this is?

So far we have lost 1 turkey and 2 of the chicks. They are staying warm and eating well. We have frames with chicken wire to keep any visitors out. That is chick week on Mainely Ewes Farm. Much love and prayers to all.

Kelly

Mainely Ewes Farm at Last

Our big surprise is we can now truly be called Mainely Ewes Farm. It has taken a lot of time and work but we are here. We thought that we would be able to get sheep last fall, however, that was not a truly realistic expectation. We were not ready as far as housing and fencing goes. The Maine winters are very harsh and the animals have to have appropriate housing. We put off getting our girls until we were ready. Hallelujah, we have sheep! Drum roll please.......... Meet our girls. We have 2 black yearling ewes, 1 white yearling ewe, and 1 black 2-year old ewe. They are Icelandic sheep. The Icelandic sheep are among the most primitive (most closely resemble the earliest ancestors of sheep) breeds. They have naturally short tails (no docking), thick double coats of true wool (not hair sheep), can tolerate extreme cold (Maine) live in the fields, lamb very easily, and do not require sophisticated pasture. Icelandic sheep are small and easy to manage, are multipurpose being used for wool, milk and meat. They fit in here on our farm. We will be naming the girls later as we get a feel for the personalities.







We purchased our sheep from Rising River Farm in Pownal, Maine. Patty is the owner/operator and comes with a wealth of information. She was so helpful and made the loading of the girls easier on them and us.

It was a long drive home. They tolerated it very well. They were happy to finally get into their pasture. The girls are a bit skittish now. Hopefully they will become well adjusted and love their new home. We have to keep in mind that they have never had chickens in their pasture, nor had to share it with 3 goaties.

They took a nice leisurely stroll around checking out the hill.

Checked out the fence line to see if we had forgotten anything that would allow for a quick escape. We will be installing electric fence this week to keep them safe.

The goats were appropriately impressed. They took one look and decided that the grass was truly greener on the other side of the fence.

That is all for now. We are very excited and having such a wonderful time watching them graze. Much love and many prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm (at last).

Kelly

Too Busy To Blog!

How did that happen? Our bodies ache and there is still work to do. It seems to never end. While we actually take a break and rest, our minds are full of "This needs to be done, I can roll over there and pick that up." We have never been so tired, nor so fulfilled. Alex said yesterday that she hasn't smiled so much in years, as she has since the animals began arriving. They have that way about them. Let us start in order. We have always had drainage issues around the barn. The roof is at least 30x50 and sheets thousands of gallons of water with each rainfall. This water stands around the barn because so much of our soil is clay. Kevin was able to trench the remaining side of the barn for us. We laid 300ft of perforated drainpipe covered with porous cloth (french drain)then covered with small rock. We are no fools, we rented a small Bobcat and Ted went to work shoveling the rock in layers under and over the pipe. Then he covered it with our hard clay crappy soil again.

Alex is helping spread the rock. I do work too, someone had to take the picture! Oh, how I long for the Prima Dona days when I can lounge around eating bon-bons. Hah! Yea Right!

Here is the Bob Cat covering over all that lovely, expensive rock. How can rock cost so much? We have thousands and thousands of rocks in Maine. How about I send them a few for them to grind?

We still have to hire a large grader and operator to move this soil and make the ground level. This little guy just doesn't have the power nor weight to do the job.

Next job, off to the big box store! Some people don't like these stores. I love them. I know, they have run out the mom and pop stores but they have everything! Sorry to the truly granola eaters.

Alex paying for the supplies to build fence corners. Money in money out. Just that fast.

We have small children working on the farm as day labor. (no, this is Jasmine my 6yo granddaughter. She is cheap. Crayons and chocolate milk are her pay. Oh, and many hugs from this Nana.)

The last corner support and then the fencing begins.

Here is the pasture all fenced. You really can't see the fence but take my word for it. It's there!!!

Alex made this chicken escape hatch. They are now free range again! There is a small board across the upper end and at the bottom. Why, you may ask, or not. But, the goaties are still small enough to crawl in on their knees. It is cute to watch, however, the hens go crazy when the goats come into the coop to eat their grain. It ain't good for the goats either!

After a very had week of work we had a wonderful bonfire with the neighbors. We had hot dogs and smores. This is what Maine life is all about. We love and appreciate each and every day/night of our summers. There is something about 4ft of snow that really makes you appreciate them. More to tell in just a few. Our surprise is next. Much love and prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Kelly

Bees Arrivals

Spring is the time for BEEKEEPING. I love bees. They are very industrious, bring pleasure to their watchers, pollination to gardens near our home and if we are lucky honey next spring. I had bees last year but they did not survive this past winter. They made it all the way through to early spring but succumbed to a dampness issue. Since then I have taken a Beekeeping class at the extension and feel more prepared to provide my bees with a safe and comfortable hive to over winter in. Just before the bees were to arrive we made a trip to Swan's Honey in Albion, Maine to pick up the deep supers, frames, wax foundation tops, bottom boards, bucket feeders, etc....... When we got home I had this.

I had put together frames and hives last year so this was not a daunting task. It is actually pleasurable to assemble the equipment.

The frames fit perfectly and they looked square. The books always say this is a task for January. Ok, I do have a tendency to procrastinate a bit. It was the end of May.

Then we took the equipment out in the sun to give a good coat of paint for protection.

The bee yard is about an acre away and I didn't want to drag all the equipment in several trips. This wagon is perfect. All loaded and ready to go.

I took everything out the night before and assembled it in place. We went to pick up the bees early Saturday morning. It was cool and they were quiet. I set the nucs on top of the hives and opened the entrance so the bees could fly during the day. I made a mixture of 1 1/2 part sugar to 1 part water and poured it into the bucket feeders after it cooled. Late that afternoon I suited up and lit my smoker and took off to visit the bees. They are Carnolian bees, mild and non aggressive girls.

I transferred the 5 frames from the nucleus colony into the center of the super (bottom box) in the same orientation that they were in when I brought them home. I then placed 3 frames on one side and 2 frames on the other in effect sandwiching the nuc frames. They were very active, checking out the new digs. I had to make some corrections to the hive with shims to help level the front of the hive slightly down to allow moisture to travel out the front rather than seep to the back to become a problem.

The next day was bright and sunny. The girls were out and about busy with their building and collecting.

Welcome to the new arrivals. They made themselves right at home. Now the flowers are complete.

This is Izzy our no tailed cat. The Vet said that she was born that way and has a sort of spina bifida syndrome. She has a problem with renal crystals necessitating a switch to urinary tract formula for all of our cats. Now she is healthy and happy. She is a foundling that was dropped off at a neighbors house. She has become part of our family. She loves to wander the fields with me taking pictures. Here she is in her jungle cat pose. This Sunday is the last class in beekeeping. We will meet in Bucksport Maine in a bee yard to take a hands on view of bees. Hopefully I will be able to locate a queen. I have yet been able to find her on my frames. Wish me luck. Have a wonderful day, much love and best wishes from Mainely Ewes Farm. Oh, we have a big, huge surprise coming Monday.

Kelly