It's October That Must Mean Halloween

 One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. I look forward to it each Fall. The colors and cool temps just bring out a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I love the colors of Fall. The browns, oranges, and reds just make me smile.  Halloween starts the holiday season off.  Every  holiday  must have it's own time.  First we begin with decorations on the outside. (only partially done.)

 Spooky spider webs are a must!

 Pumpkins with scary faces!

 Some with not so scary faces. We do like to have fun.

Emma and Lucy tried on their costumes....

then they practiced their best Trick or Treat  

 We even bring the decorations inside too. Add a warm fire and all is well.

 Candy Corn and small Jack-0-Lanterns lead the way.

 Smiles from Jack.

 Much more Halloween to come.

Hope you are having a spooky good time.

Much Love and Prayers From Mainely Ewes Farm. Happy Fall Ya'll!

Just Some Fun Summer Pics

After looking through the pics of this last summer I thought I would share a few. They made me smile and that is a gift. A gift I want to share.

 Summer Mushrooms. Does anyone know their name?

 My Summer visitors. The spider ladies.

 

 Oreo, the handsome kitty.

 Sadie, our casgora goat enjoying a little sunshine on the hay wagon.

 One of her favorite games is "Push everyone off of the hay wagon''.

 Smiles from Emma.

Not only from Emma, but from everyone!

Much Love and Prayers From Mainely Ewes Farm.

Moving Day

When we started Mainely Ewes Farm we knew that we wouldn't be able to keep every sheep and goat.  We must  cull for flaws, polled sheep (no horns) and too many rams or bucks.  We also enjoy lamb and kid.  This year we were blessed with beautiful ewe lambs with soft silky fleece.  They went to a lovely lady who was starting her flock of Icelandic Sheep.  She spins wool and adores the Icelandics' double fleece. The ewes are happy and enjoy a large pasture.  We also had 5 ram lambs plus Lambert.  You remember Lambert?  Yes, the spoiled bottle baby that Ted raised in the house.  Well, Lambert went to the ram pasture and is hanging out with Eccho, Baby, Acheron and Asher.  He is one of the guys now.
 Today was the day that we took the 5 remaining ram lambs, an ewe from last years flock with scur horns, a ram from last years flock and a kid, all on a road trip to Maple Lane Farm.  They are a processor within 3 miles of us.  We loaded them into the truck and took them over.  They were taken in  immediately. No waiting and stressing.  We tried to make this as easy as possible. Is that possible?

Lots of grass, fresh air,  hay and grain.  Not the life of a feed lot animal.

Teddy and Edward live in the much smaller pasture next door.  This is usually a good arrangement, however, there are the girl goats living right next to them.  Well, this time of year Teddy is applying the cologne, strutting around like the stud muffin he is.  Sniffing the air and stomping his hoof in excitement.  He is very, er, efficient? We had a surprise buckling last spring.  Teddy and Sadie, sort of, how can I put this? Made a little nookey through the fence.

This white buckling was the surprise.  This is the bachelor pad the young bucks have been sharing.  It is getting a bit cramped. Originally it was the turkey house.  We do repurpose when possible.

Now they are in the big lamb pasture.  They have spent the day pruning the tree limbs within reach, munching on hay and enjoying the cooler temps.  More space. 
As hard as it is to take the animals to the processor we try to remind ourselves that this is why we do this. We can't afford to keep every animal.  We have seen how farming  can be done with care and compassion.  We will be updating our web site to include the sale of both lamb and kid. If you have never eaten kid it is a wonderfully flavorful meat. I was able to get a fantastic cookbook with recipes for chevon.  Janice and Ken Spaulding teach Goat School in St. Albans, ME.  She is a wonderful cook and has written a cookbook:  Goat School: A Master Class in Caprine Care and Cooking.  It is available on Amazon.  I bought one for me and sent one to my mother.  She loved reading about care and management of goats.
I don't know why Blogger changed the size of the font on the last paragraph. I don't understand much of Blogger. I just don't like surprises that I don't understand. I know this could be alot easier. As a goat friend is fond of saying, Oy.
Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Emma and Lucy Apple Picking and Bears?

There are so many blogs out there with Autumn as their topics.  Well, why not it is the time of year.  We really get into the season here too.  The colors start to change and the temps start getting cooler.  It must be apple picking time.  The orchards are busy with families out picking apples, watching apples getting pressed into fresh cider.  Not to be outdone, Emma have developed their own technique for apple picking. 

I always seem to have my camera near, except this morning.  Ted and I were enjoying coffee on the deck admiring the beautiful morning when I looked up and saw a black bear loping across our field.  I know I sounded very articulate as I yelled "bear, bear, bear".  That was all I could get out. I ran for my camera and Ted ran for the gun.  I couldn't find the camera and when we came back out the bear had cleared our fence in one leap and was heading into the woods.  Fuzzy the llama was standing guard.  In no way is she any match for a bear.  She would have been his first target.  Ted went up into the woods and shot multiple times hopefully scaring the bear away.  I hope he was as scared of us as we were of him.  This is the first time we have seen a bear on the farm. We aren't delusional to think they haven't been here all along. 
Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm

Getting Goats Ready For Winter

One of the biggest jobs of Autumn is the preparation for the upcoming winter.  Winter arrives fast and hard in Maine.  Our lady goats are lucky. They get to stay in the barn during the cold weather months. The bucks share a shelter but remain outside.  Their base is full of hay and they stay warm.  The boys don't seem to mind this arrangement at all. They develop a woolly coat and snuggle with each other. More like a gentleman's club for goats.  In the barn we have been laying down a thick layer of shavings since spring.  Well, it's that time again. More shavings needed.  Before spreading another layer of shavings I, very liberally, dust the area with ditomacious earth.  This keeps the area  mite, flea and bug free.  No pesticides at all.  It helps to keep flies down too.  The layering is really import.  There will be heat generated by the breakdown of the fecal matter and shavings during the winter months.  The urine and nanny berries promote bacterial growth.  These bacteria breakdown with the shavings and produce heat in this process. In the spring we clean the barn out and let the pile mature over the summer months.  Late fall we will spread this black gold over our hay fields.  We don't think our fields have been fertilized in over 20 years.  This way we can recycle and reuse a pesticide free fertilizer. 

The Lady's were very happy to see the fresh bedding.

They even help with the spreading of fresh shavings.

We do the same thing in the chicken coop too.  The diatomacious earth works the same way for them too.  No mites for our hens.  With all of those warm bodies they generate a lot of warmth.  We still open the barn doors in winter and let fresh air in.  I do believe in fresh air. It deters so many pneumonia's, bacterial infections and adds to the general good health of our animals.  Oh, and it makes the barns smell so good. 

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm

Guinea Freedom

This year was the first time that we were able to hatch out our own guineas.  Out of 98 eggs we had  89 eggs hatch.  That was a better hatch rate than the booklet said we would have.  We expected about 50%.  What a surprise for us.  All of the keets moved to the brooder and not a one lost.  That is a big difference from when we get them through the mail.  We may loose up to 10. Out of 15 turkeys we have 5 left.   These were healthy keets, no drafts or cold temps.  The incubator was a gift from my mom.  We look forward to hatching turkeys and chicks next spring.  I didn't even notice an change with the electric bill.  That will save us a whole heap of money in the spring.  I figure around $250.00.  We moved them from their brooder to an area in the chicken coop, made just for them.  The screen let in fresh air and sunshine.  They grew and grew.

Happy guineas.  Well, as happy as a guinea can be I guess.  They continued to act like we were the mad monster ready to bite their heads off.  I want to make a statement here. Guineas are not sweet pets.  They don't want to be touched. Notice how calm they are in this picture? They didn't know I was there.

The guineas have been turned loose in the yard.  The screen is down and so is the wall.  This fact comes with a sad footnote.  When we took the wall down they were freaked out.  Evidently, later that evening they piled into a corner and didn't come out.  We lost 21 guineas to suffocation or crushing.  I am still in shock.  Like I said before, small brains for such good little birds. So now we have 78 left.  I know that is still more than we need.  Why we thought we needed that many guineas I have no clue. We like birds too? Here they are out in the pasture for the first time spreading their wings and flying.



The pups have to be watched at all times.  The have expressed that fresh guinea is very tasty, no need for any condiments.  We have the training collars back on to reinforce the "NO PUT THAT GUINEA DOWN" command.  Emma is very vocal about the lack of fresh meat. After all they are RETRIEVERS! If you would like to have a guinea or two or three or four of five....well you get my drift.  Just give me a buzz.
Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm

Simple as Apple Pie

Alot of farming is a single job.  Mowing, tedding, raking, and baling is all one person.  I come in handy when it comes time to put the bales into the loft.  Ted really enjoys working on the tractor. I came along to  take pictures and enjoy the scenery.  I take this job very seriously. 

Beautiful.....

Emma and Lucy keep me company...

The apple trees are loaded with ripe green and red apples. They are so sweet and just a little tart.

The girls love to eat apples. Apples and carrots, two of their favorite snacks.

As the girls ate their share of the drops I started thinking about pies. I didn't come prepared with a basket so...my shirt tail did nicely.

They may have a few knots and wormholes but that can be cut out.

Emma and Lucy waiting for anything to drop. I think their middle name may be Hoover!

The pie turnout great.  Ted loves homemade apple pie.  I should have watched it a little closer.  My apple cut outs got a little too brown.

I found these pie crust cut outs/stamps the other day.  I have to practice! The ones on the box aren't quite as brown as mine. Heck, let's be real. Mine were almost burnt. Like I said. Practice. Help me Paula.

 

Happy Fall.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.