I'm Not Complaining, Really I'm Not

It's just that, well, we got used to having our own tractor. A really nice tractor that we grew very fond of. Hammond Tractor was so nice about sharing a lender with us. They brought out this Kubota. It really is the wrong color. It doesn't match anything on our farm. It balks at putting in fence posts. The hookup for the wood splitter was strange and didn't work. What more could I say. We miss our Deere Girl. We called every couple of days asking about her health and when she would be back in form. Each time we called it was the same story. "We can't figure out what the problem is." Oh unhappy days. It just wasn't the same. The Kubota Kid just didn't fit in. You know what I'm sayin?

We got a call that Deere Girl was back hale and hearty and would be coming home. Oh happy day! Our sweet natured child was coming home. Home to the bosom of her family. Home where she is loved. Home...well I think you get it. She's baaaack. Ain't she pretty? Ah we feel so much better now. She has been back in service. We have already put her to work. She doesn't make strange noises and has a peppy step. Oh, and the Kubota Kid is back on the lot. It's not that we didn't appreciate him. He just didn't fit in.

Like I said, we put her to work immediately.

Still working on this wood pile. Think we will be ready for winter?

Maine where it's cold in winter and wood is plentiful. If your back can keep up. I am really working on my strange association with our tractor. Most people ride by and ooohh and ahhhh about a nice shiny red car. I still oohh and aahh about shiny tractors. Can you guess what my ring tone is? You got it...Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean. I need serious help.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm (strange but lovely people live here).

We all Send a Fall Hello

It’s here, you can feel it in the air.  Temps that didn’t get out of the 60’s. That cool breeze in the evening that makes you reach for a jacket before going out..  The fog that creeps over the pastures in the evening.  Fall is definitely here.  We along with many parts of our country have had a brutal summer.  Temps in the 90’s just doesn’t agree with Maine.  We like it warm but not 90’s. I thought I left those temps in Florida.  This past summer we were gifted(dropped off because we have a barn) with a new member of the farm family.  We named her Mouse.  We thought she was a kitten when she arrived, she was so small.  The vet said that she had already had a litter of kittens.  Well no more kittens for her.  Mouse is a free woman now.  She received all of her shots, had her surgery and fits in well with our farm family.  She sends her hello.  Doesn’t she look like she has cattitude?  Well, she keeps all of the cats and dogs in line. Those claws speak volumes.

I have decided that guineas are absolutely the most brainless birds ever created.  We are down to 6 from a whopping 30 in 1 1/2 years. Our house is about 150 feet from the road.  We have 55 acres of land.  Those birds will amble across the road, stand in the middle of the road and watch oncoming traffic.  Now, please keep in mind that in Bradford, Maine “traffic” is a relative term.  I know that drivers rightfully expect birds to fly out of the line of harm.  I would think that.  I do slow down to give the ravens and occasional turkey time to exit.  Well, let me tell you something.  Those birds will not budge.  They think they out weigh a car.  I was thinking about putting a sign out warning drivers to watch out for dumb birds.  As nature would have it, this past summer we had a guinea hen set on a clutch of eggs and hatch off 16 keets.  We removed them and put them in the brooder.  They all lived. Of course!  

Now they are big enough to take a walk around the chicken yard.  There if one late hatcher in the background.  He/she keeps up with the big birds.  I guess we are destined to continue the guinea saga.

We put up poly electric fence up in the pasture to extend our grass season.  The sheep and Fuzzy are enjoying the pasture for another few weeks till snow.

 

All of the goats got a hoof trim and another dose of Molly’s Herbal De Wormer.  We will see how this works with the goats and sheep.  The worst part of the whole experience was convincing the animals that the herbs were tasty.  We got a few sneezes, a couple of “no way” and even a few, hmmmsss……

Bella and Sophie say Hi,

Isabella sends her best….

Carina sends smooches… (love her goat jewelry)

Shirley sends her regards….

 

Sadie cares from afar…

Annie……

Ruthie …..

We all send our love.  Hope you are enjoying this cooler weather. 

Much Love and Prayers, Mainely Ewes Farm

I think Blogger is trying to drive me crazy again. I have had to revert to using Windows Live Writer and the pictures don’t line up right.  Oy.

Common Ground Fair 2010

 

Each year we always try to make it to a very special fair.  One that exists in a hay field in the small town of Unity, Maine.  Even in the few years we have been going the fair has grown.  The Common Ground Country Fair is now 34 years old. Each year it grows and visitors come from far and wide.  This isn’t your run of the mill fair. It is centered around a natural, organic, farming way of life. The events are geared towards education.  There is so much information available.  Parking is au natural in a hayfield. 

As you enter the fair there is are so many varieties of veggies, flowers and plants to shop your way through.  We brought home leeks and made Leek and Potato Soup last night. 

Eating is always one of the most important activities at any fair. How about fresh Maine potatoes sliced and fried on the spot into crisp potato chips.

I enjoyed Lamb Curry and Pumpkin soup.  MMMMM……

There were stoneworkers, Indian Basket Makers, Folk Arts, Ironworkers.  Skills treasured and still in use today.

Hey, it’s a make your own fall decoration table. 

How about building a post and beam house right on the spot?  Look at this fellows arms. 

Exhibits and displays abounded. Below is a demonstration of a gentleman using Australian Sheep dogs to work both  sheep and goat herds. They had a serious “eye” on those animals and the goats and sheep knew it.

There was really one “ride” at this fair.  Anyone game for a draft horse drawn wagon ride?

We even met someone we knew!  This is Janice and Ken Spaulding from St. Albans, Maine.  They teach a goat school twice a year from their farm,  Stony Knolls Farm.  They were featured in Hobby Farm Magazine last year in an article describing care and maintenance of goats.    We bought Isabella and Carina from them.  Their purpose at the fair was answering questions relating to goats and they are a wealth of information to both prospective goat owners and seasoned owners.

These huge characters are Oxen.  I have always been fascinated with these larger than life animals.  This team weighs 4,283 lbs. 

what can I say…..BIG

This team was hand raised from the age of two days old by this young woman. They are gentle and have very good manners.  Oxen are still used in many countries to move heavy material.  In Maine they were used by the logging industry to move felled trees out of the forest.  They are still used today by many families on working farms.

Now that is a grand perch to view the fair from.  This young man was right at home on top of this draft horse.

I think this pair of Mules has acquired a ribbon or two in their careers.

Need directions?

No trip to the Common Ground Fair would be complete without bringing home a bunch of Sweet Annie.  I love to hang the bunch from the beams in the kitchen.  It has a wonderful scent, sweet but not an overpowering floral, and lingers for up to a year.  Other names for Sweet Annie are Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Sagewort and Annual Wormwood.  It is used as a medicinal treatment for fevers and even cancer. 

We have been working non stop in the house.  I have so many pictures to share.  It was spectacular getting away for a day at the fair.  Now back to work. Where is that whip?

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm