Dec. 15, 2005 - Homestead Update
It is another frosty morning on Whidbey Island. Mid 20's last night which is quite cold for this area. I got up at 5 to build the fire but Dave did that for me before he left. I have my double latte now and the children are sound asleep...my favorite way to start the day. We have been so busy on our homestead I haven't had much computer time. I'm going to try to catch up on the last 10 days...
The Animals: we have a new milk cow! Do you remember the "jewels" I wrote about in my Cider Pressing entry? Dave has bought me another jewel. This one is big and mostly black, 4 yrs old and very sweet. I named her Isabelle. She is 5 months pregnant and gives an abundance of rich creamy milk. Isabelle is a replacement cow for my sweet Betty that we had to put down last month. Betty was diagnosed with an eye tumor and we made the difficult decision to put her down. She was a wonderful cow and I had her only a year. She loved children and didn't care who or how many milked her. My little nieces would crouch down next to her and try their hand at milking while Betty stood patiently still. I will never forget her. One morning not long ago I loaded up one of our lambs for the mobile butcher and drove over to Betty's pasture in the early dawn. I drove up to see Betty standing in her pasture, heard a gunshot and watched her drop to the ground. The life went out of her instantly and I just sat in my car and didn't watch anymore. I knitted for a bit and actually felt a sense of peace about Betty. She died right in her own pasture...no hauling her off to the auction, no surgery to remove her eye. We did the right thing. One day 2 weeks later Dave drove up to the butcher shop and came home with 700# of organic beef that had been presold to friends and family. Three nights later Isabelle was delivered on a cold and frosty night.
Our 13 Shetland sheep are happily hosting a visiting ram named Filip. He is pure white which will add some extra softness to my herd and give me some nice neutral colors for dyeing. I am breeding 11 ewes this year, many more than I have in the past. I plan to keep about 16 of the total flock and sell the rest. I spent one morning last week sorting through 12 bags of wool. It is now ready to be sent off for processing, some into roving and some into yarn. My girls and I will use some for spinning and knitting and the rest will be sold at farmer's market in the spring.
The goats have been noisy this month as I have them seperated into breeding groups. I am using my little pygora bucks on our 6 does, my 2 dairy goats and on a friend's cashgora. We should have lots of tiny pygora babies come May. I am looking forward to the dairy kids as I will have mini-saanens and a mini-mancha. The cashgora/pygora cross should be beautiful.
New to the farm are 2 tiny piglets. We love to raise our own pork. The pigs get all our kitchen leftovers and any extra milk. We feed some commercial grain and lots of scraps. In 6 months or so the mobile butcher will come out and we will fill our freezer again.
The chickens continue to lay even in the cold. We caught a dozen of them and gave them to our wonderful new neighbors. I'm going to give her another dozen to make room for chicks in the spring. We will also raise a batch of cornish cross for the freezer.
The Log House: Dave had a nice stretch of vacation time over Thanksgiving and made great progress on the house. He and Ben -13 got 15 logs in place before the freezing weather came. It is too hard to drive the rebar through the frozen logs so they are back to peeling now until it warms up a bit. In March Dave will be home for the month to get the rest of the frame up. It is coming along nicely. I do have pictures if I only knew how to post them.:)
The Family: We are all doing well and eagerly look forward to Christmas. The outdoor lights are up including a lovely string of clear bulbs lighting the way across the orchard to the cow barn next door. Evening milking is somehow magical with those lights in the black night. Dave and I have had fun shopping for the children. We try to keep things simple but do love to buy them special gifts, some things they need and some just for fun. Our 6 are between the ages of 3 and 19 so our tree is always overflowing with a wide array of gifts, from baby dolls to bb guns to perfume and airline tickets. (Kieran-19 is off to Chicago in February to audition for a musical theater conservatory.) The girls and I have been busy knitting scarves for the grandmothers and Emily-13 is developing beautiful black and white photos of our family as well.
I had a midwife appointment last week and all is well. I am 20 weeks along and the baby is growing well with a nice strong heartbeat. We will go the traditional route with no ultrasound and wait to be surprised as to a boy or girl. So far our 6 have alternated boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl.
The Business: One more market day and we close for the winter. This is a much needed rest that I look forward to. We will plan the garden and get soap and jam made in advance for the spring. Next summer will be different with a newborn in the sling so I must get as much as I can prepared in advance. Our family has a large old-fashioned farm stand at the Saturday market and it keeps us quite busy during the summer months. When we move out of this little log cabin into the new house we will be able to open a shop right here on our farm as well.
It is still pitch black out...the children still sleep...the cabin is warming up. Today we will make room for our Christmas tree, our last Christmas in this cozy little cabin.
Comments
Dec. 15, 2005 - This sounds so peaceful...
Posted by eyecorn
Hi: I saw your post on the homepage and just surfed in. I found peace and tranquility. Your family and homestead sound like much fun and a source of fulfillment.
Michelle
Dec. 15, 2005 - how lovely
Posted by Cathy
Hi Molly,
I just love your blog...I know I say that all the time. It's Cathy from the "Homestead".
You and your family sound so wonderful....such a wonderful homestead you have.
Blessings my friend,
Cathy
