Blog #39

April 3 – May 1

Cuteness overload begins now.

Yep, this is going to be one of those blog posts – more photos and videos than words. At least, that’s what I hope.

Baby Goats and Protection Animal Research

We’re getting goats and sheep and doing a lot of research. By now you know we’ve found a breeder for the Nigora Goats we want.  She’s not too far away, maybe 30 minutes, and she’s excited for us to pick them up once they’re weaned. Do we really have to wait 3 months?!

The Shetland Sheep that I want were a little harder to find but I’m pretty sure we have some coming.  My guru for all things farming, Amber, referred me to one person who sent me to another. She will have some lambs for sale in June and said she’ll keep me in mind.  There is also a farm about an hour away that is raises all kinds of mini animals and has some in late June/July for us. Between the two, we’re sure to get a few.  I just don’t want to get fleeced. (See what I did there?).

In the meantime, we are told we need a Livestock Protection/Guardian Animal. What does that mean, you ask? In our area, we have coyotes, bobcats and bears, all of which actively prey upon domesticated animals. The best guard animals stay with the livestock without harming them and aggressively repel predators to quote the internet. Our choices include specific dog breeds, donkeys and llamas.

Great Pyranees are the perfect dog for this but I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that a dog would live outside all the time with the animals and not become a pet. On a cerebral level, I get that this dog has a job and is working, but I just can’t do it. 

So that leaves us with donkeys or llamas. I’ll take a vote. Which do you think?

Donkeys have the benefit of possibly fulfilling David’s dream of having horses again.  Why not horses? Because we don’t have enough pasture fenced in. We could in the future, but I remember how much work it was to have horses growing up and I’m not sure I’m ready for that. Plus, our backs are not what they were when we were 20. Aging and practicality are cruel masters.  Keeping our eye on the prize — we need animals known to protect sheep and goats. 

We found these cute miniature donkeys on the internet that need a new home. But I’ve read that miniature donkeys are prey as well.  Hmmm…

Donkeys or llamas may need a friend to not get depressed. “Herd animals” mean they need more than one for their mental health. On the other hand, Amber, my farming guru, has no LPA right now and her animals are okay.  The fencing is her only protection.  I’m just not sure if I want to risk losing my new lawn mowers to coyotes.

Passing Over to Get to New Hampshire

We went to NH to celebrate Passover with our son Alex and his husband Ben. They love hosting this holiday. We just couldn’t pass over a chance to get back into the Airstream and hit certain stops on the way. How could we NOT stay at our favorite quick one night lodging? In this case, unleavened Cracker Barrel.  Look! They have a book/toy just for me! 

We got to stop for coffee and  a couple of places and met up with David’s sister Janice, but I only took pics of the dogs meeting. You know where my priorities are.

There are great reasons to visit Northampton, MA.

• I got to visit with my best friend from high school Janet.
• Stopping off for ice cream at Herrell’s. A must if you are there.
• Got to introduce my college friend Carla to Janet (forgot to take pics! oy!)

There are many more reasons — Smith College, local beauty and culture — but those are mine. My blog, my lists. hahaha!

Rachel flew in from Washington, Brianna came north with her boyfriend Michael and Mitchell and Nancy joined the fun.  We got a chance to help Alex prep for the famous meal/holiday. He makes these super cool dyed hardboiled eggs by marinating them in a beet/dill pickle. He let Rachel help — with humorous supervision.

He really put together a great celebration and invited some other amazing friends. I’m not going to include all the revelry. Manischewitz sangria and too much wine — I’ll leave it to your imagination. These are pics from before and after.

Chemistry Class

I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get the chemicals in my pool under control. I’m such a novice. High school chemistry is coming back to me slowly. I look like a mad scientist working with solutions and mixing with special tools. I promise I will get this under control by the time it’s warm enough to take a dip.

The Birds and the Bees — no really.

Which came first: the chickens or the… bees?  Chicks!  We went to the open house slot with got from the eponymous Chicken Man of WNC but there were only a one kind left. We took the time to order some more pullets of different breeds for August. We got fresh strawberries on the way home from picking up the chicks. Our season is so much earlier here. Between noshing and jam, that gallon was gone in 3 days.

The next day we were getting the bees and weren’t quiiiite ready. David made some last minute tweaks to the electric fence finishing and testing the system which he made from scratch complete with solar panel. My hero.

And don’t you dare ask how the bees will stay in the electric fence. It’s for the bears. Yep, bears LOVE to eat bees, not just the honey, as it’s an easy source of protein. And if we humans make it easy by putting bees in boxes it’s like convenience food. We may not need livestock protection animals for bees, but the electric fence helps.

Unfortunately, I almost forgot that I needed a different kind of hive box to hold the sugar syrup feeders. When you start out a new set of bees, you need to feed them. Of course they can get pollen and nectar outside, but this gives them a little boost, which they very much need. To give you a comparison, it takes six bees their life’s work to make ONE TEASPOON of hone. It takes EIGHT TIMES more work to making the wax comb they need for their brood and to store honey and pollen. Anyway, we store the feeder in a box above the hive. I quickly ran to my local bee supply store (they have those here) to buy the pieces to make the right sized box, hammered it together, and primed it before the bees came on Saturday.

I got a reminder from an avid reader (okay, it’s my sister. Thanks Anne!) to tell you some of the backstory to how I got started with bees. About 15 years ago when I moved into my previous house, I thought there was a hive beginning in an old tree near my house. I called an exterminator who actually was a master beekeeper. He started explaining how the honey bees work and I was intrigued. I told a friend (Hi Cliff) who ran with the hobby immediately. Now Cliff is my mentor!

Originally I was concerned about “hive collapse” and thought that I could help the environment by becoming a beekeeper. That is an issue, but we think that some of the real problem is a parasite, varroa mites, that are overwhelming hives. It’s a real problem. But as I learn more, I see an extended problem; we need to support native bees. It turns out that honey bees were imported here from Europe and are NOT native to the U.S. While they do compete with native bees for some forage, that doesn’t seem to be the main problem for our declining native bee population. It’s native plants. We need to keep removing non-native invasive plants from our environment so that our native pollinators can survive/thrive. If you plant two native plants for every one around your home, we can make inroads into supporting the entire ecological life cycle of our local areas. Okay, that sound is me stepping off the soap box.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program:

Here’s a video after a I installed the new frames of bees. After that, you can’t open up the hives for a week or so. I did check to make sure they still have sugar syrup for food.  

Surprise Cuteness

We visited with my guru Amber and she had something to show us – a surprise baby lamb born the day before!  Baa Baa Black sheep. And she has ducklings.

Travels to Tennessee, Tractor-ing and Hiking

We hit the road for Tennessee last week to get a new (used) tractor.  Ours is great, but it is slightly underpowered when we go up a minor hill with our mower.  The PTO (power take off) at the back of the tractor should be strong enough to keep our towable mower going up hill, but noone took into account that it loses 10 horse power in the tow mode. Oh the things we’re learning. Maybe you knew all this stuff about tractors? PM me if you do!

The reason we came to this area of the country is the amazing hiking. I got to go on a 5 mile hike with a wonderful group called Conserving Carolina, a private organization working to conserve the native area — and build hiking trails. They had a special walk with shelter dogs. David’s sister Amy and I got to help get some of their energy out — and some of ours.

Did you miss that I’m trying to grow shiitake mushrooms? Actually “take” means mushrooms in Japanese so I just said I’m trying to grow “shi” mushroom mushrooms. Thought you’d want to know. Anyway, I’m drilling holes in logs and inserting some spores in hopes that we’ll get some in a year or so. Gotta try everything.

Well that’s a lot of cuteness and activity for one month. This month is construction — of a shelter/barn for the incoming goats and sheep. They should arrive sometime late June/early July after they wean from their mammas. That’s what you have to look forward to next month.

But one last thing. I’m not a good farmer. I’m not even a good landscaper. I fertilized my lawn — but used the wrong type of applicator. Now I have stripes on my lawn. Let’s call it artwork. I meant to do that???? Hope you got a laugh. Me and Jeremy Clarkson of Clarkson’s Farm have something in common.