The Christmas Spirit

This morning we seemed to capture someone in our household with a little too much Christmas Spirit.....


My son, who was supposed to be helping clean house, ran through the dining room imitating Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with a fuzzy duster for his tail and a red dot sticker on his nose! 


We sincerely hope that your family has a blessed Christmas full of Christmas Cheer!

Morning Routines

Most of us find comfort in routines. We find ourselves almost on auto-pilot as we go through our daily rituals, whatever they may be. Routines are predictable and bring a gentle calmness to our day. Animals, like people, find comfort in routine. In the morning, all of the animals know approximately what time I show up with hay and water in hand. If I am late arriving, they stand at their fence line or cages waiting and watching, as if to hurry me along. The longer they stand, the more they pace and call out as if scolding me for ruining their morning routine. 

Three Hens...One Nest

Hens, in particular, have their morning ritual of finding the perfect place to sit to lay their eggs. They do not  need to wait for me before they can begin their routine. Several hens have learned how to escape the chicken coop. This opens up a whole new realm of egg laying nooks in the barn, and simply adds to my daily chores. I must hunt for the new nesting locations. For several weeks now, several hens have enjoyed using a little corner in the main part of the barn for their nest.  We partition it off with a panel during lambing season. The lambs enjoy piling into the corner to get away from their moms and take a peaceful nap without worry of getting under foot of a large ewe. 

"My beautiful egg has arrived!"

This morning I arrived a little early to the barn and watched three hens as they vied for the corner nest. Eventually, all three hens sat nearly on top of one another. As one laid her egg, another hen would quickly tuck the egg under her own wing to keep it warm while she continued sitting. Then, the hen who had just laid the egg jumped to the railing announcing the arrival of her beautiful egg. I imagine this little scenario has become their morning routine. By the time I had completed all the other chores, three wonderful eggs lay in the hay. One hen lingered on the railing, another on the nest, and the third ventured off in search of something to eat. 

Leisel Looks for Her Treat

Leisel, our German angora bunny, has gotten accustomed to her own little routine. In the morning, I pull a table over to Leisel’s cage so that she can hop out onto it. She seems to enjoy hopping around while I go about feeding the bunnies and cleaning cages. She waits for me to put her little “treat” of sunflower seeds and oats out for her to eat. She lets me pet her as she sniffs around and eats. One morning my daughter did the morning chores. She was unaware of Leisel’s little ceremony with the table. My daughter came back in the house saying what a bad mood she had been in, proving the point that even the bunnies depend upon predictability of morning routines to bring peace to their day.

What DO you do all day?

Some people ask me what I do all day. They can not quite wrap their mind around what a home school, farming family looks like on a day to day basis. Well here goes:

Wednesday, Dec. 7

Hungry Sheep Wait for their Hay

I woke up at a very dark hour-though I am unsure the exact time. I laid in bed mulling over all that I did yesterday and all that I need to do today and all that I want to do. Finally, at 4:30am, I rolled out of bed so that I could stop thinking and get busy.  I reviewed emails, researched more college options for my daughter and got in a few rows of knitting all before 7:00am when the cats discovered that I was awake. So into the kitchen I went to feed the cats and the dog. While in the midst of that routine, our ewe named Bonny, stood in the field behind the house looking into the kitchen window. Rats....the sheep have also discovered that I was awake. I pulled my barn coat and muck boots on over my pajamas and went out to do chores feeding the bunnies, sheep, chickens, and llamas.

College Mail Piles Up

The rest of the morning has been a flurry of activity. I have several large projects on the front burner which have captured my attention for the day. First, there is the sock order with Zeilinger wool that needs tending to. After several emails and phone calls back and forth with the mill in Michigan, I can focus on other things. Next in line is an abundance of college related communications. Again, after several phone calls, scanning, emailing again, and phone conversations-that too gets under control.  This week is Biology test week so my son follows me around asking when I can sit and do vocabulary words with him and oh yes-we also need to start the new grammar lesson. He must wait in line until I have responded to the various phone calls.

Ahhh....My Knitting

Once I sit down to work with my son on schooling I grab a pair of knitting needles. I have several knitting projects in various stages all over the house. I have the "quiet time" knitting and the "pick up and knit a few stitches" knitting. While reviewing grammar sentences with my son, or waiting for the computer to boot, I get a few stitches done.

The afternoon looks just as busy with fleeces to pack up and ship to the mill, an online order to box and ship, a pile of sheep coats needing mending, and the family laundry in various stages. Somehow I must figure out what we will eat for dinner and prepare it before leaving this afternoon to take my daughter to her ballet class. There I will get a couple hours of knitting while watching her class. We will arrive back home around 10:15pm just in time to get a few rows of the quiet time knitting done before falling to sleep.

Sheep Coats in Need of Repair

So there you have it-one day in the life of a home school, farming family!

Marc, shearing Leisel this summer.

Before we shear

Some Bunny

I constantly look for ways to make my work easier. I often feel that so much of what I do takes longer than it should because of lack of proper equipment. This summer, we had someone come to our open farm day to demonstrate shearing German Angora bunnies. Marc raises angoras and we purchased our bunny Leisel from him. He has perfected the art of caring for and shearing rabbits using electric clippers. It had been taking me 2 to 3 sessions spread out over a two or three day period to shear Leisel using scissors. Marc clipped her down within 1 1/2 hours this summer on our front porch. After seeing this, I knew I had to purchase my own set of clippers.

Beautiful Angora/Wool blend yarn.

I find that many guests to our farm have never seen an angora rabbit. Most of them know about "angora sweaters" and how expensive they are, but few of them have ever seen the fiber growing on the rabbit. They leave our farm with a greater appreciation for the price of angora yarn and finished products after they have spent some time with Leisel learning about how to care for her. Angor fiber, one of the softest and warmest fibers in the world, creates a lovely halo when knitted and is highly sought after. The German Angoras boast of being the most heavily coated rabbit among all the angora breeds. Our Leisel yields approximately 11 to 12 ounces of fiber every three months. With each shearing, Leisel loses about one tenth of her body weight in fiber. All year, we save her wool in bags and in the spring combine it with a fine wool to have the mill spin it into a delicate sport weight yarn which we offer as a Yarn CSA Share.

Leisel-after shearing

This fall we successfully sheared Leisel ourselves for the first time using a pair of light weight clippers. It took about 2 hours to shear her back, sides, and down her legs. Though we tried using them on her belly, we found it easier to use scissors for her belly and face area which took another two hours. As with sheep, the ease and speed of shearing depends upon how you hold the rabbit. Knowing the right position to place them in, allows you to extend legs and reach those difficult spots. We felt a little awkward with this part but with practice, we should be able to speed this process even more. In the meantime, Leisel will just have to be patient with us.

The word out there from people who have purchased Leisel's yarn say it is beautiful and absolutely love it. I currently have two projects on knitting needles and can not wait to finish them and wrap Leisel's cozy fiber around me! If you would like more information about purchasing one of Leisel's yarn CSA Shares, visit our website! Just a few shares remain for the 2012 shearings.