Prepping for the Frankenstorm

I'm not even going to try and come up with an excuse as to why I haven't blogged since July.  I'm lazy.
Today should have been spent prepping for hurricane Sandy.  There is much to be picked up, tucked away, brought in and battened down.  Last year when Irene came up the coast we implemented the same pick up routine and it worked well...but Irene is a much different storm than Sandy.  Sandy is all about wind, which Irene lacked.  I totally expect to be without power and phone for a few days, and I'm hoping the temps stay above freezing...because we bought the only house in northern VT WITHOUT any back up heat.  Oh, sweet bun baker oven, I will have you one day, I promise!  Any hoodles....today was only successful in getting grain and moving a pig.  I baked homemade hot pockets, but I'll have to remake some as they children seem to eat them as quickly as I bake them.  They are a convenience food that they can eat cold so I don't have to worry about figuring out how to cook (although we do have a camping stove) while the power is out.  Tomorrow is going to have to be the day that EVERYTHING gets accomplished.  The list is long.  Wish us luck. 

Now...our summer in pictures:

 Fifty three chickens in a freezer....we're still eating chicken..but it's OH so good!

 We raised and sold most of our lambs, and some of our adult ewes. 

 The pigs keep having piglets, and they keep selling out.  We got to taste some sausage made from one of our very own home grown spotted babies and WOW! If you have the chance to go in on a farm grown pig, DO IT!  The meat is incredible!

 We raised and sold most of our meat rabbits as well.  Yes, we eat rabbit.  Yes, it's really good. 

 My borage grew and attracted all sorts of bees....

Which produced a ton of veggies. 

 Nailes disappeared :(   But we ended up fnding these two guys 15 minutes down the road.  They had been abandoned and were wormy and malnourished. 

 Theyre much better now...and have been hunting up a storm...when they're not sleeping under my chin. 

 I built a shoe rack out of a pallet because I was SO tired of tripping on shoes.  It works great..when people remember to pick their stuff up :/

 Needles, the remaining Kittay...LOVES the new kittens. 

 The fleece is growing! Shearing next Saturday!

We have 6 piglets leaving the farm next weekend as well.  These guys are rather rotund for some reason..Oh..maybe because they're PIGS! LOL

Thats about it.  The summer flew by, I miss the sun....although I do enjoy having the house to myself during the week.  I'm amazed at how clean it stays.

Ill check in again after the hurricane/frankenstorm/tropical snowstorm is done having its way with us. 

Good lord...where does the time go?????

I finally replaced the solar charger down in the woods and moved the piglets.  They're much happier...and are sharing their woodland paradise with a family of turkeys.  Mmmmm..turkey :P

The garden is growing CRAZY!  It's been hot here...and just a little bit on the dry side...not as bad as the mid west though. All and all it's been fantastic weather for growing.  I'm not complaining at ALL!

 Excuse the shaggy grass..my lawnmowerS are broken and we've been relying on sheep to keep our grass mowed. 

 The best peas EVER!

 Amish paste tomatoes.  Weird curly leaves...it looks like it's wilty..but it looks like this ALL the time.  It's odd.

 My pop corn patch....Never tried growing my own popcorn before..and since everyone likes popcorn..but not CORN...I decided.."why not!".  I just need to figure out the curing.

 Entirely too many green and wax beans.  Oye. I'm going to have beans coming out of my wazooo!

 I planted peppers, melons, gourds and eggplant inside the greenhouse this year...they look awesome!

 Kittay's catnip patch.  It is here he sits at night...eating the nip before he goes on his drunken hunts.  I should cut it down.

 Savoy cabbage...

Some of my weeding helpers.

My eldest got married on Monday (yes..Monday) July 9th.  It was a beautiful wedding and it is so nice to see her so very happy.

 I've been advertising my sheep herd.  I have sold 4 so far.  Rita..the black and white spotted ewe, Yoshi, my very favorite ram *cry* and two ewe lambs.  I'm glad they're going to a good home, but it was still sad to see them go.

 There are some really nice lambs in this year's crop.

 Love this rams coloring. 

These guys are HUGE!

Kittay has been keeping me busy as well....I found a stiff mouse behind the couch this morning...I have no idea how long it had been there, and have now had to implement a "look behind everything daily" rule. Yesterday the sick bastard brought in a frog..with one puncture wound in it's side..and entrails coming out. It was very much alive..and as it hopped it left bloody frog prints all over my floor. Some days I wonder why I have cats. :P

What a month...

We've been putting up fencing what feels like non-stop over the last month.  As much as I love having portable mesh electric fencing, picking it all up and moving it across the property to a different spot with the sheep still IN it...is...well...challenging.  More than once I've had sheep breaks and had to chase them all over the place (including Crazy Neighbors property) to get them where I wanted them.  Not fun with 24 wild woolly sheep.  Not.fun.at.all. It really gives me a whole new respect for those serious sheep farmers with 100's or 1000's of sheep to wrangle.  This morning I spent two hours reconfiguring fence to try and keep them contained.  It helps that they are contained within a fenced in pasture...so when they knock the mesh down (and they do) they are at least inside another perimeter.  I can't figure out where the fence is grounding out...I had to replace our old charger yesterday thanks to violent storms that came through here Tuesday, as did 1/2 of central VT.  The only charger they had was a 100 mile...our old one was a 20 mile and would knock their woolly attitudes right on their asses when it was packing a full charge (of about 8-9).  This 100 mile one has the potential to burn some wool!  But I'll be damned if I can get the charge above 4 :/ Once a kid gets home Ill be walking fence..AGAIN..to try and find the short.

 A wide view of the field.  the cows are closer to me in the first 1/3 of the field, the sheep have the second 1/3 of the field. 

 Sheep.  Can you tell the lambs from the moms?

 These are Ada's lambs.....they're HUGE.

We also had a piglet break the same night as the storms.  Their brand new solar charger won't work.  The light still blinks but there is no charge coming from it.  I have no idea what is wrong with it...lightening usually just kills it completely.  We did manage to get them in a horse stall before the Major and son #1 left on the 8th grade canoe trip.  That, of course didn't stop Steve Pig or Annabelle from getting out LAST night....their fence was broken and after crawling through swamp in the rain pulling vegetation for an hour...I managed to get the charge back up to 2 which should hold them.  Now I just need to worry about replacing the tire on the tractor that went flat. *rolls eyes*.  Seriously, this week has been a test of my patience and endurance as far as this farm is concerned.  I'm trying to keep a positive attitude...but I really need to downsize on sheep..and Steve Pig needs to be bacon.

 On a POSITIVE note, our garden is mostly in...I'll be able to finish it when the tractor tire gets replaced.  And while emptying a garbage pail in the barn to fill with water in case of power outage, we found *ahem* 11 baby bantams freshly hatched.  One of the white bantams is hiding with a nest SOMEWHERE...I see her at feeding times occasionally..but never just hanging out so I have a feeling at some point I'll be seeing more chicks in the barn yard. Along with more ducklings.  I had to kill 6 because they travelled to Crazy Ladies house

 One of the chicks. 

 Mama and a bunch of the chicks...some of them have the Polish tops going...it's cute.

 Meat chicks.  They are as stupid as turkey.  Seven of them drowned in a puddle during a rain storm instead of going into the barn. 

 The garden.

 I planted popcorn this year....

 and Zucchini

 and peas, radishes, lettuce and spinach :)

 Again with the two ducks incubating a nest. There are two others on two other nests...LOTS of ducklings this year  I think.

 Mop and Moe

Tomato starts, cucumbers, herbs, cabbage.... 

I had neighbors stop by my house the other day...they raise sheep up the road and wanted a ram lamb.  I love it when people come to me and buy my livestock :)  They actually garden at Crazy Ladies house..and she apologized for Crazy Ladies behavior.  Nice to know it's not just ME and my imagination...but at the same time...why on earth do I get stuck with these nut jobs? 

And we're done!

Hershey-Pie finally went this afternoon and gave us a beautiful 9lb moorit/gray ram.  Now it's all about growing them out and keeping them from killing themselves in the electric netting.

*Edited to say:

I was wrong, she wasn't done...I went out there an hour later and...Surprise! A little ewe lamb was hopping around.   So..that leaves us with a final lamb count of 14...8 ewes, 6 rams...

One more ewe to go

Only one more ewe to go before lambing is done for this year. I've been anxiously watching and waiting and today she's looking pink and swollen so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In the mean time, I'll leave you with some cutesy lamb pics....

Ada's BIG ram

One of Darlin's ewes

Both of Darlin's ewes..

Darlin's ewes again

Ellerby's rams

Rita's girl

Rita's boy...isn't he CUTE??

Rita's lambs

Ruthie's black girl

Ruthie's ewes

Ruthie's ewes

Annushka and her ewe (I don't have a pic of her ram lamb yet)