Missing Willow Farm

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I spent the last few days visiting family in central Florida, where I grew up.  My parents live on the St. Johns River, here’s some typical scenery from a leisurely boat ride with my dad.   I also visited with my daughter and her husband.  They are expecting their first baby in just two months.  We had fun working in the nursery, shopping for baby stuff and eating spicy food.  I bought the ingredients to make kimchee for the first time, I’m interested in any tips you might have if you make your own.

Eugenie had her lamb the day before she was shorn.  A little ram, we named him Phillip.  Beatrice is his grandma.

Jack whizzes by on his outrun to gather sheep for their breakfast.  You’ve gotta love a dog with a job.

These little guys hang out together all the time.   Pretty soon they will be butting heads but for now it’s all ‘what trouble can we get into today?’

Jack loves to ride in the mule, it gives him a much better view of the squirrels along our driveway.

For the last few mornings during chicken chores, I’ve found their feeder has been knocked over and is completely empty.  Their barn has some holes in it, and is completely open where the rafters meet the walls so we figured something was making its way in there at night.  We put their feeder inside a lidded metal can and set a trap.  We left a bowl of food in a humane cage hoping to catch whatever is stealing food.  This morning, the cage was still ‘unsprung’ but the bowl of food was empty.  The only evidence of a thief was the mouse droppings left in the food dish.  Hmm… a mouse wouldn’t spring a trap but it also wouldn’t be able to knock a feeder over.  Luckily, our ‘trap’ was a two-parter.  We have a night vision game camera (the Truth Cam) and Brian had set that up in the barn, too.   When we downloaded the video content we got to watch our chickens running around at about 8PM but at 10PM we got some footage of THIS GUY.   Then again around midnight we saw a little army of mice stealing the food from the trap.  Luckily, we have a bigger trap.  It’s going out tonight.  We’re gonna getcha!

Hermione peers over the pasture gate looking for a treat.  This morning, it was fresh greens from our greenhouse.

I decided to test milk Bella, CoCo and Elsie this morning.  It meant separating them from their kids overnight. Their udders were so full I got almost 2 quarts with TONS left for the babes.  I got tired of it before they did, I’m out of practice!  It’s going to be a bit before the gals and I are ready for daily milking.  In the meantime, I’ve got delicious fresh milk in the fridge.  One more milking and I’ve got enough for a small batch of chevre.  Hmmm….

Even without her fleece, she’s a cutie!  It’s warming up here, and they still have the barn if needed.  I’m sure the sheep are happy to be unburdened with their heavy coats.

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Lucky me!  I’ve had commercial yarn made from my favorite sheep Beatrice’s fleece for a really long while now.  It was uber expensive and took like 9 months to receive after I shipped her fleece out.  Do I knit or crochet?  Of course not, but was hoping to find someone lovely to make me something out of it someday.  That day has arrived!  My friend from Seattle, LimeRiot, knitted me the most gorgeous cowl and socks.  Aren’t they divine?  So professional!  That’s her winding the yarn to prep for knitting.  She’s wearing a Missing Willow Farm t-shirt and holding her very own Beatrice, one of five adorable dogs she and her husband share their home with.  If you’ve never visited her blog, you really must.  She’s so very talented.  You’ll find her at http://limeriot.blogspot.com/

We swapped a few crafty things.  I made her a pottery yarn bowl to assist with future knitting pursuits and used my new embroidery machine to make a kitchen towel with her great dane Quigley’s likeness on it.  Isn’t he handsome?!