Hi everyone. The site was down for a few weeks. We think one of the chickens messed up the code when we weren’t looking. We’ll have the full site back up shortly, along with some updates from the back pasture.
Under re-construction
July 13th, 2010New lambs settling in
May 1st, 2010
Fresh troops for the chicken corps
April 12th, 2010
Four little chicklets get ready for their mission
When last we checked on the chickens, there weren’t too many left. Actually just one. The other three had gone off to the Great Hutch in the Sky. We suspect they took a direct route, thanks to a lurking hawk that had established residence out back. This left only the indomitable Herman, the lead female who continued on solo through the winter.
She kept busy catching rides on the backs of sheep, pecking at imaginary bugs and stealing dog snacks whenever the two Great Pyrs — her bunk mates in the shed — turned their backs for a second.
We’re happy to report that reinforcements have arrived: four small but sturdy Rhode Island Red chicks, fresh out of their eggs and ready to serve on Team Herman, Chicken Commandos.
Sequestered in the greenhouse until they get a bit bigger and stronger, these four little Her girls -– named Hermione, Her Majesty, Hermes and Hermit Crab -– spend their days practicing short-order drills, improving their perching skills on the bottom rung of a sawhorse and attempting to fly by hopping an inch off the ground and flapping their wings. During this period of training, their constant companion is the red bulb in the desk lamp that glows reassuringly over them as they sleep. In a few more weeks we’ll move them out to the run-in shed for their debut … unless Herman eats them first.
Shave and a haircut
March 15th, 2010
Newly shorn Icelandics enjoy their lighter look
It gets cold in Texas. Not the relentless, soul-numbing cold of the Northeast, but cold enough, thank you, for two transplants to remember Marches gone by when it seemed as if Spring would never arrive.
This week, Spring did. And with it arrived Danny. For tenders of flocks from Kansas to Arizona, Danny may even be a more welcome sight than Spring. Armed with a kind soul, an efficient technique and industrial-grade electric shears, Danny moves from farm to farm a few times a year to lighten the load of woolly sheep.
This was the first time our current flock met Danny. We have four friendly souls who are hand-raised and four who are a bit more distant but generally amiable. None of them were very interested at first to go under the knife but Danny has his persuasive ways. One-by-one he marched them over to the canvas. Click, they were standing. Click, they were sitting down on their bottoms. Click, the shears glided along hidden contours. In a matter of minutes, each sheep had shed its coat and Version 2.0, sleeker and cooler, was revealed to the world.
And what interesting wool they shed! The big Suffolks provided bags full of thick white wool. The diminutive Icelandics provided more modest amounts. But their fleece was lustrous and quite spinnable. Frances can’t wait to get her hands on that!
An instinct for the job
February 28th, 2010
Diego, Emily and Freckles
Our rescue Great Pyr, Diego, continues to thrive in his new home. His instincts are much better than Freckles’. Late yesterday afternoon, for example, he watched as the sheep slowly made their way to the back of the pasture. (Normally they return to the run-in shed at that time.) He quietly walked the entire length of the pasture to them. Once there, he gently rubbed against several of them to encourage the flock to turn around and come back. Meanwhile, as Diego was quietly and efficiently doing his job, Freckles was idly gnawing on a leftover soup bone back in the run-in shed! Here’s a picture of daughter Emily last weekend with the two Pyrs — Diego on the left, Freckles to the right!
New lambs in town
February 24th, 2010
Milo, left, and Downy get acclimated to their new digs
Our two Suffolks, Molly and Daisy, have two new friends! Downy, a Southdown wether lamb, and Milo, a Hampshire/Suffolk cross (also a wether lamb), have arrived at Sun and Wind Farm. They wear coats (since they’ve been recently sheared) and follow Molly and Daisy around with adoring eyes.
Although we have it on good authority that both lambs won ribbons at the north Texas FFA shows, we can tell you that Downy’s real forte is eating; he can out-eat any other lamb his size. Note to visitors: be careful hand-feeding Downy unless you want a 100 pound lamb in your lap licking your face and begging for just one more treat. (Milo is much more sedate although he does enjoy a Fig Newton now and again).
Welcoming Diego
January 23rd, 2010
Diego and the sheep, out on their morning constitutional
For more than a year, Freckles, our Great Pyr, has been gamely providing protective services for the sheep and chickens out back in the pasture. We know her heart isn’t in it. She’s sociable and her instinct is to make friends rather than lay down the law. (The one exception: Birds. She hates them to pieces. Her dog naps are dotted with epic canine-avian encounters, most of which end with feathers scattered across the field of her doggy brain.)
So one recent morning, we were surprised to see Freckles purposefully storming around after what looked from a distance like a large feline intruder. In our part of the country, that can mean bobcats. Although Freckles did her best to look the part, we knew that if there was truly a predator out back, we weren’t ready.
We did a search for a second dog, someone who could be the bad cop to Freckles’ good cop. We saw the usual notices from breeders and families who could no longer keep this pet or that one. One posting did stand out though, from a rescue agency that had a lot of experience with Great Pyrenees.
We had concerns about a rescue. It’s hard to know exactly why any animal is being rescued. And given that we would be introducing this guardian into an environment full of incumbent dogs, cats, sheep and chickens families, we naturally had a few qualms.
Those fears were quickly allayed one recent Sunday when Diego arrived. He has his breed’s natural reserve; these are not wagging face lickers. He took in the surroundings slowly, introduced himself to Freckles and together they examined the run-in shed that would be his new home. We suggested a walk around the perimeter of the property but Diego thought that he would just keep an eye on the shed for now, thanks. Over the next week, he gradually increased his range and now conscientiously patrols his complete territory each day, even bringing some discipline to Freckles’ own somewhat loosey-goosey approach to guarding. He’s teaching her new tricks!
Stepping into 2010
January 1st, 2010
Frances out on a walk with Molly and Daisy
2009 was the year the rains came. After 18 months of pond-evaporating, cough-inducing aridity, the rains were a satisfying sight. They replenished the ponds, put a fresh coat of green on the grass and produced food aplenty for the sheep out back. Had they left it at that, the rains would have been a very welcome addition to the year. But of course they continued, flooding the creek, washing out parts of the driveway and leaving low-lying parts of the property a mucky mess.
Now that winter has arrived, the colder air has locked into place some of these changes. Tire grooves in the long driveway look as permanent as cement. But it’s never as cold as the weather we left back North. And we know now that with the new season and the new year, other changes will arrive that undo everything we thought we knew in the past and that create opportunities in corners that once looked bleak.
Some of the changes this year at Sun and wind Farm have included:
– As previously reported, the Shetlands have moved on to another owner. But in their place, we have been blessed with two personable Suffolk lambs – Molly and Daisy – with whom we now enjoy our daily walks, accompanied by the faithful Freckles. Although Freckles’ job is to be a guardian dog for the livestock, she’s really more of a sidekick. Molly and Daisy scarcely know they are sheep and we have come to think of them as our second and third dogs. If all goes well, four Icelandic sheep will join us in February — two bred ewes, one ewe lamb and a little wether who goes by the name of Warlock. That means new lambs in May!
– It was a tough year on the chicken front as all but one of the commandos -– the indomitable Miss Herman — were taken this fall by a hawk who lives in the back pasture. Herman continues to thrive, catching free rides from Molly and Daisy and sneaking out of the pasture into the back yard on occasion. She will be joined in early February by a fresh corps of recruits, Rhode Island Red chicks who will assist in her strategically important role of pecking and scratching at imaginary bugs.
– Freckles continues to patrol nicely for predators, a more important role than ever as hungry coyotes test the border and — we suspect — a lone bobcat may be roaming the adjoining property. But she may not have to pull solo duty much longer. We’re in research mode and plan to choose either another Great Pyr from a breeder or work with a North Texas rescue organization to welcome into the fold a livestock guardian dog who has been abandoned by its original owners.
– Evenings are spent on rug hooking, quilting or spinning – we are bursting at the seams with fabric and none of it goes unused, particularly our hand-dyed wool that’s found its way to ebay.com.
Here’s wishing you all a happy and healthy 2010!
New ewes
October 10th, 2009
Molly and Daisy snack out back
Nature abhors a vacuum and pastures abhor the absence of sheep. And so, just weeks after shipping the three rams and their entourage off to a more suitable local ranch, we thought we’d try again. Molly and Daisy, two eight-month-old Suffolk ewe twin lambs, arrived this week. They are very gentle and yet adventurous enough to go on a walk around the perimeter of the ranch on their second day here. Like all Suffolks, they are notable for their creamy white wool and black heads and legs. Their neighbors out back — chickens and dog alike — are quite pleased with the new additions. The chickens have found that they are welcomed atop the sheep, and have set about hunting and pecking flecks of nutrition from the wool. A new equilibrium has found its way to the pasture.
The Great Flood of 2009
September 22nd, 2009When we moved to the farm in the spring of 2008, our two large stock ponds were full to the brim. Eighteen months passed and both were dry. How sad to see the frogs and turtles slowly disappear, although truth be told the frogs were noisy and the turtles were not always very nice either. (See http://sunandwindfarm.com/wordpress/?p=72 for details.)
Also pulling a disappearing act was the great white heron and family, who fled for friendlier fishing elsewhere. Miss Freckles, the livestock guardian dog, actually welcomed this development, since the big bird drove her to distraction.
The garden was so parched that not even daily soakings with the hose could keep the veggies from drooping under the hot Texas sun. Cruel TV meteorologists mocked us by starting their nightly broadcasts with the tantalizing, “Summer storms in the area? We’ll have more when we return.” But each time they returned, they brought news only of rain hundreds of miles away.
And then one day the rains came. It rained — and rained — and rained. For four days, the rains fell steadily upon the farm, quickly filling the two ponds and spilling over the banks of the dry streambeds. The waters found a way of their own outside their historic paths. The chickens, usually dry and comfy in their part of the run-in shed, were suddenly surrounded by water and we had to create little bridges with wooden planks so they could escape from their tiny island of straw and mud out into the pasture.
This seasonal transition brought to a head another lingering issue. The two ram lambs were growing up and we now had three intact males, all beginning to jostle for position as mating season loomed. We would need to build a new facility to separate the boys from the girls. And in the rams’ quarters, we would need further separation to keep them from butting the living daylights out of each other. And further, once spring came ’round, we would need to repair the pens for each late-stage pregnant ewe.
The scale of it all was, frankly, more than this pair of 50-somethings cared to undertake. For a few weeks, we grappled with the issue over dinner, throughout the weekends, and by phone each day. The sheep needed more than we could provide, but there were others who by experience and disposition could offer a happy home to Firefly and his tribe. And so we sought a farmer with expertise in breeding sheep and building fences. One recent Saturday, he arrived with an empty trailer and left with a small flock, destined for their new home in Joshua, Texas.
Can we pile any more transitions on top of the autumnal equinox this week? The sheep are happy in their new digs. The pumpkins are ripening nicely out front and vegetable seedlings are pushing up from the ground. The chicken commandos immediately spread out in the shed once the sheep left. And Miss Freckles is back on Orange Alert status, protecting the chickens from the return of the herons, who are flying just a bit too closely overhead for her taste.