Feeling a Bit Sheepish

Today we met two delightful women who raise a flock of fiber sheep, a few goats, and Icelandic herding dogs. Connie and Laura live on a great old farm 20 miles west of us, but due to health reasons are moving to town and selling their livestock. When we arrived, two of their four guard llamas checked us out to make sure we were not a threat. The llamas take their job of guarding the flock from coyotes and stray dogs very seriously.
Because Connie is a fiber artist, the women raise Icelandic, Lincoln Longwool, Romney and Shetland sheep selected for their fleece texture and colors. I was smitten by Icelandic sheep when I first saw them at Knoll Farm in Vermont last year and have been dreaming of raising them ever since. They are a very hardy calm breed, great for meat, fiber and milk. And they are strikingly handsome. These particular sheep are doted upon and very friendly. The ewes came running when they saw Connie and Laura.
The women recommend a small flock of five sheep for our space and pointed out which five sheep would be a great fit for our farm and our purposes (fleece, friendliness and fun - probably not breeding or meat). Connie and Laura offered to visit our farm and make suggestions for the fencing and shelter. Now we have to decide whether to commit --and whether we can afford a flock of sheep...

I'll keep you posted!

You Dirty Dog

I was all set to write about our crazy winter storm today--beastly, blowing snow with thunder and lightning - very weird - but I was distracted worrying about Nutmeg. She had been out in the storm for several hours, and not come when I called--not even for supper. That's worrisome.

Finally, about half an hour ago, she came to the door. We let her in --and immediately regretted it. She must have been obsessively digging in pursuit of a mouse or rabbit -she was caked in mud!

This photo is from a mole-chasing episode earlier last fall when only her feet got dirty. She has tufts of fur between her toes that collect a LOT of mud. This time she was filthy up to her belly, and the mud was frozen like ice cubes stuck to her.

I just finished giving her a bath. I am not sure which part was worse--cleaning her, or cleaning the bathtub afterward.

A Trudge on the Trail

It has been cold and stormy and we haven't been outside nearly enough lately. There was a brisk breeze this afternoon but the sun was shining, so Rog and I bundled up and walked the Douglas Trail loop. There was a fresh, powdery 5-inch snow, but it was on top of a layer of ice, which made it quite slippery. It was slow going--we wished we had taken our x-country skiis.
So nice to see some blue sky! The neighbor's cornfield seemed to stretch endlessly.
Rows of silage wrapped with agricultural plastic looked like strange snow drifts.
There is a water pump on one neighbor's farm that seems to be in the middle of nowhere.
Snow had melted a bit along the edge of the gravel road, exposing the dark pebbles.

Once in a Blue Moon

On Friday night, we got to hear our daughters' band perform at the Blue Moon Ballroom. The evening began with a dance lesson in cumbia. After the lesson, Fuego took the stage. There may have been a few people like me who didn't have a clue about salsa dancing, but most of the people there were smooth salsa dancers and entertaining to watch, for those of us who felt hopelessly klutzy.
Fuego's music is high energy--with Latin,African, and Caribbean beats. There are nine musicians who play keyboard, sax, trombone, two drumsets, congas, and a plethora of percussion instruments.
Marcial, the smiling drummer in this photo, is the lead vocalist and the musician who started Fuego.
Sara and Cadence have been singing with the band for just over a month and this was their first performance (a 3-hour gig --lots of songs to have learned!) We had so much fun. Now if we could just learn to salsa dance...

Something Hot, Something Sweet

You might be wondering, what does this photo have to do with this post? Well, this is a scrumptious strawberry pie Cadence made last summer, hot out of the oven and oh-so-sweet.

I am enjoying an evening of exceptional peace and quiet. Everybody is off making music elsewhere.

Sara and Cadence are practicing with the salsa band "Fuego," preparing for their first performance with them tomorrow night. "Fuego" means "Fire." They play Caribbean, African and Latin music with two drummers, horns, keyboard, guitar and bass. S and C sing harmony and play percussion. I hope to get some photos of Fuego in action tomorrow.
If you are in the vicinity, please join us for some hot music on a cold night!
Details:

Friday, Feb 20th at the Blue Moon Ballroom (2030 Hwy 14 East, Rochester, MN)
7:30-8:30 - free salsa dance lesson
8:30-11:30 Dance to Fuego
Admission $10
Cash Bar available

In the meanwhile, Rog is performing with Candy Freak tonight. It's a musical, based on the book "Candy Freak" by Steve Almond, which was selected as the Rochester Reads book for 2009. Rochester Reads is an annual winter event in our town where everyone is encouraged to read the same book and participate in events based on its theme. Our friend Bob Sanborn wrote and directed a musical adaptation of the book, complete with choreography. Rog is one of the musicians.
Details:

Thursday, Friday, Saturday
February 19, 20, 21, 2009
8:00 pm
in the Charles E. Hill Theatre on the University Center Rochester Campus

Admission: FREE!
This play will also be presented in the Rochester Civic Theatre Lobby on the following dates:
Saturday, February 28, 2009
8:00 pm
Sunday, March 1, 2009
3:00pm

Chickens and Snow

We are begining to get to know the individual chickens' personalities. We think the dark grey hen in this trio is a blue cochin. She is the bossiest of all the chickens, insisting on everyone getting out of her way until she has eaten the choicest scraps. She prefers to roost on top of the water dispenser at night. She is kind of obnoxious, but we forgive her because she is so darn pretty. Sara and Cadence call the two brown hens "the twins." We can't tell them apart yet, and they are a bit shy. They must be a mixed breed, maybe with some golden Polish in them? They are getting tousled crests on their heads as their feathers grow out.
This morning we awoke to a bit of snow, maybe half an inch. If it is going to be winter, we might as well have snow, that's what I say. Even though it's a gray, gray day, it's so much brighter out than with the bare, brown ground.

What We Did This Weekend

Our weekend culminated in some awesome bread-baking. Rog woke up his sourdough starter yesterday, and today from the dough Cadence made these beautiful bagels (too bad you can't smell how delicious they are!), Rog made a perfect loaf of bread, and Rog and Sara created two fabulous pizzas.

We all worked extremely diligently this weekend. Sara wrapped up her final report on local foods, Rog and Cadence installed the second layer of insulation in the granary roof, and I tackled organizing the basement shop. I got about a dozen big boxes unpacked that hadn't been opened yet since we moved here last fall. I also winter-sowed 25 ziplock bags of flower seeds (see yesterday's post for details).

We faced our first tough farm challenge on Friday night. When I went out to tuck the chickens in for the evening, the crippled rooster was not doing well. He hadn't moved all day and was totally listless. The other chickens had either been pecking him or walking on him. We didn't think he'd make it through the night and decided it would be kindest to not prolong his suffering. We did the deed, but with considerable angst... maybe it gets easier.