Coyotes and Bees

We have been celebrating the Christmas Season . We start  on Christmas and go until January 6 and having our party on January 8 for Epiphany - celebrating when the Wisemen arrived to  the place the star guided them to.  When I was a kid we prepped all week . We have always had a party but we had to put on a skit or play an instrument, we played games and got little gift from our parents such as a shiny new penny for the new year to hold and save.  Party food was served and back then no phones, computers or the television on ...just family and fun!

We are out with the animals twice a day, even with work away from home.  They are our priority. Last night Dude went out to do the evening chores and was surprised , no startled, to find coyotes on our property!  He ran back in the house to get his firearm.  Then back out to take care of the animals. The coyotes were in a horseshoe formation just beyond the barn.  He quickly went and locked the goat and lamb in the barn .  They have never been that close.  I only wonder if the smell of the lamb is stronger than the goats.  This morning all is well.   Goats, lamb and chickens all accounted for.

Dude went out to water the bees yesterday.  It has been warm and we wanted to make sure they are taken care of before the big freeze comes in a week or so.  We had just gone out a couple of weeks ago and all was well.  Yesterday, a different story.... the hive was empty....totally no bees.  The one thing that was there was honey. So, we did bring that back up to the house. The frames were so cold that when we put them in the extractor nothing came out. So we brought all the frames (heavy with honey) in the house to warm and possibly extract tonight. Nothing like having a wheelbarrow full of honey frames in my living room!

Weekend goal to reorganize our food storage. 

peace

Goodbye to Mr Buttons, Beefy jerky, gift tags and Wilbur the baby ram

Mr Buttons new family took the 4-5 hour trip to come pick him up yesterday. He rolled in the mud all morning so Dude cleaned him up and made him handsome for his journey. Dude began to get misty-eyed and decided to take him for a long walk before they got here. He didn't realize the pang of letting him go would hurt like it did. 

They got here around 3:30pm. The little boy getting him thinks the family went to Kansas today to pick up a horse for their boss. He begged them to stop by and pick up Mr Buttons.  They told him they couldn't afford him right now and would have to pass and wave for now (wink). 

His sister took control right off and got Mr Buttons ready.  Mr Buttons was very excited. Whenever he hears a horse trailer he wants to go for a ride. He was showing he would do great despite the length of the journey.

They had no issues. Mr Buttons was ready to learn to drive cattle down in the Sangre de Cristo mountain area.  Much love to you Mr Buttons.  We will miss you dearly.  I know you will make a little boy extremely happy. 

Dude got right to work this morning drying beef jerky.  

It as been marinating more than a day. 

I am wrapping gifts and making tags to go along with them. If I have time I want to make pompoms to go on top of the packages instead of ribbons.

I did take time to go out with Wilbur our little ram. 

He is adorable.

Angelo is pouting.  The doctor put him on a diet. Oh, and Peppermint's tests all came out stellar. 

I need to get back to the gifts, then a big fat nap before family dinner and later, midnight mass. 

Merry Christmas from Dis-l-do Homestead! 

peace

New little ram, quick dish towel project and more.

Despite the overcast day it was an amazing day!  We went to look at a baby ram. I have always, since I was a kid, wanted a lamb and raise sheep.  Dude, being an old farmer said he hated sheep. When he was a kid they would let cattle and sometimes sheep eat and fertilize their old corn fields. He hated sheep because they would pickup weeds and stickers with their wool and leave them on their land. I figured with his thoughts about sheep I would never had one but guess what he surprised me with today?  I am smittened beyond belief. 

Once again we headed for the foothills to a farm that raised Romeldale CVM sheep. 

From the Livestock Conservancy: "The Romeldale is an American fine wool breed, and the California Variegated Mutant, or CVM, is its multi-colored derivative. Both the CVM and the Romeldale are unique to the United States and are endangered." 

They are so adorable in their dumb little ways!

And here he is ... the little ram we came to see.  I knew I had to get in there and deal with him myself since he would be mine. The sheep were a little skittish and were running around. I was afraid I would be rammed but found out these are a gentle breed and don't ram or butt people like other breeds or goats. They are docile, good mothers and live long. 

I caught him. 

Dude carried him to our trailer. There were no issues and he was calm the whole way home. 

When we got home he and Angelo hit it off just fine. 

Mr Buttons was very curious and came to see who the new family member is. 

Peppermint, our milk goat, wanted nothing to do with him.  He just wanted a hug and she kept running from him. 

He finally gave up and settled in with Angelo. We will breed him with other Romeldale CVM and use his wool. He will not be for eating. I am so excited about this new venture.

After I calmed down (I love, love, love my ram!) I came in the house to sew.  I had some potholders and dish towels I bought from the Dollar Store. 

Oops , it's sewn upside down!

It was so easy and literally took 5 minutes to make. You put a large gather stitch in the center of the towel and pull to the size of the potholder. Then sew the center of the potholder to the towel and add a button to have the loop go over and WALA!

Dude is working on gifts as well... beef jerky.  15lbs of beef going in the dehydrator! He makes the best beef jerky!

I'll finish today's post with three hats I made today for a friend. Two crocheted and one knitted. Hope she likes them! 

Tomorrow is a bit of work, taking my mom to the grocery store since I will be in the city and then home to sew an outfit for the weekend! So psyched! I love to sew. 

peace!

Dinners, Vet home call, farm sisters, and a new farm visit

Do you have a drawer like this? Seems every time I go to the store I get one of those packages that make life easier. The only thing is I don't use them. So this week I decided to start to using them. I always need something fast and easy...especially this week. 

Here was last night. 

I had all these wonderful veggies just waiting to  be used in the refrigerator. 

They turned out marvelous. Dude gave it two thumbs up. It was super quick and easy. 

Today, I had to get out of the house early so I thought something for the crockpot would work wonders, and it did. We made chicken noodle soup. You hardly need anything for this one. Just water, chicken, carrots, celery an onion and noodles ...oh and along with the packet. 

We began the day early around 8:30am. The veterinarian came over to give our goats a physical and shots.  Our vet is great but what animal doctor isn't? 

Peppy was first.  She came out with good marks. We won't know the results of the CL (tumors) until next week. Fingers crossed it is negative. We don't have any reason to think it would be anything but negative. 

Next up was the big boy...Angelo.  He has beautiful teeth. 

But then he was given his de-wormer shot.  He cried like a baby. He has to go on a diet. He won't be happy about that!

Dude smoothed it all over. Angelo just wanted a kiss. 

Then I ran over to our farm-sisters meeting to make toffee. Ohmy it was grand. 

The recipe is from one of the farm sisters' college home EC book. 

The stove was going nonstop as we made at least 6 batches. 

Perfect!

In between batches of toffee we talked fleece and yarn. Sunny, the farm sister you see here, raises her own alpacas, spins and dyes her fleece as well. She is teaching me a lot. 

This is one of the shawls she is making.

Then the best part of my day was when we went to Boulder to check out a horse Dude was interested in. The owners were so awesome. They had a homestead and home they have been remodeling. The home was build in the 1870 and walls were of stone. They were so generous with their time and the information they have collected along the way. 

We drove up to their drive and gate that was decorated with giant Christmas ornaments and tinsel. There property was surround by trees and there was still snow and ice on the ground from the recent storm. They are nestled up against the foothill.  I am sure the mud and muck in the spring is replaced with beautiful green lush grass. 

Here is the horse we are looking into purchasing... not sure why she was sticking her tongue out. She is 14.2 hands tall.  She is a registered paint. 

The other horses did not like her or get along with her so they stayed away from her. (see the way the larger horse's ears are pinned back? Yeah, they don't like each other.)

His guinea hens mocked us from the roof behind us. They had guineas and regular hens along with a rooster. They also had miniature horses and angora rabbits along with sheep.

Then he showed me what he fed his horses and sheep. It is grass he grows himself from seeds to sprouts. The seeds are sold cheap. It was just such a cool outfit. He was a wealth of information. 

Here is the result. His horses love the stuff. 

He also gets hops from local breweries to feed to his sheep. 

The visit was so fun. I didn't want to leave but we still had one more place to visit. We still need a Christmas tree. We only like live potted trees to plant later but with our well water the only tree recommended are Austrian Pine.  The pickings are slim. We will look again tomorrow. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer. Only one place to visit and that is for a sheep ram. Dude has a later appointment to look at another horse. 

Stay warm. 

peace