Before I started my off-the-farm job today, I stopped at the woolen mill to pick up some finished roving (we can only process small batches here and this was a big one). Then I drove to the feed mill to pick up alpaca feed.  It was snowing fairly heavy and I have a 26 mile commute to work, so having 160 pounds of feed in the back of my Jeep was welcomed.

On the way home, I noticed our Fiber Arts Shop sign out on the highway had torn loose in one corner from the winter winds.  So I drove the rest of the way home, let the dog out of the house, gathered up some tools and headed back to the highway for sign repair  ---by car headlight!  It gets dark at 5:00 p.m. at this time of year.

We got between 3-4 inches of snow today and had 3-4 inches from two days ago already on the ground, so when the winds picked up today, there were some knee deep drifts in the yard. Usually John would be home by now plowing the driveway, but he's at some training seminar in Chicago for a couple of days for his off-the-farm job.

I shoveled the sidewalk and patio between the garage and the house, unloaded the roving into the studio, and trekked the 160 pounds of alpaca feed across the yard in snow (that must count as some kind of aerobic exercise), and THEN I was ready to do the chores.

60 gallons of hauled water, 8 bales of hay, and 15 gallons of grain later, all the fiber animals were fed.  I crawled up in the hay mow and threw down hay for tomorrow night, cleaned out the pens some, and then stood in the doorway looking at the gorgeous night sky.  It was 7p.m. by now and the winds had stopped.  The night air was cold and crisp and everything was blanketed in white.  It was breath-taking to view the cedar fencing against the woods and the white snow.

I almost hated to go in the house, but I hadn't had dinner yet and I was hungry.  Besides there are 3 more furballs in the house that need attention and food. Until next time . . . 

 

Wilhelm and Hildy, our German Angora bunnies, got a haircut last night.  Their fiber was long and beginning to threaten matting, so it was time for a shear.  Wilhelm seemed to like the attention of getting sheared and petted and was quite cooperative.  Hildy didn't think much of being sat on her rump for a belly shave and so she was generally cranky about the whole experience.  She even bit once!

Since both bunnies have been living in their split level condo in the barn, and both have grown much since their last pajama fitting, they had to stay indoors for an hour while I whipped up new bunny jammies to keep them warm enough to go back outdoors.

I cut apart their smaller fleece jammies and added in a 2 inch addition of terry bath towel for Hildy and a 3 inch addition for Wilhelm.  Unlike other animals, Wilhelm and Hildy don't seem to mind being dressed up at all!  They are quite cooperative putting their little front feet into the feet holes and their head through the neck hole in the jammies, and Hildy was back to her good-natured self before long.\

Now, I have glorious white and silver Angora bunny fiber to work with again!

Every year there are a couple of animals who can wiggle out of their coats.  This year it's a Shetland ram and two Angora goats.  It becomes part of the chore routine to catch the culprits and put them back in their coats.  Since they're not fond of getting dressed, the challenge increases with each time they wriggle out of the coats and see me coming with the coat.

We spent the weekend fixing grain and hay feeders since the little darlings were hard on the furniture this last year.  The ends were pulled off of a couple and the feet yanked off the end of a couple more.  Sometimes I think they wooly crew are like naughty children wrecking their toys.  We built them a playhouse so they'd leave the feeders alone, but they play in and on everything despite 14 acres of pasture.

The chicken pen got cleaned out this weekend --not my favorite job, but since the fox population ate my last laying hen, I gave up for the season and just cleaned the pen out and admitted defeat to the food chain of the wild.

Bottle babies Lilac and Lavender, twin Shetland ewes, continue to insist they should NOT have to stay in the pen, but they're too big to fit through the 4 inch by 4 inch wire squares, so they baaaa every time they see movement in the yard.  Character, the bottle baby Angora buck, still can fit through the fence, so he comes to visit whenever he thinks he should have a handful of grain.  Life's simple pleasures . . .

The weekend is behind us ---we enjoyed meeting our Calumet County neighbors on Saturday at the 7th annual Food, Fiber and Energy Fest at Ledgeview Nature Center near Chilton.  

Yesterday the German  Angora bunnies, Hilda and Wilhelm, both got sheared.  (The bunnies are named after Hogan's Heroes cast members for those of you into nostalgia).  And, since the nights are a bit nippy, we dressed them up in their "faux fleece" bunny pajamas for night time. " It also hides a really bad haircut," I heard Hilda tell Wilhelm.

It was time to clean the garden out too ---pumpkins, squash, brussel sprouts, potatoes, carrots,and tomatoes all came indoors yesterday.  I love this time of year, fall --but I hate to let go of fresh garden produce because it'll be late May 2012 before we have any again.

We still have two little Angora goats( born in July) who are still small enough to fit through the 4 x 4 inch fence panels, so they romp around the yard with the dog and cats, fearful of nothing, even cars coming up the driveway.  They feast on lilac bushes, rose bushes and what's left of the raspberry bushes.  

This next weekend we're headed off to vend at Beef O'Rama, a one day event in Minocqua.  The parade is the highlight with revelers donned in cow costumes.  It's a must see if you've never been to this event.  Only in Wisconsin!!

 

 

We celebrated Independence weekend by cleaning out the kidding pens, environmental friendly thistle removal in 14 acres of pasture, and adding air conditioning to the studio/fiber arts shop.