mysunwolf - four acres and some sheep

[mysunwolf]

How is your grandmother? You were so worried about her being in the hospital with a hurricane roaring in.

Hey, thank you for asking. Hurricane went around their FL house with zero damage. My gram had a bit of a rocky recovery period for about a month where we weren't sure if they were going to have to do more surgery. They are snowbirds and stay down the road from me during the summers and go back down to FL for the winters, so they had to get her well enough to travel. Now she is back home to FL and pretty much back to herself--walking 1/2 mile every day and cooking almost all the meals for her and grandpa! She is 89, so these are big achievements. And they're happy to be back where it's not so cold

 

[Baymule]

That is good news. You are blessed to have them live so close to you during the summers. How wonderful that they both are in such good health and spirits!

 

[Bruce]

And here I thought Virginia and I had an agreement about our winters that we would NEVER get colder than Chicago.

One year on a January day, it was warmer here than at my Mother's house south of Los Angeles. Of course that was during the January thaw and it was unusually warm, high 50's if I recall.

 

[mysunwolf]

All right folks, I am horrible at updating this thing, lurking is much more fun! And I haven't gotten out to take any good photos in a while. The holidays was a mess of cleaning and cooking and more cleaning and they're still not over yet. The "spending money on presents" thing is not happening much this year, if money is to be spent it's going towards new tires, home improvements, farm equipment. Though we did buy some FL citrus for friends!

The weather here is still balmy y'all 60 degrees today and overcast. Though it'll be in the teens by the end of the week.

I bought two more pigs from the same litter as the first two. They are smaller but just as sweet and adorable.

The sheep were able to graze the fields up until December 12th! I was so proud of the rotation. We'll see what happens when I have more full-grown ewes on it next season.

Now they're on the winter lot, bored and eating round hay, nom nom nom.

The calves and the rams are together in a pen in the back yard, where hopefully I will till all the manure and hay in and grow a garden in the spring.

I took 4 sheep to butcher on Monday, including Molly! She has finally left the property after all this time of not breeding! I can't wait for those tasty mutton chops Also took down Luc, my first ram I purchased this season who was an amazing little guy, despite his poor growth rate, but after shearing we discovered that he had a small hunch in his spine, so off to butcher he went. The other two to go were Angel and Twisted, my sweet little wethers I'm really really upset about butchering these guys, but the best comfort will be when the meat comes back. We are planning to sell lamb at the farmers market again next year, so we took them to a USDA place.

That's about all going on... things have quieted down a bit now that winter is really here. Excited to spend a nice quiet holiday this year with our family of 3 (me, spouse, spouse's mom).

Yesterday I made this crock pot pork roast using pork shanks, hope to make many more dishes like this this winter.

Happy Christmas to all you BYHers!

 

[Latestarter]

I bet those pork shanks were wonderful! Love me some pork! Your animals look great! Glad you're getting some down time over the holidays. I completely understand tight money...

 

[CntryBoy777]

The shanks look really good and it sounds like winter prep is in full swing. Less to feed and water during the cold and meat in the freezer is certainly a plus....and allows some room for others to hang around, grow, and replace the meat in the freezer too....or sell. Is the pottery business still keeping ya busy? We don't celebrate the holidays, so we don't have to endure the hoopla.....

 

[mysunwolf]

I bet those pork shanks were wonderful! Love me some pork! Your animals look great! Glad you're getting some down time over the holidays. I completely understand tight money...

Yep, and we ate it again for lunch today! Plus pork chops for dinner, we're eating good right now. Money is not bad, but tighter this year for sure.

The shanks look really good and it sounds like winter prep is in full swing. Less to feed and water during the cold and meat in the freezer is certainly a plus....and allows some room for others to hang around, grow, and replace the meat in the freezer too....or sell. Is the pottery business still keeping ya busy? We don't celebrate the holidays, so we don't have to endure the hoopla.....

I am so glad not to have even more mouths to feed! The calves already eat more than I realized. We have been making pottery like mad the last few months, and finally slowed down for the holidays. I fired the last kiln of the year on Sunday!

Heck, it must be kind of nice not to have to endure all the craziness that is the holidays... plus all the commercialization and money spending. Have you ever celebrated them?

 

[CntryBoy777]

Yeh, stopped in '99....tho, it was difficult to convince others of the fact....so, I resorted to hand-made gifts for a select few and that subsided in '05 after the 1st heart attack. It was then that my Biblical views changed and have withdrawn from any participation since.....my wife still gives the grandkids gifts, but they are from her and not both of us. I don't push or force my beliefs on others, but hold to them despite others....

 

[mysunwolf]

We had a scare over Christmas with Charcoal, my favorite ewe. Her upper respiratory infection came back and she went off grain. So we gave her Zactran (vet loves this for pneumonia and other respiratory stuff) and today she finally perked up again. These sheep sure like to scare me.

Took a quick photo of Charcoal lined up with the others eating off the round bale after enjoying her grain with everyone today. So glad to have her back to herself, she is more like a pet... they all are, at this point.

 

[Bruce]

Whew, glad you caught that @mysunwolf