There is just something about sheep.

 I have sheep on the brain. We are starting our first breeding season and I'm nervous. I keep checking that I'm doing everything right.  We found that Vader did the deed with Sugar yesterday.  In 17 days I will need to put a new color in the marking harness and see if Vader tries again. If he does then I will need to wait another 17 days and change the color in the marking harness again. If he doesn't try it means that sugar is pregnant and we have 145 days until we have a lamb(s).  The rams can smell if the ewes are pregnant. We are now waiting for The Dude to romance Licorice...........

Picture of the marking harness

Here are some pictures of sheep that I like

   



 This is our Vader



 I love oldl pictures of sheep



Makes me smile!



Then there was 7

    We decided to "process" a turkey this weekend.  Our Tom was getting big and we needed make sure he would fit in the oven.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about us taking a life.  I cant speak for my husband but I kept finding other things to do around the farm to prolong the task.  Here is the process.

 We used a propane stove to get the water up to 145 degrees.

We borrowed this pot from our friends,  Anna and Greg.

 You need to have a ice bath ready to cool down the body temperature.

 

This is the tabletop plucker we bought. Its worth its weight in gold!  Worked great!



The rubber fingers rotate around.

After we drained the bird, (We are not showing that on our blog, we know it might be hard for some people to see.) You put the bird in 145 degree water to losen the feathers. We learned you dont want the water any hotter because the plucker could damage the skin.

You put the turkey on top of the plucker and the the feathers just come right off. Its so simple.

Here it is all plucked. Next is cleaning out the inside but we arent going to show that either. But I have to say it was very interesting to see.

 

 All Cleaned and ready for Thanksgiving dinner.   Tom was 26 pounds when we started and after proceeing him he weighs 19lbs.   Thank you Tom for allowing us to feed our family!



Last Day of Summer.

 The last day of Summer. As I walked around our garden I thought to myself that the vegetables were not ready to let the summer go.

I forgot I planted turnips!

I love eggplant.

Acorn squash.

Our tomato plants had so many tomatoes on them. I didn't want to lose them to blight so I took them inside the garage.

Then I picked them and brought them inside the house. Every weekend I pull the ripe ones and can them.

The zucchini got away from me.

One of our bees on my favorite flower.

Its almost time!

                                             Planting fall flowers on the front porch.