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.

Whats happening on the farm?

                                              The Turkeys are growing...fast

Hubby has moved on to his next project, like  building 2 barns wasn't enough, he is now fixing up our horse trailer.

                                               The bees are working hard 

 This is my garden. Growing strong. I just wish the tomatoes would turn red.......

                   Our two rams are growing. We will start breeding in about a month.

Jetty Island

 This past week I took my kids to a really cool place called Jetty Island. I highly recommend it.

 You take a ferry over to the Jetty.  You must come prepared with food and water. There is nothing but a bathroom on the jetty.  Here are some picture of our day.

                             We found a dead jellyfish. Pretty neat to see up close. 

                              We saw lots of flounder swimming in the tide pools.

 

                                       There is allot of drift wood on the beach.                 
 

                            My kids had a jumping contest off the sand dunes.

                                       Its a great place to go kite boarding.

Holly, Holly, Holly

 This is Holly. One of our goats. She has found a way to get on top of her house. At first I was worried about her falling....but then I remembered she's  a GOAT.

 This is Alf. Holly's brother. He's my boy!  I'm standing in the garden, taking this picture.  I usually feed him chard when I'm in the garden. Do you think he wants some?  I grow Chard just for him. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

I'm back!

 Its been a busy couple weeks.  I was gone for a week for work and a week for vacation.  Boy, did I need a vacation.  This year we went on a family backpacking trip. It was about a 3 hour hike to our site. We were gone 4 days and 3 nights. We are very proud of our kids. They packed in their own food, sleeping bag, clothes, pad and pillow.  They never complained!   Here are some pictures from our trip.



 This photo reminds me of the Seven Dwarfs

  

Happy Campers

 

 This was home for 3 nights. Not to bad, I would say.





 I love this picture. One night we were the only people on the lake.



 One of our days we spent hiking to Horseshoe lake. It took some searching, but we found the marker on the tree.  From this point it was a straight up a hill.



 This is Horseshoe lake

                            

 This is me! Happy we made it to the top. So you understand how far the hike was, here is a visual....



This is the lake we are camping at. Our tent is on the big white rock on the right side

                                                        


 Here is the same lake from the top of Horseshoe

 back at camp... we had to climb this hill to get to the .......



 Yes, you do your business with the deer, birds and squirrels.



 There are no walls. Its just you and Mother Nature!