Spring has arrived

The flowers are starting to come up at Ridgeway farm and we now have daffodils and hyacinths enjoying moments of New England sunshine.

The ducklings are two weeks old and I have learnt some valuable lessons already.
1. Ducklings smell.
2. They poop a lot more than baby chickens.
3. They are messy (see above point).
And 4. Boy do they grow fast!
They are already about the size of 5-6 week old chicks. They do love their water, and have upgraded from the kitchen sink to the pig water tub outside.

My horse Muppet is doing well, and shedding like crazy. Someone please tell me why I have a grey and white paint? Our goal for the year is simple, try and stay sound.

The sheep are enjoying the start of the grass. We are in the middle of changing our fencing all to cattle panels, but hope they will be up soon so the sheep can go out in the bigger pasture. Edward is hoping the shearer will come and visit soon too!

I hope everyone is having a great spring so far. Now it's time to take a certain two dogs out for a walk!

If anyone lives close by and is in need of lambing supplies please contact me. I have a tub of things I will no longer need and would like to find them a home they will be needed at :-)

Time for something completely different

Happy spring everyone!

For me this is the time normally that lambs arriving and things are crazy. But as we just have Edward and Eleanor we don't have to go through that this year. Instead we had made the decision at about Christmas time to get ducklings delivered now instead. They arrived this morning, the post office actually called at 6:20am, and all 4 are healthy and doing very well.

This is our pair of Welsh Harlequins Jeremy and Jemima, we decided on Welsh Harlequins as they are supposed to be quite docile, and I think they look beautiful.

This is Jeremy...

and this one is Jemima.

And then we decided on a couple of female runner ducks because they make us laugh.

So this is Miranda....

and this is Stevie. They are named after characters in a British comedy show we enjoy.

We are excited to watch the ducklings grow, and will be busy for the next few weeks getting their shelter ready outside for them and getting them something to swim in. Sometimes being a novice on a breed is a little daunting, but we hope to do ok. Any duck tips are greatly received though!

The sheep are also both doing well, although poor Edward needs a shearer to come and give him a haircut very soon.

Eleanor is settling in great and will now eat out of my hand in the morning.

Happy start of spring everyone.

What's new?

Well a whole lot has changed.

We have decided to sell the Shetland flock and just keep Edward our Cotswold wether, and today we brought in Eleanor our new Cotswold ewe yearling. I very much adore Eleanor's ears!

The sheep are just going to be pets. No more crazy breeding and keeping of rams for us. We still have one Shetland ewe but she is due to leave very soon.

As you can tell by the layout change on the blog we are now going to focus this blog on our hobby farm. We have 5 older chickens (the retired group), and 7 younger chickens that are in their laying prime. We plan to raise two pigs organically again this year for meat, and have a few other animals joining us this year on our adventure.

My horse after a horrid year last year is finally on the mend! I'm sure I will continue to chronicle our adventures in dressage here too.

We also will talk a little about growing fruits and vegetables in the New England weather, and trying to start a garden.

It should be fun.

September fun

A delay again, thanks to restarting college, an injured horse, and a sick father. Busy.

Fall is upon us. Almost.

The pigs are growing so fast. They are a lot of fun and I will miss them when they leave in just over a week. This is a venture we have so far really enjoyed, and we are hoping to get a good product out of it, and repeat the process next year. Pigs are really fun!

Edward our cotswold wether is also growing well, and looking super duper handsome. I'm looking forward to micron testing fleeces in fall and his in particular to compare to my shetlands.

Who are also doing very well. The cattle panel fencing is working well for us so we have a large project to do in fall and early spring.

Baby chickens are almost all grown up. They are just finishing their first molt and we are expecting their first eggs soon. They were out enjoying the little bit of heat around this afternoon with a nice dirt bath.

we seem to be feeding a mini flock of sparrows. They like to gather around the chicken coops, although I have also caught them on the pig grain trough...brave little rascals. There are at least 20 more not in this picture!

Miss Sugar one of the barn cats was also enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

Lily the Jack Russell puppy however was just enjoying seeing me, this made me laugh as I managed to get a series of shots of her airborne, this was my favorite one.

Breeding season is rapidly approaching, not that I have anything special to do for it this year. I am still hoping to sell our ram Horseradish around December. He is from Windswept, his parents are Titanium and Zinc, and he won champion shetland ram at the Bolton fair as a ram lamb. He is turning two next year, very nice guy manners wise. Fleece micron tested in the mid to low 20's as a lamb. Email me at Puff614@me.com if interested.

What have I been up to?

Well not blogging, as is evident by my extreme lack of updates. That doesn't mean that I haven't been very busy though. It has been horribly hot and dry (until Friday anyway lol) in New England this summer. This has caused issues with our electric fence.

And because Isabella can jump the electric fence now - she has awesome form and I wish my horse had her jump!

And Edward is big so he just falls over the net fencing after Bella...yes ironic

We have been installing cattle panels to try for fencing. So far so good and the small flock is happy being out. Isis is particularly enjoying getting burrs around her face unfortunately.

Harvest Moon is just enjoying sunshine.

And as you can see by Horseradishes belly he is enjoying grass! I am planning to sell him this winter after he has bred my ewes, and bring in a ram lamb in spring next year. If anyone is looking for a lovely two year old ram that is so far very well behaved please let me know! He has good horns, conformation, and a very nice fleece that micron tested in the mid 20's last year.

The baby chickens are growing up fast and I love the variety we have now. I'm sure that their first eggs are just around the corner as well. Exciting times.

And just to show that we haven't really been slacking off we have also ventured out this summer and now own two piglets that we are raising organically for meat.

This is a new venture for us as we haven't raised an animal for meat before. They have been with us almost two months so far, and have another 7 weeks with us. They have so far been a lot of fun, and seem to really be enjoying their life now. They love being hosed down in on the hotter days in the evening, lying in front of the fan in their stable, eating grass and hard boiled eggs, and rotting around in the earth. We are thinking if it all goes well we might get 3 piglets next year to do this again.

Anyway summer is racing by, it has been hot and humid for most of it. I am hoping to get my hay in soon for fall, and look forward to the cooler weather and breeding season for the sheep. I am also hoping that my horse Muppet is finally getting over the lameness issues that have plagued him on and off since mid-May.

How has everyone else's summer gone?

On the move

Well we have been very busy here the past few weeks. Let me try to catch you up, starting with yesterday when 3 beautiful new sheep joined the flock after a lovely 650 mile drive.

This is Edward. He is a Costwold, and is our new fiber wether. I think he is adorable, and he reminds me of a giant teddy bear.

He also showed me that he can shake it out like a dog too!

This is Whispering Pines Isis. Not the best picture of her, sorry. She's a yearling and I am very excited to have such a rich black color, with such a fine fleece joining us.

And Whispering Pines Harvest Moon. Another yearling with a wonderful fine fleece. I am so excited to see next years lambs already!

They all settled in well, and are enjoying the hay and grass.

We spent the weekend finishing the retirement coop for our older chickens. They are really enjoying it, and are already laying eggs in the new nest boxes.

The baby chicks are at the rather ugly stage, but are excited to be out in the coop near the house. I'm looking forward to watching them grow, and produce their first eggs eventually. It is lovely to be able to get so much variety in a flock that is still quite small.

Vladamir, Eliza, Usher, and Jewel all left for their new home last week. They have settled in well. Ulric and Uther will be leaving at the end of the month as soon as they are old enough and are weaned.

My horse Muppet moves to his new barn on Friday. It is much closer to home, and I am excited to have him so close to me again.

Oh and the swallows are feeding their babies in the sheep barn, I managed to photograph them having a well deserved rest though.

That's all. I hope you are all well!