They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
Tuesday, December 31, we cut up the sheep. This is our first attempt at butchering an animal larger than poultry, so we don't know what we are doing. We have a book. The sheep were chilled in a <40 degree shop overnight, wrapped in cheesecloth to slow water loss. First step, remove the neck. Next… Continue reading Butcher and Packing the Sheep
Monday, Dec 30 the stars aligned. The weather was forecast to be 40 degrees during the day, and almost freezing overnight, and below 40 into Tuesday as well. Not only that but Ryan and Adam both had the day off. The time was right. The sheep must die. To recap, They were a pair of… Continue reading Slaughter day: Sheep.
A small man trying to show up his older sister (and cousin). I gave them the task of replacing all the cinder blocks they had taken for building their transmountain railroad, back on the stack from whence they came. All the ones they hadn't broken with hammers to make them easier to work with. Ellie… Continue reading Never Underestimate…
What do you do when your pirate ship springs a leak? You bale out! But then Daddy (Uncle) comes along and tells you to put the bale back in. Daddy is particular about stuff like that. Then it becomes a problem solving/strength building exercise. Which, in many ways is just as entertaining as the pirate… Continue reading Bale Out!
We have learned a few important lessons these past few weeks. One is that Christmas time is really busy for everyone, so very little gets done on the farm. The other is that the project of installing gutters on the chicken houses is long overdue. We recently picked up a trio of sapphire gem hens… Continue reading Gutters
For $50 and a few hours of work, a perfectly ordinary plywood wall in the shop can be transformed from this… Into a gateway into adventure! https://videopress.com/v/ywXAtUXB?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Too many cookies. Making Christmas cookies is a multi-week whole family effort that generally takes up most of advent every year. Christmas cookies are important. The goal is to have enough Christmas cookies to last until Lent, with plenty to give away in the meantime, so with Lent coming a bit late in 2025, we… Continue reading Why we haven’t been posting
Quick project just to make watering the sheep and cows easier. And by easier, I mean automatic, nine months out of the year.
This post is out of date, by almost a week. Geese have grazed the wheat down to about 3 inches on average. Supposedly this is a good thing, and is supposed to encourage new root and tiller production and a thicker stand, as well as provide nitrogen for initial spring growth. We shall see. However,… Continue reading Geese and Ducks off the Garden
Fun fact about our potatoes this year. The best yield we got were from volunteers, plants that sprouted from potatoes left in the ground from last year. Not sure why. Possibly Yukons are just more prolific than Butterballs; perhaps the fact that they were in the ground over the winter, cool but not frozen, damp… Continue reading Potato Experiment
Little Farm in the Big City 