This past Thursday morning I built the sides to Blondie's compost bid and
our good friend Al showed up with his tractor which he loaned me for the day. With it I was able to clear a small area by the North Entrance of the East Field; lay a bed of manure from the barn; pick up Blondie laying in the field and carefully deposit her onto the bed; build the four walls around her; fill the newly constructed bin with the old bedding from the barn; and last cover the compost bin with boards, now being sweet Blondie's grave.

I am presently walking as much as possible in order to strengthen my foot and so I've been walking about the property today. Friday and yesterday were spend mowing grass which also exercised my foot. To the right is a photo of a Naturschutzgebiet / nature preserve that we are slowly creating in between the two new fields. The barn is located in the distance.
During my walk this morning, I met with my neighbor who informed me that the male black bear has returned and is presently in the neighborhood. He is about two or three years old now and is probably on his own and checking out the area for food sources, including, unfortunately, bird feeders & etc. I'm hoping that everybody has taken their bird feeders in.

Last year I hardly saw any Monarch butterflies. One thing Valerie and I do is set aside three large areas of milkweed in order to attract them and unfortunately I didn't see a single Monarch butterfly cocoon last year. This year they seem to be everywhere, which we just love. Their visit also reinforces me to make sure that I properly take care of the three milk weed patches.

Valerie is presently attending with her Border Collies Jessica, Rose and Kep the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair in Cummington. Yesterday she won a Ranch Class first place with Jessica, a Novice Class second place with Kep and a fourth place Novice with Rose. That is quite an accomplishment. A video was made of Jessica's run and will be posted on YouTube.

Early this morning Valerie and I gave wormer to the two mother ewes, Emma and Dorothy, and to 1070 & Blondie. In addition, we gave the three lambs their second CDNT shot against tetanus and over eating disease. When we returned this early evening from the Brattleboro Food CoOp, Valerie went out to check on the sheep and to make sure that they had enough water and were all o.k. Unfortunately Blondie had died, probably around mid afternoon. The temperature was 98 deg. F. in Brattleboro at 6 PM. Apparently the wormer and the awful heat was just too much for our sweet ol' girl to bear. I certainly will miss her. I still have her wool from her shearing a month ago and will definitely have it turned into yarn. Valerie's friend Lorna made us both a hat out of her fur a year ago.

This evening I started building a 6' long x 4' wide x 2' high cage, out of some rough, scrap lumber, in which Blondie will be naturally composted. We have already done this once with Fifi about seven years ago during the mid of winter and it worked very well. It is a clean, natural and odorless way of disposing a body. One starts by cleaning out the barn stall and taking the hay/manure mix to where you wish to place the composting cage. There, you create with the mix a bed of about six inches deep and of course as wide and long as the cage. You then place the dead animal onto the bed you had just made and build the cage around the animal. You then fill the cage with the rest of the hay/manure mix until the cage is completely filled, which naturally means that the animal is completely covered. Lastly, you add the cover to the cage. Make sure the boards have a one inch space between them so that air and water can enter the cage and help those microbes/bacteria do their job. The main reason for the cage is to keep animals away from the dead animal body. A secondary reason is to hold the hay, manure mix in place. I believe it takes less than a year for the dead animal to totally decompose.

By the way, the x-rays looked great, my foot is healing well and the doctor told me that I don't have to wear the portable cast any more. I now have to exercise my foot and learn how to properly walk again. Valerie joined me today and had her annual physical which determined that she's in great shape.

Unfortunately the temperature is in the low 90's right now. We're having temperatures these days that just ten years ago were rare experiences in July and August, let alone in May.

Above is a photo of Blondie. She is certainly feeling better than she was a few weeks ago when we thought the worst.

The sheep do have access to some shelter such as this burn pile. Their white wool has changed color to an attractive gray as a result of all the ash on the ground.

Valerie and I are in the process of designing a portable shade for them consisting of cattle panels. We thought we would have plenty of time to build them, BUT!

It's been just over five weeks now since I broke my right foot. This afternoon it will be x-rayed and checked by the hospital podiatrist. Hopefully the news will be positive, but unfortunately the foot does presently hurt where the break occurred. I definitely am sick and tired of being immobile and certainly don't want to stay this way for another month. There is just so much to do outside.

The photo on the right is of a Lady Slipper, one of four around the house. Twenty years ago I would count over two dozen of them in the same area. It is such an attractive flower and we are actually fortunate to have an environment here in which they are able to grow, since it's quite a rare flower.

Blondie did eat some of her special pellets today and she did get up and move about. She doesn't seem to be in any pain. It just seems as though she doesn't have the strength anymore to live.












Dorothy and the young ones are doing very well.

Valerie is off at a sheep dog trial in Hopkinton today. Two weeks ago at a trial in Connecticut she won a first place with Jessica in Ranch class. That is quite an accomplishment. Unfortunately for Val, it has been raining for most of the day.

We had never bred Blondie mainly because we felt she was already too old at that time. Her wool was fantastic though because she was such a regal animal we decided to keep her.

This photo was taken April 21, 2002 an Blondie is in the center. To Blondie's right is Blackie and her left is Razzie. Both Blackie and Razzie were already quite old at the time.

Here is a photo of Dorothy and her two offspring.

A couple of days ago Valerie noticed that Blondie wasn't eating any corn and alsonot at all active. Yesterday I purchased some "Shepherds 16" pellets for her and she did eat some. Unfortunately today she has no interest in eating anything. Right now she is lying down together with three three lambs and two mothers enjoying a warm, great sunny day.

She has been such a wonderful girl and such a beauty.

We've come to the conclusion that out of the eight ewes that we had wanted bred, Limpy the ram was only able to impregnate two, resulting in three very healthy, beautiful lambs. I believe the reason why our friend Lorna believed seven of the eight were bred is because that they were nice and fat, since we generally feed our sheep very well. I felt for certain that Dorothy had triplets because of her size. We're very happy she had two such wonderful lambs, but even now she still looks pregnant with one. We've just been giving them too much corn & alfalfa. Anyway, all are now happily busy grazing on lush, green grass in our new East Field. The West Field still needs much work.

The above photo is of one of our quince shrubs. What is so wonderful about it and the crab apple trees, in addition to their blossoms, is the sound of all the buzzing bumble bees busy pollinating and obtaining nectar. As I had mentioned before, we are very fortunate to have so many bumble bees servicing our flowering bushes and trees since we do not have any honey bees in visiting us any more. I also was unable to see any of the tiny half inch long wasps for several days now. I wonder what has happened to them.

We are around 10 days ahead of last year with regard to foliage and grass growth. Our spring has certainly been very mild and so was this past winter. The temperature never reached zero deg. Fahrenheit. Matter of fact, that hasn't been the case for several winters now. Before 2000 our winter temperatures would hit minus 10 about three to four times a season. In the valley, less than two miles from the house, the temperatures would drop down to over minus 30 degrees. The climate is certainly changing and quickly at that.

Today is just a very wonderful day. The temperature is around 80 deg. F. and the colors outside are beautiful. Valerie mentioned that the trees this time of year are just as attractive as in the fall. They are now displaying so many different shades of green and yellow. In addition, so many bushes and trees also are blossoming. The photo shows our crab apple tree that I planted in 1981 during the time we were building our house.

This crab apple tree is now buzzing with insects, especially bumble bees. We haven't had any honey bees visit us in years. I have recently noticed also a declining number of bumble bees. Most of the pollinators seem to be small wasps that are roughly just half an inch long. At least someone is doing the job. Great!

Valerie and I enjoyed the West Brattleboro, VT Farmer's Market this noon time. Valerie was able to purchase some greens and I a loaf of multigrain honey bread, $5.00, from the baker, an item they make once every six weeks.. He didn't have any day old bread, of which I generally purchase four loaves which are half price. I also enjoyed a wonderful Vietnamese dish for lunch.

Most people at today's farmers market were enjoying May Day and there was even a May Pole around which the children were dancing. Good Pagan fun!

When we got home, Valerie gave Dorothy successfully her wormer. The two lambs seem very well fed and healthy. Dorothy is such a great mother.

This photo shows Valerie getting ready to clean out the water trough. Notice the cut up elm, which happened yesterday afternoon, in the background. Our beautiful elm began dying about five years ago and it was time to face the fact that it wasn't getting any better. For the longest time it provided shade to the paddock area together with another majestic red oak. The red oak suddenly died about four years ago without a sign that something was wrong.

When we began clearing five acres of land for field four years ago, we decided to try to keep as many cherry, oak and white pine trees as possible, mainly as a seed/food source for all the wild animals. The acorns are certainly loved by the local deer, turkey, grey squirrel and chipmunk populations.

We have also planted over a hundred berry bushes and crab apple trees to be enjoyed by the birds, especially a family of grouse.

Here is a photo of Valerie coaxing Dorothy to move from the main stall to her new, private quarters next door using her two offspring as bait.

This is a photo of the Matriarch of our herd of sheep, Blondie. Valerie saw Blondie nudging one of the lambs back to her mother when it started wandering away this morning. In the past, we've seen Blondie help out in many positive ways.
Blondie is just a very beautiful/attractive ewe who has been with us for ever. She was one of the first ewes Valerie purchase about ten years ago and her wool has always been highly prized. Hers was the only wool that was kept when the sheep were shorn a couple of weeks ago. She and the new four ewes are wool sheep. The rest are basically hair sheep.

Here is a photo of Magdalene on the right and her mom on the left. Maggi seems to be very curious about the two newly born lambs. All the other sheep are also very aware of what has transpired this morning and seem to be very welcoming.

Here is Valerie carrying the newly born lambs from the main stall to their new, private quarters next door. Their small stall will permit Dorothy and her newborns to bond and feed without interference, which is very important. This period of bonding should last about three days.

Dorothy gave birth to two beautiful and healthy lambs, a black ewe before 9 AM and a white ram shortly after 9:00 AM this morning. All three are doing great!

Apparently "Blogger" doesn't allow us to post more than one photo at a time. Very frustrating.