Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Belated Christmas Gift

SNOW!


It's wet and it's heavy and it's melting nearly as fast as it's falling, but still - it's SNOW!

Monday, December 26, 2011

We Are The Shepherds...

So here is the stable and there is the manger, 
The new Saviour sleeps on his first earthly night
The wise men brought riches, but we brought a candle
It's all that we have but it gives a good light


We are the shepherds, we walked cross the mountains
We left our flocks when the new star appeared
Oh the beautiful singin' of heavenly choir
We had to come see him, we had to come here!


We beg you forgive us for such a small offering
But our sheep are all out there with wolves in the night
We bring you this candle - it's all we have with us
But with it the new Saviour has his first light.


We are the shepherds...
We thank Thee kind Joseph for bidding us enter
Please take our gift for the new babe of thine
'Tis only one candle, but it is our symbol
Of how we believe that his great life will shine


We are the shepherds...

Merry Christmas! 

You know, I don't think there is a farmer across this whole country (and probably the world) that doesn't say the same thing on Christmas Eve if they have livestock to care for..."I fed the animals a little more and spent a few extra minutes in the barn (stable) with them tonight."  I did.

I love the song I opened this post with (by Johnny Cash) - I have listened to it over and over for the past week or so.  I wish I had a beautiful picture of my own flock laying peacefully out in their pasture, but I don't so you will just have to imagine it ;)

I hope it has been a peaceful Christmas for you and your family and if you know Jesus, then it should have been.  If you don't know Him, if you chose to ignore Him and pretend that He isn't the reason there is a Christmas then I hope you did not have peace - I pray that you had a yearning so strong for something, for Him, that you need to seek until you find Him!  Give God a chance in your life, why not?

I hear a lot of religious people shouting today about how the world is changing and trying to take God out of our day to day lives.  I was thinking, though, when I was in the barn on Christmas Eve -  how is that different from the night Jesus was born?  Who paid attention?  People on that night were running around, going from place to place to follow the dictates of their laws at the time and probably complaining or celebrating, depending on their circumstances.  Joseph and Mary were probably looked down on, as they searched for a place to spend the night.  Maybe someone in line behind Joseph at the hotel/inn thought "foolish man should have planned for his trip better and made reservations".  An evil ruler wanted to destroy even the possibility of a threat to his power, the baby born that night.  Did that bright light in the sky (the star) shine only to the shepherds or is it just that out there in the country, living close to the land, they were the only ones who took the time to look?  And the Wise Men who traveled so far to bring gifts - do they represent the few level heads we might have still have in high places of this world, who sought peace in the most unlikely of places?


I don't know - I'm rambling, I guess ;)  But its what I was thinking about on Christmas.  It rushed by so fast, we hardly noticed it.

Is that what it was like on the night Jesus was born?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Five Years and More


Excuse the fuzziness of this picture of a special little hand - it might be a misty-eyed Grandma's reflection of how fast time flies by.  Today our youngest grandson turns five years old, and in just a few more days - on Christmas day in fact - our oldest grandson turns thirteen!  Is it just me, or does it seem like the grandchildrens birthdays go by faster than the childrens did?

Happy Birthday, Little E!!!  We'll celebrate this morning with a birthday breakfast and tonight with a preschool Christmas pagent.  He has been belting out songs for weeks now, his favorite being "Go Tell It On The Mountain".

Five years old and jumping into life with both feet!  Blessed days ~

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Things Are Cooking Again!

And no, I'm not talking about Christmas cooking - although there is plenty of that going around this time of year.  What I'm talking about is the wood cookstove at the Round House!!!  Take a look ~


On Monday this week, my Dad and one of our friends (Vern) came to visit and to work - the goal was to get both the wood heating stove and the wood cook stove working in the Round House.  They accomplished both jobs and in very good order.  We are soooo excited!!!

Can you say warm and toasty?
They checked all of the stove pipe and the chimney outside - everything was in great shape even though it hadn't been used in years.  You can see from the photos that the cookstove especially is in need of a very good clean up, but then I am anxious to give it a try.  I'm hoping my friend Angie might offer some suggestions ;)

While they were here they also did some repair work on the cabin door, and looked at the best way to build a functional ramp on the building so that Bill (and others with disabilities) will be able to get in to this wonderful and historical place.  It will be wheelchair accessible!  This is such an exciting prospect for all of us.

Just wanted to check in with this latest news.  I'll leave you with more from around the Round House....Enjoy!


Iron bedstead (above) and wide plank floors.  More of those plank floors sitting beneath an antique spinning wheel and the current porch entrance (below).  You can see where the door needed repair, something that has now been done.


I'm so excited about the possibility of future Wool Workshops and Spinning-in-the-Round-House days as well as lots of other fun things.  I'm especially looking forward to the first time that Bill is able to make it back to this special place that he has been caretaker of for so long. 

I'll end this post with a final picture from outside the building, showing the huge oak tree that sits next to it on the northeast side.  On the south and west it is sheltered by pine trees.

What do you think?  Will you be able to come for a visit some time?  We sure hope so - the fire is on and the coffee will be perking!

Monday, December 05, 2011

Home Is Usually The Best Place

I was supposed to go away on Saturday, a long day trip to visit another Corriedale breeder and I was really excited, really looking forward to a day of sheep and sheep talk!  But the need to care for family and farm right here at home prevented me from making the trip.  As it turned out, that was probably best as the weather was "iffy" all day alternating between a kind of freezing drizzle to downright rain.  I can make the trip another day, maybe in the spring. 

Staying home, I got a lot of work done around the house!  The back room really needed a scrub down and it got one - walls, door (all those little fingerprints and scuff marks) and most of all the floor.  This is where we come into the house from the barn and it gets all the traffic.  Rugs were washed, old boots and shoes sorted through (do I really need to keep three different pairs of old sneakers to wear to the barn and garden?  Especially when two of the three have holes in them?  Out they go!)  And then I did an on-my-hands-and-knees-with-a-brush scrub of the floor.  Probably no one else but me notices, but it's still a good feeling.  Then I wiped down the washer and dryer inside and out.  Hmmm, I think this room needs a fresh coat of paint before spring!

The picture at the opening of this post is of a homespun, handknit shawl I finished recently.  It's residing on the back of my favorite chair near the window and the fireplace.  Saturday would have been a good day for a fire in the fireplace, but we're having some work done on both our chimney and the fireplace itself so that isn't quite ready.  We hope it will be done before Christmas.  It was gloomy all weekend, and I was very content to be at home after all!  The light was so low all day, even with a lamp on, that the picture of the shawl turned out to be very dim and "gauzy" but I like how it looks anyway ;)

I continue to turn out mittens like a mad-woman and am having a blast doing it!
Today I'm going to have to give in and work in the mud and rain to move some sheep.  I sure hope the ground freezes up and it dries out a bit before we finally do get that snow.

Even washing machines need a scrub down every now and then - here is mine, sparkly clean!
At the end of the day, it was a good feeling to have some undercover but necessary work done and have some gasoline saved.  Bill and I really enjoyed the thick and creamy homemade Potato Soup I had on the stove (potato soup loaded with cheese and onions and carrots and spicy sausage, yummy!).  Still, I really would have liked to have seen those sheep ;)

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I Did Say Yarn For Mittens...

I titled my last post "yarn for mittens" and then I only showed you the yarn!  Well, here's more of the story...




Yesterday my daughter and I planned to move some sheep - weanling ewe lambs that we aren't breeding this fall to a different pasture where they will spend the winter.  Two younger ewes and one older ewe need to go in with the ram (I didn't want them lambing so early next year, so have held off putting them in to be bred).  The weather did not cooperate ~



Rain, wind and ice is no kind of weather to be working the livestock and moving them from one location to another.  Especially when you need to be working around a breeding ram - even though we have good tempered rams, sometimes you have to be quick on your feet! 

This is Derek, a ram.  Nothing moves in the pasture near his girls that he misses!  See the apples on the ground?  The sheep love them ;)
 So, we put that plan on hold and hunkered down in the swirling storm.  I could have been cleaning house or something, but decided to work on mittens and sorting stash yarn and fibers instead (okay, I did cook and do dishes and numerous loads of laundry)  We didn't get the quantity of snow that our neighbors to the south did (Renee at Tail Spin Farm is only 20 miles south of us and she says they have about 8 inches!!!), probably only an inch here but it was very slippery.  And cold!  Cold enough that wool mittens are the best thing around and much needed. 

The first pair finished are already being put to good use as you can see!  Two little farm boys have put in their requests, and I'm also working on a pair of black ones for a big brother and a pair of lavender-pink for a bright eyed little girl.  I love knitting childrens mittens, they take no time at all.

Hmmm....I'm thinking some matching wool caps and socks might be in order, too.  You know, it's nearly impossible to find tall, warm, wool socks for children unless you make them yourself.  Something to fit inside chore boots and look like Grandpa's hunting socks....
Come to think of it, I could use some new chore mittens myself.  And Grandpa needs new socks, too.  Let that winter weather blow all it wants to, there is knitting to be done!!!  I guess we'll have to move the sheep another day ~ and we'll have wool socks and hats and mittens to do the job warmly ;)

Note: All of the mittens shown in this post were produced completely here at Serenity Farms from wool grown by our Corriedale sheep, then spun, dyed and knit by the shepherd (that would be me).  There is a special satisfaction in that, I must admit!




Monday, November 28, 2011

Yarn for mittens

A result of some of the yarn dyeing I did last week, posing for a picture on the Round House steps.  Spruce, Plum, Red and of course the white is natural.

I had fun having the dye pots out again, after long neglect!  Nothing fancy or involved, just single colors on white and overdyed on brown.  The wool is all from our Corriedale sheep, as you've probably guessed ;)



And best of all, knitting with these yarns has already begun!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It's Always Something

First I wanted to say hello and Welcome to all of you who are new visitors to the farm (well, to the blog anyway!) who found us through Maple Valley Farms - it's great to have you here and I hope you can stay for a cup of coffee or tea and a visit with the sheep and the family ;) But I don't want to forget old friends and followers, too. Grab your mug out of the cupboard and let's catch up on farm news!  You're going to have to follow me around the kitchen and to the barn, though.  Life has been incredibly busy the past few weeks and shows no signs of slowing down.  In my dreams, I write incredibly lovely and poetic and informative blog posts about sheep and spinning and knitting and cooking here at Serenity Farms.  I share some of my daily visits with God and how He leads me through the day.  Yes, in my dreams....

Well, while its true I have my daily visits and He leads me - more often than not He is the parent and I am the toddler who continually veers off path, grabbing at every bright and shiny penny that comes along to distract me ;(  Sigh...does God ever tire of saying "No, no Cary, don't touch that - it's hot...It will burn you.... Don't run, you're going to fall down and hurt yourself...Come back over here and sit down for a minute"

Does that sound familiar to anyone else?  I'm sure it does.  And just when I think I have my days all planned out nice and neat, someone else's schedule changes and I'm at the mercy of it.  I think I have things settled in the house and something happens that alters the course of the day.  This morning I am feeling like that ship going up and down, and up and down, and up and down on the waves.

Dear God, I need that cup of coffee with You this morning...

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Encouragement and endurance

The sunlight streaming across our yard as I prepared to leave for my friends farm
God says, in His Word (Hebrews 12:1-3 NLV) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart"

I heard these words at church last week and it was like hearing them for the first time - they replayed in my head over and over again.  And one of the things that I kept thinking of is that sometimes we need encouragement and confirmation from others when we are trying to "run the race".  It has particularly been on my heart recently for other farm wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters who sometimes face discouragement and opposition - especially those of us with small farms or farmsteads.  I've been praying about it a lot!

Yesterday, I was able to spend some wonderful fellowship time with just such a farm woman.  And even though we are fairly new friends, it seems like we have known each other forever in the things that we believe and love and care about.  I came away so refreshed and encouraged, I will treasure this memory for many days to come and hope we will have many more!

Thank you, my friend, for the joy of good food; gracious and energetic children; special farm animals and just the gift of our time spent together!  Yes, definitely you have to come this way next time ;)  Oh and tell the girls that next time I am your way, I am bringing my pitchfork (lol...I have my own personal pitchfork, a long ago engagement present from my dear husband!)

A recently finished shawl, handspun from our Corriedale wool, warm as a friends hug!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Out Of Touch

Bree and Collette, sisters, born one year apart
It's time for my computer to gets its annual check-up ;)  So I will likely be out of touch for a few days till it gets back, but when I'm back on line there will be some sheep stories to share (thanks to those who have asked for them!) as well as a new soup recipe I'm sure.


We had a true, heavy killing frost last night - it coated everything with these lovely ice crystals!  A strong signal of change and promise of winter months ahead.  But truth be told, I prefer fall and winter!

A look across the ditch from our back yard
See you when we're back up and running ~

Monday, October 24, 2011

Soup, Sheep and Celebrities

Thanks for all the positive comments on last weeks soup!  I can't wait to share this second recipe with you - it was yummy, too, in an entirely different way.  Here are a few of the key ingredients ~

I had intended to make a Pasta-Sausage stew type concoction, but after working outside a lot for the past few days both Bill and I were feeling a little cold, stuffy and achey.  I didn't want something heavy and I was craving some super foods....enter kale, freshly dug garlic and bright healthy peppers to make a very quick, savory soup.  This was literally ready to eat in thirty minutes, and about ten of that was preparing the vegetables.

SAUSAGE & KALE SOUP
A recipe adapted and tweaked from one I found in an older Better Homes & Garden magazine

8 ounces fully-cooked smoked sausage, sliced (I used a delicious German sausage from a local shop that is very dense and garlicky)

1 medium onion, chopped

Minced garlic (the recipe called for 1 Tbsp.  I used the entire bulb of a small, freshly dug garlic from my neighbors garden.  This is a warm and spicy garlic!)

4 to 6 cups chicken broth

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

About 8 cups fresh kale, stems removed and leaves chopped (this would be about 12 ounces)

Heat a pot over medium high heat (I added about a tablespoon of butter to cook the sausage in)  Add sausage and saute for 5 minutes or till lightly browned.  Stir in onion and garlic, saute another 3 minutes or till softened.  Add broth and bring to a boil.

Stir in potatoes and kale.  Simmer, partially covered, for 10-12 minutes or till potatoes are tender.  Serve.

My tweaks ~  Well, as I mentioned above I used a lot more garlic than the recipe called for.  Like I said, I was feeling a little like I was catching a cold ;)  I added some diced red pepper along with the onions and garlic (and this was a small dice)  At the end, I added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to brighten it up (just cut a lemon in half and squeezed the juice in) and when I dished it up, I did a small grating of Parmesan cheese over it.  Bill ate his soup with crackers, I ate mine with the crust of a rustic white bread I had made earlier in the week.

I didn't grow the kale, it came from a dear older lady who always has small treats like this at her booth at Farmers Market.  She grows lots of fun varieties of things.  The leaves were still small and tender, I didn't even have to remove the stems!  We have had a few hard frosts (see the picture below), enough to help sweeten the kale.  This soup was exactly what we needed and we made pigs of ourselves cleaning it all up.  I hope Edna has some more kale at Farmers Market this week....

We have had about three heavy frosts now
I just included the shot above to show some of the heavy frost we have had and a few of the sheep out in it.  The rams have been working pretty hard, hopefully getting ewes bred for lambs early next spring.  I would like to start writing a bit more about the sheep side of things here at the farm, what we do and how we make decisions about them.  Is that something you would like to read?

And finally, a word about celebrities - local celebrities that I happen to know!  You have heard me speak of Angie and family at Maple Valley Off-Grid Farm right here in Michigan.  They are living off-grid and sharing their love of the Lord, the land and their family.  Well, they are going to be on the Anderson Cooper show!!! Yes, really ;)  The show will air on Tuesday, October 25 on CBS.  Locally it is on at 4 pm.  If you have a chance to check it out, or look at their blog, be sure to do so.  I hope they are well represented - they are really neat people.

Friday, October 21, 2011

A New Favorite Farm Soup

Recently, my friend Kimberly (who has a terrific blog, by the way) proposed/challenged trying a new soup each week for a month.  Well, I'd been planning to try making a winter squash type soup for some time so I decided this was just the "kick-in-pants" I needed to get started!

Vegetable peelings

Recipes for some type of squash soup are everywhere this time of year and most of them are very, very similar. If you do an online search and then read reviews of some of them, you'll often find comments about the soup being too bland and some suggest the use of potato adds to the bland-ness. Well, I think you probably need the potato to add to the thickness but what I did was to substitute a couple of carrots for some of the potato. I’m not sure how much difference it made, but it all tasted great! Then because squash speaks to me of needing autumn flavors, I just added the same set of spices that I put in my home made Tomato Soup. I read one recipe that used curry powder as the seasoning and I’ll bet that would be good, too. Something else I want to add to this next time is red pepper – either just sautéed along with the main vegetables or roasted and then added to it. For some reason, I was thinking adding sage to the seasoning would be great. You’ll notice that I added fresh pressed cider as part of the liquid and so that got me to thinking that you could include an apple or two to the sauté.


Really fresh pressed cider!  My grandsons pressing apples they picked with Aunt Mo and Uncle Chris - they had a blast!
This recipe offers itself up to so many possibilites!  I think you could add all different kinds of liquid to help flavor it.  I did the apple cider but you could try some orange juice.  And instead of maple syrup for flavoring, how about a nice rum?  just a splash....

Anyway, this came out a huge success and my husband now has a new favorite soup!  I have plenty more Butternut Squash and lots of other vegetables to throw in the mix, so I know it will be in our bowls many more times this winter.  Here it is, our version of a classic ;)

SERENITY FARMS SQUASH SOUP
My own adaptation after studying several different blogs and recipes, using what I had on hand and seasonings we are partial to

1 whole garlic bulb, roasted

1 medium butternut sqush, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks*

1 large potato, peeled and diced (I used a freshly dug and scrubbed Kennebec potato from my brother’s garden. I’ll bet a Yukon Gold would be nice, too, or even a sweet potato)

2 large carrots, (also freshly dug and scrubbed from my brother’s garden!) cut into chunks

1 large yellow onion, chopped (you guessed it, this came from my brother’s garden, too)

1 stalk celery, including the leaves (this was from my garden)

3 Tbsp butter

3 cups water (I added half a cup cider to ours, so a total of 3 1/2 cups liquid…I happened to have on hand some that was freshly pressed by my brother-in-law and my grandsons. Yummy)

1 14-1/2 oz. Can chicken broth (I used the low sodium kind) I think you could substitute vegetable broth

1 ½ tsp kosher salt, ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp each ground allspice, ground nutmeg, ground cloves

½ cup cream, half and half or evaporated milk

Maple syrup

Crumbled feta cheese (hey, Kimberly has a great tutorial on her blog for making a Farmers Cheese that would be delicious here!)

* If you find it a hassle to peel the squash, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be just as easy to go ahead and roast your squash (or do it in the microwave, if that is how you prepare it), scoop it out of the skin and add the cooked squash to the already sautéed vegetables. In fact, now I am thinking that maybe roasting all of the vegetables and then making them into the soup would add a whole other depth of flavor to the finished product. And oh my, what about adding parsnips to the mix?!?

If you don’t already know how to roast garlic, here is the simple way I do it. Don’t peel or separate the cloves, but do take off the papery outer skin and cut just the top off the garlic bulb. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap it up in heavy duty foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or till softened. Have this in the oven while you are preparing the rest of the vegetables for the soup, and let it cool a bit before you have to handle it.

In a large soup pan, Dutch oven or something similar sauté the squash, potato, carrots, onion and celery in the butter until crisp-tender. Add the water, broth, salt and pepper and spices to the vegetables then squeeze the softened garlic into the mixture. Bring it all to a boil then reduce the heat; cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or till vegetables are tender. Cool slightly.

Using an immersion blender or a food processor, blend into a thick and creamy soup (be careful, the soup is hot!).  At this point, return to the pot and add the cream or milk and maple syrup and allow to heat through. I think I only used two or three tablespoons of syrup for this amount of soup, just enough to sweeten and add that earthly flavor (we like the darker maple syrup). If you don’t want to add cream and maple syrup, don’t. The soup was fine before I added those, but then these two things just took it to the next level - over the top, at least in my opinion.

Ladle your soup into bowls or mugs and top with some crumbled feta cheese (again, a matter of preference. If you don’t like feta cheese, don’t add it!)

Oh, and I didn’t puree the soup until it was entirely thin – it certainly wasn’t runny or anything, and we definitely didn’t feel like we were eating baby food (a complaint I read about a lot of recipes) On the contrary, my husband and I just looked at each other in delight and kept eating. In fact, we finished off most of the pot for supper then each had another soup mug full before bed!  This is destined to become a regular at our table.

If you give my version a try, would you let me know how you like it?  Next up for my soup experiment is a Sausage and Pasta Stew, with lots of good things like tomatoes, peppers (I have a lot of peppers right now) and Italian sausage (made from our own lamb)  I'll certainly let you know how it goes ;)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Not Just Our Yarns

Even though there is nothing that compares to knitting with yarn I have spun myself, from wool grown here at the farm from our own sheep, sometimes we do knit with commercial wool yarn (and yes, even when it is purchased yarn it is nearly always wool)  For example, this pair of purple Railroad Rib socks is made from Cascade 220 wool - a favorite (as is anything from the folks at Brown Sheep company)

Sometimes I am drawn to wildly colored yarn, like the Trekking brand I am using in this pair of socks in progress:

At least I think this is Trekking yarn.  It was a gift and now I can't find the ball band that would tell me for sure ;(  Anyway, the colorway is a perfect compliment to the bucketful of cherry tomatoes, don't you agree?  The pattern is a great one, too, called Honey Badger.  Not boring at all and works well with the colorful sock yarn. 

Sock yarns are nice for other small projects, too.


My daughter is a fantastic knitter - her skills far surpass mine and I couldn't be more proud of her!  She recently made the shawlette pictured above, it is one of Rosemary Hill's designs called Live Oak Shawlette, from one skein of Plymouth sock yarn.  Here is a closeup of the edging:


And another one of the entire shawl, looking like it is going to take flight from the tree!

I don't always like these types of yarn for lace patterns, but this subtle blend of blues worked out really nice.  She made it as a gift for someone special.

Not all of the wool yarn that I purchase is exactly commercial.  I like to buy yarn from other farmers/shepherds, and one of my favorites is a Michigan family farm, my friends Lona and Mike at Shady Side Farm.  The project below is from a few years ago, but I loved using their yarn.  I got another skein after that (actually while on a farm tour of their place!) of natural white and also one of mixed blues and greens.

The pink and grey skeins are yarn from our sheep, the speckled skein is from Shady Side Farm, fellow Michigan farmers
So even if you don't raise sheep and spin your own yarns, there are tons of great choices available to knit and crochet with.  Even though my sheep don't think I should ever use anything but the wool they provide me with!

I think Ted is sticking out his tongue at commercial yarn, LOL!
Hope you find time to enjoy some yarn of any kind today ;)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

When Cold Winds Blow

What a comfort it is to have warm, handspun wool socks to slip on our feet...

Hard working, handspun wool socks - and yes, that might just be manure on my pant leg! Why do you ask?  LOL...
On our hands....



Fingerless mitts are so nice this time of year!
On our head.....


And over our shoulders to chase away the chill....

A warm, rustic shawl in progress
Are you wearing your wool today?  The Corriedale sheep say "We are!"

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Gradual Change

Gradually we change, just like the autumn leaves
Thank you, everyone, who sent us your kindness and prayers either via the internet, phone or in person as we let go of one piece of our lives.  We can never, ever tell you how much it meant to us!  The sale is behind us now (and let me tell you, that was a very surreal experience - at least it was for me) and while we wait on paper work and transfers, etc. we gradually adjust and move on.  Move forward, I hope!

The sheep, their pasture, third cutting hay and beyond that a beautiful red maple tree and blue October sky!
As we sat on the back porch, looking out at this lovely view that we still enjoy, I said to my husband "Why don't we just imagine that we are a newly married, newly retired, newly somthing couple just coming to this farm and the acreaage we have left and make plans for it according to how we are farming now?  What would suit our program best?"  Its rather an exciting thought! 

When he moved here fresh from college many years ago, starting his career and raising horses and a family, he needed it to be one way.  Nearly twenty years ago when he married me, retired from his business and began farming and driving horses full time, he needed it to be another way.  Then when he became disabled, we sold all of the horses, I started staying home full time and we began raising sheep full time - well, now we need things to be changed again!  We have been functioning basically as a horse farm that had sheep on it (before the horses, this barn had been a dairy...then a sheep....then a horse barn again! Some things go full circle, don't they?)  Now we need to consolidate, rejuvinate and relocate things to make it more practical and more functional for what we are doing today.   Smaller, but (hopefully) more efficient ;)

Sheep following me to pasture
Won't you follow along and see how we do?  We'd love for you to join us!