Fleeces and Fence Posts

Morning

 Well hello Blog!  It's been awhile...how've you been?  Have you forgotten me?  No?  I'm glad to hear that!

Fleeces and fence posts ~ so much I'd love to catch you up on, happenings and every day routine things.  But I guess my farm life right now is dominated by these two things, fleeces and fences.

Some of you know that we sold our remaining farm ground back at the end of December, first of January.  What we have remaining now at this place is ten acres.  Old fences, pasture barriers, needed to be moved.  Because I wanted to save and re-use some of the woven wire and the cedar posts, this meant a bit of work!  I don't have farm equipment - at least nothing like a tractor or skid steer, and the farm truck has some tire issues.   So it was with a bucket and fencing tool, a hammer and a pair of pliers that I went to work!


A bittersweet job.  So many thoughts running through my head.  The passage of time.  The loss of the land (not really a loss, I guess, a conscious choice, but still - no longer ours).  A change in our lifestyle.  And remembering, as I dismantle this fence, being in this same spot at a different time, putting the fence up with my Dad, who's no longer with us.  I think about pausing from our work to sit on the tail gate of his truck - my truck now - to drink a cup of coffee.  Working in silence.  Admiring his efficiency and strength.  Still missing him terribly every day.

There's something, though, that's satisfying with this kind of work.  It also tests your

End of day

patience and endurance.  When my father put up fence, he intended it to last.  To stand up to livestock and wildlife, and weather and time.  So taking it down was really no easy task. But then again, now that I think of it, probably easier to take down a nice, strong and straight fence than one that is laying in the weeds or buried in the tree line.  Anyway, I cried more than a few times in the course of this job, trying to remember things Dad said or how he did it. Mad at myself when I did things wrong, proud if I got it right.  A few mishaps sent me to the house, crying to my husband, bless his heart!  At the end of the day, tired and discouraged, I poured us both a cup of coffee and asked him to just let me cry and vent my frustrations, which he did.  Then he called the neighbor and asked if they would bring their truck and pick up my rolls of newly dismantled fences from the pasture and bring them to the barn.  They did and I felt better.  The neighbor who bought the property came with his tractor and he and Alex pulled up the wooden fence posts. Friend and neighbor Caren came and hauled away wire we could no longer use.  Alex and Mark rolled up the big wire for us, as best they could (have you ever wrestled with used woven wire?)  

I'm glad that work is done. 

Kimber, a nice charcoal grey Corriedale with well defined, traditional crimp 

So in that time, as lambing finished, we also got shearing done.  As always, I'm slow to get the skirting done.  I like to do it myself and I like to take my time.  So there are fleeces available, I'm slowly getting pictures and prices.  If you are a blog reader who has spoken to me about reserving a fleece, will you please email me again?  I lost a lot of saved emails, so please contact me at serenityfarmswool@yahoo.com if you are interested in Corriedale or Corriedale-Bond fleece this year.   

I also received a lovely, large shipment in the post right in the middle of all of this work and excitement ~ I can't wait to share with you what that's all about, but I think I'll just save that news for its own post!  Thank you for sticking with me! Do any of you have stories or memories of working on the farm with your Dad or husband or someone special to you?  I'd love to hear!

Edited to add:  Although we are down to ten acres here at this place, we still have the Round House and Burnham Barn and Woods, along with about eight acres of hay at the Burnham Farm ;)