Schoonover Farm Blog

We have had a stretch of cold weather, the first this season.  The beagle is hanging out inside even more than usual.

I have a new rooster friend.  He likes to greet me in the feed shed each morning after I open the barn up.  It’s fun to have him around.  I will probably need to name him.

With the morning frost, there is an emphasis on certain things.  This includes the sheep’s wool that has been scratched onto our Christmas tree.

We still have rodents and rabbits about despite the cold.  Ryeleigh had just been howling at a scent trail so I tried to capture it on video.  Of course, she stopped as soon as I got my phone out.

In the green house, I still have tomato and pepper plants alive.  That just seems weird in January.  I did harvest one small tomato and 2 small peppers this week.  It shows how mild our weather has been until this point.

There are also quite a few plants still in the garden that are harvestable.  Small broccoli florets, cabbage, kale, turnips, collard greens, carrots and onions are still around and edible.  We usually have some carrots and turnips this time of year but not the others.

I am not sure I have blogged about it, but I do make gravestones for our decreased farm animals.  This is Fidalgo’s.  I have learned over time which paints last longer on the stones.  I try to match the paint colors to those of the animal.

It is pruning time.  This weather means we do not need to prune in the rain, but it is hard to see when the sunshine is in your eyes.  We are making a little progress.  It makes me thinking of the pruning day we had 2 years ago now, and I smile.

Wally was quite involved in our pruning on Tuesday.  She kept leaping into Tom’s arms for petting which heeds progress.

I picked up some batts from Skagit Woolen Works.  There are two bags from my Shetland sheep and one bag from wool I purchased at Wonderful Woolies Fleece and Fiber sale at Rocky Long’s Little Orchard Farm.  Now I have some backing to make more felted fleece rugs.

I took a photo of Tom in his favorite spot.  He likes to peruse his laptop here.  The lemon tree he got me for Christmas seems to be happy in the front window.

I keep looking at the cows, deciding if they are pregnant or not.  I thought they did, but it is not really showing in the photo.

Our peacock was looking pretty in the sunshine this morning.

And I thought these sheep looked nice too.  I especially love Priscilla’s face.

So that is what is happening on our frosty farm.

The sheep and goats have pretty much decimated our Christmas tree.  Priscilla is still nibbling on it.

Last Sunday I was able to work on my sheep tribute scarf while watching football which is just about perfect for me.

The glass rain gauge tube broke at the end of December.  I was having a hard time finding a replacement.  But finally I was able to find one and replaced it in grampa’s rain gauge on Tuesday.  Part of my difficulty is because I am still boycotting Amazon.

Last night (Friday), Tom and I went to Bellingham to see Scott Losse.  He is a comedian from Burien, and it was so nice to laugh again.

This morning I was able to get the last of the bands from the chickens’ legs.  The last two were on a Ancona hen and a hen out of our Fluffy, a strong-willed bantam hen we have.  Both were very difficult to catch, but I finally was able to by cornering them in the old pheasant pen (which they cannot fly out of) and our large fishing net.  So that chore is over, and I will not be using bands anymore unless forced to for some reason.

This morning was cold and frosty.  I was able to get relatively close to this GBH enjoying the sun.

The cows seemed to enjoy it too.  They are not looking very pregnant in this photo.  Hopefully they are.

This afternoon we watched the lifestream tribute from San Francisco for Bob Weir.  It ended with a rendition of Ripple.  It was really nice but made me cry a lot.

Then this evening we are rooting for the Seahawks!  So far, so good.  I am sure our Seahawks light is helping them.

Go Hawks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!