Thistle Cove Farm

March comes in like a lamb...

02:09, 2006-Mar-3 .. Link

March has come in like a lamb, for the most part. The first two days of March were warm and spring like but last night it turned blustery and cold. We had wind gusts of up to thirty miles an hour and a smattering of snow that felt like it was cast from the skies. No small, gentle snow fall this; it was absolutely hurled from the heavens. All my animals have shelter from the wind and everyone can get a break from the wind. That's so important as every degree it decreases from 59 F *and* with "something" (especially rain) coming down, the sheep and horses (horses especially) need extra food. The only way horses can generate body heat is by calorie absorption and the best way to get calories is to eat hay...not grain or corn or oats but hay.

I fed another round bale this morning and had to life two round bale feeders. One in order to encircle a new round bale and the other to make accessible the last flakes of the "old" round bale of hay so the horses could clean it up. That's heavy lifting, folks, and my back is screaming. Older age is grabbing me by the back and letting me know, with pain as my reward, when I've done something to aggreviate my blown discs. That, combined with the one thousand mile drive last week, has left me feeling like gorillas are dancing on my spine.

I've been trying to put some photos in my file and in my blog entries but with no success. I am such a low tech geek and it's so frustrating to input photos one day and not be successful another day. I think I was successful in putting Leslie on as a link to my blogger page. I'm over the moon when I have small successes but in case I'm not successful, you should see what she's up to at www.homesteadblogger.com/greenberryhouse/

I went to the feed store and took my Jack Russell with me; she gets to go about once a month as a treat. As soon as we enter the feed store I let her lead loose and she wanders around checking out everything. It used to be they would have dog treats for her but they seem to have forgotten recently. Anyway, this last visit my dog wanders around and then makes a beeline for a water trough in one area of the store. There are a couple of good ole boys sitting by the trough and one leans down and grabs the dogs' lead.

The ole feller looks at my dog and says, "no, I don't think you should even be thinking what you're thinking." I walk over to see what's the problem and there are a bunch of rabbits in the trough. They are ready for sale and are meat rabbits. Abbie is twitching in excitement, her tail is wagging and she's got her mouth open in anticipation. It's like shooting fish in a barrel and she's ready to do her part. Needless to say, we keep her on a short leash for the duration of our stay.

I had to pick up exchange one pair of hoof trimmers for another pair and had to buy some sheep de-wormer. The first pair of hoof trimmers were too big for my hand so I had to buy the smaller pair. James is coming over tomorrow to help me de-worm and trim sheep feet and I need to be ready. I think I've got an old back brace around here somewhere I can wear to give my back some extra protection. I hope so anyway. If I can't find my back brace we'll do other farm chores that are needing done. There are a couple of places on my fence that need shoring up and the electric wire needs attention. There's always work to be done on a farm.

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Covered Bridge Festival - June 17 (with Greenberry House), Woolwine, VA

Round the Mountain Conference - June 12, Abingtion, VA

Virginia Highlands Festival - July 29 & 30 (with Greenberry House), Abington, VA

Folk Life Program - Sept 17, Charlottesville, VA

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