A favorite past time of mine is reading and learning about farm animals.  There is an endless supply of knowledgeable people who are willing to educate and inform.  As a part of the animal loving community, I also like to share information.

     The story of my cashmere herd spans several states and includes the Eastern Appalachian Mountains.  When I did an internet search for that breed, I found a family in the South Mountains of Maryland who where willing to part with a pregnant doe and a young wether. I had somewhat of a romantic attachment to the South Mountains and so of course was delighted to visit there for a second time to purchase my new goats.

      Let me rewind to about six months before that event and share the history that is part of the Appalachian Souh Mountains.  On a visit to Gettysburg Pennsylvania my husband, son and I were surprised to learn that we could not get a reservation at our favorite hotel. We decided to look about thirty minutes outside of Gettysburg in the town of Wayneboro and found the history (and mystery) of that area of Pennsylvania very fascinating.

     Wayneboro is about  30  minutes north of the Mason Dixon line. It was an integral part of the Civil War no doubt in part because of its proximity to Gettysburg.  During the war, it became an escape route for run away slaves. That is the route we self guided ourselves on in which we fell in love with the area and the South Mountains.

     The three hour tour allowed us to imagine what life would have looked like in this area 157 years ago.  Time diminished the farmhouses and barns that housed those hiding from the war and slavery but left behind the remnants through placards and cornfields. So through the cornfields we ran, my son the runaway slave and me the bounty hunter imaganing the fear and anxiety of the life of a slave.

     Our tour ended at Caledonia State Park where Thaddeus Stevens built and managed the local Iron Works.  The site remains are located on a part of the Appalachian Trail that is well travelled by hikers and those enjoying a piece of history.  We learned that in a local town of colored workers for the Iron Works, slaves stayed and blended to hide from anyone searching with plans to return them to their former life.


     Most importantly, our family learned to overcome obstacles, (this time those obstacles where of the traveling nature) make due with what was available to us and most important use our imagination and enjoy each other.
   
   

This is the butter making lesson that I do with 3 & 4 year olds.  Definitely can be used on children of any age that has never churned butter.

Supplies:

 

Bowl of milk set out of fridge for two nights, covered. A warm place works well.

Heavy cream

Small Jars (baby jars work well)

Pictures of animals (list below)

Pictures of food (list below)

Plastic glove

2 TBSP milk

Water

Slotted Spoon

Crackers

First get them focused and interested by playing a "game"

"What is your favorite animal"?  Let them answer one at a time ( laugh and have fun)

"Lets play an animal game".

Put a picture of several animals on the table and name them together with the kids.  ( I never tell them they are wrong but I gently correct them by suggestion)

"What is your favorite food"?  Let them answer one at a time (laugh and have fun)

Put  pictures of food on the table and name them together with the kids.

One at a time, let them choose one food item and match it to the animal. Here is a suggested list:

sheep

cow

goat

chicken

duck

butter

cheese

glass of milk

eggs

chicken fingers

Use real food instead of pictures for extra fun :)

After you play the game tell them that today you are going to show them how to make butter. 

Ask "Which animal does butter come from"? for reinforcement. Tell the children that many years ago or when their grandparents where children, the job of butter churning was theirs. It was very time consuming and parents had other chores to attend to.

"Before you make butter you have to get the milk from the animal".  (You can use a plastic glove filled with water and a little milk for color.  Put a pinhole in the tip of the fingers and gently squeeze milk into a pail)

 

 

 

 

"Next you have to clean the milk". (Put a piece of cheese cloth or other cloth and place it over a mason jar. Pour the milk through to clean it of debris)

"Now put the clean milk in a bowl".  Explain that the milk would sit overnight with a cover on it so the heavier cream can come to the top. 

Put the bowl in a safe place.

Bring out the bowl that you had set out two nights before.

Show the kids the thicker cream on the top.  Might be just a film but that is o.k.

Show the kids how to gently skim the film with the slotted spoon and put the cream in a jar.

After everyone has had a chance to skim some cream.  Look at the contents of the jar and talk about how it is different from the milk in the bowl.  Some words you can use thicker, thinner.  Smell it. Touch it.

Now that you have cream you can pass out a small jar (baby jar works well) with a little heavy cream bought from the store in each jar.  Have the kids shake the jar until it coagulates into butter.  As they shake the jar, tell them when kids used to make butter on the farm, they would chant "Come butter come, Come butter come, Peter stands at the gate waiting for his butter cake"  Churning butter took many hours and the song helped the time pass.

When the butter is done - eat on crackers. 

 

Have Fun and Enjoy!

A Ball of Yarn

     For five years I avoided eye contact with the spinning wheel.  The purchase was made lovingly by my husband with good intentions and visions of colorful fiber.  Reality set in shortly after we brought it home.  I thought it looked better as home décor instead of a useful tool.  In the back of my mind I knew I had to tackle that spinning wheel eventually.  It just felt too intimidating. And taking care of the sheep was much more fun.

     As the mountains of wool stacked up however, I realized the time had come. Plunging in (not very eagerly), I took a spinning class, asked tons of questions and set to the task.  It took one very kind and patient fellow shepherdess to finally make the process click.  After I understood, I never looked back.


   With the amount of fleece to choose from I decided on a champion  ewe named Jellyby.  Her color is Red and White Bioget.  Although being partial to  her two tone color, I decided to dye her wool with black walnuts.

                                   

                                          


      I employed my son to harvest buckets of black walnuts.  He was a little distracted with pine cones but we finally filled a couple of buckets and boiled the rich, dark brown color from the walnuts for an hour. 

                       

      After soaking the wool in clear water to better accept the dye, I put the wet wool into the walnut dye and simmered for an hour.  I wanted a rich color so I left the wool overnight in the pot.

     After a gentle wring I set the wool outside to dry.  The final product was a beautiful fawn and deep brown variegated wool.  After carding,  it was ready to spin.  I choose to do a thin spin and a two ply weight perfect for a pair of mittens or scarf.  I can't say it wasn't time consuming, but the rewards are tremendous.  A true testament to buy and live local.

                                          

                                      Inspired by nature. The yarn is on the lace at the left :)




    

Name the spring babies contest!

Welcome our Spring Ram and Ewe

  Name the babies contest

Our little black ram was born to Nancy on the evening of March 19

Weighing in at 2 lbs he loves his mama.  Notice the little white patch on his forehead.

Mother Clara gave birth to this adorable ewe in the wee morning of March 20.  She loves to sleep and eat.

Join the fun and name the babies!  Submissions due by April 30, 2015 to lydiafrancis21@yahoo.com.  Put "submissions" in the subject line.  If your name is chosen you will win handcrafted soap made from our herd of Alpine goats.

Felting Wool in Winter

Shepherd's tutorial on felting goat soap with shetland wool.

A final product.  To order felted goat milk soap call 609.724.5147 or email lydiafrancis21@yahoo.com

Of Kids and Vaccinations

     It's that time of year again. Our baby goat is ready for his 3 - 5 week C D and T (overeating

disease and tetanus) vaccination.  The vaccine is administerd sub - Q (under the skin). Watch as

Jonathan gives a tutorial on the process of administering the vaccine.  Listen carefully for the

 creative way he manage's  an active kid.

     After his shot, Prince Albert went back to the barn and snuggled with Mary.  He will be

ready for a booster in one month.

     Instead of throwing away the remainder of the vaccination, we decided to go ahead and

vaccinate the pregnant does.  This is done about one month before freshening (birth) and since

they are due in about 4 - 6 weeks it seemed the thing to do.  After their shots they did not snuggle

however.  They continued eating like nothing ever happened :)

Snow Quiet

     It was snow quiet as I trudged a five gallon pail of water to the sheep pasture.  The snow absorbed the sounds of nature and early morning farm activity.  My footsteps sounded hollow in the crust topped snow.  The sheep waited patiently for their early morning drink to quench their thirst.  

     After taking care of the sheep, I decided to enjoy the cold, quiet morning and go for a walk.  I was curious to see if any animals from the wild had come to the pasture perimeter during the night.  This is rather easy to do because what cannot be proven in the summer grass, the snow gives away.  

     The first sign of animal activity was a rather large print.

     These prints circled a bush at the bottom of a hill behind the pasture.  They are from the canine family and could possibly be a coyote.  Not very good company for the sheep!  The coyote seemed to initially  be following a racoon.  He did not travel far however, gave up and wandered in the direction of the creek.

     While the coyote wandered off to the west, the raccoon went farther into the meadow towards the east.  His solitary footsteps where soon interrupted by a fox.

     Naturally the fox was chasing a rabbit.

     And the rabbit ran for safety into a thicket.

     If you look closely, you can follow the rabbit's tracks into the bush.

     Animal tracks tell a powerful story about the world around us and also in our own backyards.

Even the deer who came afterwards will know who was in his playground before him.