Saturday, December 10, 2011...Farm Update Day Has Arrived...We’re Done!!!

Yes, we have accomplished our immediate goals on the farm for the 2011 year. Yesterday, we finished the south fence along the pond, so now the barn and its occupants and the ponds are completely surrounded by sound fencing, which will keep dogs, foxes and coyote out. It will also reduce the possibility of a rabid animal wandering into the farm area and attacking our livestock or fowl. We will be able to sit beside the pond and fish at night without wondering what type of animal is creeping up behind us. All in all, it is a good feeling to know the neighbor’s constantly wandering dog will never kill another of our animals and I will never have to kill their dog defending a sheep, alpaca or our ducks and chickens. Even when reported to the dog enforcement officer, they would do nothing. More of the small town politics! Don’t even go there.....
Anyway......we finished what we need to until spring, when we will dive into another year of build, build, build! We’ll do the farm store and a tool shed/welding facility in the spring and add fencing to the west yard where the temporary fencing now stands. We would have done that side now also, but Lowe’s raised the price of the landscape timbers from $1.95 each to $2.95 each and we we’re not paying an extra dollar per piece under that ol “seasonal item” excuse for gouging! Let Lowe’s trip over them until spring arrives and they drop the price again.
The generator is finished....on line and awaiting the first power outage, when it will burst to life and supply our power to hold us comfortably until the power company corrects the problem and returns power to us. It exercises every Monday at noon, so we can stop and make sure it is working properly. I love it!!! No more darkness in the middle of a storm... No more bucketing water from a pond...No more walking around in the dark trying to feed animals. No more worrying about us or our water freezing, or the basement flooding without the sump pump running. It’s great!!
I now have time to start building the planned line of fiber accessory things we will begin producing and selling in the farm store and on the internet. I will be making these things in the basement, using all the woodworking tools we previously bought throughout the summer, in anticipation of this time. I will be making drop spindles, swifts in several styles, combs, carding paddles, flicks and other wooden accessories to accent Vick’s fiber and yarns. I look forward to starting these ventures and expanding as we go. Once I perfect the process, we will start to market them on the internet. Below is a picture of the prototype yarn swift I just made for Vick. We will offer these on-line and in the farm store later.


So there you have it......Everything new and nothing exciting. The only thing really, really new is that I have to seriously look at getting my knees replaced.... Soon!
My Mother’s gift has approached rapidly....for I must use Ibuprofen daily and now have my very own prescription for Hydrocodone with Tylenol. The Cortisone shots are a relief......but only temporarily, so I guess it’s time to look and consider the old “chop em off and replace em” strategy. Others have done it and survived, so I guess I will too....or die in the process, but it needs to happen.




044595 Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm, LLC