Ewe Turn

Hello again! It’s Nanoo Nanoo here with the ovine perspective. I have been off the grid for a good bit of time. I have not been able to make an internet connection for so long! The only time we could make our wifi connection was in the evening when we were in the barn. We did not dare try that because the old bearded shepherd guy might have discovered us using his computer. For a long time the old grump had us spending our daylight hours in the place they call the Pasture #4 (we know it as “the Rock Garden”). That is where he feeds us those huge bales of hay when our pastures stop growing in a drought. It is also in a low hollow and it is a wifi dead zone. When it finally started to rain in August our pastures began to grow again. So where does the old guy send us? Way out in the big hay field. It is also in a low spot. Even if it was not in a hollow, Queso and I figure that it is so far from the barn that we would never get our secret wifi connection to work. Only now have we gotten close enough to the other barn where the shepherd guy and the nice lady live that we could get online without him knowing!

The field to which he sent us is where he harvests the hay we get to eat during the winter months. We usually get to graze there only one time each year, usually in late summer when he does not need to cut it for baled hay. It is really kind of exciting to be there. The Sandhill Cranes often visit us there in the early morning. Occasionally a coyote will pass by (we just try to keep quiet when that happens). Just yesterday a Canada Goose dropped in and spent the entire day with us. That was really cool! She showed us how to stay out of the way if the bearded guy drives by on his tractor. She just took off and flew over us and the electric fence. We ran along to watch but had to stop at the fence. We hoped that she would be there today to teach us how to fly. It would be so much easier to get to the pasture in the morning for breakfast. In the evening we could just sail back to the barn and forget about all those dumb raceways the old guy builds for us. Unfortunately our goosie friend was gone this more so I guess the lessons will have to wait.

Actually, we figure that where we were is really pretty close to the end of the earth (at least in that direction). Just beyond the edge of the field is a thick line of trees that you cannot see past. None of us have ever been that far, so we are pretty sure that no one can go much farther.

The edge of the world is just over to the right a bit.

My grand daughter Wascal and her buddy Wallflower left the flock while we were out there on the extreme edge of the hay field. The nice lady told us they went to a new home in a place called Eagle and that they were going to be very happy there.  We figure that Eagle must be in a different direction, probably off beyond the swamp where the Cardinal flowers grow.

All this talk of going to the edge of the earth reminds me that it is an anniversary this month. The cat called Pussa arrived on the farm four years ago this month. In the flock we do not usually have much use for cats. The ones that usually show up around here are always so high strung and spooky. They always end up scaring the sheep buttons out of us. Pussa is different; she understands that we do not like flighty, fidgety animals in our barn. So even though she is not ovine we let her stay. In fact, her first winter here she spent with us. We let her snuggle up to our warm fleeces in exchange for removing a mouse or two every night.

Pussa has never really said where she came from. The old bearded shepherd guy says that someone just dumped her here, like they seem to do every fall. He may be right, but we have a different theory. The shepherd guy rarely leaves us, but four years ago he returned to Denmark for a couple weeks after many years absence. It was shortly after his return that the cat showed up here. Since she has a common Danish cat name we, with our superior ovine intellect, have deduced that she must have stowed away in the shepherd’s luggage. Of course we are not too sure where exactly Denmark is located. Our best guess is that it is in the opposite direction from the big hay field we were just in. In all likelihood it is just beyond the woods across the road from us. That is where the cranes always seem to fly to, so it must be at the opposite end of the earth. We try talking to Pussa about all this, but when we do she just clams up or starts talking in some strange tongue. (We figure it must be Danish!) We do not try to press her too much about this. She is a good friend, but she is definitely not sheep-like. She now has finagled her way into the place they call “the house”. That is why she rarely spend the nights with us any longer, but we do not hold it against her. At least this way we can learn a bit more about what goes on up there, since none of us (except for Hope) has ever been there. Regardless of where you came from Pussa, we are glad that you have decided to stay here all this time.

It is amazing the difference that a couple of inches of rain can make. It renews the soil and hence the plant life. It cleans up a dusty world. It brightens the soul and the humor, both for humans and sheep.

Over much of June and all of July we received very small doses of rain. The result has been a virtual stoppage of any pasture re-growth, a reduced volume of first crop hay and no second cutting of hay. The vegetable garden seemed to refuse to grow, despite liberal amounts of irrigation. Our humor started to flag. Perhaps the only factor that seemed to soften the dryness was that it has also been unseasonably cool.  The most dramatic effect was the loss of any grazable pastures for the sheep. Two weeks ago we were forced to import a semitrailer load of large square bales of nice hay. The day after the hay’s arrival we began feeding it to the sheep. Each bale weighs between 800 and 900 pounds. To provide enough space (barely enough) for the flock to all get at the bales, requires feeding four bales at a time, with each bale surrounded by its own expandable feeder. The older adults have been here before and recognized immediately what was happening. We had no need to teach the lambs and younger ewes what was going on. They just followed their elders’ lead. Within 5 days the first four bales were gone. After setting out the next four bales we were settled into a what looked like a long and less than enjoyable experience. With a total of 51 bales we at least figured to be able to survive for a couple of months. If there was no rain in that time we would already be taking more drastic steps to survive.

Finally on the 3rd of August we received over an inch of rain and in the next week we enjoyed another 1.5+ inches.  It has been able to get the pastures to begin greening up, but it will still be a long while before they are again deep and lush. Hopefully we have turned the corner. The vegetable garden produced the most dramatic response. Tomatoes and peppers finally looked healthy and began to produce. Squash, melons and cucumbers that all refused to grow now seem to march across yards of the garden in a day. It is once again dangerous to walk too near the zucchini; one may get hit by a fast growing monster! The weather patterns this summer have produced strange harvest schedules. The cherry crop was a couple of weeks behind and the fresh pea harvest a month late. It was strange to be picking peas at the same time the cherries were ready for harvest. At least this year’s cherry crop is strong, compared to the virtual non-existent crop in 2008. Most times  I do not miss the work involved with growing our own cherry orchard. However, the first day or so of harvest is still exciting, even if it means picking from another orchard.

The vegetables soaking up the moisture

Life thus is still moving along at Whitefish Bay Farm. We continue to enjoy the guests who have chosen to stay with us. In July we had our first guest from New Hampshire. Since we opened the B&B we now have had visitors in the B&B from every state save for Wyoming. It is time that we offer a discount to our first Wyoming visitor so that we can complete the “collection”. We have also had guests from 31 foreign counties. Perhaps it is a sign of the economic times, but this is the first year since we opened the B&B in 1991 in which we have not had at least one foreign guest. We especially miss that experience!

In the Gallery we are currently in the midst of our second seasonal show. It features the photography of Dan Anderson and the fiber creations of Carol Rhoades.  Dan is one of the county’s most well known photographers. He works in both black and white and color. On display are works showcasing Door County farms and seasonal landscapes, as well as images from recent visits to Italy, Greece and the western USA. Carol is an extraordinarily gifted knitter and spinner. She contributes regularly to Spin-Off Magazine, is on the faculty at Siever’s School of Fiber Art and conducts spinning and knitting workshops throughout the US and Europe. Carol has created a series of hand spun, hand knit and beaded wrist warmers in natural fibers produced by sheep and angora goats raised in Door County. Each set of wrist warmers is an original pattern and design. For this show she has also created several hand spun, hand dyed and hand knit scarves.

Lastly, not to be out done by anyone, our colony of barn swallows is busily feeding their second brood of chicks for the year. The earliest of the new broods has just launched and it appears that the rest will be ready in the next week or two. It is a special treat to have the adults and the earlier chicks all flying over the pastures in the early morning, vocalizing their excitement for the day to come. They too seem to have a special appreciation for the recent rains.

No room at this inn

It is high time that I let the world know what has really been going on with the flock. The old bearded shepherd guy would have everyone think that he has been ever so busy, what with baling hay and such. But after all, it is what he is supposed to do. There is no need to give the guy any slack. (If you have not already surmised, this is Nanoo Nanoo writing. The world does need the ovine perspective!)

We have been quite  busy, which is why I have not had time to contribute more to the blog. What the old bearded guy forgets to tell everyone is that we have been harvesting hay nearly everyday since mid-May. We have now been through just about all of our regular pastures twice. We seem to be going through the pastures faster of late. It has not rained very much for the last four weeks. (I guess that we cannot blame that on the  old guy.) As a result, the pastures are just not growing anymore. We do not have as much to eat in the same area as earlier, so the old shepherd guy gives us larger areas to graze every day. I certainly do hope that we do not have to start eating that baled hay while we are on pasture (like we did in the last drought of a couple of years ago). It just does not compare to fresh green grass and clover. The old shepherd guy is not letting the rams out on pasture anymore. He says there is not enough for them. The same is true for the ram lambs. They took those eleven boys away from us as they were behaving a bit too much like their fathers. They are also relegated to eat baled hay in the barn. Rumor has it that they are still getting grain, unlike the rest of us.

In addition to harvesting forage, we are keeping up with our job of educating and entertaining the guests from the bed and breakfast. It is a difficult task but we are up to it. The bunch with the nice lady in the picture includes a couple from Milwaukee who we remember from previous visits and some new people from Arkansas. The picture is of a bunch of us showing off the wool under our jackets. We even are getting the lambs trained for duty. That is little Wizzbang, Tabitha’s daughter in the foreground, learning the ropes. She really has become quite the little “suck-up”. Shadow is getting scratched behind the ears while she shows of her fleece.

I think that just about all the lambs that are getting jackets now have them. (Wizzbang has hers.) The shepherds have not given out any more of them recently. By my count there are now 28 lambs wearing coats. That is good; that means they get to stay here! A lot of us adults are getting our jackets replaced. It is about time, since we have been growing lots of wool and those of us who had lambs are starting to fill out a bit after producing all that milk.

Puss Puss with her twins

(It is also about time for the lambs to learn that they cannot have a drink whenever they want it! Someone needs to tell Puss Puss to stop feeding those twins so much.) In anycase, it is nice to get roomier jackets, especially since they are cleaner than the old ones which now are soaked in lanolin.