A Different Project - "New" Wagon

Local Sawmill - Lyons Hardwoods

We've been hauling a lot of firewood around for the last 2 years and we've borrowed a wagon from our neighbor a couple of times.  Said neighbor decided that we needed our own heavy duty wagon, so he built one for us this winter.   It is a limited edition 001 of 001 for 2012 and his name is on the tongue with a weld bead!  :)  It's mostly salvaged parts & a used running gear, but it 's pretty cool.  We painted the frame green & then had to get rough cut lumber to make the box. 
Here's what the equipment at our local sawmill looks like in the winter ..... this is the "de-barker" below.

Waiting for Spring!

We got rough cut oak boards from their prime stash stacked in the mill & loaded them on our trailer.  Talk about heavy!  While we were there to pick up the lumber, a young couple stopped in for firewood.  The mill has racks of firewood - unfortunately the seasoned wood is sold out - and racks of slabwood for sale.  Nothing goes to waste. 

Lyons Hardwoods - Slabwood Stacked & Banded For Sale

Barnyard In January Snow

Wild Rose Farm Ram #402 Back In The Ram Pen!

We've had some cold weather & snow this week ..... temps down to the single digits.  The sheep don't really mind since they're well insulated!   The big ram is back in the ram pen behind the barn.  He has the lambs on one side for company and Glenda the donkey has access to shelter & hay on the other side of his pen.

Lambs In The Snow .....

The lambs are a little frisky when the weather is cold.  Most of their time is spent eating and chewing their cud ..... or running into a corner to avoid this photographer!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ewe Lamb

Name That Hawk ......

Wild Rose Farm - Broad-winged Hawk?

We spotted an unusual "bird" perched in the locust tree yesterday, so I went out and took a couple of pictures.  It flew towards the spruce tree & settled in above where we have our bird feeders .....
Mr. Wild Rose Farm tells me that there's a pile of feathers behind the tree on the driveway.  Looks like the hawk found it's own "bird feeder".  Anyway, the best guess we have is that it's a Broad-winged Hawk.  The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds says that it winters in tropical South America ...... perhaps it's a juvenile and doesn't read yet. 
Anyone out there who can confirm?   It did have a very thin whistle cry, not what I expected from a hawk.

Wild Rose Farm Winter Activities!

Wild Rose Farm Ewes Leaving The Barn

There's really not a lot going on with the sheep at this time of year .... we just removed the big Rambouillet ram from the ewes & put in a young Dorset x Rambouillet ram.  He is a "clean-up" ram in case anyone didn't get bred.  A lot of farmers do that as insurance in the event that some unknown problem occured with a ram settling his ewes.   We've never had a problem, but it pays to be safe! 
After spending breeding season in the barn with the lambs, llama Lisa was sent back out with the ewes.  Somestimes a ram will bother a llama & sometimes a llama will get in the way of the ram breeding process, so we separate them.  Lisa was scampering around, just happy to be free & out of the small barnyard.
Couldn't upload a picture when I put up this post the first time. Found this on Google "known issues".  Sheesh !!!
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Looking At Lambs

Wild Rose Farm Lambs

It's time to look over the lambs and decide which ones are "keepers" at Wild Rose Farm. 
We have 2 triplet ewe lambs - one is a Rambouillet & one is a x-bred - and both of them will probably be keepers.  
We've got some nice lambs and there are plenty of twins to pick from as we sort through them. 
Now that we've looked at them, we'll sort through the lambing notes and see which of the other ewe lambs we'd like to keep.
The rain held off today until late in the afternoon, so we got the chore of working with the lambs done long before the heavy rains hit .....
After sorting through the lambs, we headed over to Old Economy Village for the "Christmas In The Village" weekend program. 
Wild Rose Farm was set up as a vendor this weekend with our naturally dyed yarns, combed top, & woolen products.   Several skeins of yarn and several bags of combed top are going to find their way under the Christmas tree as gifts for knitters & spinners.

Wild Rose Farm At Old Economy Village

Riverwood Trading Company - Small Osage Orange Spoons Lower Center

 We were set up next to Riverwood Trading Company and were impressed with their treenware spoons.  We just had to buy one of their primitive spoons AND an Osage Orange spoon.  You can see the yellow wood of the Osage Orange ..... it matches the yarn in the center of the picture above, which is dyed with Osage Orange sawdust! 

Ram In At Wild Rose Farm!

Wild Rose Farm Rambouillet Ram - Ewes #37 and #329

Yesterday was the big day at Wild Rose Farm.  We put the ram in with the ewes to start our breeding season.  We start later than a lot of folks.  That way our lambs are born when it's warmer in late April/early May.   As usual, we start by putting the breeding harness with a marking crayon on the ram.   Then we go through all of the ewes checking their hooves & trimming a few when needed. 

#411 Has Some Hooves That Need To Be Trimmed!

We also spray their ear tag number on their right hip so it's easier to tell from a distance which ewes have been marked by the ram.  After about 2 hours, the ram had "marked" 3 ewes.  By evening he was up to 4 ewes marked & 3 more were marked today.  On some days, none of the ewes will be in a heat cycle and he won't mark any ..... of course that doesn't mean he isn't constantly walking through the group & checking! 

Wild Rose Farm Ram Working!

If you have sheep, you recognize the look and posture of a working ram in the picture above!  You can also see the green crayon marks on two of the ewes.
I'm glad we got this done yesterday while it was in the 50's, even though we had a few moments of a misty drizzle in the air.  We had snow flurries overnight & it was much colder today. 

Lucky Turkeys Post Thanksgiving!

Wild Rose Farm Wild Turkeys

This group of turkeys hadn't been seen for the last week or so around Wild Rose Farm.  Do you suspect that they were hiding out?  I guess it's safe to come out now .... 
To take a picture, you have to sort of sneak up on them, so I went behind around the driveway and then used the barn to block my approach. 

Turkeys Moving Off Downhill

Of course, the lambs had to behave stupidly & the turkeys started to move off over the hillside once they saw motion.  Look at Lisa's ears ..... the goofy lambs even annoyed her!

Goofy Lambs Racing Away!