Merry Christmas!

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs

Merry Christmas from Wild Rose Farm!  Not much was going on here today.  The ewe lambs were enjoying the sun for a change.  No snow for Christmas here in Western PA.
The breeding ewes are doing well too.  One of them was limping badly earlier this week.  We caught her up & she had a stone caught between her toes.  There were no lasting effects & she's fine now.

Wood Piles

Unloading Cordwood

Clearing more ground for pastures yielded quite a bit of cordwood & rough cut lumber for siding.  The cordwood has been stored in the picnic shelter, the barn, & beneath a stand of pine trees under a tarp.  Now it's time to move it to house to be used.  Right now most of the wood is cherry & locust.  The cherry burns most of the time & the locust is used when we want to bank the fire.  We also had some nice cherry logs rough cut by a fellow with a portable band saw .... that wood is air drying with "sticks" between the boards to help keep them flat.  That's "sustainable" Wild Rose Farm.  The property had been timbered 10 years ago by the previous owner & now some of the trees are big enough for a limited timber harvest again.

Rough Cut Cherry

Sunny & Chilly

Wild Rose Farm Ewe Lambs

We had some sunshine early today and our ewe lambs were enjoying the cold weather & the sun.  We also had some snow flurries later in the day, but they didn't stick on the ground for long.   Here's Lisa looking at us this afternoon from the paddock behind the barn ..... she watches everything!

Wild Rose Farm Lisa

Not A Vendor This Time........

Belsnickle & Visitors

Restored Harmonist Natural History Museum

This is the first time in years that Wild Rose Farm was not a vendor at Christmas At The Village in Old Economy Village.  The event was back to 2 days, but a busy work schedule just didn't leave enough time to set up, spend 2 days, then pack up before leaving on business travel again on Monday.   So ....... we took advantage of being nearby to spend a few hours actually visiting the site!  When you're a vendor or demonstrator, you pretty much don't see anything except what is right next to you.
There were some new vendors with really great hand crafted stuff ...... crochet, wooden toys, redware ornaments & pottery, native plant art from Karen Sandorf Gallery, herbal products & antique clocks, & one of our favorites, the primitive wood carving below ..... complete with left-handed spatulas!  Note the "Please Touch" sign. 

Hand Carved Cherry Wood

Touring the grounds provided glimpses of how the Harmonists & people of that era lived .....

OEV Volunteers

Finally, on our way out, we were directed to the church built by the Harmony Society, now St. John's Lutheran Church, for a concert by the Old Economy Orchestra.  What a great building with wonderful acoustics, much like the 2nd floor of the Feast Hall.  Some of the music was original to the Harmony Society. 

St John's Lutheran Church Built By Harmonists

And last, but not least, we ran into our farmer friends, Marcy, Dale, & Nigel Tudor of Weatherbury Farm in Avella, PA.  Check out their web-site to see what they're up to ......

Striking Sunrise .....

Earliest Light

Here's was a really colorful Wild Rose Farm sunrise as seen through the branches of our locust tree, loaded with seed pods.  You should see how many pods are already on the ground!

Eastern Sky Brightens Up!

Ewe Lambs For Sale!

Good Year Blimp Heading Home

Just before the pictues of the lambs were taken, something caught our eye yesterday. We just got a shot in just before the Good Year Blimp disappeared behind the trees. We see blimps around here occasionally since we are on the flight path to Pittsburgh ..... it must have been around for the Pitt football game yesterday.

Ewe Lambs with #802 Upper Right

We have 2 twin registered Rambouillet ewe lambs for sale now at Wild Rose Farm.  This spring, the majority of our Rambouillet lambs were ram lambs ...... that's just how it goes sometimes!
The lambs are separated from the older ewes now that it's breeding season & the ram is out. Their babysitter is our old ewe #802 ..... no breeding for her, plus our current Rambouillet ram is actually her last lamb.