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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

You say Ketchup

and I say catch-up!  I have a lot of that to do.  Thanks to my lovely sister holding down the farm and cleaning my house, I do have a leg-up on my next round of visitors.  I'm expecting one of the women who started me on my path to Icelandic-dom on Friday.  She and a friend will be staying with me and commuting to the Big E for the Fiber Festival of New England over the weekend.  Their farm is called Hearts Ease Farm and they raise lovely sheep.  It is so nice to be able to spend time with both or either of them!  (Their farm sitter was thrown from her horse and isn't up to the job yet, so only one will be coming.)  I have to pull out all the recipes I have been wanting to try out.  You stay at Chez Susan, you are a guinea pig!  Cripe, that sounds rather bad, doesn't it?

Given the early warning system snow we had, I also have to step up winter preparations.  I have two gates to build, one building to erect, hoses to drain, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  (I always think of Yul Brynner in the King and I when I hear that...)  I also have to finish some crafty-type things for the craft fair in town a week from Sunday.  Luckily, I am a little ahead in that venture.

Yesterday, when I went in to check the water and feed for the so-called chickens, I found...are you ready?...a pullet egg!  I am sure it's Dotty's, the little cutie.  That is one tiny egg in 12 days.  The worst record ever.  I am afraid it's time to think about downsizing.  With the price of feed going up almost monthly, I cannot afford that many pet chickens.  I'd like to get down to about 18 chickens or less.  And get out of the egg business.  I need eggs for trade, as they are as good as cash, but I don't want the pressure of having to deliver X-dozen every week.

Another exciting event - a call from the fiber mill telling me my yarn is done!  Woot!  They will be at the Fiber Fest this weekend, so I may ask my house guests to pick up my yarn when they're there - or press Kay into service, since she's planning on attending.

I am still trying to catch-up on my blog reading and answering.  And trying to decide among three apron patterns.  It's a tough choice.  I may have to make two.  Hahhahahahahahahaha.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your first pullet egg! That is something to celebrate. Wish our pullets would begin laying, but I think I'll be waiting for spring. Thank goodness for our ducks!

Have fun with all of your upcoming ventures! :)

judy said...

one of my favorite movies "The King And I"-YOU SOUND LIKE THERE WILL BE NO LOSE FOR COMPANIONSHIP

Sue said...

Nothing like an early snow to prod us into action. Good luck with all.
It's hard to "cull" some from the flock, but I guess that's part of it too.

Susan said...

MF - I had hoped for one a day but, alas, that is not happening. My ducks have quit laying, too. I am forlorn and eggless...;o)

Judy - No, it will be a full house. I enjoy their company and it's great to talk sheep for hours.

Sue - I think that's why I haven't been naming them. Except for Marie-Claire, that is.

Ruralmama said...

Good luck with all of your hard work ahead! It sure does get you going to have a good snow, doesn't it?

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I know what you mean about the egg business. I sell bread for a little pocket cash but it becomes a real pain in the ..... to HAVE to make x number of loaves a week when I could just be making a few here and there. Then you spend all day mixing, kneading, fire making, baking, just to find out a customer is "good this week" AHHHHHHHH! I cant wait to see your yarn :)

Candy C. said...

Busy, busy, busy! Ah, the life of a Farmgirl! ;-)
I'm usually a day behind on blog reading and answering myself! LOL!!

Mama Pea said...

Don't let your early snow push you into a panic. It will melt and you can go about the pre-winter chores you still need to do. (It WILL melt, won't it?)

Sounds like a fun weekend coming up. Like another mini-vacation!!

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Catch-up? What's that???? Every time I get a few things done, half a dozen MORE things pop up needing to be done!

Hope you have a great weekend.

Kayten said...

I've solved the problem of catching up by only doing the bare minimum as a matter of course.