Travis is unloading one of the Pomeranian Saddleback geese. These are not show geese, but locally bred and raised farm geese. They are valued for their quiet temperaments, so compared to the nasty Embden gander that lives on the farm, they will be a welcome addition. They are easily sexed too, which is a treat. The females have a grey head only and small grey saddle on their backs, while the males have grey heads and neck with the grey blending in to the more noticeable large grey saddle on their backs. Both sexes have blue eyes, not as bright blue as the Embden geese, but a very pretty blue. We have acquired a trio, two geese and gander of this breed. Next spring, they will be separated into pens, the Embdens, Pomeranian Saddlebacks, and the American Buffs, to breed true. There is no American Buff gander at present, so the Tufted Toulouse will have to take his place. He is quite a fancier of the Buff girls anyhow and I am sure would love the job. There are some pairs of Embdens, too, which will be kept for breeding, but the rest will be Thanksgiving dinner. Five babies were hatched by the American Buff goose, from her own eggs, but it appears that the mating was likely with the Embden gander. These will also be sold for meat geese. Unlike shoes and ladies, a farm can have too many geese!
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Yes, I did ask their permission to post this lovely picture. They were a group of people who were in town to attend a baby christening held at the Ukrainian Orthodox church. Baptizing a baby is an event that is noteworthy in the Orthodox religion and it is a cause for celebration. Because there were many guests and the grandparents home could not contain them all, the Fat Ewe Bed and Breakfast was fortunate enough to assist. We had a great time discussing many topics raised by the varied backgrounds of the guests. One beautiful young woman is a writer and travels frequently, plus she is a blogger too! The other attractive young lady is an elementary school teacher. The writer's father, not present for breakfast when this photo was snapped, is an airline pilot soon to retire and it was his very first time on a real working farm, to his delight. Real estate development is the occupation of one of the handsome young men and the other is in technology. With these varied backgrounds, the conversation took many turns and was interesting and intriguing, yet pleasant bantering was also shared between the good comrades . It was my distinct pleasure to have these guests this weekend and to enjoy their company and serving them and I would welcome a visit from them anytime in the future. The joy of meeting such diverse intelligent minds in my own home is why I run the bed and breakfast It has been just over 2 months since the porch was torn down and nothing has happened since. This is due to several factors. For one, the basement stairs, long hidden and closed in, were opened and then once opened, a discussion of whether to recreate and use that entrance or not ensued. It would have been best to open the stairs, however; the cost is prohibitive. Currently, the only entrance to the basement in the farmhouse, which has concrete foundation walls, but a dirt floor, is through a trap door in the second bedroom. Large items simply will not go down the stairs, but it is functional for storage, just the same. So, the lower stairwell got boarded up with pressure treated plywood and then the hole was once again closed in. Now the porch can progress and be rebuilt basically in the same footprint it once had. Travis, and two contractors, Bob and Dave, worked on the closing of the stairs today and then Travis used the skid steer to fill in the hole and level the ground. Tomorrow the forms for the footings will be placed and then hopefully the project will be completed by mid week. Yay! Barbie had 5 kittens, 3 males and 2 females. The females were rehomed quickly, but no one seems to want the males. So, the mother cat and the other female, Jane, were also rehomed and have gone to live on a different farm. The male kittens will be castrated when they are of age. Hopefully, the Fat Ewe Farm will no longer contribute to the overpopulation of cats in this area. The shelters are over full and still there are too many kittens. But, back to Jack! He is orange with a white tummy and is more adventurous than his other two brothers at this time. He often goes across the driveway to visit the rabbits and stays with them in their pen for a while, since he is still small enough to fit through the chain link. Jack likes to hid in and under things and today, the box was a favourite spot for him. He has got to be the cutest Jack in the Box I have ever seen, isn't he? Almost three months old, now, the Maremma brothers, Mike and Joe, are starting to explore more than their territory lately. They like to come out to the yard and hang out with the big dogs. At first Jenna and Jade would send them back home, but they tend to ignore them more now. The fence just has too many holes in it to keep them in, though a good gruff voice works at sending them home - for now. Hopefully soon they will be too big to fit through those holes in the fence and they will more readily accept staying with the sheep full time.
Jenna sleeping with her head on a 'pillow.'
Jade and Jenna are the Maremma puppies that came to the farm last winter. As it turns out, there were likely beaten and starved as young pups. When they were at the veterinarian's to be spayed, he said their age was at least 2 months older than I was told they were. Small for their breed and age then, it was suggested that they were not fed. I think they were fed, but the sheep ate the dog food leaving the pups to starve, so the pups ate grain and wool. They were like little wild things when they were here, scared to death of any human, especially men. Jenna still is and lately has been running from me too, even with food in my hands for her. The problem is that she is the low dog on the totem pole and last to eat, so if she doesn't eat when she is fed, chances are she won't get enough. With seven dogs at the farm, there is plenty to go around, but the old saying about a dog in a manger is some what true too. The other dogs will hoard the food and not allow her to have any if given a chance. Jenna barks a lot at night, which is what she is supposed to do, but she has not learned to discriminate and barks are any noise rather than real threats only. Her sister, Jade is the opposite, being dominant over Jenna and she is larger, but she has arthritis at a year old and walks with a limp sometimes. So does Harley, the 4 year old Maremma and he was not taken proper care of either. What gives with livestock guardian dog owners? Do they think these dogs will fend for themselves, do not need shelters and are impervious to bad diets? Grrrrrr! Jenna likes to sleep with a "pillow". She is pretty cute and is the only dog on the farm that smiles, but she also cowers with her tail between her legs, even though it is wagging. Poor Jenna. I want to help her, to make it all better for her, to make her confident and trusting. I love her and will work on this. In the meantime, Robbie is not hard on Jenna and the two are friends, but Jenna isolates herself to sleep away from the pack. The other 4 adult dogs can often be found near their summer houses, snoring away. Robbie can often be found on top, never sitting still too long. Ah, those dogs are amazing! Ancona ducks did not come to North America until the mid 1980's and are related to runner ducks and Dutch Hookbills. They lay a lot of eggs, similar to Khaki Campbells, but are so much calmer. The Campbells are absolutely crazy! Ancona ducks eat hoards of grass and bugs and are excellent free rangers. Being flightless, they stick close to home if they are provided with all they need. Although they enjoy large bodies of water, a simple pool will keep them happy if they can put their feet in and flap themselves wet. Besides all those good traits, they are really attractive ducks. Guinea hens are very interesting. They are much less bred than chickens, therefore have retained their natural instincts, unlike domestic chickens. They brood and rear their own young so that incubating eggs is not required. They forage very well and will practically feed themselves in summer if allowed. The one draw back is they have a very loud cry and will sound the alarm when anything is amiss on the farm. This can be both advantageous and problematic. Sometimes the guineas will alert the dogs and vice versa. Guineas also fly very well despite their somewhat larger size and they enjoy roosting in trees. Guinea eggs are tasty and the flesh of the birds is all dark meat. Welcome to the farm, Ancona ducks and Guinea hens. Sometimes, being surrounded by the beauty of nature and the joy of being with the animals, it is easy to forget the small things. Taking the time to sit on the new deck and enjoy a moment with an old friend over a glass of wine or beer should also be part of the day, well, maybe not every day, but now and again it should. We must remember to stop and enjoy all that is amazing on a day to day basis. Watching the young chicks grow and develop under their confident mother's tutelage, or noticing the new adult feathers on the goslings that seemed hatched just yesterday is wonderful, but stopping in mid gait and being still is also important. Just being. Just there with the critters and a good friend. I won't make it so easy to forget to take that moment in the future. What a breath taking instant it was when the young swallows, anxious to leave their home in the barn, sat on the edge of eternity and took that moment. Ah. Perfection. It is true that the weather is changing world wide. Much of the USA is too hot and burning up and even parts of Canada are unseasonably warm, like the west coast for example. But here , in north eastern Alberta, we have had quite a wet summer. I am not complaining mind you. The farm is a large sand hill and the water does not stick around long. The ducks were enjoying the rain immensely today and were swimming in one particularly large puddle. It is a wonder how they find the puddles when in this case, it was located at the farthest edge of their reach. Today we had three storms with a little intermittent sun. Two of the storms were thunder with intense lightning and buckets of rain, and the third, the last, also a thunder storm, did not produce the hail, but the rain was coming down in buckets. The forecast for the day was sunny all day, go figure. My plan was to continue building the fence and possibly work on the gates, however; the only real work that got accomplished were the chores in between the rain. The lakes, which had dried up terribly are now up to two feet higher in this region. This is wonderful since it was almost a drought for over twenty five years here. The trend continued last winter, which is not nearly so much fun, because the precipitation is in the form of snow, endless snow. Anyhow, it sure did rain today and the last storm is still rumbling in the distance while the rain falls, though not so hard as it did twenty minutes ago. I wish I had a garden this year! The patio at the bed and breakfast was dysfunctional and is now a deck. Over the next month some potted plants will be added and the new table and chairs will be set up tomorrow. My cousin, Dave, supervised while Travis did the majority of the work and I must say, it is a very sweet job! Thank you to the men! While they were busy doing the deck, I was busy doing the fence. Travis pounded the posts in last weekend with the rented post pounder and this weekend, I have started the fence. The gates sort of stump me though, not how to build them, but how to attach them since the posts are round. I would prefer to use the old fashioned hinges, the large two piece style, but one end would have to wrap the posts somehow. Perhaps there is a system that works for that. My other son, Spencer, and I were discussing this on the phone this evening and he said there is a type of hinge that circles the post and connects to the gate. I will have to look at options online, because here, they only buy what they know. At any rate, I am very very very pleased to have some of the summer projects being completed. Now, if the contractor would only show up to complete the porch started over a month ago. He said he would be along and he just does not come, though that is typical in this neck of the woods. Still, I feel pleased that some headway is made. Thank you . |
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AuthorFluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. Archives
October 2020
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