Vanessa's Tattoo

Finally, Vanessa got her tattoo. Probably most don't know, but she has wanted one for a few years now. What has held her back is not really knowing what tattoo, although she has always known she wanted her own design. At first it was going to be a stambecco in Italian or an alpine ibex in English, a beautiful animal that lives in the Alps and is an excellent rock climber. The reason for the stambecco/alpine ibex is because I love mountains, I love to hike/climb, and I especially love to trail run through mountains with lots or rocks where you kind of have to leap around.

Then it was going to be a newt to catch the meaning of Nature and its potential fragility from our own human hands since amphibians are very susceptible to pollution and loss of habitat.

Years went by, but it was always going to be an animal because I love animals, I find them fascinating, special, almost (or totally) spiritual and able to provide humans with a connection back to Nature... where after all we come from -- even if accounting for God there is Nature between God and us.

Then for just over a year or so, I have been reading about the fact that my interests and feelings of a spiritual connection with Nature might be well founded (i.e. not just typical Vanessa's craziness) and are very ancient; this brought me to neolithic Celtic culture or older, another interest and spiritual connection of mine. This in turn and brought me again to more realizations: the ancient Celtic origins of where I come from (i.e. Gallia Cisalpina), which I actually studied in school and guess what... managed to forget with my powerful ability to remember – not!

In any case, after an iteration of personal/spiritual growth/search, I have arrived to making my own design! The design does capture what I wanted: animals, specifically deers, for which I have always had even more special awe, the number 3, which carries many important meanings in ancient and Celtic cultures as well as in my life, and the circle or wheel, which again is a spiritual symbol throughout many ancient cultures.

So here's what I came up with... yes that is my leg or calf to be more precise.

I must explain the reason for the location: at first, at the time of the stambecco/alpine ibex I actually wanted to tattoo on my leg, but it was going to be the thigh; then at the time of the newt it was going to be exactly the same, the calf; then while creating my latest design it was going to be my lower arm. What changed you might ask? I guess you can call it something not very spiritual, but purely practical and related to today's world: work. Yes like everybody else I got to eat and have a roof over my head... so I got to work and make money and since the path I have chosen does not usually allow for tattoos to be visible the arm was not going to work; no way I am wearing long sleeves throughout the summer!

A Little Pictorial Catch-Up

Well, i had tis grand idea that each week i would create a new blog with a "catch-up" topic to summarize what has been happing at Stark Hollow Farm. But too much keeps happening and/or there is never enough time... or i am just lazy and/or cannot look at a computer in my "free" time off the paying job! In any case, i have given-in and that grand idea is not going to work. So below are a few photos to summarize the major highlights of what has been going on in the last few months.

PORTABLE SHEEP SHED (built by me w/ fallen wood from our land, left over PVC, and a tarp)


THE SHEEP HAY FEEDER (built by me w/ fallen wood from our land and scrap plywood/sheet metal)

with lid opened

BRINGING & STORING IN HAY


CHICKEN COOP PROGRESS
(not 100%, but good enough to use for now)



Please note that i am leaving for future posts my Mom's visit and the winter sheep shed.

Doggie Sitting

During the Thanksgiving holiday we have welcome again in our home Gorgeous, the brindle dog we looked after last year for a nice month or so. Gorgeous is approximately the same age as Oakley and as Oakley she's of the "Heinz 57 sauce" breed... a.k.a. a pure mutt. The best kind of domesticated wolf! Gorgeous and Oakley seem to like each other, they eat, play, eat, sleep, eat, snooze, eat, run around, eat, beg for human food, eat, play, and -- almost forgot -- eat together nicely. At first there is always a little jealousy on the part of Oakley, but it last less than 24-hrs and then it's all good... best partners in crime.

Gorgeous is well behaved like Oakley; she may venture around through the woods and hills, but does not usually strays far and comes right away when called. The other day as i was cleaning up around the sheep quarters in the wooded top pasture (i.e. it will become pasture), i called onto Gorgeous as i usually do when she's not under my eyesight, but this time she did not come back. Then i called again, then again, then again. Then i moved to the barn area and called onto Gorgeous again, then again, and again.... nothing still. Darn dog where could she have possibly gone!?! She's such a good beast... doesn't make sense, back to calling and calling.... nothing. Try howling, then howling more, then again howling... nothing. I almost lost my voice, but gave it another change calling the dog again and again... nothing. Then i gave up. Then right before the vet came by to check up on the sheep (they're all well and healthy) Gorgeous miraculously shows up; it's all good. I see Gorgeous in the distance playing with something, possibly a stick of wood or something like that. But the vet has just arrived and Gorgeous seem to be doing fine. The vet and i go to the sheep and the dogs remain outside the fence doing their own thing. When done with the sheep as the vet and I discuss billing, we both notice that Gorgeous' toy consists of some bone-like object with dangling pieces of meat and tendons -- i noted that we do not have bones kicking around on the homestead and she must have found something around. But looking at the fun Gorgeous was having trashing around bones, tendons, and meat, we couldn't resist and had to go take a look. Sure enough it was a deer leg... or whatever remained of it, which actually was a nice remainder sample with 3 full bones, meat, tendons, skin, hairs, and hoof even. Poor deer... at the very least it was already dead thanks to a hunter as we're in the thick of hunting season. In any case here's a photo taken after Gorgeous had already decimated half of the booty!

Pooty Tat Claws

Micio (pronounced meecho) joined Stark Hollow Farm as the resident barn cat employed to keep the mouse population at bay. So far he is doing a cat fabulous job. Unfortunately, the song bird population is suffering too!

He is gorgeous and very friendly. He hangs out around the house and woods and barn all day. He comes in the house sometimes for a short visit, but likes to be outdoors. He and Oakley chase each other around and play together...we think Oakley thinks he is a dog! She growls at him if he gets too close to her bowl.

Catching Up: July, August, and September 2008

Well, let's see where to start... it is November 1st and i got to keep my readers, if any*, informed. So let's start, we got chickens again, after the winter tragedy, or the way i prefer to look at it, natural food chain series of events. We got them in the middle/late summer, 8 full grown-up layers that already lay eggs, which is nice (i.e. not sure if all of you know, but it takes a bit, a few months really, for chickens to start laying eggs). So the day we got them, can't believe i actually remember this, was threatening rain all day and then, about 30 min to an hour after we got home, it poured hard and all night. Now i must update anyone of you that does not leave near us: this summer we apparently reached historical records for most precipitation since data have been taken, which is not super long, but i believe it at least goes back to the 1800s. In any case, this summer just kept raining, raining, and raining; soils were soaked, driveway was soaked, i was soaked, i think only the plants loved it! Although, i loved the fact that my pasture loved the rain because it sure showed :-). So anyway, the chickens... we got home and placed them in the electric poultry net i had set-up for them just prior to picking them up. Birds seemed happy checking out the new grass, or lack there of, and their new surroundings. We gave them water, pellets, and a bit of scratch; they put their heads and beaks down and began doing their thing: pecking and scratching.


So that was all good, but i had to put finishing touches on the portable coop, which after the food chain natural series of events last winter i had decided to rebuild -- this time they get 2 coops: a small portable one (but secured w/ no holes >0.25") and a permanent one behind the barn for the colder/non-grazing season. So i put my head down and began doing my thing: building stuff for the farm. Laura had to go to meet some friends and thought she might be back late, but i just had the roof to finish so no worries there... all was good. Then it began poring, but the birds seemed not to mind, i was working under the barn roof and all was still good. Then i found out i had less roofing material then needed, it got dark, but i had extra very small pieces, i had a head-lamp, and the bird seemed ok; it was still all somewhat good. Then it was thundering, i was having hell with the very small pieces of roofing material, the birds were all huddled-up together in the pouring rain; but i brought down the large card-board box and 2 old windows to create a small tent for them while i was finishing the coop; all was not good, but not too bad either. Then, i found out i ran out of good screws and rubber washers to secure the darn roof, Laura was missing in action (or chatting more likely), and the windows had collapsed onto the now soaked cardboard box that was supposed to protect the chickens; all was now not good. Then i gave in and decided that i would just temporarily close off the roof in some fashion and the next day go to the store and buy supplies so that i could build a normal/secure roof, Laura came back, and the birds seemed ok and happy for the coop, although a bit sleepy; all was good again.


[[* Hopefully there are still readers out there that have not gotten completely annoyed after checking and re-checking for new posts that never seem to occur.]]

Well that was a long story. At least i do not seem to have such hart-pounding adventures for the sheep; for some reason they seem well and happy with no drama. Must be thanks to my better preparation with gates, feeders, and portable housing.

But the good news is that the chickens are getting and mansion for a cold/non-grazing season coop, which i have begun building... it's so well structured i could relocate my office in there!

Before & After

This is a short entry, as the photos really do speak a thousands words.

We have rotated the sheep through the so called power line pasture -- additional free pasture land that because of the power line we must keep free of brush and trees; or in other words and from a shepard's perspective... looking like a pasture. The area was actually quite overgrown and the sheep had a ball... or a leaf or too! They would get quite excited every time they were about to enter a new paddock, baaing away and making a lot of baaa noise.

In any case the photos below really do show what i mean and how much they loved it!

Overgrown Pasture At Start of Rotation


Overgrown (well Formerly Overgrown) Pasture about 36 Hours Later

Pearl the Baby Escaped

The other day the sheep had too much grass to finish up eating in the morning and so i decided to keep them in the same paddock through mid-day; i would rotate them (i.e. move them to a new paddock) between my regular job.... doesn't take too long usually anyway and they are next to the road, which means it is nice and easy to go back and forth should i forget something or need some tools/supplies -- which pretty much, no strike, i almost always do (i.e. actually i think so far it's been every time that i forget something and have to go back to the barn).

In any case, that was the plan... a nice small break from a busy day at work. So, i go down ,start setting up the netting for the new paddock right next to the existing paddock. But to do so, as i have previously done, i have to kind of move over the existing netting so that the 2 don't touch each other and i do not lose precious grass for the sheep.

(For those of you who might not be as familiar with electric fences, an electric net is a net made of plastic, poly-wire, and very small conductive metal filaments, which carry electricity, if connected to an energizer, throughout the netting. There are also plastic stakes which are set into the ground so that the net can stand on its own.)

OK, lessons aside, i was saying that here i was doing the usual thing of setting a new net adjacent to the old one and picking up some of the stakes from the old one to make room for the new stakes... and then: as i lifted the net maybe 12" from the ground, being VERY conservative, and snap! Pearl is out... went under the net within seconds and is now looking around and eating every leaf she can.

Meantime ,the other 2 are like... ooh sweet how did she get out, let's go join her since we have no more decent chow in here... especially Pearl's mother Mara who is such a stubborn driven sheep when she's hungry -- well that would be all the time since she's always hungry.

All this happening in about 2 minutes... now Pearl has figured out that she's all alone out there and her flock is inside the fence... that's not looking good: she has food, but no flock, and now she has me trying to get her, gently, but intently, by the horns and to send her back. So what's next? Before guessing, remember Pearl is young and inexperienced... Anyway, she runs top speed into the old netting; straight on into 3' of netting, not even trying to jump it!

Thank God, the energizer was off and no electricity flowing because within the same 2 minutes i just mentioned, Pearl is completely caught and tangled in the fence: horns, legs, etc. She's falls to the ground and is struggling and gets herself even more tangled. Meantime, while i go over trying to free her up without scaring her even more, the other 2 are looking at a net down to the ground and easily passable. But fortunately the leader of the pack, oops flock and Pearl's mother, Mara is a bit worry about her daughter and hesitates. Because you must know where Mara, goes everybody follows. Now, Mara is essentially weaning Pearl and has placed much of her energy lately into getting food and more food, but mother instinct must have called on strong and that hesitation gave me just enough seconds to grapple and free her baby and get the net back up.... all sheep in and all fences working! Phew...

The end of the story: for 3 days Pearl was petrified of me; somehow i was responsible for sending her into the netting. However, being her mother's daughter, that did not last because i am the one who provides food, new leaf, and yeah candy too in the shape of grains once in a while! She does do her own thing now though when i rotate them and set up new paddocks! A moment in a day on Stark Hollow Farm.