Transformation from nursing to farming in the Catskills: April 2014

I guess I'm not much of a blogger like Skip. It kind of makes me feel like I'm back in College and I have a paper due. I would put it off until the last minute. It wasn't that I didn't plan on writing it, I just had better more interesting things to do with my life. Since I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do when I grew up, I spent many years in 3 different schools and was glad to be done with all that crap. So that's my excuse for not blogging regularly. You can give me a failing grade, I guess I deserve it. Lots of new stuff going on here at the farm. Most of it I've been posting on face book. We've been noticing that Rosie our mini donkey was getting really chunky. All she was getting to eat was hay, that's what the breeder told us to do. It wasn't until my neighbor stopped by and asked if our donkey was pregnant that it even crossed my mind, especially since we don't have a male. Why would the breeder sell us a pregnant donkey? I texted him and asked if it was possible that Rosie was with foal. His answer was, I only put her with the jack for a week, didn't think it took. Guess he was wrong. It takes over a year and he mated her in the spring. That doesn't leave much time. We called in a vet from Oakencroft and gave her all the vaccines needed so the foal has the best chance. We started her on special food and we are hoping for the best. I'll put my insomnia to good use. I'll check on her throughout the night. Could be any day now, I'm excited. Didn't want another donkey but that will be the first live birth on this farm and she's staying.
The pond is finally free of ice and our injured goose Gladys was set free to live in the wild again. She will have a safe place from predators on the pond. She took a bath and was off and running. Hope she is having fun and comes back home soon. Last year we lost our sheep Herbie, he was 14 years old, died of old age. We miss him and Norton our other merino is in need of a sheepy friend. I've been spinning lots of different fiber to see what type of sheep I would like to get. I decided that I love Cotswold, Wensleydale and Teeswater. I have 2 lambs promised to me. A bottle fed Cotswold and either a Wensleydale or Teeswater not sure which and I don't care. They should be ready for pickup in June. I don't want anymore animals after that. Josh our barn cleaner is starting to give me the evil eye. Each time I tell him that we are getting a new animal, he says that's just great more poop to clean. He only comes weekly, we have to clean that poop too so I can sympathize with him. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, I'm suppose to be simplifying my life. The end of this month I am taking a two day course with Cindy Brody on animal communication. If I'm going to live with all these creatures I figure it would be nice to know what is going on in their heads. Should be a fun course, can't wait. Then in August I will take my last class for reiki and become a reiki master. Maybe I can heal my animals and save on vet bills, wouldn't that be nice.
The last biggie thing going on here is that we ordered our new building. A 12x16 cottage with a front porch. We plan on giving classes on different things like spinning, stained glass, learning how to process fiber. We will offer the cottage to 2
people at a time to experience the farm and learn something while they're here. Or just for an artist to come and stay for a few days to get away from the city life and paint or draw surrounded by our animals. We'll put the building in front of the pond, it will be peaceful.
I've done some spinning and fiber processing but not too much. I discovered that some of the garlic that I planted in the fall popped out of the ground and rotted. Now I have to get more garlic, put it in the fridge for a bit and replant. By now my garlic should have started growing but I made up my mind, I'm not stressing over it. This is going to be my year. I've waited long enough and I've made up my mind, it's my year. So the hell with the rotted garlic and the weeds. I'm putting tarps on all the walkways in my veggie garden and no stinkin' weed is going to piss me off this year. IT'S MY YEAR. Maybe if I say it enough times, well, you know what I mean.

Allie and Max she's kissing him