Apple Blossoms, Lilacs and Salty Air

Noon Sun at Low Tide by Kenneth Shopen, etching

The morning walks have been full of spring smells in recent weeks - from the fragrant apple blossoms that seem to be everywhere to sweet lilacs and salty, foggy air. The pace at the day job has reached its usual end-of-the-year frenzy and so my morning walks are recently more like zombie stomps, but maybe it's because I am moving a little more slowly in the morning (and the evening, too!) that I am smelling so much, so deeply. The light has been beautiful these past few mornings, coming across the water and hitting the east side of the little fish houses in Turbat's Creek. I think of my friend Carolyn often in the early mornings when I look across the inlet to the Blue Buoy and feel her presence at the creek; it's been 18 months since she passed, and the void she's left in the neighborhood is palpable. She is missed by many; it's a comfort to stand at the head of the Creek and look out to sea and sense her everywhere.

watercolor by carol jessen

The sheep are all doing well and keeping the field trimmed nicely. I am starting to actively look for new homes for some of the girls since wintering over ten was too much last year; plus, the field cannot really support that many mouths for too much longer. Finding myself feeding hay and grain still due to the numbers, and so I'm hoping that my idea of selling to vineyards and orchards will take off.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying watching my flock of fourteen move together and enjoy the good life they have at the little Salty Ewe Farmette.

Spring, Finally.

crowded house

The weather has finally shifted into Spring Mode. A week ago today, we had a good old fashioned nor'easter and even though we all knew it would melt quickly, the fact that it was howling and snowing sideways on the first day of April was mother nature's way of tricking us all in Maine. Up in the mountains they got over a foot, but we got away with just about 6" and then it turned to sleet, freezing rain and then just good old rain. The sheep stayed in all day and kept dry. Hard not to notice how crowded the barn is these days on the rare occasion that everyone is inside of it at the same time. They manage nicely.

Bella, the good momma

This weekend is supposed to be sunny and warm, so it will be nice to be outside working in the yard and maybe even getting into the garden beds a little. One bed of garlic is coming up beautifully, but I think I may have lost a whole other one. There are tulips starting to pop up from beneath the layer of leaf mulch that I put down in November, and pulling away that dusty brown covering to reveal all that new growth is always one of my favorite spring chores. And, after such a long and difficult winter nothing I am doing outside feels much like a chore. Rather it's a pleasure. Having a little pup dancing around my rake and diving in piles of leaves makes it even more like fun.