August Already!

I am not sure where July went, but August has begun with two gorgeous days and pretty high levels of productivity after what feels like a month of catching up and barely staying ahead of things. I pulled 100 heads of garlic from the garden and after two weeks of curing in the hot summer sun, it's been clipped and is good to go. The beds have apparently reached a level of maturity and the soil is perfect for the garlic, so next year I am planning to increase the garlic crop and hopefully find a nice market for it. With several local restaurants focusing on the whole farm-to-fork thing now, it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to find at least one or two to sell to next year. When I took several sample heads to one local spot, Fifty Local, the chef asked right off about the scapes, so I know that he would be interested in those as well. Since I'm not able to sell the sheep to people who will eat them, I need to find a way to make this little operation closer to sustainable.

Loki finding shade on a hot day

The weekly rental of the house next summer will be another way for me to make my sheep hobby a more realistic long term venture, too, and so hoping that I can find a perfect market and great clientele to rent for next July and August. Getting the house ready and will be posting some pictures here as well as on the new Facebook page I started for The Salty Ewe Farm. Spread the word ... and know that this is more than a sneaky way for me to see more family and friends! But, that works, too!

Beetle Battle

There will be no visual for this morning's chore - removing a gazillion japanese beetles from the rosa rugosa in front of the house; they appeared seemingly overnight and have done a decent amount of damage. Who knows? Maybe they were all out celebrating Japan's win in the World Cup and decided to land in my yard to party and liked it so much they stuck around. I also managed to catch a number of destructive beetles mating down on the squash and zucchini plants and they all met their end this morning as well. Oh well. Since I refuse to use the pesticides, it's hand killing only here at the Salty Ewe. I'm planning to try some neem oil and garlic sprays on some of the vegetable plants that have been attracting beetles which will hopefully help, too.

The Queen Anne's lace is in full bloom along Obed Lane, and so later on I will wander along the lane and pick as much as I can for a dye bath. A lot of clover out now, too, and so I'll probably pick a bunch of that as well. I gathered a huge bunch of some roadside weed whose name escapes me, but I remember using it at the Shearebrooke workshops and it created a nice color. Now that the Salty Ewe has a real studio space in which to play with wool, it's more fun than work getting a dye pot together. I've set up two hot plates near an open window - one a double burner - and the collection of small pots, strainers, screens, spoons and small stash of plants to experiment with make it feel like a real fiber studio. Looking out onto the field and seeing everyone grazing is just about the icing on the proverbial cake.

New view from back deck. Loving it.

The view from the house and back deck has changed incredibly since Steve Bryant took down some huge tree limbs for me. Several needed to come down - widowmakers - but a few others I asked to be trimmed so that the view, the air and the light would improve; all three have happened. The birds still have their trees - just a little higher limbs on which to perch and nest now. I bet they may even have an ocean view from the tippy top of that old oak tree.

Summah Time

The days have been flying by, with some way more productive than others around the farmette. Sheep are all well but not enjoying the recent heat and humidity here. Bill mowed the field the other day, and so they are busy picking through the cut weeds to find morsels they will eat; the pasture is definitely not large enough to support a flock this size for too long.

Taken by Lori on a recent visit

The job of skirting the ten fleeces is finally done - definitely not one of my favorite events, but always an event. I rigged up a small table (which was really not tall enough, but now I know for next year!) and worked on the colored fleeces first, took a break and then got into the whites. I tossed Callie's entirely as it was just too full of veggie matter (pieces of hay and grass) and was very, very short. This has happened before with ewes that were carrying twins from what I remember, so maybe she put all her nutrients and energy into growing those beautiful lambs rather than into her wool. I am going to pick out two or three of the best fleeces and enter them into the Common Ground Fair's Fleece Competition this year and may end up selling some at the sale, too. It's exciting and fun to be doing more with their wool for sure.

Skirting on the side lawn

July.

It's been a little weird not posting anything for nearly three weeks; I guess this means that the blogging, which I started a year ago this month, has really become an activity that brings some degree of satisfaction. Who'd have thunk it. Sitting here in the quiet early morning sun, sheep munching away and Henry sleeping at my feet, it dawns on me that it's maybe not the actual blogging that brings me the reward but the process of getting into the place where I can actually sit down and be quiet enough to write. To think enough to write something that may actually mean something and sort of sound good. When that quiet is elusive, which it can easily become in a fast-paced world and sometimes demanding life, the writing becomes nearly impossible. Something to think about today as I weed the garlic bed.

baby spiders in a pickle jar.

I have been watching a thousand little spiders hatch and slowly move around inside an upside down pickle jar on my porch. I'd gotten a few of the wholesale sized jars from a friend who owns a great cafe in town for the purpose of making sun tea, and one empty jar apparently provided a perfect spot for a spider to lay its eggs. After watching them for a few days, yesterday I moved the jar down to the garden and put it on its side with the hope that the spiders would figure out how to crawl out of their glass house.
No one I know, not even baby spiders, should be living in glass houses.

Tidal Pull

The other morning, I witnessed something I have never seen before; and, my neighbor Ed was there, too, and from the expression on his face, he had never seen anything like it before either. At the end of the lane, Turbat's Creek backs up and becomes a very small tidal inlet which runs deep into a marsh and around a sharp bend and up into what feels like the woods. In Maine, we have a decent tide and so the difference between low tide and high tide is significant. I've actually heard tourists say things like, "where did the water go?" when looking out at a harbor full of grounded boats and buoys. So, we stood there watching the dogs play and commenting on how it was another cool, damp morning for June when we both noticed it at the same time. A small wave came rolling into the tidal marsh, bringing with it the tide in full. It started slowly, making its way into the basin and around the bend, back to the woods. The initial wave held its shape the entire distance of the tidal inlet, which was spectacular to see. My words do not seem to give it the justice it deserves; but what we saw really impressed us both, and between us we have been gazing out to sea and across Turbat's Creek and other tidal rivers for over one hundred years; neither one of us had ever seen anything quite like it.

High Tide at the Creek

I was tempted to stand and wait for it to happen again the following morning. Silly me. The tide was an hour later, the moon was in a different position, and it would probably be a long, long time before I am lucky enough to see it happen again. Tonight's full moon will bring an astronomical high tide, and with luck I will be sleeping deeply, dreaming of long summer days and warm summer nights. The day job has ended for a spell and so the Salty Ewe can regroup and refocus on what is truly important in life: listening to the ebb and flow, taking it in and being thankful. Life is nothing but that, really. Happy Summer.

Fireflies and Lupine

The lilacs have come and gone so quickly this year - probably because of the wet and cool weather we had through all of April and most of May - and it's already time for the lupine to appear; fireflies are lighting up the field at night and the songbirds are in full chorus mode each morning. This morning, a pileated woodpecker was working away at a tree somewhere along the back creek, and the rat-tat-tat-tat echoed across the fields and made Henry and me both pause for a minute to listen. On our way back home, Bode scared up a huge porcupine in the woods and his owner, Ed, and I watched it scurry up a huge pine tree faster than one would think a big, old porcupine could move.

soft raw wool in the grease

Roger Junior and Roger Senior

How it got to be June 8 already is beyond me. It was almost a whole month ago that the sheep were shorn; the fleeces are still bundled in sheets and stored on the screened in porch; hopefully, I will be getting to them to skirt this weekend and finding a spot to have it all washed and carded.  I've decided that in order to get serious about all of this wool, I will need to invest in some longer staple fleece to spin with mine since the Babydoll wool is too short to have it spun on its own. It's all a process. The learning curve is sometimes frustrating for me but it's all part of understanding more deeply. Eventually, the Salty Ewe Farm will become a sustainable venture; I need to find patience. Watching the lightning bugs helps.

wool soaking in pot of dandelion

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.