A Perfect Dozen, Plus Five, Plus One

Today was our very first dozen-egg day! What a beautiful picture they make! I never tire of egg collection, and today's assortment was a delight indeed. Such a variety of colours and shapes and sizes. I am particularly fond of speckled eggs. One of these has a light dusting of speckles on the large end.

So where do the "plus five" come from then? Was it really a 17 egg day? No...

The plus five are five beautiful Muscovy hens that we got today! Two are black and white, while the other three are chocolate and white. (There's a hen who insisted on getting in the picture, over to the left).

Unfortunately, we thought they would stick around with our other ducks. One of them did not. As we began to herd the ducks in to the barn this evening, one flew away. She flew behind the barn and, we think, across the road. We are very hopeful that she will return. Perhaps she will hear the other ducks quacking? What do any experienced duck owners think? We didn't realize she could fly like that. We will clip the wing feathers on the others tomorrow, just to be sure. Look at the lovely green iridescence on these girls!

So.....what's the "plus one" then? Well, after a lot of discussion and research, we have decided to focus on having a fiber herd of goats. Originally, it was our intent to raise milk goats and make our own cheese and yogurt and such, for selling. Upon researching state legal requirements, we've learned that this is financially impossible at this time. Maybe in five years we will reconsider. Right now, we will make our own milk products for eating, and perhaps dabble in goat milk soaps and lotions.

In order to focus on that goal, we realized that we needed an angora buck. That way, we can focus on angora fleece and pygora fleece (has anyone tried Nubi-gora fleece?) and any extra milk can be for our own consumption. Therefore, today we welcomed Valentino! That really is his name (so perfect for Valentines Day weekend!), and he is 2 years old. Here he is meeting Springfield the donkey (who has his halter on because we were brushing him today). Also to the right is Pebbles the pygmy goat.

We learned about Val through somebody in our spinning guild who bought 4 ewes from the same farm. The man who owned Valentino is moving into town and divesting his goat herd. We think he is very handsome and has the most marvelous horns!

He's a bit grubby, but then most bucks are. We also love his long locks. He'll be shorn in March with the rest of the fiber crew.

So, just another day on the farm around here! Hope everybody had a great weekend!

Why yes, as a matter of fact, I did change my blog title!

OK, so if you happen to follow my blog, or even if you just read it once in a while, you might notice that I changed the title. The title changed because that is actually the name that we have chosen for our little farm. I started out with the "Is this Heaven? No, This is Iowa" title because it was a line from my favourite film, "Field of Dreams."

I didn't know exactly what to call the blog when I started it, and that seemed to fit at the time. It still does fit, but the bottom line is, I prefer it to be named after our farm. I've left the line from the film in the description, because every day that I live here, I have to remind myself that this really is Iowa, and it really isn't heaven. Sometimes, I get the two confused!

So, I'm sorry if you have to update links or get used to the new title, but Whispering Acres is the name that we chose, and it's the name we put on our eggs that we sell, and it will be the name that goes on my fibre/fiber (Canadian/American spelling) products that I sell from the farm. I tried to make my own background tonight, but it didn't work. I'll have to try that again sometime. It came out way too small. Grumble...

I don't think I'll change the name again, but I never say never! ;-)

Spring, and back to winter

Last week we had some lovely days that felt like spring. I was able to be outside without a heavy coat on, and to enjoy some warmth when I breathed in the spring-like air. It actually got up to 17 degrees Celsius (in the 60s for Fahrenheit) and I was delighted.

Then, yesterday, we went back to winter. The snow began around lunchtime, and it just kept on going.

We ended up with about 8 or 10 inches by this morning. So much for spring!

At least it's sunny today (even if it's only 26 F, -4 °C), so I went out and took some photographs to enjoy the sunshine. I walked over to the birdhouse to take this shot. I can just imagine Mr. Bluebird saying to Mrs. Bluebird: "Look dear, I put in new roof insulation!"

Nearby, there was some of the famous "Iowa cotton crop" growing. Very difficult to harvest!

The ducks enjoyed being out in the sun and having a bath, despite the chilly weather.

And in celebration of the sun being out, one of the hens decided to lay down on a woolly pillow and do some sunbathing.

Oreo says: "It's cold? I didn't notice! Oh, but I've got my warm coat on!"
Kitkat says "I'll make you a sweater if you spin my wool."
And finally (mostly for you, Diane), Stuffin says "Soon everybody, really soon!"

Butterscotch Bunny Gets a Haircut, Claire spins and knits

Butterscotch Bunny, whom I introduced in an earlier post here, is a rescued angora who had very bad mats in his fur. I did as much grooming as I could to remove them, but they were just really hard to manage. They must have been terribly uncomfortable for him because they were pulling at his skin. So, he has had a complete haircut. Right now, he doesn't quite look like an angora bunny. I feel sort of bad for him, as if the other bunnies might laugh at him! Still, I think he must be more comfortable now, and his coat will grow in cleanly and without matting now, and I will keep him well groomed.

One interesting thing that I found is that he has a fairly large area of caramel coloured fur on his back. This was not evident before - I thought he was all white except for his ears and the patches on his face. I'm not sure if the white was obscuring the other color, or if it was faded, or what. In any case, now I can see more colour to him. So, I will be very interested to see how his coat grows in now, and whether the caramel colour comes through more. Look at his cute little tail! Awww....

Moving right along, I did some more knitting. I had blogged about visiting with Maggie a couple of weekends ago to learn how to knit. I undid the knitting I had done there, because it was not meeting with my approval (I'm a tough critic). I started over and tried to do it with looser tension. I struggle with tension in life in general, so it's no wonder I have trouble with my knitting tension. Anyway, I think it's going better now. I just love working with this bamboo yarn. So incredibly soft and supple. It has a lovely sheen to it also.

I also did a little more hand spinning on my spindle. I bought a gorgeous new drop spindle from Zebisis Designs on Etsy. It's made from Labradorite, which is a stone from Labrador, very close to my home in Nova Scotia. I love the colors in the stone. It has different colours in different light. Blues and greens and sort of pearly shades - very pretty.

I used some roving that I bought from The Fiber Denn, also on Etsy. I'm really pleased with the way it's spinning up. The name of the colourway was "Pharmacosiderite" which is a kind of mineral - I've linked to a page about the mineral, which includes pictures of it. The fiber is beautifully clean and soft, and so easy to spin by hand, it practically spins itself.
So, despite my busy, busy days, I still find a bit of time for myself for a little crafting.

Oh, by the way, still waiting on Stuffin. Babies due any day now!!

Update to the llama finger puppet post!

Just a quick update to my llama finger puppet post from last night...

Rosario sent me a beautiful photo of the llamas in their natural habitat, and she has kindly given me permission to show them to you! This is from the province of Salta in Argentina.

This picture is llamas at the "Ruins of Quilmes" which is an ancient settlement of a tribe that resisted the Inca invasion in the 15th century! Imagine how old these stone walls are. It is remarkable! The tribe was eventually defeated by the Spanish in 1600. How sad. Rosario told me that only 15% of the ruins have been excavated.

Look at the amazing patterns in the walls. Here, you can touch history.

I would love to visit this wonderful place and see these llamas for myself! What beautiful coats they have. And how do they not poke themselves on those enormous cacti? Ouch!

Thank you Rosario, for letting us take a trip to Argentina from our office chairs!

A wonderful treat from very far away!

The mail I get at work is usually very ordinary. It's all work-related and, although it's my job, it's not "exciting" mail - it's mostly letters from the US Patent Office and letters from other patent offices around the world, and also correspondence from foreign law firms who are handling my patent docket overseas. Sometimes we get some beautiful Christmas cards, but otherwise, it's all business. Today was a very special exception.

I often work with a wonderful lady in Argentina named Rosario. I think that is a very pretty name. Even though I have not met her in person, we send lots of letters and e-mail and sometimes we talk about the weather and other things in our lives. Recently, I told her about my llamas, because I knew that llamas were from South America, and I thought she might be interested to see their pictures. I told her about my blog, and she has visited it to see my llamas and my other farmyard friends.

Rosario went on holiday in Argentina recently, and she went to a place where lots of llamas live and she saw them and took pictures of them. While she was on holiday, she thought of me with my llamas, and you can't imagine what she sent me today!
Isn't that the cutest little llama you ever saw?! It is just like Hazel - the perfect color! I am so excited - I never saw a llama finger puppet before, and this one is just perfect. I love the little blanket on its back, and the fun colors on its ears. It even has pretty blue eyes!

Did you notice that it is knitted? Do you think it is made from llama wool? I can't tell, but when I am better at knitting, I will try to make one and see if I can use my own llama's wool to knit one. For now, my Argentinian llama will live on the top of one of my favorite pens that I keep at my desk at home. I would hate for it to disappear at work!

I didn't know about the tassels that the llamas in South America wear on their ears! But then I did some Google searches and I learned that the llama herd owners each have their own tassel colors so that they can identify their own animals. I don't know what Hazel would think if I tried to put tassels on her ears.

There is no way I would mistake her for anyone else's llama!

THANK YOU ROSARIO!!

Chick feeding frenzy, Stuffin keeps on bluffin'

Well, I never uploaded a video before, so I'm giving it a try today. This morning, when I went down to the brooder, all my chicks were sleeping so quietly. I took the feeder and water founts for a refill, and when I came back, they were cheeping and peeping and very ready for breakfast. I hope this video will give you an idea of the joy of watching 87 chicks have a feeding frenzy.

There are lots of different types of chicks in there - some buff orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, barred rocks, frizzled cochins, silkies, along with a healthy helping of barnyard mixes. We hatched these to replace many of the birds we lost over the holiday. Some of the roosters will probably become stewing birds (a difficult choice, but we know they have been well cared for and had plenty to eat, and they won't be full of unknown quality feed, plus they will have run around in the barnyard and enjoyed their share of worms).

Stuffin has been doing a LOT of stretching in the last day or so. Her udder is a little bigger yet, and she was rubbing her sides on the cattle panel enclosure yesterday, which I understand can be a sign of her trying to position the baby. I continue to feel for ligaments and wonder if I am doing it right. I think I still feel them.

Here's the obligatory udder picture for Diane.

And here's Stuffin saying "Would ya quit buggin' me Mom? I'll have my baby when I'm good and ready, so stop poking my udder and be patient! And you tell that cow in Wisconsin that I'm always fashionably late."