llama Grove Groove

More mowing, more fields. This is a lot of fun, really.

Llama Grove is moving. Are you a real farmer when you say things like, “Gotta mow the field before that storm gets in.”

These are the last daffydils from the flower bed. It’s a little sad to think that we will not get flowers from teh same bulbs next year, but plans for moving llama Grove proceed apace. We may have to rename the farm now that we’re changing to the top of a foothill rather than an enclosed hillside.

It’s been wonderful planning how we can make this land viable, sustainable, and productive.

Come on Spring! Bring that warm weather and beautiful veg. We’re ready for you! The spices are all organized and the last of last years sarkaut and pickling is done! When will the snow end? When will the sun come out? Will we be making our own apple juice or will we have to buy it? We’re ready for you growth. Come get us!

The top shelf of the pantry is kombucha, vanilla, ginger ale and other fermentation jars, the next shelf down is all spices, the next shelf is a combinaiton of baking needs, coffee and emergency cans of stuff we might not have been able to stock up on. the final shelf is flour, cane crystals, etc. Oils on the ground, more spices hanging on the door. We are so ready!

Leif the llama protects his cows. The horse, though, he could do without.

Fall seems to have exploded this week. Somehow we weren’t looking and the leaves changed colors this week. Cherry trees, maples, walnuts and apples are all suddenly yellow and red.

Yesterday was spent canning. There was lots of help and fun in the kitchen.

The llama does not like the new cow. He’s jumped the fence and is hanging out at the back of the property.

Our cow that will not be named arrived. There is always the trouble of attachment.

Welcome, Leif: Protector of the bovine, bane of the canine, and halter friendly llama. Leif has been here for a couple of weeks and is doing his job really well. He doesn’t go anywhere without his cow, and keeps the neighbors’ dog away. He brought some critters on his back, but a little Ivermectin and we’re hoping the problem will clear up quickly.

Let it rain, we’ll be ready.

Chicks are really hard to find this year, and since we aren’t looking for Cornish Crosses, people at the feed store don’t quite know what to make of our requests for a multi-purpose bird. We got a black sex link and three Australorps. These should be big girls that can lay eggs if we chicken out, so to speak. It took 7 visits to feed stores to find chicks this year. If you want a turkey, no problem.

If you aren’t part of the problem, you must be part of the solution? Oh, that’s not how that saying goes? We’re going to pretend it is for the time being. We’ve borrowed Red, a Welsh pony to help bring Brody back in line now that the llamas have left. Brody decided he was king of the barn, and there have only been these humans coming around occasionally to tell him otherwise.

As we are no longer a fiber farm, it might be time to rename llamaGrove. We’re not sure what to name it, but we have no llamas or alpacas. Let’s get the producing animals to work!