Kentucky Farm Girls are Best

Yes we are! Over the holiday weekend I ran out to Knob Lick to Miss Wilma' s Orchard Sale. i have been wanting to meet her and see her shop full of primitive antiques and her wonderful pillows and handwork dolls and country needfuls. (www.picturetrail.com/misswilmasplace) I was not disappointed. Not only is her work and creations worth the trip, she was a gracious and welcoming hostess and a charmer. I want to adopt her or maybe she'll adopt me! It turned out to an absolutely lovely day in her beautiful country garden and orchard. I also finally got to meet some on line friends from the MaryJane's Farm Girl Connection. Jonnie, Janice, Lainey and Kayla. Jonnie and Kayla had a table set up with their collections and wares for sale. I got a absolutely delicate lawn dress from Janice and ooood and ahhhed over her antique child trunk. I wanted it soooo bad! I also got some wonderful handmade milk soap from Kayla and met her lovely family. What a treat to hear them playing fiddle and singing in the country air. Here's a pic of all of us except Kayla who had left before I remembered the camera.

It's the Fourth of July

It was a lazy holiday morning after a long week of fence building by the boys and weeding, picking, packing and selling at the farmer's market in Bardstown and Brandenburg. Will and Dave completed fencing in two new paddocks for me this week so that the growing flock can be rotated around to three areas now. We tilled up the rows where the beets and radishes and lettuce had been and turned under the south end of the garden and planted a fall crop of squash, pumpkins, gourds and melons. The tomatoes are ready to burst and the 10 cornstalks are eye level and beautifully shaded at the roots by the zuchini. Next week will be a busy week of picking and selling.

It's time to separate the lambs from their moms for weaning. I think they may be on the way already. The lambs are almost as big as the moms now at almost 4 months old and I'm sure those beautiful horns don't feel so good when those little greedy ram lambs start thumping their mama's udders! Moms is gone in a flash! Here is a picture of Blinkin one of my sleepy twins. He and his brother Nod were both born solid black with little tufts of white on their forehead. They have completely change into this beautiful coloration. I'm not sure of the name of this pattern but it is certainly beautiful. They are the only two who have changed this much. The others range from Darm Brown/Black to Black. But they too may completely change after their shearing next year. Papa Lincoln and Isaac the wether are now grey with black faces. My Moorit (Chocolate Brown) Henna and Aurora are now Fawn color with Brown faces and bellies. These Shetland Sheep are so surprising in how their colors change. I am thoroughly enjoying spinning the various colors that come off one fleece, as many as 3 and 4. No need to blend. The natural colors are gorgeous. I hope to have some yarn to sell by the fall. Still have many fleeces to prepare by hand. More on that later on, hopefully.

Meanwhile Will and Dave had an opportunity to go caving with me and Fort Knox Grotto and do some rapelling on a 72ft cliff near here. Those boys are fearless.

They've had a busy week and I am so happy that they were here to share this first season with me. They have been invaluable. And they have fun. Dave will be returning in August with some friends who want to volunteer on the farm. I love this idea. I certainly can use the help and they get to experience a way of life that hopefully will stay with them no matter what they choose to do later.

Well we ended the day at the most amazing and yet relaxing fireworks disply and picnic with friends Lavone and Randall in the fields they share with their families. Just another day, down home in Kentucky.

Graduation Day!!

Yesterday was Dave's (my baby boy) graduation day. Dave attended a very competitive Union County Magnet High School in NJ for gifted students in Math and Science. (Am I bragging too much?). Dave had been in several school situations after homeschooling. Being an independent thinker, it took a while for him to give in to the idea of school. He attended an environmentally focused charter school, a catholic school, a public middle school in the suburbs before finding his niche at Magnet. I have to say that it wasn't always easy. David can be, shall we say, a little absent minded and distracted (ooooh something shiney!) and doesn't believe in planning ahead. But....we made it and I am so proud of him. He has grown into an outstanding young man. He is compassionate and caring and gives of himself freeling to a variety of community and church projects. He has shown himself to be both a leader and cooperative member of a team. He is a protector of the gentle and the good. And he's darn cute too. Here he is, my boy Dave!!!

In the fall, Dave head to an engineering (egads!) program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pa. (Did I mention, how proud I am of him?) This summer he will spend time at the Kentucky homestead once again, building fences with his big brother Will. More on Will's plans in another post.