Friday, June 23, 2006

Oh to be a chick at the Ryans!



Well, as you can see, our life has been beyond hectic and I have been a bit lax about posting! Sorry about that! I spent today sorting through about 20 fleeces for our website as I am behind on getting some wonderful wool out there for all of you! Thanks to the supervision of Bucket Head, our 10 year old + cat who strayed onto our Albany farm, near starving to death-- obviously not the case any more! ha! He got his name because when he was struggling to gain weight, he had the typical big blocky tom cat head and his poor scrawny body--looked like a bucket head? Just kinda stuck. So, with him sleeping on the shelf on the front porch 'supervising' my work, we spent the best part of today outside in the breeze, watching the sheep romp around and sorted wool. Actually Bucket slept most of the time--but he thinks it was with one eye on the wool sorter? ha!

Another favorite part of working out there is our little band of misfit chickens--both hens and roosters--who roam our farm every day from dawn to dusk. They keep our yard free of bugs, do clean up duty under the wild bird feeders (unless they can manage to knock one over for a buffet!) and just generally enjoy life. They like to hide out in the bushes next to the porch in the hotter part of the day and I am always amazed at how the roosters take care of their chicks. They always 'tell' them when there is a special treat to eat (bread and fruit loops) and actually step back to let the girls eat first. When they are napping, those 'fierce' roosters sing to the girls, it is such a peaceful song meant to soothe and I love to be able to hear them so content. Does the soul good! When I go out to tuck in the sheep at night for the last time, I always take a trip near the chicken house so I can hear the roosters singing. I am very easily amused but this is part of our life that makes it so special--I always am so grateful to be able to do what we do here--and have the time to enjoy the little bits of special!

Have a couple new sheep in the mix this week--pictures as soon as they settle in and get less shy of us. We are also purchasing two Wensleydale lambs tomorrow so watch for more updates about our 'sheepy spree'!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your web site is so interesting. I have spent alot of the afternoon reading it. Thank you for all you time and work. Living like you do really seems like fun and happy work. I have a niece that has a 200 cow (milk only) farm in Northeast, Md. and I know she and her husband and family love it. It is a fun place to visit.