Stories from the Farm

What little boy’s dreams are made of…

Posted by kenleighacres on March 3, 2010

Posted in: family. Tagged: little boy dreams, tree house. 3 Comments

A tree house!

What is it about a tree house that can put a smile on a child’s face?

I think Shel Silverstein wraps it up beautifully…

A Tree House

A tree house, a free house,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches

Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure and wipe your feet house

Is not my kind of house at all~

Let’s go live in a tree house.

Shel Silverstein

It has been sunny and beautiful here in the Northwest and the boys took the opportunity to start the tree house they have been thinking about.

The tree house plans started a few weeks ago when they spent the weekend tearing out my in-laws deck. What to do with the boards??? You could see the wheels turning in their heads and almost simultaneously they said ‘TREE HOUSE’!!!

What a great project for a dad and son to work on.

His smile was beaming all weekend…

but the best part was when he got to share it with a friend!

Mom will feel a lot better when ALL of the walls are on it 🙂

Here they come…and there they go!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 1, 2010

Posted in: Jacob Sheep, Lambing, sheep. Tagged: jacob lambs, lamb races. 5 Comments

This is my favorite part about this time of year – lamb races!!!

Breakfast time is the starting bell. Once the mamas are eating, the lambs bunch up and head out the back door.

Legs start flying and bodies are bouncing.

Then they get serious and the race is on.

When they reach the end of the barn it is time to do a quick turn and race back!

Chore time has now doubled, not because of work but because of getting caught up in watching their antics.

Sometimes they head back in the barn just to do it all over again and sometimes they stand there just trying to catch their breath 🙂

Why can’t we all just get along?

Posted by kenleighacres on February 26, 2010

Posted in: family. Tagged: Canada Goose, territorial geese. 6 Comments

A lot of animals call our little pond home, most are just temporary residents but for the most part they live harmoniously. That is until yesterday…

there were 3 pairs of geese and a bunch of ducks. The problem wasn’t between the ducks and geese, but between this pair…

and everybody else!!!

They started by screaming and then came the chasing.

Geese are known to be aggressive during the nesting season and when they have young, but these two thought they owned the whole place.

I really enjoyed watching them and their natural behaviors.

Eventually it was time for them to move on. Hopefully they can find a big enough pond to share and enjoy each other’s company!

Kate’s new job

Posted by kenleighacres on February 22, 2010

Posted in: Border Collie. Tagged: Border Collie, Canada Goose, goose dog. 10 Comments

My border collie, Kate, is a girl with a lot of skills.

She is often serious…

sometimes silly…

always patient…

and an all around good girl.

She has a lot of jobs here on the farm,

from moving the big boys…

to the little guys…

She knows when to use the power that she posseses and when to turn the other way…

She has a tremendous work ethic and never quits.

I was recently contacted by a local college to provide goose hazing services with my border collie. I knew I had the dog for the job, but there was a lot of other questions to find answers for. Thanks to a good friend, the internet, and some really nice people – I have my answers and a new job for Kate.

So, you may ask – what is goose hazing and why does a college need that done?

The goose dog stalks the geese using their ‘eye’. This unsettles the geese because it looks very similar to how a predator moves and hunts. The geese perceive this as a genuine threat and therefore are encouraged to move on to a safer location. Frequent visits are made and the geese soon learn their only option is to move on.

The hazing technique is humane to the geese and the dogs work quietly and unobtrusively. This means no pesticides, no environmental issues, and no loss of enjoyment of the land or facility by the public or paying patron.

The athletic fields at the college are COVERED in goose poop! I definitely wouldn’t want to be a soccer player sliding across the ground – YUCK!

Here is Kate in her new work attire…

The orange vest is to help us look official 🙂 There are a lot of people at the college and we wanted to help them understand that it isn’t a loose dog running after the geese. I think it makes Kate feel important!

We are visiting the college at random times and when we arrived this morning there was just one pair of geese, but while I was getting Kate out of the car a big flock flew in.

As with everything else, she figured the job out very quickly…

and had the geese flying off in a couple of minutes.

I can’t wait to see where this leads us in the coming year.

What an awesome job!

Not so ‘Boring’ after all!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 18, 2010

Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing. Tagged: 2010 Jacob Lambs, Lambs, names for lambs. 1 Comment

In this post, I shared with you the naming theme for this years’ lambs – cities in Oregon.

There were a couple funny names that were going to take a special lamb. One of the names was ‘Boring’.

He was born this morning…

Where are his spots???

Not up here…

and not back there.

His brother has lots of spots!

This isn’t a huge shock – his grandma had a lot of black wool.

I also know that a lamb that is too dark or a lamb that is too light can happen, especially with how many lambs we have (we are up to 44!!!).

The city name ‘Boring’ has always intrigued me – why would they name someplace ‘Boring’???

So, I did a little bit of research –

The community was named after W. H. Boring, an early resident of the area. Now that makes sense!

The unique name of the town often prompts its inclusion on lists of unusual place names.

The name ‘Boring’ is embraced by locals and is found in many local businesses, resulting in many road signs that seem humorous to outsiders.

The town uses the slogan “The most exciting place to live.”

This lamb is going to stand out in a pasture full of spotted lambs and needed a special name. I think this fits him nicely!

If you would like to see the rest of our lambs and the names we have used, you can visit them here.

Footloose and Fancy Free

Posted by kenleighacres on February 17, 2010

Posted in: family, Uncategorized. 1 Comment

‘Free to act as one pleases; not hampered by any ties.’

These two boys are definitely footloose and fancy free!

This is my son and his best buddy, Cole.

Cole lives up the road and they have been friends for a few years.

Ah, to be a kid again!

Their laughter is infectious!

Off on another mission.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 14, 2010

Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing. Tagged: jacob lambs, valentines day. 2 Comments

From all of us here on the farm – Happy Valentine’s Day!

and the winners are…

Posted by kenleighacres on February 13, 2010

Posted in: Felting. Tagged: felting challenge. 2 Comments

Congratulations to Alison!

Here is her entry…

All of the entries were awesome! Thank you for participating in my little felting challenge.

I have updated the original post to include all of the entrant’s information – check out their blogs!

The winner from the comments is – Marci.

Enjoy your weekend!

A new flock is born

Posted by kenleighacres on February 10, 2010

Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing. Tagged: 2010 Jacob Lambs, jacob lambs, Lambs, lilac jacob sheep, sheep. 7 Comments

At the beginning of breeding season, my son picked 3 ewes to breed to his ram, Reno. He did a great job picking the girls and the lambs are beautiful!

The first born was Echo and she is really friendly!

Here she is with her mama, Petunia.

These pretty girls were born this morning. You can really see the difference between the lilac in the front and the black in back.

The mom is almost solid lilac in color, but both lambs have wonderful coloring. The ideal jacob sheep coloring is 40% black/lilac and 60% white.

The lilac girl has the cutest little elf ears…

and the black girl has the cutest spot on the back of her head.

So far, this girl is friendly too.

He has one ewe left to lamb and he is really hoping for some boys. He asked me if I would trade him a boy for a girl if he doesn’t have any! He is working on a name for his flock.

And look…

a picture of me!!!!

I never have pictures of myself. My son is old enough that he can handle the camera 🙂 YAY!!! Paisley is still the cutest lamb ever.

These lambs are a very close second!

We have 14 lambs – 3 boys and 11 girls with more on the way very soon.

For those that want to see more lamb pictures, you can see them here – 2010 lambs

Felting Challenge entries – entrants information now included

Posted by kenleighacres on February 8, 2010

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: felting challenge, Giveaway. 22 Comments

Thank you all for entering the Felting Challenge!!! What a crafty, inspired, creative, talented group of people. We have 11 entries for judging. The creators will remain anonymous at this time.

Please leave a comment voting for the number that corresponds with your favorite entry.

***** Special giveaway *****

In addition to the winner receiving a prize, I will also be randomly choosing a lucky person from all of you that leave a comment. So, come on all of you lurkers – VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

Judging will close on Friday the 12th at noon.

Once the judging has closed, I will be announcing who all the entries belong to and share their wonderful blogs.