Bright Eyed And Fluffy Tailed

On these darkest days of the year, the light you bring into the world is so important. Keep on shining, you radiant thing, you. — Sweet Tater

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

Does anyone know how to build an ark? It’s rained for days and days and everyone is a little grouchy and a lot soggy. I’ve been moving the flerd more quickly than usual, which is burning up my stockpiled grass, but keeping them from doing too much damage to the soggy ground as their hooves sink into the mud. The chickens, who are always so excited to come out of their house first thing in the morning, keep emerging into the damp morning air, looking at me like “this sh*t again?” and then hightailing it into the warm, dry barn. In between moving critters, giving extra hay to keep everyone warm in the damp, and wading through the mud to and from paddocks, I’m vacuuming water out of the basement. Truly: Farm life at its most glamorous.

Between rain storms, I’ve been working on building carbon compost for next year’s garden. I mostly let fallen leaves be, since they provide habitat for salamanders and bugs. However, in certain spots (mostly along gravel paths or in drainage ditches), I rake leaves onto tarps and haul them into a bin made from old wood pallets. Every now and then, I’ll add some chicken poop to these bins for nitrogen, then give the whole mess a good tossing, to make sure the microbes breaking down the pile have plenty of air. In a year or so, the compost will grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever tasted.

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

These gorgeous skeins of wool yarn from Enno Farms. Angela, the solo woman farmer behind Enno Farms, raises Leicester Longwool and Shetland sheep, two heritage breeds with gorgeous wool. I can’t wait to crochet myself a sweater after all my Christmas crochet projects are done!