Shawn heads into town early every morning, so he's not there to help with morning chores. Those chores are usually done by Jeanette with some helpt from Elena.
Evening chores, on the other hand, are nearly a full family affair.
Elena sets up the stalls for the horses we bring in while Shawn bucks the evening's hay into our two wheelbarrows (most everyone gets grass hay except the dairy goats and the two 'housed'
horses) and Jeanette, after washing and sterilizing the milk pail, takes Aylah's Bootifuls on an egg hunt.
Once the eggs are gathered - and to their credit, they've only busted one and that they tried to put back together a la 'all the kings horses and all the kings men' - the girls help throw the hay to the critters while Elena and I bring in the horses. Elena and I finish up checking water levels and haying and check on the rabbits while Jeanette milks and the girls help her and coo over the goats.
It doesn't take long to do chores at night - maybe 30 minutes. Those times are precious, however... watching the entire family workng and laughing together.
And so we were off to another town and another show.
But Winter in Southeastern Colorado is unpredictable and barely fifty miles from home with anothr 50 miles to go to get to the show we encontered near-whiteout conditions and decided to turn around.
Now, instead of working a show, I'm working the web, Jeanette's weaving, Aylah working her computer, Elena's baking bread and the wee ones are sleeping soundly but it's too early for them to have dreams of sugar plums.
Happy First-Day-of-Snow-in-Southeastern-Colorado-Day to you!
Laffing Horse Farm
Ok, I'm really gonna give this a try. If I figure it out for myself, then I'll know how to do it and can do it again.
It's fall here on the Laffing Horse Farm. The trees are turning yellow. The weeds are getting crispy. We'll pull the sections of weeds that never got mowed this summer and pile them up for a great big Halloween bonfire.
The dairy goats should all be bred, though we have to wait a few more weeks to see if anybody cycles again. Arthur is very proud of himself!
The sheep are still waiting, we don't breed anything that needs to be sheared until mid-November. That way we can wait until March to shear. It is best to shear the ewes before they lamb, but it is still pretty cold here in Feb. and even March. In the next couple of weeks we'll be shearing tags and bellys, getting the woolies ready to breed.
The angora goats are on the same schedule as the sheep, but they get sheared completely before breeding. They have to be sheared every 6 months, so it's October and March for them. They spend the winter in our warmest barn, but by the time it gets really cold, they have nice new fleeces well grown out.
If this works, I'll write more tomorrow, and learn about putting pics on the blog too!
http://www.flickr.com/people/shawnhoefer/
Check 'em out!
In the midst of selling weaned lambs, moving yearlings ewes to the big pasture, trying to get the books to the accountant, making new lotion sticks, packaging fiber for next week's festival, training someone new to manage the farm for a week and writing a press release for a friend - I decided it might be a good time to join the blogosphere.
Why not? I've been reading a few interesting business blogs (I'll add the links here when I figure out how) and trying to keep in touch with everybody when I am so busy. This just might be the way to accomplish several things.
Our friends and marketing consultants, Chris Luchs and Kay Novak, brought us some wonderful pictures that they took of us at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. Several people have asked for pictures of our booth and products since I posted that we won "Best New Artist of the Year." Well, we were so busy earning the award and working the booth and demonstrating that we took very few pictures. But Kay very generously offered to let us post her photos, so we should have them up on the web site soon.
Gotta go package more fiber - so long for now.
I tried all the clients and a lot of 'em work great, however, none of them allow for the uploading of files directly to blogger as the blog editor in blogger now does.
How about a picture of us together?
Why did you have to use a picture of me? I don't see any pictures of you up there.
Ha!
So, I'm on my way to town with Jeanette today and she says "I've been reading that blogs are getting really big and maybe we should have one."
I tried not to laugh... too much... and then I said I'd show her how to use our blog and she could update stuff, too. That way you'll get twice the info from two points of view and I won't get carpal tunnel near as soon.
So, without further ado, I give you Jeanette...
Well, it's over and I now know the REAL definition of ambivalence: I was so glad it was over I could have my weekends back and I really wish I was heading up there next weekend.
Many a teary eyed farewell to many friends old and new and rediscovered. Even met some folks from some of my online lists.
Even a surprise farewell from a beautiful young lass I had never met but that liked the scent of the pipe tobacco I was smoking in the evenings.
Getting out of the 'mode'... well, that's another problem. I was a salesperson extraordinaire for the last 8 weekends and now... a gentleman pulled into the driveway this evening as I was setting out to do some chores and asked if we had pygmy goats. "No," says I, "but we've got something better." And I proceeded to lead him on a our of the farm and extoll the virtues of our stock over runty little pygmy goats.
It wasn't until he left with my business card in his hand that I realized that I sounded like a hawker at a circus or carnival... erg!!!!
Even while I'm trying to get out of that mode we're deep in the planning phases for next year... we bought a new booth at the festival!!!!!!!! A huge beautiful castle and I can't wait to make my castle my home :-)
As soon as I locate the pics we took of our new castle - really, it is a castle complete with towers and huge siege doors, really - I'll post some to out 'site.
In the meantime, mark your calendars already! Join us at the 30th annual Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado sometime in June or July 2006 at booth number 113!!!!
I love my job at the newspaper. I've been in newspapers for about 17 years now and have worked as a writer, designer, webmaster, sales, technician, photographer, manager, publisher, darkroom tech, pressman, and in the mailroom. Once you've worked in newspaper, ink gets in your blood.
Still, when opportunity knocks...
There has been a position advertised in the very newspaper I work for for for a computer technology coordinator and webmaster at the local community college. The pay is more than double and there are better benefits. I had to apply and I let my co-workers know that I was applying.
In the past I have let similar opportunities slip through my fingers as I have some really serious loyalty issues. Once I get to know and like a group of people (and I have never worked with a better team than I do now) I hate to leave them in a lurch.
Still, I know that this is what's best for me and my family.
I bought a new set of clothes, got a haircut, wrote up the best damn resume and cover letter and assembled a who's who of references...
Wish me luck!
I'm not ready for this...
Yet it is going to happen whether I'm ready or not.
"What?" you might ask.
Glad you did.
Turns out I'm about to become a grandfather. About is a relative term. The DOB is somewhere in 2006, but still...
Catching up, right?
You already know that I got the job, right? I'm working as a pressman for the local newspaper and I really like it. Great bunch of guys to work with, too.
But we're still working hard on the farm, too! Well, Jeanette is anyways... she's managed to shear all but about 5 of the critters by herself... I sheared a few and assisted on a few, but the rest she did. Wow!!! Jeanette's also developed a method for making the most incredible rugs ever made! Find us at one of the shows listed in our events section or visit us on the farm to see and appreciate 'em.
Meanwhile, we sent of our jury packets to the Wool Festival at Taos and the Wool Festival of the Southwest and Back of the Wasatch and the Colorado Renaissance Festival and wouldn't you know it, we got into every last one of 'em. I, personally, was surprised. Jeanette said she had faith :-)
The Colorado Renaissance Festival, which ran from the second weekend in June and ends this upcoming weekend, has been an incredible experience! For starters, it's a lot of fun for a born people watcher as we get to see tens-of-thousands of them over the eight week course of the faire. Secondly, it's a lot of fun dressing up in garb and prancing about (I won third place in the men in tights contest, can ya believe that?!? Not bad for a geezer like me in competition with a lot of 20-somethings!). It's also a lot of very had work in some very trying conditions. Hot and dry and exposed! Money and labor and fun all aside, this has been a really great show for one reason only—We're not preaching to the choir! I've taught thousands - literally - to spin over the course of the past couple of weeks and had a blast doing it. If only 100 of those continue to spin, then I'll have achieved something truly wonderful, I think... don't you?
That was the cake!
Then I found out the cake had some really yummy filling...
The local newspaper ran a wonderful article on our endeavor. he headline: If the city won't come to the farm... and it was just right and oh so appropriate. We were teaching some really ancient and useful farm techniques to people who weren't even sure what sheep were. Really not too much of an exaggeration, there.
Then there was the icing on the cake!
We were voted the best new artist at the show. An award was presented to us complete with the King and his royal court and heralds with trumpets and a beautiful hand-lettered proclamation. I was so excited and happy and awed and... it's just too hard to describe how I felt, but know that it was all good.
It's still going on - the Renaissance Festival - and you've still got a chance to come and see us (bad Shawn bad for not writing this earlier) this weekend (July 30 and 31, 2005) only. We're in booth #41.
If you can't make it there, maybe you can look us up at another festival... check out our events section.
I've been getting better about getting up in the morning. Used to be I would want to sleep in until 8:30 or 9. This morning I got up at 6:00 a.m.
Once out of bed I followed my usual routine: coffee and a book on the porch until I'm awake, surf and check email, morning chores.
Morning chores consist of feeding the boys (Hans and Dogwood — they think they're twins but nothing could be farther from the truth as Hans is an Angora goat and Dogwood is a Jacob sheep, but they were raised together, so...), feeding the milkers (there are about 10 goats and llama in that pen), milking, and taking care of the chickens. In the summer, the horses are out on pasture and only get checked when they come in and ask for it which is not often.
Milking means washing the milk pail, installing the filter, getting a can of grain from the bin and then wading through the mass of goats all thinking they need their corn right now! Once I get to the milking stall thing quiet down as Victoria, the older of our two La Mancha milkers comes in behind me and promptly hops onto the milking stand. One-third of the can of corn is poured into the feed bucket and she happily munches away while I milk her out. She normally gives around 4-5 pounds of milk per milking, but the heat has gotten to her lately. This morning she gave 4 pounds, though — it was cooler thanks to some rain last night and the remaining cloud cover this morning. Once Victoria is done, Kupala, Victoria's daughter is let in as Victoria leaves. Kupala also hops right up and she also gets a bout one-third of a can of grain. Meanwhile, I have Rosemary, the llama, leaning over my shoulder wondering where her grain is. I tell her she has to wait. We used to give her her grain at the same time, but she made a habit of spilling it. Kupala gives about 3 pounds per milking. This morning she's a bit off and gives 2.3 pounds before she, too hops down. Often, if she finishes her grain before I finish milking her, she'll turn her head and nuzzle me asking for more grain. Kind of sweet. Once she's out of the milk side of the small goat barn I use the same feed bucket the milking goats have used for their grain to give a little bit to Rosemary. By this time she's complaining loudly (for a llama) that she's starving! The remaining on-third gets split between several pans in the yard for the rest of the goats.
Once the milking is finished and the milk is put away by restraining into a sterilized glass jar and tucked safely in the refrigerator, the next step is feeding the sheep and rabbits.
So I shoulder my scythe and pitchfork.
This is not routine. Normally, I would fill up the bed of the pickup trailer and haul hay and water to the other end of the property. This morning, however, I know that there are a lot of weeds along the road that need to be mowed down and I also know that the sheep like the weeds. Furthermore, last nights rains and the cooler temperatures mean they wont need any water this morning.
Once at the other end of the property, just one-half mile away, I set the pitchfork down and begin cutting the weeds like hay in long even strokes with the scythe. Once I've cut enough I trade tools and use the pitchfork to rake the hay together and toss it over the fence to the bawling sheep. Once fed they quiet up and then I go in to check on the rabbits.
This morning I noticed a lot of blood staining the coats of the sheep. I don't think the worst though as a cursory count (yep, 47 shep) tells me that everyone is there. The culprit is Crab Claws, a young ram lamb named for the horns he's carrying which look like, well, crab claws. He's tussled with a door frame of something and managed to break off a horn. These wounds to the head, although not dangerous, bleed a lot. Once I confirm he's OK, I finish taking care of the rabbits.
We have two rooms in the old house we now use as a sheep barn that are closed off and the rabbits are allowed to run free in these rooms in warrens. In one room we have the breeding females with their litters of kits. Right now there are three moms and bout 36 popcorns. We call the kits popcorn as they will pop all over the place when you walk in on them. They get water and pellets and the occasional armload of hay or weeds to nibble on. The other room has the non-breeding weaned rabbits for sale. This room has given us some trouble as there is a gap under the door the smaller rabbits can escape through. We block it up, but once in a blue moon the sheep barge their way in and scramble everything. There are seven rabbits in this room this morning and I know that there are about 9 living under the house from the last jailbreak. They also get food in the form of pellets and weeds or hay, and water. We also have three caged rabbits — Stanley and Kristina are French Angoras and they don't get to run as it would ruin their fiber and Jack is our breeding buck and we only want that little miracle to happen when we want that little miracle to happen instead of when Jack wants it to happen which is all the time. They get pellets and water, too.
To recapture the renegade bunnies I put a live trap on the side of the house and this morning there's a blond bunny in it. She goes back in with her sibs for breakfast and the trap is reset.
Shouldering my scythe and pitchfork and giving a last minute kiss on the nose to Muppet — one of the two guardian llamas assigned to the sheep — I head back to the house.
The rest of today will be filled with designing web pages, fulfilling orders (2 pounds of Jacob fleece that is a wee bit overdue at this point), updating journals such as this, dealing with kids, cleaning the house a bit, and this evening, after evening chores which look a lot like morning chores except that Jeanette's home to help by then, we are going to see I, Robot after a meal out.
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Got two surprise calls today: one call was for goat's milk and one was for rabbits. The calls were surprising as we don't sell goat's milk (dairy licensing and such) and therefore don't advertise. This call, though, was from a local dog breeder that had a litter of pups that the mother can't keep up with. The rabbit call was surprising because we just took them off the market.
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Hope this finds everyone well!
I've spent the last few days with this window open, but never have gotten around to writing in it. I've been running about chasing my tail and doing a lot, but not getting anything done.
I've rearranged the living room to accommodate more books... one can never have enough books. Then I went to an auction and bought more... just when I had everything fitting, too!
The other purpose for rearranging the living room was to give more space to the crafters... I spin and weave and knit, as everyone knows, Jeanette spins and weaves and crochets (when she's home, which is not a lot these days since she went back to work), Rani spins and crochets, and Johnathon, my son, has taken an interest in inkle weaving... woo hoo... a new inkle loom is on its way!
I Think at some point I mentioned that I'm teaching drop spindle spinning at the Back of the Wahsatch Fiber Festival in September, so I am getting ready to do that... making a lot of Spindles and prepping documents and roving and what not.
I've repaired out camp trailer to get ready for a camping trip next month... that'll be fun. While I was at it I also fixed the tractor trailer, the pickup bed trailer, and more. Fix fix fix.
I bought a scythe (pronounced sigh-th for those that were wondering) and I've managed to mow abut an acre with it and I am using that as feed for the critters right now.
I also fixed the garden tractor and have mowed a bit with that.
It's amazing what a bit of water will do for the weeds and grasses :-)
Of course, I am doing the chores every day, twice a day.
What's left on the never-ending to-do list is finish the laundry, the dishes, plant the next batch of veggies in the garden, run a new line of fence, fix the old line of fence, clean the living room, clean the bedroom, grocery shop and stock the trailer for the camping trip, make more stock for the upcoming shows, send out the orders that have finally gotten in, fix the roto-tiller, create more web pages, work on bookkeeping and marketing, and write this blog!
Til next time... however long that might be...
Where to start?
At the beginning, of course.
Early in August... OK, maybe the second week in August we went to an event where we vended and that show went good. The show was supposed to be as much vacation as it was show and that's about how it turned out. We even got to try out our new camp trailer! A lot of fun!
However, there was a price to be paid for the fun and success at that show and I came home, packed to leave for yet another show and upon arriving at the other show I found I was far to sick to work the booth. Packed everything back up and went home, living on a diet of Dayquil and Theraflu... ouch.
Meanwhile, I had applied for a job. I love the storefront and the shows and the wool and the spinning and weaving, but at this early stage of the game, they aren't paying all of the bills and my unemployment was running out...
Early in September, then, having not heard back from the place I applied to, I packed again and went to Midway, Utah, for the Back of the Wasatch Fiber Festival, Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Classic, and Highland Games. I must say that the drive was worth it, the venue was wonderful and the show was a success... I even had enough participants in my beginning spindle spinning class to make that worthwhile and most of the students came back the next day to say thank you and show me what they had accomplished... which was a surprising amount... another group enabled!!! Furthermore, the show was a success financially and I have every intention of returning next year.
The drive back home was just as wonderful, but there were nagging doubts plaguing me... nibbling at the corners of my mind. If I did not hear from the place I had applied I would call to touch base, but how, with my unemployment running low, would I handle rejection. I began to look through newspapers again looking for more help wanted ads, but the pickings in our area are slim and the pickings wanting my skill set were non-existent. The follow-up call to the potential new employer was brief amounting to "we're going to make a decision any day now and we'll call you. That was a week ago.
I've been putting off calling again and watching the mail box for the dreaded rejection letter.
But then this morning, a call came and I have the job and start tomorrow. 8 a.m.
Of course I greeted this news with a rush of emotions... Hurrah, I got the job! Damn, I got the job! I guess I was hoping that the store would, at the last minute, fly rather than stumbling along.
This does not mean that the store is closing! It means that the store is changing. We are now open by appointment (or accident - if someone stops by and we're here, then we're open). The web presence will be continued and we'll still accept and ship orders.