Thought I Would Share Pictures….

December 6, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

I thought that today I would share all of the beautiful photos of our first snowfall in Powhatan, VA…well there aren’t any!! This was the puniest little snow I’ve seen in a while. Instead of pretty, we have more mud, ice and cold. I will say that the oat fields on either side of us are absolutely gorgeous from all of this rain but all that serves to do with us, is closely monitor our sheep and goats to make sure they are staying in the fence. The weather station is promising us more mud on Tuesday and Wednesday! I am doing an outdoor event on Tuesday evening, so that could be rained out like my event yesterday. Wow, I don’t sound like I’m in a very good mood do I?

If anyone goes out to Gather today for their Holiday Open House, I will not be there. Again, an outdoor event and where I would be set up is quite muddy, so we are going to try again for next Saturday (for me only..the Open House is still happening) and see what happens. Keep a watch on the Blog, facebook and Twitter to see how those plans hold out!

So, today will be a football and soap making day here at the farm. Hubby is cutting up more wood for the woodstove so it’ll be toasty, I’ve made bread and have a pot of soup on the stove. It’s sunny, beautiful and cold..a good day to re-energize!

Winter Preview

December 2, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Breeze Hill Farm - March 2009

Participating in Wordless Wednesday

New Kid Continued….

December 1, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Between yesterdays post, Facebook, Twitter and neighbors joining in the name that Rooster, we got some very good and interesting possibles. “Jake” was in the running for a good while. Then Jill recommended “Beau”. Hubby took “Beau” a bit farther and our Rooster’s new name is…

“Beau-Cocks”

(Get it? “Beau-Cocks”…Botox)

Needless to say we will call him “Beau”. Thanks for everyone joining in the fun of naming him and thank you Jill for his new name (sorta). I am certain he will be talked about a lot in my future Blogs.

New Kid On The Farm

November 30, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

You met this guy on Wordless Wednesday a few weeks ago..today I want to share his story.

While out running the Border Collies, Monday morning, several weeks ago, we heard a Rooster crowing. Around here we have sheep, goats, cows, horses, dogs and cats..no chickens. That’s just not something anyone close by raises and after the fox killed our last hens, we had been chicken free for 4 years – which brings me back to the crowing Rooster. I started following the crow. Imagine my surprise when I found 2 beautiful Roosters pecking around in the cemetery at the church across the road from us.

These guys seemed very tame. Catching the first one was easy. The second one got very upset and confused. He took off into the woods and we couldn’t find him. Hubby had to go to work and I had early deliveries, so we brought Rooster #1 over to our place and said that we could get the other one when we got home. Also, as much noise as Rooster#1 was making, we felt confident that he would encourage Rooster #2 to come to him. Well that didn’t happen.

When we got home that night, we discovered Rooster #1 running around and crowing. Apparently, these guys had been pets..they didn’t even know how to roost. We went to the church to find the other boy but had no luck. At midnight, when we let the dogs out for the last time, we heard Rooster #2 crowing. We got the dogs in and headed for the church. By the time we got there all was quiet. We hung out for almost an hour and decided this Rooster quest would be easier in daylight. We never heard him again! Rooster #1 was just sad the next day perpetually crowing and running around but there was no response. I spent hours at the church and in the cemetery listening and looking for Rooster #2, but he was no where to be found. The following day, I found him dead in the cemetery. He had been slaughtered by what we assume was a weasel.

Thankfully, by day three Rooster #1 had acclimated to his new home and had stopped calling his brother. So now we have a new Rooster! He’s quite the cool little guy. He thinks his job is to tend the sheep. Where they go..he goes. We’ve worked with him a lot and now he knows how to roost, where to find his food (sheep and goats eat anything that hits the ground, so we had to put his food up) and that bugs are a good dietary supplement. He’s a good boy. We are now considering adding a few hens so he won’t be without his kind and hope that the fox families have moved on for now. We didn’t realize how much we missed having chickens in the barnyard.

This Blogger/farmers rant – With so many avenues to find homes for unwanted animals a story like this should never have happened. We live in the country, there are 3 feed stores within a 15 mile radius of us, they have bulletin boards. There, of course, is Craig’s List, a local paper and word of mouth. We would have gladly taken these two Rooster’s if the person who dropped them had simply turned up our driveway and asked. There is just no excuse for one of these beautiful animals being slaughtered! All of this being said, we are very happy to have our new Rooster..there is a new peaceful calamity on the farm now and he’s good for the soul…guess things really do happen for a reason.