Hello Again!

June 3, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Wow, I cannot believe how busy the last, almost two weeks have been and how behind I am on blogging and just about everything else. It’s been so crazy, in a good way, I’m not sure what I’m doing! Just in case anyone really cares..business is really good. Since the introduction of the Fiber CSA, it’s been endless emails and phone calls and yes even some purchases. Also, once the offering was listed in the Local Harvest Store it’s been out of control. Who knew how well this was going to catch on. Be sure to check the CSA out at www.breezehillfarm.com, there are still shares available and the time is nearing for us to send the fiber off to the processor.

Let me share a little bit about what has been going on. It all started on Saturday, May 23, when we took off to the mountains in search of the magic “Heirloom Vegetable Seeds”. Well we found them; tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, pumpkin and many more. It was a nice day for us to finish up shopping for seeds for the garden..the late garden. After lunch at historic Michie Tavern, in Charlottesville, we headed back to the farm. On the way we received a phone call from our friends at Shady Nook Alpacas www.alpacasinvirginia.com/, in Powhatan, they were birthing babies and wanted us to come out. So we diverted our trip to their farm. How wonderful to be included in this. I had spoken to Lois and Ken on the phone numerous times but had not met them. Our visit was two fold, we got to meet two of the nicest people and see one live birth of a cria. (Sorry, no photo’s today)

The next day we sheared our llama, Kosmo. Still don’t think we’re over that one yet. He is so big and so spoiled (don’t know how that happened!) and is such a bratty baby. First he had to have his hum and kick fest, that was fun. Then he cushed and refused to get up. The crowning blow though was when he got nose to nose with me and spit. He had eaten breakfast about 3 hours before, you know that was a really pleasant spit! He and I got in a spitting match while my husband just stood there and laughed. Finally, Kosmo was shorn. We were invited to a Cuban Party that afternoon, so after showers we left for the party. Didn’t stay very long but the food was to die for. We promised we’d come back later for fireworks but came home and crashed.

I’m glad we got good rest on Memorial Day because last week was the week everyone decided they needed to order soap and lotion. With it only being me doing the production work, I tend to get backlogged easily and now I am. We’ve got a Farmer’s Market this weekend at St. Stephen’s and wholesale orders coming in from all of our accounts. This is such a good and encouraging thing. Business is picking up for all of us.

Wow, I’ve been all over the map with this post. Look next week for some fun and exciting things we will be offering to our customers and readers. Have a great rest of the week and upcoming weekend..we’ll be back Monday!

Almost forgot to include that we sheared most of our sheep this past weekend. We had one ewe produce 22 pounds of fiber, with a staple length of close to 12″. I’m thinking that we might should consider shearing her twice a year from now on. She’s always been a big producer but this was huge. To add to that, she is over weight, so her diet started Monday.

Farm Visit’s

May 20, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Wow! This has been a very exciting week and it’s only Wednesday. On Monday I spent the afternoon with my friend that raises Alpaca’s, selecting the animals that will be coming to live with us. We’ve chosen 6; 2 adults, 2 yearlings and 2 cria’s. The 2 cria’s are offspring from one of the adults we are getting. We are very excited about these new additions to our farm and hope that everything will work out well with them. Once I have a good day to photograph them, I’ll bore you to tears with pictures. Can’t wait for everyone to see one of the cria’s. He is just beautiful and his fleece is the most stunning shade of golden fawn. But the Alpaca’s are not the only exciting addition we are making.

Yesterday, I spent the day at Magi’s Wood Farm. They raise Icelandic sheep and we are adding this breed to our farm. As you will see in the photo’s below, the sheep are a really cool looking breed and I enjoyed the time spent with them, but Magi is an incredible Felt Fiber Artist. I wish I had photographed some of her work to include in this post but didn’t even think about it until I had left..that’s OK, I’ll be back there next week giving a spinning lesson so I’ll be sure to get some great photos of her work. What she has done with this fiber art medium is too beautiful to put into words. I am so impressed and so fortunate to call this amazingly talented lady my new friend.

In the photo’s below you’ll see one sheep named Holly, she is one that we will soon have at our farm. I’m trying to make up my mind which ones will be the other’s. These girls all have such cool personalities, it’s hard to choose. Being a dyer, I’m always looking at white sheep but I’ve learned through the years that over dying colored sheep fiber gives some excellent results too. I just can’t wait to have all of our new babies here at the farm. Once everyone has moved in an are settled, we are having a Field Party, to introduce everyone to the neighborhood..any excuse to have a party!

"Holly" and Friend

"Holly"

Is this too cute?

Happy Lambs

Take Me Home!

Heard you were looking for more sheep!

With all of these new additions, Breeze Hill Farm‘s Fiber CSA will be absolutely awesome in the Fall.

A Garden Beginning

May 14, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

For those who are not interested in gardening these photos will be boring but for us we’re pretty excited. As many of you know that are from Virginia we have had so much rain that it has been dificult to plow and get our gardens in. Yesterday hubby took the day off to get the plowing part done so this weekend, after the Farmer’s Market Saturday, we will finally plant the garden. Thank goodness we are not too late and the really cool part about it is when other’s have run out of veggies at the end of summer, we will still be harvesting. That’s great for the freezer and for the Market’s we attend too. Be sure to check out our small stand of wheat. If all goes well, I will make pancake mix out of the harvest from that. So what if it only makes 3 pancakes!

"Brandywine's"

Plowed dirt waiting for the disc.

Our Mini Wheat Field

The plan for the garden this year is a focus on Italian Heirloom’s. I can’t wait to see the first beans to show themselves!

Look At Our Big Suprise!

May 9, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

Yesterday went very smooth with Co-op deliveries and I am sorry to say, I didn’t get a single picture of anything all day. I did set up at Gather for a couple of hours and enjoyed meeting and greeting all of the new Co-op members as they picked up their orders and a reporter from the newspaper did interview me, so next week I should be able to share that with everyone. I also had the chance to sell several Fiber CSA shares. There are a lot of knitters in this area and they are all very excited about the idea of knowing exactly where their fiber comes from. It was just a good fun Thursday.

Look what we found at the barn this morning!

Now I ask you, are these two little girls cute enough. Their mother, “Blackie” is our stray goat (long story, we’ll share it some day). We knew Antonio had bred her and were hoping for a little black mohair. Antonio’s father was a black Angora but the white prevailed. She obviously is a very good Mom. She had these little girls all cleaned up and ready for a photo shoot by 8:00 a.m. I’ve been at the barn most of the day just watching them with Blackie and watching Carley. I think she’s next, so tonight I won’t leave it up to her. It’s her first so I want to make sure she does OK. It’s starting to look like a long sleepless Mother’s Day weekend. That’s fine..who could ask for a better Mother’s Day gift than beautiful healthy babies? Not me.

Rainy Days Are Getting Old

May 6, 2009 by Breeze Hill Farm

I, for one, love cloudy, cool, rainy days. It’s seems to make me thrive but our recent weather pattern is even getting old for me. For days now it has either rained or has threatened rain. Yesterday, the sun came out for 5 minutes and what happened next? Tornado Watch! This rainy spell has caused pastures to “green up” and gardens are starting to grow but we could use a little bit more sun to keep things going. Another thing that is affected by the rain is sheep shearing, something we’ve needed to do for a month. I love to see the girls out in the field all big and fluffy..they make the perfect picture but before we know it we will have 90 degree days again and they won’t be happy. Not to mention, the sooner I get those fleeces off the sooner I can get all the fiber shipped off to the mill. Until then, I must look at the fact that we are blessed with a wet Spring!

Overheard some chatter at the barn last night. Looks like, for the first time in years, we did really miscalculate our delivery dates. The does are getting ready now, so there will be baby photos coming soon!

There was additional chatter out there when Breeze our picture perfect Border Collie rousted up a skunk. She is such a cool dog. When she goes out for her barn work, she has to stop off and kiss the other dogs, kiss the cats, kiss the pig, she’s just a sweet kisser. Well, she seems to think that skunks are cats, so she tries to kiss them too. Aparently her doggie genius only goes as far as what to do with the sheep, she just never learns. She got a bath in what we have found to be the best skunk odor remover, disposable douche (found this in a natural pet care book), and the otherwise nightly sofa hound spent the night in an outside run. This morning she smells fresh and clean and dishing out kisses again!

"Breeze"

Well, I have to make soap today. Just got the orders from the co-op (www.farm2udirect.com) and soap is the big seller this week. People were probably thinking about Mother’s Day when they ordered this time. Also, the Market at Gather (www.shopgather.com) is Thursday so inventory needs to be ready for that. I’m so glad I have this life!