2023 Year in Pictures

Gallery

 

1st Snowfall Jan 25, 2023  2 inches

 

Wet Snowfall – Ice on Trees

 

Light Snow at the Pond

 

Wet Snowfall – Mom and Pop in Marsh

 

Sun Beam in the Forest

 

Black Eyed Susans and Echinacea in Front Garden

 

Beauty Berry, Frost Aster, Joe Pye, Goldenrod on Path to Barn

 

Territorial Bear Fight Around Pond and Barn

 

Monarch Butterflies

 

Giant Swallowtail

 

Painted Lady

 

Racoon Family Relaxing on Hot Summer Day

 

Virginia Creeper on Tree Trunk

 

Tulip Poplar Raining Fall Leaves

 

Variegated Fritillary Chrysalis Forming on Pineapple Sage

Highlights

Birds seen on the farm during 2023: 126 species; Last Hummingbird Oct. 2

July/Aug. had 3 weeks with 4 close encounters with black bears

Lilacs re-bloomed at the end of October

Butterflies seen:

  • New:
    • Eastern Giant Swallowtail,
    • Variegated Fritillary (brought in chrysalis, released after it emerged late Sep. – host plant passionfruit! vs violets preferred by other fritillaries),
    • American Lady,
    • Painted Lady,
    • Mourning Cloak,
    • Viceroy
  • Monarch: very few early but found caterpillars on some of the milkweed plants, no chrysalis though;  more in Sep./ Oct. but still sparse

Canada Geese:

  • 7 pairs attempted to nest multiple times but only the New Island Family (NIF) hatched eggs this year.  Fox and mink destroyed all the eggs in the other nests, and the NIF nest was hit once but 2 of the eggs survived to hatching. In 2022 none of the geese successfully hatched any of their eggs.
  • Waterfall Family (WFF) update – April 2nd was the last day Scooby (3 year old) was seen.  Prince Charming (PC = her mate) returned in June, stayed with Mom & Pop (WF2=parents) til molting completed and left with them.  Scooby didn’t return in the Fall, so fears confirmed she was lost trying to nest for the 1st time this Spring. WF2 nested in 3 locations and all the eggs were destroyed.

Fiber Farm Market at the Sheep Shack – Pittstown NJ

Thanks for a great 2023! Taking the winter off, back in March when it’s warmer!!  Check back then for our 2024 schedule.  Happy New Year !

Join us at the Windswept Acres Sheep Shack in Pittstown for your fiber fix.  Monthly 1st Saturday of the month through the end of the year 10AM to 3PM. We’re doing demos/ talks which walk you through the fiber creation process from shearing to final products. 

-August was shearing (Sue’s son Chris flew in from Montana to shear 4 sheep and explain the process as he worked, to the delight of visitors of all ages).
-September was skirting (the fleeces shorn in August) and washing. 
October was more skirting (by popular demand!) as well as hand carding and combing.  Demos/ talks at 11AM and 1PM.

  • Cornerstone farms vending and organizing guests, demos and classes are:

Windswept Acres – fleeces, roving, yarn & sheepskins from Sue’s flock of natural colored and white Romney and Dorset sheep, plus NJ Blankets.  And meet the sheep!

Windswept Acres Sheep Shack Vendors

Dancing Waters Farm – natural colored and hand dyed mohair/ wool roving, tops & yarn from Andrea’s Angora goats and sheep, plus catnip and NJ Blankets.

  • Other NJ Fibershed members vending include:

G.P.K Woodcrafts & Restorations – Gregg’s locally made cutting and charcutier boards as well as wooden vases (made from locally sourced hard woods -maple, ash, walnut)

Willow Pond Farm – Sue’s raw natural colored and white fleeces (Gotland, Jacob)

  • Plus other local products (farm and artisans):
    • Glass artist – Bonnie’s handcrafted, one-of-a-kind pressed glass sun-catchers

2022 Year in Pictures

Gallery

Geese in Marsh After Ice Storm 2022-02-25

 

Starlight Getting a Neck Rub (Pic Courtesy Beth Meriwether)

 

Geese in Snow

 

Bullfrog (Pic Courtesy Beth Meriwether)

 

Morning Rush Hour

 

Martha and Mortimer

 

Great Spangled Fritillary on Queen Anne’s Lace and Black Eyed Susans

 

Geese in Pond Behind New Wildflower Garden

 

Geese in Marshland Path

 

Dainty Sulfurs

 

Chicken in the Woods Mushroom on Dead Ash

 

Fall Leaves

 

Vending Booth at NJ Fibershed Fall Sale (Pic Courtesy Laura Chandler, Smiling Dog Farm)

 

Waterfall Family (Momma, Poppa, Scooby) Resting Before 2nd Sunset Take Off Attempt

 

Livestock Veterinary Good News – Acupuncture and a NJ Vet School at Last

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is making it’s way into the tool set of livestock veterinarians!  It’s especially useful for chronic conditions such as arthritis, disc disease, back pain and musculoskeletal injuries, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological problems, and respiratory issues.  Check out the details in this May 2022 Lancaster Farming article.

Source:  https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/livestock/animal-acupuncture-needles-its-way-into-veterinary-favor/article_b8b575f2-0613-5656-9288-5c221e8b147e.html

 

At Last a NJ Vet School

It’s gotten increasingly difficult to find livestock veterinary services throughout NJ, so it was great to hear that Rowan University has announced the planned opening of the first school of Veterinary Medicine in NJ!  It will be located in Sewell, NJ and plans an inaugural class of 60 students in Fall 2025 (pending approval by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education).  Today there are only 33 USA accredited vet schools of which 5 are on the East Coast.  With the addition of the new school, Rowan will become one of two universities in the nation to offer doctor of veterinary medicine, doctor of medicine and doctor of osteopathic medicine degrees.  More details available in the January 2022 article listed below.

Source:  https://www.lancasterfarming.com/news/main_edition/new-jersey-addresses-shortage-of-veterinarians/article_f2d83860-e77c-51a0-8a68-111a86cf6cb9.html

 

Rainbow Fiber Co-op

This fantastic group in their own words:

“is a Diné-led agricultural co-operative established to improve the financial sustainability and equitable market outcomes for the largest flocks of Dibé dits’ozí (Navajo-Churro sheep) remaining on the Navajo Nation. Our mission is to close the gap between rural Diné shepherds and an e-commerce driven marketplace for their wool. We are thrilled to announce that we have officially launched our online yarn shop!

Thanks to many generous donors we executed our first wool buy on the Navajo Nation in July 2021. We purchased approximately 3,200 pounds of Navajo-Churro wool from our shepherds. We paid a stipend for shearing help and a fair price for their wool by the pound. After skirting and sorting by color we transported the wool to Mora Valley Spinning Mill, a nonprofit community-based wool mill located in Mora, New Mexico, to produce an assortment of Navajo-style weaving yarns. In November of 2021 we began offering Diné-grown Navajo-Churro weaving yarns for sale online direct-to-customer. Sales dollars generated will be used to help fund the wool buy project again in 2022.

Most of the Navajo-Churro wool products available for sale online are from non-Diné shepherds. Diné shepherds are often told their wool is worthless or paid pennies per pound at mass wool buy events. Despite these challenges many shepherds create a market for themselves through hand spinning, weaving, and teaching weaving classes. This is difficult to do at scale and an unreliable source of income. In 2020 the pandemic brought marketing activities like farm visits, classes, art shows, and fiber events to a standstill. Several medium- to large-scale wool buys were completely canceled. These impacts have continued into 2021. We saw an opportunity to step up and do something to support these important flocks.”

Fibershed.org is helping them raise money to get their idea off the ground and their first run of yarn is now available on their website!

For more info:   https://rainbowfibercoop.org/

2020 Year in Picures

Gallery

2020 was a crazy year by any standards.  A farm is a great place to be during a pandemic as there’s always lots to do, the scenery is great, and isolation is built in.  Because of a more inward focus perhaps, there were far more wildlife encounters/ sightings than usual.  Here are snapshots in time that capture the essence of 2020.

Highlights included: I lost James (15 year old Angora goat) to heart issues and gained a lot of Canada Goose friends (learned a lot about them – subject of another blog entry wip!).  Re-did the pasture fences to fence out the areas now too wet for ruminants (meningeal worm) and began returning the soggy areas to wetland habitat for wildlife.  Lots of fox, skunk family, and baby racoon interactions this year.  Ghost (hen) got nabbed by a grey fox while out in the grass but I ran to the rescue and she put up a good fight.  Once I found a specialty bandage she couldn’t pull off she healed up quickly and is no worse for wear!

Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot)

Violets and Spring Beauties

Toad Lilies

Dogwoods in Bloom

Goslings Playing in Rain Puddles

Tater in Lawn

Fence Replacement Project – James at Log Pile

Fence replacement project in progress

Snapping Turtle Digging Under the Fence

Who let a fawn on our property?

Fawn Standing on Island

Fawn looking for grey fox that keeps chasing it

OZ spots an airplane while hanging with his best bud the water dish (Temporarily orphaned)

Rowboat Family Looking for Snacks

Doo – Special Needs Goose (Missing Over Half His Bill)

Morning glories Take Over the Garden Fence

Tiny spiders on Queen Anne’s Lace

Butterflies on Joe Pye Weed

Fog on Fall Foliage

Evening fall fog looking back at pond

Fall Foliage Near Creek on  East Side of Pasture

Red Fox passing through, no squirrels!

And then there was the time the red fox ran off with my mitten when I was standing less than 15 feet away!

Red Fox near bird feeders stalking squirrels

Pine Siskins and female Evening Grosbeak

Pine Siskins and Evening Grosbeaks are rarely seen in this region.  They only show up here when there is a food shortage in their native region.  First time I’ve seen Evening Grosbeaks here (23 years).  There were crowds of both for a short time.  

Pine Siskins

 

Rowboat Family

Snow at Pond – Deer on Hill

Water Fall Family – Doo closest

Doo

Hoar Frost on Plants

Water Fall Family ex Doo (Poppa closest, Momma left, Scooby back right) Chilling on Top of Snow Bank

Antique Amish Yarn Swift

Antique Amish Yarn Swift

I recently bought an antique Amish swift from my artist and fellow fiber friend Linda Czech. Sadly she is backing out of fiber pursuits because her cats are fixated on destroying anything fiber she creates.

I took it “for a spin” to skein a bobbin of 2 ply Jacob wool handspun I’d done for the Woolverton Inn. The swift works perfectly to wind directly from my spinning wheel without my having to lean over or stretch up and it also counts the yardage as it goes. Not to mention that it just looks really great sitting in the living room!

2019 in Pictures

Gallery

Monarch Migration

The Farm has always supported butterflies by keeping butterfly preferred flowers in the gardens and in particular looking out for Monarchs by raising them from caterpillars when their numbers are low. 2019 was the best Summer for Monarchs in quite a few years so I decided to start listing results for on-going comparison of years. But first a few pics….

Hungry Caterpillars
Monarchs in Waiting
Chrysalis Near eClose
Newly Emerged
Nearly Ready To Go!
Healthy Male Monarch With Wings Still Drying

15 caterpillars total

2 accidental deaths

0 disease issues

0 unexplained death

7 healthy males

6 healthy females

87% survival rate

Which far surpasses the 0% observed surviving in the garden.

Chrysalis Accidents

2 fell – one was crushed while cleaning the cage as it wasn’t seen on the bottom after it had fallen. The other fell just after the chrysalis formed and it was still too wet to survive the fall. This was the last caterpillar raised (9/18/19) and it seemed to have a bad destiny from the start. It wanted to j on the test tube rack for holding the milkweed leaves, when relocated to the top then picked the zipper of the cage, etc.

Bluebirds vs Blue Jays

A pair of bluebirds have nested in one of the front gate posts and had 3 nestlings they were feeding. Unfortunately a blue jay caught on and had been stalking the nest. The pair had been attacking the blue jay, taking it all the way to the ground until it would give up and take off.

Unfortunately on Father’s Day, the bluebird father was killed defending the nest. The blue jay was found eating the father in front of the nest. I don’t know that the blue jay directly killed the bluebird, it may have been an accident, but the outcome was the same. The mother now has sole responsibility for the the remaining two nestlings. Based on when I saw her incubating them (may not have been the 1st day) they could be ready to fledge as early as the June 23rd or it could be closer to July 1st.

After the body was removed, I made a predator guard for the nest using hardware cloth. [Plans for a Noel Guard can be found at various sites including Cornell’s NestWatch sites: https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/features-of-a-good-birdhouse/ or the VA Bluebird Society site: http://www.virginiabluebirds.org/about-bluebirds/nest-boxes-guards-signs/ ]

After watching for an hour, the mother still couldn’t figure out how to get into the house so I removed the guard. All I can do is keep the bird feeders behind the house well stocked and watch for any further attacks. There are lots of youngsters coming to the feeders with their parents right now including blue jays.

As of June 20th the mother is feeding them regularly and the nestlings look like they are doing well. Another pair of bluebirds has shown up in her area and I’m watching closely for any issues between them that would effect the nestlings.

Last updated: June 20, 2019