Here's A Rambling Post

Ain't she Cute????!!

I've been saving up photos for a blog. Villa is asleep - or at least quiet - giving me an opportunity to post uninterrupted. Not even the cat is laying on my arms right now!

Villa's favorite chew toy is Thomas! They get into fierce looking and sounding battles with no marks on anyone.

She is such a smart puppy. She runs through tunnels already, spins, does Sit, Down, Stand, Come, Fetch, goes over jumps (really just the ground bar) and even did her first "back cross" yesterday! She waits for supper, runs into her crate, and is *almost* potty trained.

She is a little puppy in a big world, as she accompanies me doing farm chores.

Farm chores are something I can't do with Clifford, as he is so obsessed with the birds. I've failed to break him of chasing, catching and killing them. :-(

Thomas is a great chore dog, too. Both Villa and Thomas follow along as far as they can, then wait at fences and gates while Dave and I go in with the sheep and camelids. Villa thinks the sheep and camelids are all potential friends. She's going nose to nose with Acclaim, our alpaca.

Do you notice "something" about Acclaim?

He rooms with the ram-boys and recently was discovered bending down the electronet fence to get at the succulent new grass on the "other side" of the fence. As he's overdue for shearing, his long neck fiber was protecting him from getting shocked. The last straw was one afternoon when Dave came home and asked "Why are the rams loose?" When we rounded them up, Acclaim got some special treatment:



We weren't ready to completely shear him, so he got a custom cut. It sure solved the fence issue!

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We're in Waiting mode. Waiting for lambs, that is. Waiting for warmer weather. Waiting for construction at ERN (EverRanch North). Hortense is waiting (usually for her lunch/breakfast/dinner/snack) and lambs.




She's bagging up and broadening nicely. We're hoping for twins from her this year out of the Gotland ram, Daniel. Hortense gives us a wonderful fleece each year. I try to shear her every 9 months or so, sometimes I keep the coat on her, sometimes not. Coated, she has a beautiful variegated grey fleece. Uncoated the grey is tempered with some sunbleaching and it comes out a heathery brown-grey. I've got several of her fleeces ready to weave into "something".



The "Hilton" ewes are waiting. I'm guessing Eve will be our first to lamb. I'm guessing this weekend. Her lamb(s) will combine all three of the Scottish rams we imported semen from.

Scattered around Eve are 4 ewes expecting Gotland lambs from the ram Daniel, 4 ewes expecting Gotland cross lambs from our backup rams, her cousin - Sweet Pea, and the 4 Shetland ewe lambs that weren't exposed to a ram. No, not all of them are visible in this photo.

Here is the handsome ram that Eve was bred to:

This is EverRanch Butch Cassidy. He's the guy who was splinted for several weeks as a young'un. His leg appears to be completely healed.

Shetland ewe, Cinnamon shows what happens when Shetlands are sheared "in the rise". It is really difficult to get the shears underneath the old/new fiber mat when it's so close to the skin. These patches will either shed off, or I'll trim them off as her fleece grows out more.

And Gotland/Shetland Bunny is waiting.

Bunny should be "incubating" 75% Gotland lamb(s). We're hoping for twin ewe lambs from Bunny. :-) We'll know in a couple of weeks.

...lots to do while "waiting".

- Franna

B - U - S - Y !

I was going to name this blog "Chaos in the Kitchen" but I thought Michelle's comment was more fitting since it's been a long while since I've posted a new blog.


It's hard to believe that Villa has been with us for two weeks! She's 10 weeks old and growing like a weed. She's so smart it's scary - and fun. She came "programmed" to sit for her supper and anytime she thought she might get a treat. She's learned to "down", "stand", touch the end of a touch stick, push a box around, run into her crate, walk on a leash, wait for me outside the sheep pens, bring back a toy, go to the door to go outside, and many more essentials. :-) She's still a little timid about loud, strange noises and new things. I hope to get her used to as many "strange" situations as possible in these critical first 3 months.


Meanwhile, here's Villa watching the action (just a brief rest on her part). Clifford and Thomas are wrestling over the tennis ball tube while Lonie wonders about joining in.

3 Big and 1 Little dogs in our very tiny kitchen create quite an uproar. Villa is confined here until she's more reliably house trained.


Villa gets into the act with one of her favorite toys - brother Thom's tail! She actually prefers Lonie's very fuzzy tail, but Lonie has things to say about that! Thom spends a lot of time with his own tail in his own mouth, so maybe it's been desensitized somewhat.


On Saturday, we had a shearer come in to do the whole flock (less 2). He sheared 32 of our sheep and 4 sheep and 4 Angora goats for a friend in less than 3 hours. It was amazing to watch. We didn't get much time to watch, because all of us (6 of us!) were kept busy supporting him - putting sheep in pens, getting them out of pens, sweeping after each shearing, rolling fleeces, keeping cords out of the way....

It was great getting them all done, but since I wasn't the one rolling fleeces, I don't know what they're like. I get to skirt them all in the upcoming weeks and months, for buyers and competitions and for myself. :-) Hortense and Captain escaped shearing this time, as they were both sheared in November and need to grow out a little.


Here is Bunny, our Gotland-Shetland ewe. What a beautiful color she is! She is also expecting :-) Her lamb(s) will be 75% Gotland and should arrive in about 3 weeks.

These are 4 of our Shetland ewes. On the left is Asa, Bunny's dam. Asa is expecting 50% Gotland lamb(s). She gives us a lovely taupey fleece. One year I spun and knitted her fleece into a vest for DH... before he was the "H". He wore it at our wedding. :-)


Electra is the grey ewe. She's given us very personable lambs in the past years, though with fleece not quite as soft as I'd like. She's bred to Bubba (Gotland/BFL/BL) for market lambs.


The two blacks are "almost" yearlings, Pepper and Midnight. They look so skinny next to the pregnant ewes.

This lovely (almost) yearling Scottish Blackface ewe is EverRanch Eve. Eve has beautiful breed type, and especially lovely horns. Her sire and grandsire both live in Scotland, making her 75% UK bloodlines.

She's been bred to Butch - the SBF who broke his leg at 4 days old. His long-healed leg was no hindrance to settling her!

So there's a bit of what I've been up to. This coming weekend I'll be near Sacramento, California, judging an agility trial. Then back to the farm for more puppy and sheep fun.

- Franna

Photos as Promised

Heeeere's VILLA!

She had a very exciting day. After coming home and resting with me a little, she met Dad. She figured his beard and ears needed washing - or maybe pulling.
She met Lonie first of the resident dogs. Lonie was a little intimidating but very intriguing.

Her first supper was a big hit!

What a look! And yes, she has a demanding bark, which she uses infrequently - thank you, Villa!
Here's Brotha Thomas, looking very haughty in his "Hound Hat". There's a pretty solid family resemblence, as they have the same dam. Their sires are pretty much unrelated, though.

Here's what I wrote to her breeder about "Villa's first day":

"... Well, Villa's had an exciting first day here. She met Acclaim, the alpaca, Morata and Amy, the llamas (all from the safely of my arms) and many of the sheep, on actual sheep level, through the fences."

"She met Grizabelle, our "senior" cat, Lonie the 12 y.o. GSD, Clifford the Welsh Springer and, of course, Thomas, the Wildman. She also met Squeeker, the ex-feral barn cat. Of all the critters, he was the least happy about meeting Villa - and of course, she wanted most to pounce on him."

"Villa wants to play with Thomas. I figure she sees him as familiar looking, but he's just too over the top for her to be comfortable. Clifford wants to play, and is the closest to her size, so they'll probably be the first to really play. She's still a bit intimidated by Lonie (the size?), but really, really wants to cuddle up in all that fur. Lonie's not so sure she wants to be laid on, but tries to play, with big paws and bigger nose."

"She is much less bold than Thomas, first deciding to exit stage left when meeting the other residents, then quickly letting her curiosity get the better of her, coming back and checking them out."

"She slept through to about 5:00 (I didn't look - it was still dark) which was a blessing! She's been very good in her crate, with only small bursts of barking, then settling down."

"She met the chickens and ducks - is fascinated with the ducks! She rode in the wheelbarrow to go out and feed the birds - sometimes the turkeys can get aggressive - even Thomas gives them a wide berth!"

"She waded in the pond while Thomas made wild dashes back and forth and tail tucked around in big circles. The level's gone down enough that it isn't swimming water, even to her, though that also meant it wasn't very cold."

"She's followed me around the farm, feeding sheep a couple times, expressing her unhappiness (briefly) when I go inside the pen where she can't go. I'm quick (she's not accompanied me on the longer tasks), so she's not alone long, and can always hear me and mostly see me."

"She's baby gated into the kitchen, which means I am, too, when she's up. She *almost* is asking to go outside, and so far hasn't had an accident. (I'm of the opinion that they need to make at least one mistake and get caught, to know not only is it "good" to go potty outside, it isn't good to go inside.)"

"We're playing games with food. I keep a small handfull of kibble out while her food is soaking and feed them to her but only if she's not trying to get them from my hand. Good choices. She's letting me set the bowl down and waiting a split second to be released to eat... well, not quite yet on the first try. ;-)I'm attaching a few photos. It's not easy getting photos when she's mostly underfoot, especially when I'm looking at her. ;-)"

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So there you have it - Promised photos and even a play by play of her first 24 hours here at EverRanch. :-)

- Franna

She's Here!

At 2:45 Villa arrived at the Alaska Air Freight counter. She let everyone know she'd much rather get OUT than sit on the counter in the crate. She kept her tail wagging and wrapped herself around my feet multiple times before getting down to 'business', then we could drive home.

At the feed store (well, yes, I had to make a stop for puppy "litter" and a few more toys) *everyone* had to make a fuss over her. She ate that up with a spoon. Finally at home, she's been played with and fussed over and fell asleep on my lap (out of reach of the camera). I'm getting a few things done while she rests in her crate for a bit. What an adorable little girl. I'm not sure "Villainess" fits her, but a Villainess with Virtue, or a playing a Villainess online... now that fits. (Remember Mom's name is "Online" and Dad's is "Conundrum". ;-)

Photos later - I promise!
- Franna

You Scream, I Scream...

This afternoon, I had a craving for ice cream. I didn't want to go to the grocery store for some overpriced (but delicious!) ice cream in limited flavors. Limited because I don't eat soy products and the great majority of ice cream has soy something in it.

Sooooo, I've been hoarding several gallons of sheep milk since July, packed in 4 cup Ziplocs. Through the CSA, we've been getting quarts of frozen blueberries each week. hmmmmmm, what about blueberry ice cream!

A quick look on Google gave me a simple recipe to play with. This is what I came up with:

1 quart blueberries
just a little water
1 cup white sugar (more or less depending on your taste)
1 quart Sheep milk (8+ % butterfat!!!)

Put the blueberries, water and sugar in a saucepan and cook until soft and a little thickened, 10 minutes or so. Add the frozen milk. This cooled the hot blueberries - actually the blueberries weren't hot enough to thaw the whole quart, so it went through a couple microwave cycles to thaw it. The idea is to get it as cold as possible before putting it in the ice cream machine.

I have an old Waring Ice Cream Parlor ice cream maker. It hasn't been used in years, but worked like a charm right out of the box. (I even found it without taking the kitchen apart!)

Follow directions for the Ice Cream maker and freeze the mixture. Eat! Put the remainder in the freezer. It's easier to eat if you microwave it a little straight out of the freezer, especially if your freezer is really cold.

YUM!
- Franna

Villa, Villa, Villa!

Villa arrives next Thursday, February 28th! She's learning sit and down and touching a target. She's "litter" trained to be more manageable in the winter weather, she'll have her first vaccinations and a microchip. She'll still have "puppy breath". :-)

The photo below shows Villa (most likely on the left) with a brother and a sister at 3 weeks of age.

The next photo is Villa at 6 1/2 weeks of age. She looks like like a Labrador puppy should look at that age.

We're enjoying a few days of warm-ish and sunny weather. The lunar eclipse was even visible on Wednesday! Dave moved the rams to a concrete floored pen, so they're off the spongy bedding under the trees. Dandelions and thistles are starting to grow, ewes are getting round - spring must be coming!

:-) Franna

Virtual Villainess

Oh, my! It's been a while since I've blogged. There are plenty of things going on at EverRanch!

My son is 27 today - Wow! It seems like just "yesterday" when my water broke 4 months before we were expecting him! Yes... 4 months. As it turned out, the doc was wrong on my due date, but Bryan was still 9 weeks early. He was a healthy 2 lb, 7 oz and spent 4 weeks in the hospital, just growing. The target weight was 5 lb, but he was doing so well that he was discharged at about 4 1/2 lb. Now he's running the IT department at an international company in Albuquerque. Since birth, he lives life to its fullest.

My daughter will be 24 on Wednesday. She's married to a wonderful man from Moses Lake. They bought their first house last fall, in Moses Lake, and are working for his dad's winery and vineyards, one of the largest in Washington State.

That, and I'm flying to Florida on Thursday to judge agility in Palm Beach. Wow! Am I ever looking forward to some warmer weather. Goodie, Goodie, Goodie!!

There's lots of mundane goings on. And one that's really exciting! After waiting for 3 years, I'm getting a puppy. Woo Hooo! I picked out the dam about 5 years ago, and we got Thomas from her first litter. He ended up being Dave's graduation from college present. He's such a great Labrador, that I decided to get another pup from his dam.

The pups were born on January 1st, and ours should be arriving the last week in February!

Introducing: Winroc Virtual Villainess

"Villa" comes from some high falutin' Labrador show and performance lines. Her dam is Ch. Winroc On Line, JH, who is going for her Senior Hunter title after she gets back in shape. Dad is Ch. Waifin's Topform Conundrum, RN, WC who will also be competing in hunt tests. In her pedigree is an Amateur Field Champion, a French Dual Champion and many Specialty show winners. She has close relatives wtih MACh, UDX, OTCh and TDX titles. She's got some big paw prints to fill.

It's been a long time since I've had a pup with such potential. By this fall, she should be competing in hunt tests and rally obedience. Agility trials will have to wait until her bones are mature, but she can start learning non-jumping skills, tunnels, walking planks and lots more! And I have so much more time now that I'm retired. ;-)

Funny thing. I wasn't feeling so bad that I hadn't posted for a while. I was checking all my blog links, and they didn't have any new postings either. Well... a couple days ago, I decided to "refresh" my browser and - voila! - I got all the blog posts I'd been missing. You all have been busy! :-)

- Franna

Belt and Suspenders Enlarged Photos

So now the two "Eye Candy" photos point to larger images on our EverRanch website. Click on the photos. :-)
If one way doesn't work, sometimes there's another!
- Franna

A Sheep of a Different Color...

or Don't Count Your Fleeces Before They're Sheared. :-\

I went out one morning to feed early in the week. As the sheep dove into the feed troughs, I noticed there was a PINK SHEEP in the trough. PINK???? I thought immediately of someone rubbing up against the "barn red" shed - but they didn't have access to that shed, and this was on TOP of the fleece.

Closer examination (when she came up for air from pigging out) and with a terrible groan! I recognized Bessie under all that "pink" fleece. I'd been coveting Bessie's fleece for weeks, and now with shearing only about a month away, I was dreaming of spinning those luscious fawn locks. Bessie obviously had other ideas.

It didn't take long to realize that she'd taken advantage of the new mineral feeder. She must've been thinking that it wasn't just a mineral feeder, but a personal scratching post. I had positioned it high enough that it wouldn't catch sheep pellets, and low enough that lambs could reach it and the sheep couldn't get under it. I thought. Well, Bessie figured out how to get under it, lift it off its bracket, rock it back and forth and spill essentially all the mineral onto her back. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Her fleece should look like this:

Instead, it looks like this:

Well, sometimes I'm a little slow. Today, I realized that the mineral didn't just stain the outer parts of her fleece, it probably was trapped down there next to her skin, not doing her fleece or skin any good! I got out the livestock blower/dryer, haltered her and tied her up, and proceeded to blow as much of the grit out as possible. There was a lot in there! (... and a lot of VM came flying out, too! More than I expected for as clean as her fleece looks.)

Now, blowing is a great way to clean and prep Scottish Blackface for the show ring. I don't think it has the same effect on Shetlands:

...though with a little smoothing, Bessie still looks pretty good!

Maybe I'll get to spin her beautiful locks after all... maybe a little dye will make it all better.

- Franna

Eye Candy

On Monday, I drove up to ERN (EverRanch "North") to check on progress.

Monday was the most spectacularly beautiful day of the year! It was cold, clear and crisp. Everywhere I turned, scenery was eye popping. This is just one of the views I took in. This one is from the ferry dock in Clinton at not quite sunset. The moon is just rising over the Cascade range. The mountain on the right is Three Fingers, home to one of my favorite hikes - Goat Flats (if you know where to look, you can see Goat Flats in the photo!), and one of the many Cascade peaks I've climbed. The next mountain to the left, I think, is White Horse. Below them is part of the city of Everett.

My, Oh My!

I was going to stop with the one photo, but I just couldn't resist. This one is Mount Baker in her Winter Finery. Mt. Baker is a ways north of White Horse and Three Fingers and highly visible from the Clinton ferry dock. They should both "biggify" if you click on them - be prepared for a large photo! I have a whole photo panorama of peaks inbetween. Maybe that'll get posted on the website. :-)

And now, I can even go to bed "early".

Good night,

- Franna

Auction and Washington Wool

Our fellow Shepherds, Meg and Brad Gregory, continue to dig out, repair, clean, and rebuild after the devastating floods of December, 2007. They are committed to their Black Sheep Creamery, and the NW Shetland Sheep Group is committed to help with ANOTHER BENEFIT AUCTION! There is an amazing variety of donated items in the auction, and more are being added as they're received. Please help by bidding - who knew that adding to your stash could help a fellow shepherd? :-)

We also launched Washington Wool dot Net ...maybe a little prematurely... as a way to host Part 2 of the Benefit Auction. Washington Wool will be our co-op Marketplace for small fiber farms all over Washington. A few of us have our own websites, but most have no effective way to advertise to our customers. More and more customers are internet savvy and like online shopping. Watch for us to grow!

If you are a small fiber farm in Washington, and are interested in joining Washington Wool, just let me know!

- Franna

Happy New Year!

Wow it's been busy! What with the auction, Christmas, New Years and judging agility, it seems like it's been only a few minutes since the middle of December. whew!

We have Big News! Construction has started at ERN - yeee haaaa!!! We have a driveway and some clearing around edges and in the areas for well and house. The photo below is looking down the 1000 feet of new driveway to Boon Road. This is near the site of where the "nursery" and arena will be. Oh! Exciting!!!

We're off in a few minutes to consult with the construction guys about where the house will actually be sited. We don't want to remove any more trees than necessary. These trees have a rough life in the winds from the Straits of Juan De Fuca, and have a lot of character. More photos later.

- Franna

I have another email address...

The EverRanch website's host has been down, then up, then down, then up. It's hard not to be frustrated when we have the benefit auction going. Please be patient! (That goes for me, too!)

When the EverRanch site is down, so is our EverRanch email! You can also reach me via my Comcast account: normandylabs@comcast.net

Hopefully, both won't be down at the same time! argh.

- Franna

People are Amazing

I have always believed in people. Even when the news is dark, and cheats abound, identity theft is rampant, politicians are crooked. I still believe in people. People like you and me.

My faith is confirmed. We have such a generous outpouring of donations and bids in our Benefit Auction for the Black Sheep Creamery it is absolutely wonderful. There are donations for everything from skeins of yarn (beautiful handspun skeins at that!) to whole, prizewinning fleeces, lovingly processed rovings to a week long Artist's Retreat in a cabin on Whidbey Island - REALLY! I am officially hinting that there may be a loom or two in the auction by Monday :-)

Check this cabin out. It belongs to Petra and Adrian Martin and is in Bayview on Whidbey Island. Petra has decked it out as a Writer's Retreat and it could be a Retreat for any artist or anyone seeking some peace and quiet.

Wouldn't a week here be a wonderful Christmas present for the Artist in your life???

We have so many items in the auction, I'm going to split it up into 2 or 3 pages. I just need a little more time to do it. It should happen this weekend. My kids are coming next Thursday, so that time will be busy... and Great!

I took a little more time today, out with the sheep, scratching chins and ears, softly telling them how wonderful they are. For us, sheep are not just another piece of livestock. They have individual personalities and opinions. Our flock, like the dairy breeds, have been raised closely with people and tend to be curious and friendly. They all have names. I tried hard not to think of them having to struggle to stay afloat in ever rising water. Trying to keep that visualization out of my head.

Bid on the auction items. Pay it forward.

- Franna

Counting Blessings and Sharing

What is all this???

The NW Shetland Sheep Group is pulling together and holding an online benefit auction for the Black Sheep Creamery, one of the family businesses devastated by the flooding in Lewis County, Washington. The above bits and pieces are all sorted out and shown on the Auction Site along with many other donated items:

http://everranch.com/Farm/Sheep/BlackSheepAuction/AuctionPage.htm

Can you imagine losing 80% of your flock friends, and not being able to do anything about it because you're saving your selves and children? Can you imagine pulling semi-conscious ewes out of a pile of dead sheep and praying that they make it? (One of them did!) Can you imagine mud, mud, mud everywhere, in everything, covering everything, stuck to everything? It will be a long, expensive and hard road for the Gregorys and many of their neighbors.

We all have things to be thankful for, and especially that we can help others in times like this. If you can help either with donations, or by bidding, please do! Feel free to pass the word, spread the link around and encourage bidding. :-)

- Franna

Torture!

Every year about 14 days post AI, I go on sheep watch. Two to three times a day I feel like a voyeur standing in the shadows just watching. Unlike a voyeur, I hope to see nothing! Today is day 17 post AI. So far, FIVE of the little tramps have succumbed to the charms of the cleanup rams. Three in Bubba's group, and two in Kibbles group. Five sponges, five hormone injections, five procedures and five straws down the tubes. At least Bubba and Kibbles are 50% Gotland.

Bubba is sort of studly, in a Leicesterly, just past awkward teenage, longwool, white sort of way. He flips his very large, Leicester sized ears to accent his pillow talk. I wonder if the ewes notice?

Kibbles is very well built and moves with a powerful grace that I don't see often in sheep. His face, though... I guess you have to be his mom, and before weaning!, to appreciate it.

Here's Kibbles in front of "his" group of 8 ewes. Starting left, Pinky and Brain, Lindy, Bossie, Hortense behind, Tucker, Freckles and Charcoal. Can you see Lindy and Charcoal smirking?

Bubba (at right) keeps watch on 4 of his ewes. At left is Bibb, the first to succumb, then Bits, Niblet and in front, Lou. Niblet is a hold out, the other 3 will have Leicester-Gotland-Finn lambs.

Electra is looking smug after teaching Bubba a thing or two about Shetland ewes. She was our backup ewe for AI, and wasn't needed. Since she was synchronized with the other ewes, she's cycling right on time.
Buddy has a group of 5 Shetland ewes. Only two of these were AI'd with Gotland semen - Snowflake and Asa. So far, they've given Buddy the cold shoulder. From left to right are Snowflake, Emmie, Buddy, Val, Asa (lying down) and Bessie.

When I get past the next couple of days, I'll stop looking at the emptiness of the glass - it's 1/3 empty now! - and start looking at how full it is. ;-)

- Franna

Sharing

Apples are one of my favorite foods. I can eat them all year 'round. Raw, cooked, sauced, baked, fried, sweet, savory, in salads, main dishes, desserts, ...CIDER!... anyway, anyhow. This year we're innundated with apples! My daughter works for a winery/orchard/vineyard company and we got to pick main varieties after their harvest plus pick varieties that were left unpicked. The CSA we belong to, Terry's Berries, has had apples in the shares almost every week. One of our big new projects is making cider - hard cider. The primary fermentation is just getting going and smells so yeasty/apple-y, it's wonderful!

One of the things I've had more time for since retiring, is cooking. I used to cook a lot. Then work and dogs and other busy-ness stopped most of my kitchen experiments. (So true, I seldom follow a recipe exactly.)

So here's the sharing part! Recently I made a dinner and a breakfast with apples. I think they're too good not to share. :-)

One:
Sausage, apples and squash.

This is a classic combination.
(We also get LOTS of winter squash with our CSA shares - delicious!)

Single serving - or scale it up for however many people you have:

Cook/fry 4 sausage links (homegrown is best, but I used store bought because our most delicious homegrown pork is long gone - boo hoo!)

While sausage is frying, cook 1 small winter squash (I use the microwave - put halved/quartered, seeds and strings removed, squash in a ziploc with a couple Tablespoons water, cook on high 5 to 10 minutes till soft.).

Core/slice 1 apple ( any variety - they're all good! Empire, Jonagold, Yellow Delicious, Liberty, Gala, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Winter Banana... some cook more firm, some more soft, some sweeter, some more tart)

Add apples to the sausage and fry on both sides as the sausage finishes cooking. (Alt - you could cook the apples in butter- yum!- or just steam them) Sausage cooks somewhere around 10 minutes, apples 3 to 5.

Assembly - Scoop out cooked squash into a bowl - or use the halved/quartered squash in-the-skin as a bowl. Pile sausage and apples on top. I added a bit of butter to the cooked squash and kind of mashed it in the bowl before adding the sausage and apples.
ENJOY!


Two - I just finished this as my (late) breakfast. MmmmMmmm Bowl-Licking Good. :-)

Franna's Fractured German Apple Pancake

Single serving, scale as needed. Heat oven to 350F

1T butter (I like butter!) - put it in a big custard cup and melt it in the heating oven.
Meanwhile, slice 1 apple.

Add 1 to 2 T sugar (depending on how sweet the apple is, and how strong your sweet tooth is) and 1/4 t cinnamon to the melted butter. Mix.

Add sliced/chopped apple and toss to coat. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes. Toss again after 5 minutes and 10 minutes.

While apples are cooking:

Beat 1 egg very well. Add 1T milk and beat some more. Add 1T flour and mix until blended.

Pour over the partially cooked apples and return to the oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until the egg is cooked. It will puff up about double in volume. Protect your oven by putting the custard cup on a baking sheet. ...how do I know this ?

It will be hot! and a wonderful breakfast for a chilly morning. And just look at the food groups! Dairy, eggs, fruit, grain. It has to be good for you. :-)


Sharing of a different sort:

After thinking and composing in my head for many months, I wrote a (web) paper on sheep color inheritance targeted at the Gotland upbreeding program. It's a final draft. I need to get one more person's permission to use their photo, plus put together my list of references and correct a few typos before publishing it. My goal was to write presentation-style for people who are not well versed in genetics, yet be technical enough that those who do understand genetics-speak will find it useful.

Dear Blog Readers, would you please take a look and comment?

It might take several short readings to digest the content. Short comments can be posted here - longer ones should come to my email address: frannap@everranch.com


http://everranch.com/Farm/Sheep/Gotlands/GotlandColorP1.htm


Thank you!
- Franna

Around the Farm

Thought you might enjoy a few random shots of the Farm:

The cats don't get much publicity. I'm a cat person. I like cats and love to have one purring on my lap. This is Squeeker. He is one of the three cats we got from the "Feral Cat Rescue" folks. Although he's come a long ways toward being "tame" his job is to stay in the barn area and control the rodent population. Squeeker now has a healthy glow to his coat, comes up for ear rubs and stroking - with one hand only. He's still pulls back when I start to scratch him with both hands.

This is "Princess". It took weeks before she let us even see her, more weeks before she'd come out in the open, and now she lets us stroke her a little while she's eating. She, too, has developed a nice (plump?) body and healthy glow to her coat. I see them out of barn and in the open more and more. The third cat disappeared shortly after we let them out of quarantine. I hope she's doing as well.

Now, this little guy, Stars, is auditioning for House Cat. Originally, he and his sister, Stripes, were barn cats extraordinairre. Something happened to Stars, and he has some nerve damage to his left hind leg. It's taken some time, but he's getting around fairly well and finally maturing into a beautiful cat. ...long time readers might remember that Stripes disappeared a while back :-( Stars is extremely affectionate, underfoot, and hasn't learned to keep his claws sheathed when he's kneading. The straw bale doesn't care, but I sure do! He's still an outstanding mouser/ratter/mole-er.

The sheep are always curious about the cats. Here Bessie, Bits and Niblet try to reach Stars. I wonder what they'd do if he let them? He doesn't seem too concerned. Pumpkins! After Halloween, I bought 2 pallets of "Tiger Baby" pumpkins from a local fruit stand/corn maze/pumpkin farm. The sheep actually like them, though they go for the "gourmet" parts - seeds and strings and leave skin scattered all over - picky sheep!

Jack'O'Lantern didn't get quite made up this year. Finnsheep Freckles is doing her part to get to the gourmet parts of Jack. Finns, Brain and Pinky, are waiting for Freckles to do the hard work.

In the house, here is my domaine. Papers everywhere! Why in this age of computers and digital data, is there still so much paperwork? Well, this is where I spend way too much time, but I sure enjoy keeping in touch :-)

Clifford likes being close. It probably feels like some throwback shelter cave to him, under the desk. It doesn't hurt that he gets plenty of ear scritching when he comes up and lays his head in my lap.

Thomas appropriates the "best" dog place in the house. We had several of these dog beds until one by one they were chewed and eaten and de-fluffed. Now there's one. It is hardly ever vacant. When one dog gets up, another quickly finds the warm spot. ...amazing that Thomas got caught in a still moment.

Back out to the sheep - you knew I couldn't leave out the sheep, eh? Here are our three remaining Scottish Blackface lambs. The rest of the flock has been loaned out until we get to our 20 acre farm. Left to right are Sweet Pea, Eve, and Butch Cassidy. Sweet Pea and Butch are 50% UK bloodlines; Eve is 75%, from our second generation of UK breedings. They've had a lot of socialization, so are much less flighty than Scotties usually are.

These two are mother and daughter. Asa is our oldest ewe at age 8 1/2. She is a lovely Shetland from Puddleduck farm, and is as gentle as they come. Her half Gotland daughter, Bunny, is our overall nicest Gotland to date. Her conformation and fleece are very Gotland like. They make a pretty pair.

It's difficult to get a nice photo of a black sheep. I like this picture of Midnight, one of our Shetland ewe lambs. Midnight is 62.5% UK breeding and shows a lot of promise for crimpy, fine fiber with decent length. Now, if she'll just figure out that I'm her friend....- Franna