November, the month of...

...travel. Too much travel. The first trip was to Pennsylvania for the annual Penn State Dairy Cattle Nutrition Workshop that I manage. Before it got started I enjoyed a few hours of hanging out with my sister, shopping and gabbing. The conference is a 3-day affair, and we had record attendance of 566 people. It went very smoothly and was generally a whirlwind of activity. Particularly for a hermit who spends most of her time at the computer. If I'm not there, I'm in a pasture or in a flowerbed... neither get many visitors!

I think it was the weekend after the conference that Brian and I planted garlic, spinach, and lettuce. A bit late for the greens, but we'll see what happens. They all sprouted, so that's a good start. We mulched the garlic heavily with straw, and I am excited to have some fresh garlic next summer. We tried a hard neck variety for the first time this year. I couldn't believe the size of the cloves, very impressive. We had three inches of snow on October 28, and then had our first frost on the 29th, so we were actually pretty close to on time with the garlic planting. No snow in November or so far in December. And it's fine by me if it stays that way.

At the end of two cycles in the breeding season, we were looking great with all of the ewes but one marked. A few of them have been re-marked since then, so it looks like lambing will stretch out a bit longer than a month. In other sheep news, we purchased a starter flock of Dorper ewe lambs. Dorpers are a hair-type sheep, which means they do not grow a thick wool coat that has to be sheared. Instead, the grow a coat of hair that sheds out as the weather gets warmer. They are meatier and I like the looks of them better than some of the other hair breeds that are too scrawny and goat-like in my opinion. The other major advantage of the Dorpers over our current North Country Cheviot crossbred sheep is that the Dorpers are less seasonal in their breeding. We are hoping to breed them in March or April for an early fall lambing. This will allow us to use the same lambing area with up to twice as many ewes. The other item off the check list in November was drawing blood samples to have our ewe lambs tested for scrapie susceptibility. We only keep those that are not susceptible, and we are making progress on that front. Out of 29 ewe lambs tested, 24 are not susceptible and will be kept around for breeding next year. So with the new Dorpers and our home grown replacements, our ewe flock is now up to 96. That's a 50% increase from last year and one-third of the way to Brian's goal of 300. Stay tuned to find out how we handle this; it could be interesting!

They are cute, and in great condition. We were told they never received any grain. Must have been some amazing pasture. But we believe they haven't had grain. We can feed the other lambs and these girls barely notice. If they were used to grain, we would know by now.

Okay, so all that activity makes it sound like I was home for a long time. It was just 5 days. And we didn't actually draw the blood samples until the 23rd. My second trip of the month was to Live Oak, Florida for the Southern Regional Dairy Challenge. The contest went very well; congratulations to all the students for all of their hard work! Before going there I wasn't sure if a "live" oak was a type of tree or just the opposite of a dead oak. I discovered it is indeed a type of tree. It's evergreen and has longer, thinner acorns than the oak trees I was familiar with before.

I was fascinated by the sphagnum moss growing on the trees. This live oak tree is at the camp where we stayed, but all the trees were draped in this stuff. You can see a holly decked with moss in the foreground of this picture. Cool and fascinating by day. Creepy by night. (FYI: as with all my posts, you can click on the picture for a larger view.)

The chickens have slowed their egg production pretty drastically. Four to five eggs a day is a good day right now. But we're only two weeks away from the shortest day of the year, and after that the days start getting longer again. I know it isn't by much. But progressively longer is better than progressively shorter. My moods get dark in time with the seasons, so I prefer the longer days! Here are some cheerful pictures from the day after I returned from Florida.

 I love these Barred Rock hens. Their bottom feathers look like petticoats, especially from behind.

 Ah, home sweet home.

 Yes, I'm a little nutty too.

The final trip of the month was back to Pennsylvania, this time to celebrate my Grandma Mowrey getting remarried at age 82. It was a beautiful day, and she and Bob looked very happy. All but one of my cousins was able to make it, and it was so nice to see everyone. Growing up we had so many family gatherings, now that I live farther away and have animals that complicate taking vacations, I really miss seeing everyone. We also celebrated Thanksgiving with my immediate family and attended our nephew Easton's baptism. I held Easton as much as possible during the five days we were there. He is a darling. Such a cute smile and a sweet personality. Even with our raucous laughter during the wedding reception, he just slept and slept.

 Windmills are popping up all along interstate 99. These were somewhere in the vicinity of Tyrone. Not a bad picture considering it was taken from the truck window while driving on the interstate. I love how the sunset was glinting off of the windmills.

 The gorgeous wedding cake, made by Robin, my sister in law.

My Dad and his brother and sisters with Grandma and Bob.

 My parents, aunts and uncles with Grandma and Bob.

 All the cousins and their children (except Suzy and Aurelia).

All the cousins and their spouses and children (except Jerry; Suzy, Michael and Aurelia).

Another of Robin's creations. This is a turkey cheese ball, which was gorgeous AND delicious!

So that was November. Surrounded by people most of the time and soaking up time with my niece and nephews, it was overstimulating for this hermit. Now I have to readjust to being alone. It's very quiet. I should get my Christmas shopping started and pull out the decorations. But I haven't found the motivation to do either one yet.

In these first few days of December, it's been more running, but closer to home. I enjoyed a beautiful holiday concert Sunday evening by the Celebration Singers. Six people from our church choir sing with the group, and it was a really nice selection of songs. On Saturday a friend of ours was ordained; it was a very nice service and a pleasure to be a part of that special day.