Snowstorm

And the horses love it. Ben and Sally rolled around, kicked up their heels and played in it before settling down to the business of disposing of a great pile of hay.

I snapped this pic of Ben as he stopped for a moment before turning to trot across the paddock again.

In Brief...

...I haven't posted since, well, October, right? Which probably means, of course, that either absolutely nothing is going on (or nothing is going on worth writing about) or so much is going on that I can't find two consecutive minutes to patch together a coherent thought. It's a bit of the former but much more of the latter, and the holiday season has contributed a dash or two of crazy as well. But things are chugging along.

Actually, I am in the process of separating the two blogs - finally. Carriage House Farm will redirect to a new location soon, and White Stone Studio will become a Wordpress.org blog. Yay! I have been in the studio more and yeah, enjoying it enormously. And great good fortune has come my way, in the form of blueberry plants (both high-  and low bush varieties), purchased at the end of the season at a whopping 50% off. Since it was too late in the year to put them in the ground, they are currently nestled under a snug blanket of straw by the compost pile, waiting out the winter until they can be transplanted in the spring. My original purchase numbered twenty-nine plants, but I sold a few to a friend, so I now have twenty-two; they are varied so pollination (and, subsequently fruit) shouldn't be a problem.

And who doesn't love blueberries? They're basically the BEST fruit you can eat. This year I plan to bring down a few wild raspberry cultivars (the best ones I can find) from the woods. They taste okay but with a little TLC they should yield a tastier fruit. My grape vines had been cut back last year so they probably won't bear much this year.

I have also ordered ten new trees; several each of peach, cherry and apple and two flowering Dogwoods. Having planted two varieties of plum and one variety of apple last year, the additional trees will give us a very good start on our orchard. My garden is nearly planned and I have received my seed catalogues in the mail; all that remains now is to send in my order.

The chickens have been molting at intervals. One of our Delawares was really rather alarming looking for about a month; she looked like something you'd see under plastic wrap in a supermarket (with a few poofs of down clinging to her), except she was scratching around the barnyard diligently searching for bugs. Her new set of feathers have been restored to her and she looks beautiful now, but for a few weeks...yeah. Iffy. But then any molting bird looks a bit pitiful.

The chicks born over the summer have now become a laying pullet (at nineteen weeks of age), and a huge white rooster, with an apricot colored barred pattern over his wings. He's Buddy's offspring, probably by a Buff Orpington, and he's enormous, very long legs, quite beautiful. The ladies are still laying ten - fourteen eggs per day, even though I am not lighting the coop and they have my express permission to take a vacation. They are as busy as ever.

I have at least one Silkie roo (and prayerfully not two), and three of the Guinea fowl (one female and two males) have been relocated to my neighbor's farm. I still have one female and two males, and will probably acquire one more female this spring for a more balanced ratio. They seem happier than they were with four males and only two females in their group, except for the odd male out, and I'll remedy his romantic melancholy soon.

I'll update with photos as soon as I am able. It's Christmas Day and I am in my pajamas, reading, watching old movies, relaxing after a wonderful day yesterday of family, friends, food (yummy food!) and so much more, all done in honor of the birth of our King.

So Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! More to come...