Lambing

Gunnar - the sire.  I put him in with the ewes on November 22 and all the lambs were born five months later within a six day period.  Good work, Gunnar.

Sheep paths in the winter yard.

Helga

Sonja

The snow piled deep...

...and got deeper

No problem...all you need is plenty of hay and a wool coat.

The shepherd had to shovel a hole to open the hayshed door.

Jonathan collecting data.

Helga with her newborn daughters.

A first-time mother, Helga handled the job like an old pro.  She gave birth to the lambs inside the hayshed, and had them cleaned up and fed by noon.

The following day, another snowstorm.

Sonja and Vappu

 

The shepherd digging a trench along the fence so that the lambs could not hop over.

Vappu had twins, but rejected the first one.  She bonded with her second one.  Due to the inexperience of both the mother and the shepherd, and a lack of proper preparation on my part, the first lamb was lost.   It was a hard lesson, but I will be better prepared next year.



Fortunately our lambing season ended on a high note. Sonja had her twin males outside under the trees where she gave birth last spring and had them all cleaned up and fed by the time I got home.

Vappu came out of the hayshed to visit, but Sonja would not let her near.  "Don't even think about it!"

The new family inside their pen in the hayshed.  I isolated each of the ewes with their lambs so that they could bond for a few days, and also to wait for the weather to improve.

Marja holding one of Helga's lambs.  As you can see, she has been home at mealtimes.  Lambs grow very quickly on the mother's rich milk.

 

 

 

 

Firing Up the Maple Syrup Still

This year I tapped seven trees.  In the past I've tapped as many as a dozen, but you can easily end up with more sap than you can boil. Seven 5 quart pails equals almost 9 gallons of sap as it is, and the pails easily fill on a good day.  I'm glad we saved these old Jilbert ice cream buckets before they went to 4-quart pails.

After hauling out 8 gallons of sap in two five gallon buckets I quickly smartened up and started using a 6 gallon carboy and my old pack basket.  It's a lot easier carrying a heavy pack than toting  heavy pails.

My sap boiler is so ugly that I'm considering entering it into a dog show.  It is an old steel plenum that was probably part of an air duct system,  a 20 quart stainless steel pot, some haywire, a repurposed license plate, some bricks, a wire grill and some metal flashing.

But it does the job.  I keep adding sap as it boils down until I've gone through one day's worth and have about an inch of concentrate at the bottom.  I then take it into the garage and finish it on a hot plate. 

Life is good.  Boiling the sap is a real pleasure.  The heavy lifting and hauling is done.  All that remains is to feed the fire and keep filling the pot as the sap boils down.  Occasionally you lean  over the pot to inhale a deep whiff of that lovely sweet maple steam.  Successful people pay money for stuff like that and call it aroma therapy, but maple steam will calm your nerves for free.  Do I look stressed out?

Hoof Trimming

Gunnar gets a manicure.  The sheeps' hooves need to be periodically trimmed.  During the winter they are walking on snow and the hooves wear very little.

I was ably assisted by Lasse, a high school exchange student from Germany, who is staying with Mik and Jeni.  Turns out that Lasse has worked on a large sheep farm in northern Germany for several years and knows all about sheep wrangling.  It was quite obvious that this wasn't the first time he had thrown a sheep on its rear.  The day before Lasse had taken first place in the 18 and under class of the 14k ski race at the Great Bear Chase.  It was only his third time on XC skis.  Way to go, Lasse!

Catching the sheep in a large open pen was a bit tricky.  Once they saw what was going on,  they didn't want any part of it.

Winter Makes up for Lost Time

Winter finally arrived and we got 100 inches of snow in three weeks.

All that snow insulated our roof very well and allowed the lowest layers to melt and form icicles.

Marja's ski trail.

Snow on the window after a storm.

Breakfast.

Snow troopers.

After the storm.

 

All this fell in about 4 hours.  MTU shut down at noon and I drove home in a whiteout.  That afternoon I spent several hours blowing snow from our driveway and my dad's driveway with my tractor.  Along grandpa's driveway the steep bars at the ends of the snowblower were occasionally submarining under the snowdrifts, which were four feet deep in many places.  Fortunately the storm letup by evening.  The following morning I flew to Kansas City for our annual bookstore trade show, and guess what, the next day we had a record-setting snowstorm down there!  Judging from their snow removal efforts, one would have to surmise that they aren't used to dealing with snow like we are in the Copper Country.

David took Deanna for an evening hike up Wheelkate Bluff, built a fire and gave her an engagement ring.  Afterward they watched the winter carnival fireworks over Houghton.  Welcome to the family, Deanna!

Shovelling out the south side of the greenhouse.

Mik, number 71, took 8th place in the 50k skate at the Great Bear Chase ski marathon.

January 12, 2013

Winter had a hard time getting going this year.  We had numerous heavy snowfalls followed by major thaws.  At this point we had begun to wonder if winter would ever arrive.

Christmas 2012

Making jouluhimmelit with straw from the reed canary grass by the sauna.

Maukku following a tense match between David and Jonathan.

Christmas eve dinner.

Puzzle Building.  Amanda arrived  worn out from final exams and feeling under the weather, but was skiing by the end of the week.

Mik trying his hand at Daniel's accordian.

The Kilpela clan.

Rook has become a Christmas tradition in recent years.