WhirldWorks Farm
A small homestead and Debouillet sheep farm in Central Texas
Baby Sheep Season Again!
Valentines Day brought us an extra dose of lammy love when we discovered that Areil had delivered a healthy baby girl Wednesday evening. Then, this morning, we found 3 more little loves! One set of twin boys and another girl!. What a way to start of lambing season big!
I just love hearing their little lamb cries!
We have two more ewes close to delivery, so stay tuned for little lammy love updates;)
One good thing!
Last week was a flood of frustration from injuries to illnesses to arguments and down internet.
It wasn’t anything terrible, just…
allot of little things.
But one definitely good thing is that our 10 yr old picked wild mustang grapes with his big brother (who is making wine from his haul), on our property and …
he picked *just* enough for me to make a small batch of honey mustang grape jelly.
So today I did just that!
We had just run out of the batch of grape jelly I had made two years ago.. last week too, so the timing couldn’t be better. Yumm!
Wait, what? You want the recipe?
Here you go:
4 lbs grapes (washed, stems/ leaves removed)
4tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 c honey
1 pkg sure-jell no or low sugar pectin
Boil grapes and 1/2 c water for ten minutes. Cool completely and strain and squeeze in cheese cloth until all the juice is out and you have 4 cups of juice.
Refrigerate juice and strain the next day.
Pour 4 cups of grape juice, honey and lemon juice into pot, bring to a boil and add pectin. Boil vigorously but do not allow to overboil, for 15 minutes, stirring. Meanwhile boil 4-8 oz jars and lids. Remove jars from pot pouring water back into pot. Add enough jelly into each jar to leave a ¹/² inch space at the top. Remove lids from hot water and place on top of jars.
Finger tighten rings. Place upright in canning pot with tray on the bottom to prevent cracked jars. Be sure all jars are covered by at least an inch of water above the top of the jar. Boil 5 min or more depending on your altitude. And remove jars with jar lifter.
Place on the counter to cool and when you hear a pop you know they are sealed and shelf ready. Do not use for at least 2 weeks to ensure proper setting. Mine lasted 2 years. Basically, they are good until the seal breaks.
Toads and things
This morning as I was about to shovel poop and feed the dogs and let out the sheep,…
what to my wondering eyes did I see but a huge toad in the water trough before me…
I truly delight in frogs and toads! I used to look for them with my friends in a big feild near where we lived that would flood during the spring rains and leave toad pools for the frogs and and toads to lay thier eggs.
We would find tadpoles and frogs all over the place out there.
When I moved to Texas I was delighted to find that there are many different varieties of frogs and toads to discover. This spring we have had allot of tiny frogs too.
So back to the toad I found this morning, it had hopped in for water ofcouse, but couldn’t hop back out on its own, it was a fortunate frog that first of all my 5 dogs didn’t eat it and second of all that I came along to help.
And it got me thinking… (famous last words I know)…
How many times do I get myself into something that I can’t get myself out of?
How often has God sent me help just when I needed it?
More times than I can count.
But sometimes I *can* get out of it by myself.
Sometimes I just need to think a little harder and figure out how to do it.
Sometimes what God is giving me is character, strength, and confidence.
Happy hopping!
Hand spun Debouillet Yarn and Raw Wool
If youve never worked with this wool its softness, fluffyness and stretchyness are its greatest virtues. So I thought I’d let you all know our raw wool and our yarn are back in stock. This year’s raw wool is a bit short since we sheared at the end of August in 22 and at the beginning of June in 23.
However it’s just as soft, strong and white as can be and will be $14 pr lb while supplies last. There is a little left from last year that is $18 lb because of it’s length and the yarn skiens are $20 each at a sports weight.
As always contact us via email or Facebook to purchase. Happy spinning, weaving, knitting and cricheting!
This has been hard to post…
I recently went on a once in a lifetime vacation overseas and the day after returning was re-adjusting to the times zone and cooking, and dealing with family drama, when a friend kept calling me.
After she called the 3rd time (I had been on the phone with my baby sister which is rare enough) I said I should probably check to see what she was calling for. It was bad news, not a surprise given the number of times she’d called. But the news was anything but expected. Anything but …normal problems. She told me that our friend had been killed in a car accident.
I was devastated.
Heart broken.
Stunned.
Angry.
It was the other drivers fault. I guess I’m still a bit angry about it but, the other driver died on impact. So it doesn’t do much good to be angry….
Over the next days, weeks…I, we (all of her friends and family) tried to adjust to doing life,…without our dear cheerful, kind, encouraging, sweet friend.
I did not want to talk about the vacation for over a month.
She had come over after ice storm 2023 to get the kids together to play and asked to help me with farm chores. She helped me spread sheep poop in our food garden. She gave me some ideas for fixing a falling chicken run and I was so glad to have gotten to get to know her better.
We had known each other for 2 or 3 years but this was our first time just hanging out together, not with others. I was so blessed by her faith and her spirit and I was looking forward to raising our 4 yr olds together, farming together, homeschooling together and becoming old together. I just knew we were going to be great friends for a long time.
You see I have a hard time making friends. I have hard time finding my people and when I do, it is something really special to me. I like people who can go deep and aren’t superficial. She was one of those people. It just..takes a while to get to know people well enough, to know if they’re…my kind of people.
I miss her. But when I went to her memorial service I got to meet all of *her* people. And I met more people who felt that way about her. She was that kind of person to allot of people. She made her people feel special, normal, cared for. I/ we will never know how it would have been to have her here for the rest of our lives. There will always be an emptiness that only she could fill. But from knowing her, and learning more about her from her *other people, I am inspired and encouraged and convicted to be that kind of person too.
Her oldest daughter re-wrote and sang a song about her mother at the service that truly made me feel that she was carrying my heart upon the wordsn the tune, the melody and her beautiful voice. But truly it was my friend carrying my heart. My friend that gave that beautiful girl life and inspired her to sing it.
It is a pain that will never go away to have lost her. But I want it to make me a better person, as I know, if she were still here, she would be helping me be. Just by being her.
Maybe I can try each day to be enough of a blessing to others that, if my life were cut short, my love and kindness would carry thier hearts through to the end.
Ultimately my Savior will carry my heart to the end, but He does send us special friends along the way to sojourn with us and build us up to help us grow and be better people for it. She was one of them.
Shearing Day 2023
We got it done in half a day and they will be nice and cool for the summer.
Last year we didn’t get sheared until late August and so this years fleeces, being sheared at the beginning of June, only have 9 months of growth but they are still absolutely fabulous!
I recorded our shearer Chloe doing our old girl Wanda. Wanda is around 8 or 9 years old and have been here sine 2016. She was one of our first four sheep. The only one that is left. She has a fantastic crimp and length isn’t bad either. So without further delay here is a link to the video of her being sheared.
Do you dew?
We are having a great dewberry season here and this morning it was cool, so not so much worry about snakes in the vines.
Whenever I pick dew berries I can see the vines and berries every time I close my eyes for a day or so.
It’s like when you’ve been on a boat and you feel like you’re still in motion. I think these are experiences that fill up our senses in ways that media cannot. Go out there and fill up *your* senses!
Lammy nursery!
It all started on February 1st, my birthday. Our Ariel had twins and I was thrilled she did it on my birthday. Ariel is a twin but she was bred to a singleton.
Next to lamb was Sparkle on Sunday afternoon she had a very sweet little girl.
Sparkles girl Whirld Works Farm
Then first thing this morning there was another set of twins born to Sybil. She was not a twin but I bred her to a twin and she had twins!
Then my old girl Wanda had a huge baby boy later this morning. We are so excited to see all these babies. It looks like two more ewes are going to lamb but if they do it will not be for a few weeks.
What You Don’t See
Here you can see the tumult in the sky above our farm after a good rain. You can see the side of the tractor shed that burned over the holidays. In the background you can see the forest and the barns. You can see the hay feild and you can see our house and new, detatched garage. But what you don’t see…
What you dont see is that yesterday when I arrived at home after a morning errand, my puppy was sleeping *with* my jack donkey, Boaz! Ofcourse as soon as I stopped the car to take a picture he got up and started coming towards me. But I can see it in my memory. What you don’t see are the wild flower seeds that are getting ready to sprout in fields. What you don’t see is all of the hard work it has taken to finish out the old garage and turn it into living space. What you don’t see is the trails that we have forged and marked, through our forest because we love to take walks back there.
What you don’t see are the stiff necks and sore muscles, the skinned knees and the bruises and scratches. But that’s all part of it.
You don’t see the dead animals, the ones we didn’t care for well enough, the dog fights, ehem and sometimes people fights. All of that happens here too. Just like at your home. Farm life is not for everyone, but I wouldn’t want to live this life anywhere else….well okay maybe the Talladega National Forest lol but…it gets too cold for me there;p
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