Today was beautiful. It went up only to 41, but the sun was warm and the sky was blue.
I spent the day working on fence. I moved the two strands (never got the third one up) of the house side of the pig paddock back out of the flat area they spent the winter of 08-09 in. We gave them the area so they could use the shed, but being our pigs, they built themselves a nest in the open. They had been just walking out and going for a stroll on the frozen beaver pond. Last week one of our neighbors down the road herded them back with his truck. That’s a little too much. I did discover Saturday however that they think that beaver lodges are yummy.
I used the wire I clipped off to reinforce the hinge knot fence along the swamp. In spots it was completely on the ground and both dogs and sheep were just walking out. I ran a high tensile strand above it, then used some stranded wire to pull the collapsed woven wire up toward the high tensile. I’ll have to tighten it when the snow melts, but for now everyone will have to find a new way out. Unfortunately, I’m sure that they will.
I need to do the same thing with the hinge knot fence along Mack Hill Road, which is also totally porous, and add the third strand for the pigs. Tomorrow would be nice, so I can get started on setting up for sugaring. Unfortunately it’s supposed to snow over the next four days although AccuWeather, WMUR and Weather.com are in violent disagreement about when and how much.
I fed the bees today, 2 to 1 syrup. They had scouts out, not just potty flights, so it’s time to fake them out and get the queen laying. On the downside, they were coming out between the feeder and the hive body. I knew there was a problem there, but not having it propolized after five months is bad.
We got the sheep pelts back from Stern Tanning today. At $238 for four pelts, it wasn’t cheap, and at over a year, it wasn’t quick. Still they’re gorgeous, and Lisa has them up on Etsy. We have several more pelts to send out now that we’ve seen the product. If these sell, then it’s worth it to spend the money to have the others done. Here’s hoping. (Lisa points out that she may be wrong in putting up photos of the actual lamb that the pelt came from. Again, we’ll see!)