Mid March News from the Farm

Winston, Archie, Beau, Sadie, Elsa, Max and more.....

Hello Colorful Friends:

The other day, my phone told me it had made me a book. Considering I have authored some books, I decided to look at the “book” that this thing I carry around in my pocket wrote for me. So, as you do, I clicked. It was a photo book. I was quite relieved because at least there were no words nor how-to projects. I didn’t choose to print or purchase but what this little “book” did do for me was help me with a topic for this newsletter. So here goes…..

We have raised sheep since 1982. That’s a pretty long time, if I think about it. As with any farming enterprise, there are a lot of moving parts. We’ve had to learn things that we never ever thought about and that’s the good thing. Not long after we started with sheep, we learned about the wild animals that prey on sheep and lambs. We had many coyote losses over the years but……

One afternoon in 2011, Mark walked down into our pasture to find nine full grown large lambs dead along a fence line. It was a bad day. All the lambs had been killed by a bite to the neck. They were not eaten - just killed. Speculation from neighbors blamed a mountain lion but truthfully we will never know what happened. There are a lot of wild animals who prey on sheep - coyotes, mountain lions, bears, wolves, fishers, bobcats. That day was the day we decided that we had to do something more to protect our sheep than electric and wire fencing.

In our early days of sheep farming, we had attended a lecture by Ray Coppinger, a Biololgy Professor at Hampshire College specializing in Animal Behavior. Ray and his wife Lorna had begun a dog research project in 1976 called the Livestock Guarding Dog Project. They imported several breeds of Livestock Guardian Dogs from Europe and placed them on farms throughout the USA. At that early point in our sheep farm (1980’s), we weren’t ready to commit to a Livestock Guardian Dog. After nine sheep were killed in between 1 and 3 that one afternoon , we knew we had to take the plunge and quickly. If we knew one thing - it was that whatever it was, it would be back.

We had done informal research on Livestock Guardian Dogs - aka LGDs - over the years. As part of the sheep community, you learn about things that will help or hurt your animals. We narrowed the choices to two breeds - Great Pyrenees and Maremmas. As luck would have it, we found a litter of Great Pyrenees very close to home. We brought home Archie and Winston - two little white puff ball littermates — not knowing a thing about how to train them. We read a lot, talked to people and followed their lead. We didn’t train them — they trained us. You can see some of the posts I wrote about getting them over on my old blog Getting Stitched on the Farm.

Winston and Archie as pups

Archie and Winston were our first LGD’s. Since them, Beau and Sadie, and then Max and Elsa have come to live and work at Leyden Glen Farm. It hasn’t been all wine and roses with the Pyrs. With our first pair, we thought we shouldn’t have much of a relationship with the puppies — otherwise they wouldn’t do their job. LGD’s are outside dogs who live, sleep and work outside. They have a real job to do — guarding sheep from whatever will harm them. We set up a calf hutch for Archie and Winston inside the sheep pasture so they would have shelter and a place to eat. In the beginning, the boys stayed with the sheep but as time went by, we kept finding them outside the perimeter fencing. One day I caught Winston climbing the woven wire fence. Pyrs have dew claws on their back legs that help them climb over things including any of our fencing that isn’t electrified. It was all over - we knew we wouldn’t be able to keep them in.

Winston

LGD breeds (there are many) have evolved over thousands of years. We look for puppies who have been raised on a working farm with animals - preferably sheep. We need a dog that knows what its job is. These dogs have remarkable instincts which go back thousands of years. Among their strengths when doing the job they were born to do is that they roam. I have spent hours and hours driving to pick up one of these guys who has strayed from our farm. They get on a scent and they don’t stop.

Puppies Beau and Sadie

Pyrs are big dogs. They eat a lot — including whatever dead animal they find in the woods - and find them, they do. They aren’t perfect. You need patience. We’ve had young dogs actually harm our lambs. Chickens have met their end in the mouth of a Pyr. Thankfully the dogs have grown out of it. The puppy stage is difficult - you just want them to figure out what they are on earth to do and to get older quick. Pyrs bark A LOT! That is their job. They bark to establish territory and to keep the predators away. Some nights they bark all night long.

Sadie and Beau

Unfortunately large dogs don’t live long. They have health issues; bone cancer is a frequent killer. Our current Pyrs are Beau, Elsa and Max. Beau is eight and slowing down a bit. He is an excellent guardian but he has his faults. He roams. He leads Elsa on long, long trips - sometimes being gone all night long. He eats our neighbor’s trash. Beau works the night shift. As he has gotten older, I feed him in the house every morning. He eats and then takes a long, long nap. We now keep either Elsa or Beau tied at all times. If one is tied, the other stays home.

Beau with his summer hair cut

Elsa and Max are littermates and only a year and a half. Elsa lives here at our farmhouse with Beau. She does the day shift. Besides guarding the sheep, Elsa steals packages. She takes delivered packages out into the woods and eats the contents. She took my cell phone once and chewed it out of the case. Luckily, we found it. She will chase cars. We are hoping that as she grows older, some of these habits will go away.

Elsa - the package clepto looking innocent

Max lives at our sheep barns that are 5 miles from our house where most of the sheep spend winters. Max roams. In his defense, he has a lot of territory to cover - over 100 acres and most of it is woodland. We’ve met a lot of people through Max when we respond to phone calls of his whereabouts - including the local animal control officer and the police. Another work in progress but this winter, he has been sticking around the barns much more and taking his job seriously. So far, no coyote losses so he’s definitely working.

Max with his charges

Here are Max and Elsa in training when they are about 6 months living with a small group of sheep in an electronet enclosure.

Max and Elsa in training - about 6 months old

As long as we raise sheep, we will most likely always have a Great Pyrenees Guard Dog. They come with baggage but they are sweet and lovable members of our farm family. They know their jobs and are dependable. Besides guarding the sheep, they guard us. Working dogs are integral to a sheep farm — livestock guard dogs and herding dogs make the work much quicker and more manageable. They never talk back and give us unconditional love. Win - win.

Here’s Max doing what he does to keep our sheep and lambs safe.

Here is a video of a guard dog scaring away a bear from someone’s sheep.

If you are interested in raising sheep, Mark and I really enjoy this film which you can watch on Prime here. Guard dogs, sheep, nature and a disappearing way of life. You may be able to watch it on Apple TV here.

As for what else has been happening here at Leyden Glen Farm….. we’ve got lambs — over 150 of them so far and still coming.

As for my winter making activities, I’m still making hexagon blankets. It’s hard to stop….

I’ve also been trying to learn a few new things. My friend Gail (aka The Kangaroo Dyer) invited me over to try my hand at Gelli Printing. We had a great afternoon. Here’s a quick introduction article to gelli printing. Here are some of the papers I made that afternoon.

You’re probably wondering what I’m going to do with them. The answer is I honestly don’t know. Right now I’m just looking at them.

I also upgraded my Ipad and Apple Pencil to a newer model. For years, I have been fooling around with the Ipad app Procreate. It is a digital art painting program that costs $10 and includes free upgrades. I have struggled with it for years - mostly because I didn’t put in the time to learn and just gave up. This winter, I’ve had a bit more luck with it. Could be I’m more interested or more patient or maybe the app has gotten better. Whatever….. Here’s one of the first pieces I did with it.

I have a ways to go but experimenting is fun. It looks too digital to me. If you are a painter or wanna be painter or surface designer, give Procreate a try. There are zillions of YouTube videos you can watch. I bought this book The Illustrator’s Guide to Procreate by Ruth Burrows and followed some lessons. I’m old-fashioned and I like to read books and be able to refer to them without always being on a device.

Here are today’s fun links. A bit on the skimpy side but it’s what I have for you today.

• A quick version of the Silver Palate’s infamous Chicken Marbella. (NYT) It’s delicious.

• A nice piece about Hungarian ceramicist Zsuzsanna Nyul. Here is her website.

• Here’s a lovely video about Charleston Farmhouse, the home of artist’s Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. I visited Charleston once and this video brings me back to that magical home.

• British Decorator Susan Deliss writes an excellent newsletter about textiles and more. that she sources for her interior decorating business.

• A nice article about a mother and daughter building an artistic home together.

• I’ve just finished reading The Wisdom of Sheep (and Other Animals) by Rosamund Young. You can read 4 excerpts here. Easy reading and very short chapters.

Thanks so much for reading. Spring is coming quicker than usual in western Massachusetts. What about where you live?

Colorfully yours,