2015 Farm Calendars have Arrived!

I am so excited!! My 2015 calendars of the farm have arrived from the printers today.

Calendar Cover

I have worked on this project for over a year.  Every time I thought I’d had the photos for each month just the way I wanted them, a more perfect picture, even more fitting than the last, would present itself.  For instance, I thought I had the most perfect shot for OCTOBER’S main photo.  But, on a heavy foggy morning while I was out photographing the farm, I caught a glimpse of the horses through the gates rungs that just happened to have a spider web laden with dew, hanging there.  The mood was perfect for October.  So, OCTOBER it was!

Calendar Back with all months shown

Another similar instance was for January.  I had a taken a beautiful photo of the pond totally iced over.  It was at dusk and the glow was reflecting back.  I thought it was perfect; however, friends and family felt it was a little “cold” to start the year off, so instead Imax (our yard llama) is the pin-up for January!

Similarly for December, I had chosen a photograph of a scarf that had been knitted from the spun lamb fleece of one of our favorite sheep (Yerba).  Again, friends and family said even though the photo was gorgeous they hoped to end the year with one more glance at life on the farm and home to so many animals.  I looked and looked through literally hundreds of photographs from this year trying to match what I thought suited DECEMBER and what would still please my “critics”!  As luck would have it, we had a fluke storm in late winter and the snow fell at blizzard rate.  I could barely see outside more than 25 feet away.  That must have been all I needed.  I caught a wonderful photo of so many cardinals (male and female) at one of our feeders at a backyard crabapple tree not far from the house.  I opened the dining room window and took the shot from there, so as not to scare them away and to prevent my lens from fogging up.

December's main photo

I designed the calendar for people who are interested in life out-of-doors.  While each month has a large pin-up 8 x 10 size photograph up above, down below in the actual days/date part there are gardening tips, odd facts about moon phases, holidays, random animal trivia, and wonderful small photographs of life on the farm during that particular four weeks.

April's date/day 

April features trivia on the native shrubs and trees that begin to grace the landscape across the bluegrass region of Kentucky and also the mid-region of our Country. The Full Pink Moon is in early April.  The small photos include Victorian hollow peek-a-boo sugar Easter eggs that I make to sell that time of year, daffodils, Scottish Shortbread that HeartFelt Baskets & Gifts also makes, as well as Sweet Pea, Dolly Llama, and some of Dolly's roving.



For example in February, we not only have Ground Hog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday, and Presidents’ Day, but we also have the Full Snow Moon,  and reminders to sharpen pruning tools, clean nesting boxes, and make homemade bird treats.  The small photos include some chocolate covered strawberries that I made as well as cardinals and bunnies sharing bird seed under one of our feeders!

A typical month's date/day calendar inside

March includes Pi-Day 3.14 (Pie Day on March 14th) as well as a Daylight Savings reminder. Lots of gardening tips as well as a small photo of one of the Wool Wreaths that I make, adorned with a green burlap bow and felted Shamrock in honor of Saint Patrick's Day, are highlighted during this month.

I am certain you will love the calendar as much as I do.  By the end of the year, you’ll feel as though my hobby farm is your farm, too!  And that’s what I’m hoping for.   Whether or not you live in the country or even take care of many animals on a daily basis, this calendar is for you if you appreciate the simpler yet more colorful things in life. 

The quantity is limited, so I hope you will order a calendar soon and enjoy a HeartFelt year in 2015, day by day!  

Enough Work to Keep me Busy!

Some picked pears

It was a gorgeous August weekend with low temperatures, partly cloudy skies, and a gentle breeze.  We were busy trying to complete many of the last big jobs on the farm before our fall routine and the severe weather patterns got factored in.  Finally some painting got done….on the fences, run-ins, and US! Seems no matter how hard we try, that black fence paint finds a way to splatter, drip, and blow its way toward us all! 

I handed out paint brushes and small containers filled with paint to everyone, then we set forth to divide and conquer!  Some did the fence planks; one did the run-in roof. To paint the run-in roof, means someone actually has to climb on to the run-in roof.  I must admit I always feel a bit happier when that job is done and the roof hasn’t caved in (Building the run-in was a project several few summers ago)!

Some painting completed... more construction necessary.

We rotated paddocks today, too. We are trying to give the most popular fields a rest and a chance to recover before the first frost hits.  In our region of Kentucky, that is usually around late September. First freeze is usually mid-October.  While this seems far away, it’s not really. So, the horses moved to a field that I haven’t opened at all during this summer.  If you know anything about horses, then you know that when anything changes for them, it involves a lot of commotion, even more whinnying, and nothing is ever is complete without a run around the fields with tail held high at least once or twice. Today was no different.

picking pears

We split them up in pairs of two and sent them to different fields.  We were certain this would be a nice change of pace for a few weeks.  Sure enough, the commotion began!  Some of the older horses just seemed to watch the younger ones running and kicking; however, everyone whinnied!!

Back up a few minutes…….We have fruit trees planted in our yard, but at the edge of the paddocks.  Some trees I’ve planted for the horse; I wanted them to be able to reach up and pluck an apple with their teeth if they wanted one.  This year, because of the late freeze, we have minimal crops on many of the trees.  The peach are not even in existence; however, they are not near the paddock.  The apples are sparse, but I do have pears. 

Sweet Pea in a run-in with pears in foreground

Well, today when the horses had moved fields, I wanted to pick a few apples to share.  I couldn’t reach them and went to go fetch the ladder.  As I was walking past a few of the pear trees, I reached up to see how ripe one of the pears was. It felt ready to pick! I took a few to the horses and just when I thought the work on the farm was done for another day.......I went back to begin the process of harvesting the pears! How delicious they are though...Makes it all worth it!

Broomsticks in the Paddock?

Could wind direction affect animal behavior?! (hee,hee)

About a month or so ago while out checking the water levels of troughs in the different fields, I happened to walk past the small paddock that houses our hay barn.  In the middle of the paddock was a blue handled broom. At the time I thought it was odd, but I was on a mission and made a mental note to check it out and move it later.  Well, I guess I can blame it on either old age or the heat, but needless to say, I forgot about it.

A few weeks after that, we had the truck loaded with about 80 bales of hay (will only last a few weeks once the hay feeding season begins). This was the first of many loads and we were on a tight schedule to get them loaded into the barn in order to still have time to pick up several more loads.

Frankie- alias, "The Trickster"

Well, we opened the gate to the paddock, drove in, then stopped for me to move the broom!  The broom---that mysterious broom. As I picked it up, I tried to remember when and for what reason this broom would have made its way to the paddock.  I couldn’t remember.

In order to make the unloading of the bales of hay easier, it’s best to back up as close as possible to the barn. That way as someone is throwing the bales off the truck and into the barn, someone else can begin the process of stacking them for easy access in the winter. I went to open the double doors of the barn so that I could back the truck up as close as possible.

Missile - the other possible culprit!

As I reached for the lock, I noticed the bolt wasn’t there. Odd…. Then as I grabbed for the door handles to turn, I realized they were already in the “open” position…..So, they were open, just not ajar.   I tentatively began to swing back the doors (one at a time) not sure what I was going to find. After I got over the shock, I started laughing. I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t even begin to explain to anyone else what I had discovered….it was best for them to see for themselves.

The inside of the barn was in shambles. Everything was strewn from one end to another. Buckets were tossed; the bales that had still been in good shape were ripped apart and trampled. Whatever had been neatly placed was no longer where I’d left it.  And right in the middle of it all…………………was a pile of horse manure!!

My older daughter’s horse had been clicker trained by her when he was younger (Lexingtontofrankfort —Frankie for short).  He had been taught all kinds of tricks but could also get into all kinds of trouble.  Usually the horses don’t have access to the hay barn paddock, but because this past winter had been particularly brutal, I had opened even more paddocks for all the animals to access more grassy fields when they weren’t buried under snowfall.  Well, obviously he found a way to get the door open and go inside to play. You have to realize that this meant maneuvering steps to some extent!!  He must have thought he was something special, figuring it all out.  I’m sure he tossed the buckets, played with lead lines, kicked around the water heaters, ripped open the bales of hay to sample the various ones, threw the broom out into the paddock, and then ‘marked’ his territory!

Frankie checking out the llamas while waiting for supper.

 My time table for unloading and stacking hay came to a screeching halt.  I had to muck the hay barn, straighten up everything (and I mean everything!), and then begin the process of storing winter hay.  It made for great conversation as we speculated how the whole event had played out among the horses.  What made it funnier was that all the horses galloped up to watch from across the fence as we worked.  It was if they were in a “line-up” and daring us to guess the correct culprit……however, we are certain that there was only ONE------Frankie!

Help! I'm Spinning and Can't Stop!

Spinning Wheel next to Loom

Whether it’s Rumpelstiltskin or Sleeping Beauty, a fairy tale of some sort usually comes to mind if someone mentions a spinning wheel.  Almost 20 years ago, in the Old Spanish Quarters of St Augustine, Florida, I watched in amazement as a woman sat and spun flax on a traditional looking spinning wheel. As minutes passed and the whirl of the wheel relaxed and soothed the mood of everyone in the room, I remember thinking that I wish I could learn to spin. At that time in my life I didn’t even know that people other than time period actors still spun and that spinning wheels are constantly being updated!

Fast forward 10 years, and place me in a small, rural Kentucky town managing an 1865 Opera House.  I was directing children’s theatre productions and the current title had been, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.   Now, I know this doesn’t usually portray a spinning wheel in the story; however, I wanted to teach audiences each night that textile production at one time had been very time consuming. First, you had to grow the fiber (either plant or animal), then harvest and clean it, then spin the fiber into thread/yarn, then weave into cloth, then measure, cut, and finally sew.  This could take several months-not the 5 minute trip into Wal-mart that happens now-a-days!

A Bobbin of Single-Ply Llama Fiber

It was around this same timeframe that I attended The Kentucky Wool Festival in Falmouth, KY and saw for the first time modern spinners! One whole large exhibition tent was filled with many women (and men) spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, and just about anything I could have imagined using sheep wool or llama/alpaca fiber. It was so fascinating! Through talking with many of the fiber artists that day and then doing some research of my own, I purchased my first spinning wheel just a few weeks later. Incidentally, I featured that spinning wheel during the performances of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and had my older daughter stationed on a                                                                              small stage in the audience spinning llama fiber into yarn.

Lamb Fleece that was Spun and Knitted into Scarf

I don’t know how many of you have tried spinning before, but the initial coordination takes some time. At least for me it did! However, once I got that figured out, my yarn looked very good (I was told) early on. I guess I was consistent in the amount of fiber/wool that I was drafting (allowing to be pulled onto the wheel) and with the speed I was pumping (foot motion of the pedal that turns the wheel).  Still, it is only with practice, practice, practice that you can become better (as with so many things in life).  Those first few years, I spun some, but it seemed like an awful lot of work to get a skein of yarn that didn’t quite knit the way I needed it to.  Then a good friend of mine gave me a tip, I guess she’d assumed that I knew, but it forever changed the way I did things!  She said, “Choose what you want to make, then spin the yarn to fit that need.”  Such a simple concept, but what a difference it made!  I had been randomly spinning yarn of assorted thicknesses and then trying to figure out what I could make with it. Draping evening shawls do not look good with a thick yarn, etc., so I would have beautiful skeins that I couldn’t think of a project for. Or even worse, not enough yardage to finish a project.  Now, if I am short yardage, I can spin some more from the same fleece and know it will match.

My younger daughter is the knitter in the house.  She makes some beautiful things that she enjoys wearing on campus and loves when someone asks her, “Where did you get that?”  I guess her response, “From the Dolly Llama”, conjures up different visuals to different people (one of our llamas that has gorgeous red/brown fiber is named Dolly)!

For me, spinning will always be a learning process.  Recently a friend had given me some mohair from a goat.  I told her I’d try to find time to mess with it this winter and spin it into some yarn that she could try knitting with.  In the process, I’d be learning how mohair handles on the wheel.

Stella Ready for the Early Fall Shearing

One thing about fiber or wool……it is a renewable resource!  Each year, in both the spring and fall and whether or not I’m ready for it, I get several pounds of new resources to work with…… as soon as the SHEARING is done!! 

Feeling a Bit Sheepish to Confess this

For years we thought that adding sheep to our farm would be wonderful; however, we also had always heard that sheep were stoic and would suddenly die with no explanation.  Since it would be trial by error with them anyhow (we had read all about them, but hadn’t experienced them), we were hesitant to adopt ovines and have them die on us “without any apparent reason”.   So a few more years passed and still we didn't add any sheep to the farm.

Then one day I overheard a conversation a young teenage girl was having with several farmers.  She was trying to find a home for a Shetland sheep. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give sheep a shot! After asking several questions, I decided to drive out and meet the Shetland ewe named Strauna.  She was tiny and black.  Although she had recently had a lamb, it was already weaned and the girl’s family wanted to keep it.  I checked out Strauna’s teeth, eyes, hooves, and pellets.  She seemed to be healthy and her wool was beautiful, so I decided to make my first sheep purchase!   

Strauna came home in the back cab of my truck.  It hadn’t seemed worthwhile to take the large horse trailer to pick up an 80 pound animal. We put her in the paddock with our young girl llamas and she seemed to adapt instantly. Normally, we don’t buy single animals because of our concern with them becoming lonely.  However, before I even had a chance to ask if they’d ever sell any more sheep,

they called me and asked if I wanted an Icelandic wether (no longer a ram). I was thrilled! “Yes!”, I said before I’d even checked him out!  I drove out to the farm that next day after work and brought home the young wether named Yerba. His wool was as white as the Shetland’s was black. I brought him home also in the truck and placed him in the paddock with the llamas and Strauna. Life was good.  I had two sheep and they were happy and healthy. 

Because both Shetland and Icelandic can be shorn twice a year, in late August I thought I would try to give them both a “trim” and see how their wool “handled” when cleaned.  They were both very gentle and relaxed while we snipped off a few locks of their wool. I loved the Icelandic and Shetland fleeces equally. They both have the outer coat (Tog) and under coat (Thel).  Their fleeces aren’t as laden with lanolin as some breeds. Although I didn’t sheer much off of them that first time, it allowed me to become more familiar with working with wool (so different from llama fiber).

A wonderful surprise came later that same fall.  I got a telephone call from the young teenage girl saying that she and her family were moving and she would need to sell the rest of her small flock. She wondered if I’d be interested!  I was too thrilled for words when I realized that my two sheep would be reunited with their flock.  Again, I said yes and drove out to get them.  Little did I know that the flock’s guard llama was part of the deal.  I hadn’t needed him, nor necessarily thought I wanted him.  I wasn’t sure he was entirely healthy and I certainly didn’t want him bringing parasites onto the farm to come in contact with my llamas. But, when I saw how stressed he looked to be taken away from his flock, and then learned he would be auctioned at the stock yard, I decided to buy him, too.  This time I had brought the horse trailer and I was glad that I had!

The Animals Began to Arrive

Llamas gathering for supper are incredibly amusing.

I had always been fascinated with llamas. After seeing Doctor Doolittle as a child, the thought of a push-me-pull-you seemed incredible.  Obviously it was, but a llama is very real.

A dear friend had them and we farm-sat for her one week in the summer years ago. So many Crias (baby llamas) were being born. Such gentle creatures they all were. Crisp evening air would trigger excitement and we'd find ourselves looking on with laughter as they ran, sprang, and sort of bounced around the farm more for their entertainment than ours.

Llamas have fiber instead of wool, and that fiber comes in many colors, textures, and thickness. We have a group of llamas (called a cria herd) at our farm.  Each has its own unique personality and although some personalities are easier than others, we love them all. We shear our llamas only once a year (by contrast some of our sheep require shearing twice a year), and process their fiber in my laundry room!! There is no lanolin in llama fiber. So, while some feel they are allergic to wool, fiber usually proves to be allergy-free.

The fiber my llamas produce each year is what I use for my spinning and other crafts. Because animals produce different amounts of fiber, and because some have different weather tolerances, there have been some years when I haven't shorn a few them in order to ensure they remain warm enough for the winter.
On the average, although llama fiber is much softer than sheep wool, is also has less elasticity.  So, I keep that in mind as I choose what my yarn will be used for when it's completed. Llama yarn drapes very nicely and is beautiful for dressy evening shawls or scarves.    

Imax checking out the spinning wheel

Three years ago Imax moved into my yard so that I could manage his medical treatment easier than if he were out in the pastures. Well, he liked watching over the farm so well that he decided to take up residency full time among the fruit trees, garden, and dinner parties. He is our "guard" llama for all lazy afternoon pool activities, too!

From our yard, Imax patrols the grounds and keeps watch over the horses, llamas, and sheep. He is certain the farm would not survive without him.

And So It Begins......

Strauna, Stella, and Yerba
Three of our favorite sheep welcoming you to HeartFelt Farm.

Long before my family actually moved onto the farm, I had walked the fields, mapping out where I wanted the fruit trees to be planted, and falling more and more in love with the land; I thought I had never seen a more beautiful piece of earth. Every time I looked upon the gently rolling ground, the lush green fields, the spectacular sunsets, and the massive spanse of night sky that displayed incredibly brilliant stars, I felt we were blessed.  

While anxiously awaiting the completion of our home, we spent many hours at the farm cutting planks and building paddocks for the horses, run-ins for the llamas, and planting a fabulous assortment of trees.  


Originally, I had planted the trees for my family alone.  We love fruit, and I wanted a guarantee that no chemicals were ever used in their growing or harvesting. 

That next summer we moved in.  And, so did more trees,  assorted berry bushes, and strawberry plants.   


"The rest", as they say, "is history"

I have lived in and traveled to many countries, and frequently bring the flair of different cultures and cuisines to my business.  I make a lovely buttery Scottish Shortbread, authentic Italian Panetone and Biscotti, and delicious German Apfelkuchen that trumps all. 

I have dabbled in desserts and pastries of all sorts.  During time spent living in Sardinia, Italy, I was able to provide specialty cakes for every occasion for the U.S. military families stationed there. While in Spain, I felt honored to be able to fill a void for many Americans there with Christmas cookies, gingerbread houses, Easter breads, and other homemade treats througout the year.

For decades, family and friends have been savoring the contents of baskets filled with wonderful
baked goods fresh from my kitchen.  Through experience, I have learned that a gift basket well created, makes a lasting "heartfelt" impression for the person receiving it.   

A Felted Heart 

With all our farm-fresh jams, jellies, pickles, butters, and chutneys, only the very best produce are used.  Naturally grown and harvested in Kentucky's Bluegrass Region, where summers are known for warm days and cool nights, the fruit we use is juicy and bursting with flavor.

All the animals at our farm are pets; sheep included.  We have a small flock of  Shetland, Tunis, and Icelandic.  We spin their fiber and use the yarn for knitting and weaving.

We also use their fiber for felting; hence the name of the business.  HeartFelt gifts stems from making felted hearts and giving them as Christmas ornaments to friends.