Saturday, December 28, 2013

Abby's Christmas Eve Delivery

Abby, our female German Shepherd, gave us a special Christmas gift! On Christmas Eve she delivered her first litter of puppies!

 She has been a great mother to her babies, carefully cleaning and watching over them. 

The little pups enjoy sleeping on Abby's legs.

Her litter consists of 9 males and 1 female.

 The pups look like little butterballs with fat tummies.

The puppies will be AKC registerable. 


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

December Winter Wonderland

We have had a blast of winter here at Grace Valley Farms! The past couple weeks have been very cold and snowy. 

The sheep enjoying their morning meal after the big snow storm.

Our area received around 10 inches of snow. 

 Graham, Galileo, Gilbert, and Emmett awaiting their hay. 

Three nights in a row our temperatures dipped to between -20 and -30 degrees.  After a few days of sub-zero temperatures, the wind began to blow and the snow started drifting. 

 Due to the extreme cold and windchill factors, we had to cover up from head to toe to stay warm while doing chores. 

Blossom enjoying her hay.  

The temperatures have now warmed up into the 40's during the day. The snow is melting and we are all thankful for warmer days!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at 
Grace Valley Farms!

 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 107:1


Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
James 1:17

 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. - Proverbs 27:23, 25-26

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Top Skirtings Now For Sale !

Grace Valley Farms is pleased to offer top-skirtings from our 2013 premium fleeces! We are offering these to our customers at a special holiday discount!

Wool from our adult fleeces is $6 / pound and lamb wool is $8 / pound.

To learn more about this special opportunity, please click the following link.


Delilah's Top Skirtings from 2013

Monday, November 4, 2013

Gifford - 2013 Cutest Lamb

Our sweet friend and customer, Judy Stark Angwin, painted a beautiful portrait of Gifford on a rock.


As you may recall, Gifford was the winner of our Cutest Lamb Contest this spring. 

 Here is a photograph of Gifford the lamb. Judy did a great job of capturing our cute little lamb in her painting.

Thank you, Judy, for the time and effort you put into creating such a beautiful keepsake for our family!

Indian Corn Harvest

What beautiful Indian corn our garden produced this year! The variety of colors if striking and the overall quality is very high this year.

 Here is a potion of our crop.

Many of the ears were large and filled all the way out to the tip. 

 Beautiful variegation in color 

 We ran across some pastel-colored corn.

 This was one of our favorite ears. Notice the unique star burst patterns on some of the kernels. 

We've been growing Indian corn for a few years now and this is our best crop, to date.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

New Etsy Listings

Just posted on Esty ...

Deborah's Fleece

Lustrous fleece with wide, even crimp. Washes up bright white. 
Average staple length: 6 inches
Weight: 7 pounds (option to purchase 1/2 of fleece)

Check out her listing here

Ellie Mae's Fleece

Rich, dark charcoal color. Soft fleece with moderate crimp.
Average staple length: 5 inches
Fleece Weight: 6 pounds 

1/2 of Ellie Mae's Fleece already SOLD

Check out her listing here

Friday, October 11, 2013

October Snowstorm

This past weekend our area was hit with an early fall snowstorm. As a result of the storm, we were without power for a day and a half.

While we only had 4 inches of snow on the ground, other places near us received 2 feet of snow. 

The snow was very wet and heavy. It stuck to our electric fence wires and pulled them down. 


Since our power was out, we turned the sheep out to pasture to eat grass and snow. Sheep actually seem to like eating snow. The wet snow helped provide their need for water.

Darcy picks through the snow to find green grass below. 

Our animals did just fine during the snow storm. Their thick wool coats kept them warm and dry. 

Just across the border in South Dakota, thousands of cattle died during the storm. We are thankful that God spared us from major damage associated with this early fall storm. 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

GVF Orchard Update

Our young orchard produced fruit this year! While not every tree bore fruit, we had a good taste of future production. 

Zestar Apples

 Both of our plum trees were heavily loaded with plums.

Underwood Plum Tree

While we were out checking on the fruit trees, we noticed that some of our biggest apples were gone. The guilty party, Caramel, soon showed up, begging for apples.

Caramel and Emily

One of the HoneyGold apples Caramel couldn't reach.

Caramel receives a windfall to satisfy her apple craving!


We are already looking forward to next year's fruit harvest.



Friday, October 4, 2013

A Bountiful Fall Harvest

We were blessed with a bountiful harvest of garden goods this year! The fruit and vegetables from our farm and surrounding areas has been plentiful and delicious!

Apples

Plums

Watermelon

Green Beans

Red and Yellow Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes

Home-Canned Spaghetti Sauce

Dried parsley from our garden

Red and orange cherry tomatoes


Ground cherries

Homemade ground cheery-orange jam

We picked about 50 pounds of jalapenos from our garden!

Our neighbors provided multi-colored banana peppers

Home-canned hot pepper jelly

Pickled Pepperoncini Peppers 

Pears to be canned.

We thank the Lord for such an abundance of wonderful food!

Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! - Psalm 8:9