Merry Christmas! Newsletter

Dear friends,

Merry Christmas from a muddy, misty Hill House Farm. After our gift exchange and celebratory breakfast, we are enjoying our Hawkes holiday halftime, post breakfast gluttony and walking tour and before dinner preparation starts in earnest (at least for me when I started this note) and the Browns game. Today, we hope many of you enjoyed a Hill House Farm breakfast of fresh eggs, local honey and a warm cozy fire throughout the day.

Although misty, it is quite warm. Not the winter wonderland we hoped for, but quite pleasant for the animals. Especially for the squirrels hiding nuts throughout the property and the chickens loving another bonus warm day roaming the pastures, eagerly eating breakfast scraps and searching for worms. The weather is also perfect for photos, the first two from our resident National Geographic shutterbug

The recent warm weather contributed to many record egg collections of over 3 dozen a day. Three roosters inhabit the coop of young hens. Two are especially big and beautiful. The third is smaller and usually hides from the big bruisers ... pretending to be a hen to avoid a confrontation. At the beginning of October, when the new hens started laying, eggs were scattered throughout the coop, creating a combination Easter egg hunt, carnival game contest. A golf ball scoop was added to the game to retrieve the eggs from the many nooks and crannies and under the roost. Now the hens thankfully use the nesting boxes. Oddly, this year there were very few double yolks and many eggs remain smaller, forcing a sorting process each cleaning. Thank you to everyone who continues to buy eggs and bring extra cartons. We have not purchased cartons in over two years, and I think we have at least another year of inventory with more arriving each day to serve our 25 egg clients.

The ewes appear content, quite hungry and very pregnant (but I have been fooled before). We upped their grain to support lamb growth and maintain their energy. The vet did not ultrasound the ewes to confirm they are pregnant. What I can confirm is they are BIG and aggressive! Graining them at the feeders is similar to a rugby scrum where I am the ball. Being so up close and personal, I have noticed they often eat in the same line-up, similar to families around the kitchen table. Scooby (alpaca) eats with the ewes and Tyson (old wether) at the adult table, and the 3 ewe lambs eat with Shaggy (alpaca) and Daisy (old ewe) at the kids table. Interestingly, due to a warm fall, the ewes also do not need crutching (selective shearing) this year due to slow wool growth. Other farmers observed the same phenomena. I hope it was a wise decision to skip this step as the lambs will be arriving in about 3 weeks, the 18th of January.

Thank you for continuing to support Hill House Farm. As Jessicka (the student we supported in El Salvador) graduated this year, we instead made a $1,300 donation to the Cleveland Food Bank from Hill House Farm in appreciation of your loyalty and support throughout the year. The food bank is a vital institution helping over 400,000 people across 6 counties in Northeast Ohio. On average 1 in 5 people is food insecure, meaning they don't know from where their next meal is coming. Last year, they served over 57 million pounds of food through 1,000 local food pantries. And of course, the pandemic has made the situation much worse. We thought this was an especially appropriate charity to support given our focus for Hill House Farm. We are starting the search for a new target charity for 2022, all ideas welcome.

We know 2021 has been another difficult year for many of us. At the farm, we lost our farm mascot, Jimmy the llama, as well as Sammy, our labrador retriever. We know many of you have suffered your own losses, especially dear family members, including Lois who was a beloved customer of Hill House Farm. We hope in some small way, our friendship and our farm stories helped ease your sorrow and provided a pleasant respite from today's frequent challenges.

Thank you again for your friendship, and we wish you all a wonderful start to a better 2022!

Harry

Happy Thanksgiving Newsletter

Dear friends,

Hill House Farm is back in your inbox. For far too long, the dearth of farm news had many of you worried and sad, so much so, that many of you, no, actually NONE of you, reached out to make sure I was Ok. Well you will be relieved to know all is well at HHF and we have much news to share and thanks to give.

Back in August, when it was warm, sunny and trees had leaves, Ronald The Ram arrived and based on all indications, had a successful visit. If everything goes well, 12-18 lambs should be born the third week of January, starting the 18th. For at least those first two weeks of lambing, we hope the weather service is accurate with a wetter but warmer winter!

The 4H students showed last year's lambs at the Great Geauga County Fair during Labor Day weekend. It appears we tend to raise large lambs with many in the heavy weight class, weighing from 148 to 158 pounds. My sketchy notes from September indicate a 1st for showmanship, and a second place, 2 thirds and a 5th place for market classes. Several of the lambs even made the trip to Columbus and the Ohio State Fair, where the judge recommended more muscle and using a treadmill (sound familiar?). In summary, Natalie, Kevin, Julia, Kelly and Audrey all had very successful projects and enjoyed themselves immensely given their happy smiles. Congratulations to all of them!!

On the chicken front, the May peeps are fully grown and laying a ton of eggs. I quite possibly may have over-ordered with 40+ birds in the coop, many only coming inside to lay, so if you would like a few chickens for your coop or as pets (we are told they enjoy watching TV), let me know. We had a close call with a red-tailed hawk and one of our chickens mistakenly going into the woods, the chicken and I are very thankful to say that she remarkably escaped with only a few "scratches."

As promised, we processed our older hens for soup chickens. Uncle Joe strongly suggested we keep the feet to make a much better soup! Due to strong sales, we are already down to 4 left and at least 8 feet (I guess not everyone was a fan of the feet idea). At $6 each, they are a steal, and the feet are free.

If you would like to start a new "fancy coop" to impress friends and family and for your social media, our friends at Cooped Up can help you find and house the perfect flock for your family. They do all of the work for you, from cleaning and supply deliveries to health checks and pet sitting. Find more details at https://www.coopedup4u.com/.

We sadly said goodbye to our first renters of Terra Bella (our rental house on the farm). Coming from New York and California, to put it kindly, they were not really sure what to expect moving to Ohio for 6 months. Luckily their timing was perfect (i.e., no snow) and they enjoyed themselves immensely. They loved the farm, walking the paths, working in the cabin, riding the horses and feeding the animals, as did their many visitors. It was fun to see our local beauty and farm animals through their eyes. They seemed to ignore the work yet to be done and only saw the best parts. Happily, our next new family already moved in and they too are enjoying the bucolic splendor of farm living, especially Hank the pugabul (pug / English bulldog) who walks his owners with amazing vim and vigor and loves the many new smells.

For our fun fact this time, we are excited to share Uncle Joe enjoyed his 100th birthday on August 23rd. We are still hopeful to get him on the Today Show. Some of his fun facts given to the show ... Living in Cortland, Ohio, Joe was in the Navy as a machine gunner on landing crafts aboard the ship Dorothea Dix during WWII.  He made 4 landings at Normandy and Omaha Beach for D-Day, and later fought in the Philippines. Prior to going into the service he was sent to Montana to be in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), where he was paid $25 a month, of which $20 was sent home to his mom.  He worked for GM's Packard Electric Div. for 35 years and in construction with his brothers.  He still maintains a large garden as well as many fruit trees.   He has one daughter, 2 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren and many, many nephews, nieces and cousins.  His ship transported Earnest Hemingway, who was covering WWII as a correspondent, to Northern France.  His secret to longevity is to always remain active.  We neglected to share all of the mischief Joe instigated and his quick-witted humor born from his still wicked sharp mind.  

In addition to our family, for this Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for you, our friends of Hill House Farm. The animals, the pretty views, Cyndi's garden and enjoying nature are all great, but it is you who make this whole adventure worth the work. The joy and care you share with your notes, calls and many visits are overwhelming. Every firewood and compost delivery brings new adventures and conversations. I love selling 6 dozen eggs with just a few texts. And watching you feed the animals with your children, always taking pictures, is such a pleasure. Thank you for being a part of our lives. You are what make Hill House Farm special

We wish you a safe, healthy and Happy Thanksgiving,

Harry

Graduation Newsletter

Friends,

With Hurricane Fred just leaving our doorstep, soaking the ground and air yet again, and having very important news to share, it is time for a mid-week newsletter.

Starting with our Fun Fact, we are excited to announce our sponsor student Jessicka graduated from the University of El Salvador on July 29th. After a late night with friends, she awoke at 4 am to start preparations (you have to look your best!) and to make the long trip into San Salvador. Well, as can happen for these big events, she was late in leaving, traffic was bad and the lines were long, but she made it in time to graduate!

In her words "as I was waiting in line, I thought about all of the difficult and good moments that I had and the efforts that I did. And said I am a really blessed person because I am here (in the university) with my father and mom, also because the Hawkes family (and friends, you!!) believed in me, and now I am a professional ... I am so thankful for this opportunity now and realizing my dreams" Thank you all for helping Jessicka realize her dreams. She wishes us all many blessings in life and sends many hugs. And thank you to St. Dominic Church for making this all possible.

Well back down to earth and farming. We are entering a much more eventful time. The garden is producing baskets of vegetables. The new hens are growing quickly, with a few roosters sneaking into the mix, learning how to crow, sometimes sounding like a bad yodel often cracking as they go through poultry puberty. Again, please let me know if you would like a 2 year old chicken for the pot or coop.

The ewes are ready for breeding with the arrival of "Romeo" this Sunday. Many of our lambs are being shown at 4H County Fairs during July and into September. Congratulations Mikey McDonald with Lord fluffington. "Fluffy" was actually a bottle baby and second in class and fifth overall at the Lake County fair. We should have many lambs at the Great Geauga County Fair during Labor Day weekend.

The fawn twins continue to roam the yard and the always hungry barn swallows have left their nest. And as always, we enjoyed many visits the past few weeks, especially from young farmers who enjoyed the animals, pond and garden, especially a young Owen, who quietly ate every blueberry Cyndi grew, in less than 5 minutes! We may have a future hot dog eating contest winner.

Please stay well during this tricky time in the pandemic!

Your friends,

Harry, Lauren and Harry

4th of July Newsletter

Dear friends,

We hope you are having a special 4th of July weekend. With our new 2021 vaccination freedom, we hope you enjoyed friends, family, food, firework festivities and 4th fanfare in a fun and familiar fashion.

The farm tends to quiet down during the summer and this year is no exception. Preparing for fall, we put up 170 bales of first cutting hay. The 3 remaining lambs are growing well and enjoying the pastures with the ewes. The sheep were shorn 4 weeks ago, and after a few short hours of looking ready for the fair, quickly found a way to cover themselves in dust and "dirt." During this time of the year, we don't "grain" them and they only eat the pasture and the occasional bale of hay for ruffage to support their rumen. Rumen is essentially a large fermentation vat in sheep that contains billion of microorganisms including bacteria and protozoa which allow ruminants to digest fibrous feed that other animals cannot efficiently utilize.

The pullets are now 6 weeks old and transformed from fuzzy cute peeps to fully formed small chickens with essentially their full plumage. They will continue to grow another 10 weeks until ready for sale or to move into a coop to replace older birds. We may have a few extras, if you are interested in a buying a 16 week old pullet please let me know. In addition, that means we will also soon have either frozen stewing hens or 2 year old chickens for your coop. They will cost $5 each (warm or cold), LMK if interested and your preferred option asap.

One hen has gone broody. She sits all day on ~15 eggs. Other chickens are now in on the action and also broody, some in the same nesting box with her. We hope to have peeps born over the next week. We will also be selling these peeps, as I will have no place to keep them, so let us know if interested. Her brooding also complicates egg collection and sales. One incubating egg slipped through our quality control process and ended up in my frying pan. That inspector was reprimanded and new processes are in place. We apologize in advance for any surprises in your kitchen.

We started firewood deliveries and our 27 ricks are now all sold for the remainder of the year.

Please let me know if you are interested in compost this fall. Your garden and plants will love you for it and your neighbors will be jealous.

We are now selling local Rydal Cottage honey from Bobbi Pincus, a bee farmer in Hunting Valley with 15 hives in her backyard. She produces raw local honey. The honey bears sell for $10 each from our fridge, although when you get home, do not keep it in the fridge. The honey is delicious and many believe honey provides a wealth of healthy benefits, including: A good sources of antioxidants, has antibacterial and antifungal properties, is immune boosting and can soothe a sore throat.

Wildlife are providing the most excitement. We have at least two fawns near our house, both spending time in our yard and pastures. A painted turtle was spotted crossing our back road to the other property and we had a stunning siting of a gray treefrog against our red barn during a rain storm. Huge numbers of lightening bugs (nature's sparklers) were on display during our very hot, humid nights.

Today we discovered a Luna moth with some of the following fun facts: One of the largest moths in North America, the elongated tails are intended to confuse bats, and adult moths have vestigial mouth parts and do not feed (vestigial means genetically determined structures that have lost some or all of their ancestral function). The eyespots on the wings are also intended to confuse predators. These moths are not rare, but are rarely seen, as they are only alive as adults for 5-7 days and are generally nocturnal. A male moth can detect a female moth several miles away.

After a wonderful June with both Harry and Lauren home for several weeks, our best farm helpers have left and the house is again quiet. As always we will miss them, their stories and our fun family dinners on the back patio.

Hope you have a wonderful July!

Harry

Memorial Day Newsletter

Dear friends,

Welcome to the start of summer with the warm rays of hope also spreading over the pandemic. We experienced a rough 15 months, but as the grass and flowers grow, so does our anticipation for better days ahead. We hope the entire world will soon be so fortunate. Today we will enjoy our first close family gathering in over 18 months!

Last Tuesday, we received 75 new peeps through the Chagrin Falls Post Office. I always enjoy the 6:30 am call from the irritated local postman as he yells through the cacophony of chirps, "your birds have arrived, come pick them up as soon as possible!" So far, we sold 2 to Aimee and her two girls, who had the unenviable task of deciding which two peeps were the cutest to take home. Sadly we also lost one, which although expected, was very difficult as she stole our hearts during our attempts to save her.

With warmer weather and feeling the peer pressure of new chicks in the barn, production picked up for the layings hens. Although we enjoy a very loyal waiting list of 24 customers, we always like selling eggs to new, hungry homes. And if you would like a culinary challenge, we can share extra guinea eggs that have large, bright orange, rich yolks, but shells with a Brinell hardness rating close to diamonds.

We enjoyed many new visitors to the farm the past few weeks. Often from larger cities, it has been a pleasure to experience the farm and gardens through their urban eyes. What we often take for granted, they relish, embrace and make their own.

Firewood deliveries will begin next week when the house fills with not only Lauren and Harry but 3 of Lauren's friends, excited to leave Boston to experience life at Hill House Farm. The list of "fun activities" grows daily to give them an authentic Cleveland and farm experience. I just hope they heed our advice to "bring the right shoes and remember it is not always mud." If you would like a firewood delivery for now or later, please place your order in the event we sell out again!

Otherwise at the farm, the ewes love the lush pastures, the compost and worms are doing their thing in preparation for delivery next fall (please place your fall compost orders), and the greenhouse is emptying into the garden as Cyndi prepares to fill our home this summer with food and flowers. The horses like their time outside grazing on the new grass, we are winning the battle to maintain the property with the explosion of new growth and with the warmer days, the turtles, frogs and snakes can be found sunbathing around the property. And, we delivered our first load of firewood for the new season to Uncle Joe, who will be celebrating his 100th birthday this August. It was a cold day, so the delivery was timely as he was "taking the chill out of his house" with his wood burning stove. As always, please let us know if you would like to visit, no work required.

Fun Fact: Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. It originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. The Civil War, which ended in the Spring of 1965, claimed more lives than any conflict in US history and required the establishment of the country's first national cemeteries. By the late 1860's, American's across the US held springtime tributes to countless fallen soldiers, decorating graves and reciting prayers. On May 5, 1968 General John A. Logan, a leader for Civil War Veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month, the 30th of May, 1868. The date was chosen as it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. On the first Decoration Day, James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there. Overtime, the Day came to commemorate all following wars and their veterans.

On this special day of remembrance, we celebrate our own close family members and many HHF friends who helped protect our great country and the freedoms we enjoy. And for all military families across the globe who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.

Your friends,

Harry, Lauren and Harry

Spring Recycling Newsletter

Friends,

Spring has arrived! After a night's rain, this morning we woke to blue skies and bright, dewy, emerald green grass. The outside world is exploding with new energy after a dormant winter. Now the race begins to keep up with the growing grass, shrubs and weeds.

We were able to sell our final lambs for 4H last week, for a total of 8 lambs going to fairs. We have 5 in the barn, of which I will keep the best 3 for breeding and sell the other two to a young farmer wanting to build a flock. In January, the lambs were born from 7.5 to 12 pounds and now weigh upwards of 85 pounds in about 3 months, gaining over 3/4th of a pound a day.

We have only 1 small compost delivery remaining and I started reaching to existing customers to collect firewood orders, email me if interested, especially for the coveted summer deliveries. We are fertilizing the pastures, continuing the clean-up from December and winter, and Cyndi's greenhouse is filled with little green soldiers ready for outside planting. We will complete the barn and coop spring cleaning to prepare for the new peeps next month (and produce more compost). Please let me know if you would like to clear your sinuses and enjoy some good, honest manual labor.

In addition to the 4H students, we enjoyed many visitors to the farm the past month and look forward to a busy summer enjoying our new outside patios with vaccinated friends. Unfortunately, with the warmer weather we also have some unwelcome visiting pests and predators. One raccoon in particular taunted me outside my office window.

Building on my career as a farmer, I was appointed to the highly sought after role of Chairman of the Hunting Valley Recycling and Waste Management Committee. To prepare our initiatives and receive council approval, we completed research on recycling. I thought some of those insights might be good fodder for our "fun" facts section of the newsletter. With the emergence of new life around us, and seeing the photos of the young people enjoying the farm, it is the perfect time to reflect on recycling and its importance to preserving our environment for future generations. If you have questions, please let me know, we never stop learning about this important topic and we all need to do our part! Now onto my soapbox

The logic for recycling is clear, compelling and well-documented. The basics:

• We live in a consumption oriented world, often with throw-away cultures, generating greater and greater quantities of waste every year

• Increasing levels of online (and take-out) purchasing are further accelerating our level of waste as “last mile” distribution is often inherently less efficient and produces greater waste

• Using recycled material requires less energy and generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) when manufacturing new products

• Recycling reduces the need for new and / or larger landfills, further reducing air and water pollution and land use. And can also help avoid waste ending up in the oceans or water ways creating litter and directly harming animals

• All types of trash rotting in landfills are a major source of GHG emission, that many scientist believe leads to climate change and devastating wildfires, droughts, sea levels rising, floods, temperature extremes and hurricanes

• Recycling efforts generate 10X more jobs than landfilling (an estimated 1.25 million in the US alone), further diversifies local economies and reduces our reliance on imported sources of materials

Some sobering and startling facts

• Only 23.6% of all US Municipal waste was recycled in 2018, and just 5% of food and 9% of plastic was composted or recycled respectively

• Food scraps in landfills do not have access to the oxygen they need to compost (e.g., one head of lettuce can take more than 20 years to decompose)

• Plastic is especially problematic:

  • It can often be recycled only once or twice into new products, after that it can be used creatively for “lumber” for decks and benches or with asphalt for more durable roads

  • Plastic requires an estimated 500-1000 years to decompose, meaning that essentially all plastic ever created (and not incinerated or otherwise destroyed) is still in existence

  • At the current rate of pollution, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish

  • An estimated 40% of marine mammals and seabird species are affected by ingestion of inorganic plastics, killing 1 million seabirds, sea mammals, marine turtles and countless fish each year.

  • Plastic also turns into microplastics which can be consumed by fish creating additional damage to the food chain.

• Recycling one ton of paper (~ 2500 12x12x12 boxes) saves between 15-17 mature trees. Using recycled pulp requires 40% less energy or 4200 KW hours (over 1 month of average home usage), 390 gallons of oil, 60 pounds of air pollution and 7,000 gallons of water. Paper fiber can be recycled 5-7 times for new paper, after which they can be made into lower-grade paper materials such as egg cartons

• Glass and metals, including aluminum, can effectively be recycled indefinitely. Glass requires 1 million years to decompose!

• Recycling aluminum saves 92% of the energy required to make new cans. Steel and tin saves 60-74%, paper 60% and recycling plastic and glass saves about 1/3 of the energy compared to making products from virgin materials (e.g., energy savings from recycling 1 glass bottle will operate a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours)

Unfortunately as recycling demand and potential increases, execution becoming more difficult

• “Single stream” recycling systems implemented in the late 1990’s simplified recycling for consumers but has led to much higher levels of contamination

  • In 2008, the percentage of contaminated recyclables sent to landfills was 7%

  • In 2018, the same contamination is now roughly 25%

• Some believe “Big Waste’s massive single stream facilities take in more recyclables than they can effectively sort”

• The rules and economics for recycling changed dramatically as China (the biggest buyers of recycled items) tightened their requirements so that they will only accept shipments with a contamination rate of .5% or less, effectively eliminating imports …

• … Hopefully, in time, domestic businesses will increase their desire and demand for recyclables to offset the losses shipping to China

• Typical consumer packaging can, at times, be frustratingly difficult to recycle

  • “Clam shells” and take-out containers have no end-use

  • Other items are too difficult and dangerous (e.g., bags clog machines and batteries can cause fires)

  • And everything must be clean so that the resulting recycling commodities are saleable

• As a result, more stringent requirements are making it harder for consumers to “get it right” when they recycle and therefore increases mistakes and what must end up in landfills, further adding to our collective, daunting environmental concerns

• Fortunately, we all face similar issues and we can learn from each other

Are you doing enough??? (off my soapbox)

Thank you for helping make our world a greener one for years to come!

Harry

St. Patrick's Day Newsletter

Dear friends,

We are excited at Hill House Farm to enjoy the warmer weather and round the corner to spring. The signs already started with the arrival of white Early Snowdrop flowers, geese pairs spread across the property, the arrival of more song birds and mallard and wood ducks, as well as the greenhouse filled with seedlings. And of course, green beer, for today we are all Irish.

This is a generally quiet time at HHF as the lambs complete their stunning transformation from newly delivered, needy newborns to weaned, self-sufficient lambs, in just 8 weeks! They are now ready for purchase for 4H projects. Five have already been sold and we are hoping to sell 2-3 more for projects, leaving primarily ewe lambs for breeding. The students are excited for their projects and deserve a lot of credit for taking on the responsibility for their lambs, as well as saying goodbye to them in September.

The chickens are also now increasing their productivity with even oranger yolks with the extra time outside. I completed our order for 75 more peeps with delivery expected near the end of May. I will also start compost deliveries to "early bird" gardeners getting a headstart on the Spring. Please let me know if you are interested in compost this spring. The firewood "march" for next year, and the year following, continues with greater focus on cutting, collecting and stacking "rounds" from the woods. I will soon be taking orders for summer delivery

Winter, however, did not depart without drama. Our pond aerator lines froze with condensation, essentially taking away Lucky Duck's safe haven and putting her on hard land for the predators. The morning the pond completely froze and Lucky Duck was homeless, the temperature was 3F. I was quite worried, how in the world was I going to coax Lucky inside? If I didn't, she would certainly perish. It was early in the morning and very dark. As I completed feeding and walked outside to find Lucky, well, she was quacking away just outside the door waiting for me. I shooed her in, picked her up and put her in an empty stall. The typically loquacious duck was surprisingly quiet as I carried her to her new home. Amazingly, this is a duck that has never been touched the past few years, if ever. And certainly was not held. I felt a special bond with that silly duck that up until then we only saw from a safe social distance. She then spent the next 3 weeks in the barn until the pond thawed and we could fix the aerator. The entire time she quacked out directions to me, the sheep, chickens and anyone that would listen. Now she is happily back on the pond chasing the honeymooning geese.

Fun fact: St. Patrick's Day is celebrated every March 17th, the anniversary of St. Patricks' death in the fifth century. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was kidnapped as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. Therefore, today is a particularly important religious holiday for the Irish the past 1000 years. During this season of Lent, Irish families typically attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

Today, more than 100 parades are held across the US, with particularly large celebrations in New York and Boston. The NY parade is the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the US, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5 mile parade route that takes more than five hours. The huge parade is a function of the large Irish population in America, brought here by the great Potato Famine of 1845. One of the most famous traditions is the dyeing of Chicago's river, something that started almost as an accident when city workers realized the dye they used to trace illegal sewage discharges could be used to dye the river for St. Patrick's day. The first year they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye and the river stayed green for a week. Now they only use 40 pounds and it stays green for just a few hours. St. Patrick's day is also celebrated in Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Russia.

As we (hopefully) approach the Covid finish line, thank you to everyone for getting their shot!

We hope you all enjoy some Luck of the Irish,

Harry O'Hawkes

Super Bowl Sunday Newsletter

Friends (read to the end for a surprise),

In celebration of Super Bowl LV, we are sending a newsletter. This year the game will be of more interest for Browns fans as some could argue we beat the Chiefs if not for one bad decision and missed call. But that is sour grape juice running under the bridge. Just wait till next year!

First, some brief HHF news. The lambs continue to grow, stretch their legs dancing in the stall and of course take many naps. One ewe is holding out on delivering our final lamb(s) but in the meantime she is enjoying life in the barn. Time will tell if she is actually pregnant. After 8 weeks of heavy feeding, it is very difficult to tell if a ewe is actually pregnant! We will give the animals extra food as temperatures dip into single digits and go below zero. Firewood splitting and stacking continues and we have begun gathering green logs for firewood sale in 2022. I will be placing an order for chicken peeps this month, so please let me know if you would like some over the next week. You can either buy and receive peeps when they arrive (essentially at cost) or buy finished birds for $17 each. Let me know your preferences and I'll see what we can do. We enjoy our visitors, especially our nephews Nolan (pictured) and Mason who did a great job feeding Jimmy the llama and alpacas. And, Bobbie continues to make friends in the barn, recently meeting the Littman family. This morning Bobbie was found hiding in the hay loft sitting on 12 brown and 1 white egg (can we interpret this as some kind of game score?).

Back to Football and a "touchdown number" of connections with farming ...

1) Footballs are made from cowhide

2) Fans watching the game are often called couch potatoes

3) Both football and farming are based on seasons and are each a team sport

4) NFL athletes want to win the Lombardi trophy while 4H students want to win the Grand Champion Trophy

5) Surely there must be some common names, but there were none. No Buffalo Bovines or Los Angeles Llamas. But I did find people / characters related (14), birds (5), carnivores (5), other animals (4), chant (1), color or arguably a person (1), copy cat name (1) and plane (1). See if you can figure them out without the internet!

6) And lastly, Tom Brady (GOAT) will be playing in his 10th Super Bowl and our Daisy (sheep) is 10 years old this month!

Fun Fact: Daisy was born February 22nd 2011 at 9.5 pounds to ewe #23 (named either Winnie, Pool or Lizzie) and Foreplay the ram. She was a Shropshire and Southdown cross-breed. Cyndi and I were out of town in NYC for work so we asked Amy Klimek and her family to help with deliveries. The rest is their story

... When Daisy was born in February 2011, I was in 5th grade and just starting my second year of 4-H. My mom and I were helping take care of the animals at Hill House Farm, and it was a typical freezing February day. When Daisy’s mother would not let her nurse, we ended up taking her back to our house in hopes that she would survive the night. Turning my parents' bathroom into a makeshift stall, we bottle fed her every four hours, and soon enough she started gaining strength, energy, and a lot of spunk. She loved being near us so, after her tail was cropped, we put a diaper on her to let her freely follow us around the house. After two weeks, she was strong enough to return to the barn, but she never forgot the time she spent with us in our home. To this day, when we visit and call out her name she comes running across the field, putting her hooves up on the fence to receive pets and hugs from us. We are so happy that ten years after her birth, Daisy is still happily roaming the fields of Hill House with her friends.

Please enjoy their incredible video and photos below of then and now.

We hope you are all fortunate to have such wonderful friends in your life

Stay safe, healthy and warm,

Harry

Inauguration Newsletter

Dear friends,

Today is another important day in America as we enjoy the time-honored tradition of a peaceful transfer of power. Regardless of your political affiliation and beliefs, let's all hope our leaders can work together to solve our long list of pressing problems, including the swifter rollout of the vaccine!

With a new beginning in mind, I am happy to share we had a productive and successful lambing season thus far. This note is long overdue, but we have been a little busy ... As planned, due to the miracles of modern medicine, 6 of the 7 ewes delivered over the course of 4 days. Starting with triplets and twins a day early and ending with another set of triplets and twins a day after the expected due dates. I doubt many human mothers enjoy such an accurate prediction (actually only 5% of babies are delivered on their due date).

In total, the ewes delivered 2 sets of triplets and 4 sets of twins, giving us a birth rate of 2.33, which is very high. We now have 13 lambs, including 2 bottle feeders in the garage, remember to say hello when you pick up your eggs. Unfortunately, we lost one lamb after 2 days, which is very typical given the usual mortality is between 15-20% before weaning, with 50% of those the first week. Fingers crossed the remainder reach the finish line and the final ewe delivers very healthy, big twins! Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have my best sheep consultant, Lauren, home for the births and active days thereafter. Lambing can be very tricky and it is wonderful to have my lifeline in the barn with me!

As always, lambing week was a rollercoaster of emotions, from excitement for so many births at once, to apprehension for so many births at once (!), to concern as a ewe labors especially long, to wonder watching nearly all of the births in person (thanks to the lamb cam), to relief as each lamb started to breath on their own, to amazement as the lambs would stand within 10 minutes of birth to feed, to happiness being able to share the experience with several young visitors (sure to ask many questions when they returned home), to utter exhaustion after three sleepless nights checking on ewes and lambs to alarm realizing a lamb was very weak and hypothermic, to action as we worked as a team to save the lamb to sadness realizing the lamb had moved onto another pasture and now back to a more peaceful place as normalcy returns to the barn (and our lives) with the lambs growing bigger each day.

This year we had another helper in the barn, Bobbie the chicken. Bobbie earned her name because she is bald and named after a good friend's husband who after turning bald at a young age, his wife affectionately referred to him as "bald Bob." Unfortunately, if a hen has an issue (e.g., open bald spot) then the other hens may pick on her with dire consequences, so Bobbie was saved and now roams the barn overseeing the lambs (and births), cleaning up spilt feed and waiting for her regular back rubs.

In other news, wood splitting and egg laying continues, the compost is waiting for delivery in the Spring (let me know if you are interested) and we absolutely, 100%, positively are sold out of firewood and can make no more deliveries until this summer! And of course, we continue to enjoy our many visitors, especially the young farmers and those young at heart!

Fun fact: In 1867, the first official inventory of sheep estimated a population of 45mm in the US (at the time less than 38mm people lived in the US). The sheep population peaked in 1884 at 51mm and has steadily declined to an estimated 5mm today. more than two-thirds of the US sheep operations are located in the Southern Plains, Mountain and Pacific regions with Texas and California being #1 and #2. Today, per capita consumption is less than 1 pound from nearly 5 pounds in 1960. The lower US production is augmented by imports from Australia (75%) and New Zealand (25%) where the ratio of sheep to people is 3 to 1 and 7 to 1 respectively.

Fingers crossed for a better, healthy 2021 and shot in your arm soon!

Harry