Lambing 2009

Well the city woman got her education on real farm life this lambing season. Last year we bemoaned the fact that we missed the birth of all the lambs. Not so this year. Oh no definitely not so this year.

It started so nicely. One of the Cheviots had twins and Jen was there to describe it to me over the phone. Daisy knew what to do and nicely went into her pen to drink her molasses water and the lambs began to nurse and all was well.

Horse Sense (Bridget)

Just after we had made the deal for the farm, we were there while the previous owner was moving out. In the pasture were two quarter horses. He inquired if we would like to buy them. Well, romantic notions about horses from when I was a kid ran through my head. Have always loved them but really know nothing about them. Asked if they could be ridden "oh yes and the mare is bred". So, on an impulse I bought Gracie a beautiful grey roan quarter horse. My education was about to begin.

Winter update & getting ready for lambing! (Jen)

Its been a while since my last entry, not a lot going on in January, just waiting for those lambs to grow and preparing for shearing. I've been building lambing pens, cleaning out barns and arranging things so they'll be as conveninent as possible. Since this is just our second year, I still don't have a pattern or set routine but I'm sure that will come with years of practice.

Shelves were one thing I wanted and didn't have last year. Shelves and hooks to hang things on so those were some new additions to the lambing shed. Creative uses for cattle panels emerge almost weekly, what did we do before those things?? I swear I'm going to find a use for them in the house one of these days...something to hang pots off of :)!

Knitting with 5 bored Border Collies (Jen)

Well, I made the tough decision to deconstruct the sweater I’d been knitting out of Roark’s fleece. Roark is my chocolate BFL/BL ram that sired all those beautiful lambs last spring. He has stunning fleece and lots of it. I’ve been painstakingly washing it, careful to maintain lock formation and then flick carding the tips and spinning it into a fine (fine for me anyway) 2 ply yarn.

Stormy December Day (Jen)

Just got back from taking the dogs for a walk in the back pasture. I can do that now that my friends horses are gone (all 15 of them). I missed taking the dogs back there but the horses were a bit too curious and the dogs were seriously outnumbered.

What Bridget Doesn’t Know About Farming (by Bridget)

One fall day we were gazing at the bucolic picture of the sheep grazing in the pasture from the front porch. If you listened you could actually hear them munching eagerly on the grass as the moved slowly across the pasture. That is…all but Kelly. Kelly is a black Shetland Mule lamb (Shetland/BFL) born in March of 08. Kelly is, we think, “acting” as though he is a strapping young virile ram. It is comical to watch this little guy mounting a much larger Cheviot. It kind of reminds one of a Dachshund having affection for a Great Dane. Like all the other ram lambs, he had been banded a few days after birth.

However, we began having an unsettled feeling that perhaps we should check for hopefully the absence of anything on his belly. So the next day we captured the indignant Kelly and discovered that alas his jewels were intact. Apparently the band broke.

Beautiful summer day! (Jen)

Today I got up early, the fog was thick which is unusual for a July morning. It was cool but quite muggy which meant it would be brutal later in the day with temps approaching 95. So I decided to grab the chain saw and finish cleaning out the cedars in the fence row. As much as I love cedars, they are death to the fleeces as the tips of the cedar breaks off into the wool when the sheep lay under them. I’ve already seen some sprigs on the back of some of the sheep which I hurriedly plucked out (ouch!). Bridget is on thistle detail this summer and it is her goal to kill each and every thistle on the property, bless her!