Robert and his offspring
1 Jun 2013
Here are 12 of the 16 lambs, looking for their breakfast. They are all strong and healthy and growing fast! They are twice this size now. And this handsome fellow is Robert, their dad, before the shearer got to him and his lovely locks were removed.
Shearing 2013
19 May 2013
We were so lucky to schedule Beth to come and shear on the last day of this long run of good weather! And just in time: all the sheep were happy to be relieved of their heavy fleeces, and there were a few health issues, including two cases of fly strike, to be addressed. Because of all the fresh grass [...]
Planting
28 Apr 2013
We’ve had a very nice spring, plenty of sun between rain showers. We will not be able to blame our garden failures on the wet spring this year, as we have for the past several. Our first failure is the garlic. Planted last fall and looking great, whole plants are disappearing, pulled from below by gophers or some other underground [...]
Springtime!
14 Apr 2013
We are fortunate to live where the seasons are so distinct! Suddenly, the chickens are laying four eggs a day, the lambs seem to be growing a pound a day, the trees are blooming, the pastures are green, the peas have sprouted, the onion sets are up. When I pulled all the weeds from the asparagus bed, I found shoots–and [...]
Mrs. Suffolk
7 Apr 2013
In the beginning, we had three ewes. It was 1988, and we realized we needed field mowers that were not cows or horses. John bravely went out to several local farms and chose one ewe with her lamb from each place. Imagine how overwhelming it is: the shepherd brings his 25 or 50 sheep into the barn, pens them [...]
Muffin or Marigold
26 Mar 2013
We have a naming system for our ewes that enables us to follow the maternal line. I don’t know why animal breeding systems seem to focus on the paternal side: we always have just one ram, so the birth year tells us who the dad is, and that is on the eartag! It turns out little Muffin [or is it [...]