We sheared the rams this weekend, a whole six weeks earlier than last year. We have been running a little behind on everything, so it was exciting to accomplish something on schedule! Aragorn looked on as Poseidon was first at the clippers, then he and Liam had their turn. All three of them have such beautiful fleeces. Poseidon and Aragorn spent about fifteen hours in the ram cram before moving into a paddock with newly repaired fencing. Our older fellow, Liam, went back in with the expectant mamas for now. He is still a bit wobbly from his battle with deer worm, and is being spoiled with some extra tlc.
Month: April 2012
Glimpses of Dogwood
More…
We just can’t help sharing more… more spring blooms… more flowers… more blossoms.
The blueberry bushes are heavily laden with blooms in shades of white, pink and deep red. The fruit trees just keep treating us with more beautiful blossoms. Hopefully this week’s freezing cold temperatures and snow flurries will do nothing to harm what should be a bountiful crop of fruit this summer.
{this moment}
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a single moment from the week
A simple, special extraordinary moment.
A moment to pause, savor and remember.
Participating with the SouleMama blog.
Friday’s Fences
solstice to solstice :: rise
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
~ from Still I’ll Rise by Maya Angelou
response to week three of spring – rise
the solstice to solstice project with urban.prairie.forest
more responses in the flickr pool here
Anticipation
The air here at the farm is charged with anticipation… and a little anxiety. The bulging bellies and swelling udders a sure sign that lambing time is nigh. Just a little more than a week and our little lambs will be hitting the ground. Lambing supplies have been inventoried, reorganized and reordered. The barn has been cleaned and there’s a little bit or reorganization going on in there too. It is so much easier to tell what is going on now that they’ve been sheared, and all the ewes look to be in good condition. So for a few more days, the waiting game continues… we’re just about ready.
Spectacular
We can’t remember a spring where the trees have been so bright… so vivid… so spectacular. Perhaps the mild winter and spring have combined to produce this abundance of bloom in the trees. The path of sunlight during the day presents one breathtaking view after another. It’s as if our mountains are singing a song of spring!
Finally
We finally got the yearling ewes and two of the wethers, Moe and Larry, moved out of the barn pasture and into their new paddock… again. We gave up on Jack and he will stay with the bred ewes, probably through lambing.
It was a very exciting day. They played follow-the-leader with Davita. This very quickly evolved into a chase-the-cats-out-of-the-pasture game. We are assuming that the yearling ewes won as Davita and Muffy ended up on fence posts.
They discovered the goat tree, just as any animal we put in this pasture seems to do. Sheep, goat or dog they all seem to love this little crab apple tree.
The rams discovered that they now have neighbors, and had to show off a little for next season’s ladies with a minor head-butting, neck-wrestling tussle. Not to be outdone, the yearlings had to do a little showing off of their own.
What was a very exciting day for the yearlings, finally ended with some peaceful grazing… yes… finally.
































