Busy with lambing

The barn is a very active place right now, all 10 lambing jugs are full and a makeshift pen is waiting in the wings.100_8075 Total lamb count so far is 21, with many unexpected twins to first-timers!100_8079 Some are nearing ready to be turned out to the pasture to open up jugs for new lambs, and some have already been released to enjoy the sunshine of the great outdoors. 100_8076We are enjoying the sounds of mommas calling to lambs, and the little baas of the lambs answering. We are also enjoying the peacefulness of them resting calmly together.100_8078It is a very tiring but rewarding time of year. Everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first colored lambs as the first 21 have all been white.

Two more lambs to share

Wednesday afternoon Princess delivered a beautiful little ewe which we are excited about. Her lambs are always the fastest growers, and this is her first ewe so we shall see if she grows as well as her ram lambs did. She is still damp in this picture so it is not the best:100_8064 Then, early this morn, around 1 a.m., we got our first purebred border leicester… a ram lamb from Kelly:100_8069 A rather handsome little fellow who will hopefully be a great stud ram for someone’s fiber farm.

Our First Lamb of 2010 has Arrived

Our first lamb was born last night: a robust little 9 lb 12 oz ram lamb who is three-quarters border leicester and has the sweetest little face and quiet Baaaa!


After the challenging winter and amidst our healing…how fitting is it that our first lamb #1001 is the son of #801 Patience, and grandson of #21 Hope?

We may have to break our “Do Not Name the Rams” rule for this little guy.
Anyone have name suggestions?

Another Time

Spring water bubbles out of the ground in two places, just a few feet away from each other. It is interesting to contemplate the spot that water chooses to emerge from the earth and its effects over time.

In another time, this lovely hollowed out semi-circle at the base of a few trees would have made an almost perfect spot for a spring house… complete with stone troughs… a place for crocks of fresh milk. While maintaining a constant temperature, this spring’s running water would have allowed for the storage of dairy products, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables before emerging, once again, further down the hill where it might have provided a nice trough for the farm animals to quench their thirst.
During spring time it just seems to be even easier to witness Mother Earth’s magic and contemplate another… perhaps simpler… time.

Signs of Spring

One sure sign of spring are Roger’s baby calves making the most of weekend sunshine. It was a blessing for both the four-legged and the two-legged creatures to have a full weekend of nice weather. We are doing our best to enjoy the neighbors’ new babies before we are caught up in thrill of our own lambing season.

Another sure sign of spring in our neck of the woods, is the emergence of the wildflower Coltsfoot. There was much excitement this weekend when the first yellow flowers were spotted along the roadside.

Sunday Muse

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
— excerpt from The Brook by Alfred, Lord Tennyson