Weaning Day

Sheeps & Peeps8 Comments

The lambs seldom nurse and have become much more independent; some days spending more time with other lambs than with their mamas.  All of the lambs are now over 60 days old.  Those precious moments between mama and lamb are over until next spring.  It’s weaning day.  Each lamb is weighed and given advice ~ “Be brave.”  “Be strong.”  “Don’t let the bigger lambs pick on you.”
“Don’t worry,” we tell the mamas, “we’ll take good care of your little ones.  We love them too.” 
As always, barncat Davita is right in the middle of all the action, doing her best to help with the record keeping.  One by one we work our way through the lambs and ewes.  The ewes out the side door and in to a moving lane, going to the pasture by the knoll.  The lambs will go out through the corral and on to the graveyard field.  There are two paddocks and four fences in between them.  Even so the next couple days are full of separation anxiety and they can be quite determined to get back together. 
It is a bittersweet day, but new friendships will be formed, old alliances will be re-kindled.  In a few days… all will, once again, be quiet in the pasture.

Bella’s Give-Away

Sheeps & Peeps13 Comments

Our big girl, Belladonna, celebrated her third birthday on Sunday!  To thank all of you who have watched her grow up here on the blog, she is having a give-away.  To enter just comment on this post.  You could win a special gift from Bella!  (Sorry… it’s so new that it has not arrived.  No… it’s not a puppy.)
Comments will be closed on Sunday at 8 p.m.  Comments are closed.  A winner will be announced shortly.

Sunday Muse

Sheeps & Peeps5 Comments

Daisies
It is possible, I suppose, that sometime
     we will learn everything
there is to learn:  what the world is, for example,
     and what it means.  I think this as I am crossing
from one field to another, in summer, and the
     mockingbird is mocking me, as one who either
knows enough already or knows enough to be
     perfectly content not knowing.  Song being born
of quest he knows this:  he must turn silent
     were he suddenly assaulted with answers.  Instead
oh hear his wild, caustic, tender warbling ceaselessly
     unanswered.  At my feet the white-petaled daisies display
the small suns of their center-piece, their — if you don’t
     mind my saying so — their hearts.  Of course
I could be wrong, perhaps their hearts are pale and
     narrow and hidden in the roots.  What do I know.
But this: it is heaven itself to take what is given,
     to see what is plain; what the sun
lights up willingly; for example — I think this
     as I reach down, not to pick but merely to touch —
the suitability of the field for the daisies, and the
     daisies for the field.
~ Mary Oliver from “Why I Wake Early”
  

Back On

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments

The electric company arrived on Saturday at 4 p.m. to fix a fuse on a pole in one of the pastures that brought electric back to us and our neighboring farms.  We have to admit that the five guys who arrived in two big trucks were greeted like a liberating army!  We tied Samson up in the pasture and they managed to get a big bucket truck through one of the gates, and by about 5:30 we were back in this century (after 7 days and 22 hours).  The first thing we did was run down to the barn and get all the exhaust fans working again. The sheep usually spend most of their time outside but depend on the barn for some relief during the hottest part of the day.   It had been a miserable week for the sheep with temperatures in the 90’s and high humidity.
Sunday… finally… some very much needed rain arrived.  Things have cooled down a little, and it’s a relief not to have to draw water out of the cistern with a rope and bucket.  
As of yesterday, there were still 35,000 homes without electricity in West Virginia.  We are praying that relief comes to them soon. 

Sunday Muse

Sheeps & PeepsLeave a comment

I want to wake up in the morning
Where the rhododendrons grow;
Where the sun comes a-creepin’
Into where I’m a-sleepin’
And the songbirds say, “Hello.”
I want to wander thru’ the wildwood
Where the fragrant breezes blow
And drift back to the mountains
Where the rhododendrons grow.

I want to climb up in the mountains
Where the rhododendrons grow;
Where the Lord is so near me
When I breathe He can hear me
And the whole world sings below.
I want to lay down all my burdens
And forget my worldly woes,
And stay here in West Virginia
Where the rhododendrons grow.

‘The Rhododendron Song’ ~ memories from 4-H Camp

Please, don’t forget to comment on our Tee Time – It’s A Give-Away post! 
Comments close at 8 p.m.