“The pastures of the wilderness run over
and the hills are girded with joy.
The meadows are clothed with sheep
and the valleys stand so thick with corn
that they shall laugh and sing.”
— Psalm 65, verses 12 & 13 (from here)
The Rest of the Chicks
A quick look at the rest of the chicks….slowly learning to roost in the new coop addition at the farmhouse: the Rhode Island Reds and New Jersey Giants.
The lighter colored hen is a Turken from the older layers which kept escaping from the outdoor run and is in time-out with the little ones for now.
The barred chick is the free rare breed chick from the www.mcmurrayhatchery.com order. We think it may be a Cuckoo Maran rooster.
{this moment}
{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
(honor and praise for Samson this week following his brave attempt to save Erma, our last guinea, from the fox)
Peeking in on the Peeps
The peeps are growing… as peeps are bound to do… and enjoying their treats of brush hogged grass, weeds from the garden, etc. This little group is pretty quiet and calm. The bigger group of Rhode Island Reds and Jersey Giants moved into their expanded coop at the farmhouse last week. We will try to share some pictures of them soon. The Jersey Giants are living up to their name and are significantly bigger than all the others. They are being raised for a brother-in-law and his family.
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| Silver Wyandottes, New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons |
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| Buff Orpington rooster |
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| Buff Orpington, Silver Wyandotte, New Hampshire Red |
Settling In
The lambs are doing well in their new pasture. Only one breakout – the first night – when they went either through or over a portion of the fence. A double fence has been put in that corner now. They have quieted down and are falling into the morning and evening routine of coming for a little corn and oats and the counting of the lambs. Only one moment of panic so far when 14 of them hid in the shelter at the bottom of the hill; which, of course, was the last place we looked for them. We will bring them back to the barn on Saturday to do a FAMACHA check and check their condition.
The ewes have also settled down and are enjoying their (well deserved) rest and relaxation in the back pasture.
Blasted Fox
We are saying “Farewell to our dear Miss Erma this morning. Sadly the blasted fox killed our lovely girl last evening. No more cute, polite ‘Mr. Foxey Loxey’ references for him. Her was too bold… too cunning. Jonathan was brush-hogging the field at the barn when he saw Samson take off down over the hill. He followed, but neither he or Samson could get to Erma in time.
We will miss our lone survivior. We will miss the way she ran through mud, as if holding up her antebellum skirt so it would not touch the ground. We will miss the way she bonded with the sheep and they with her. We will miss the way she loved to use the window in the barn door as a mirror.
Most of all we will miss Miss Erma’s “buck…WHEAT” greeting.
First Light
We love the first light of morning – there is something about it that is so soft and special…
Hope you have a lovely morning… we are off to muck out the barn
It is Bella’s Day
Happy Birthday, Belladonna!
(Maremma – Pastore Abruzzese Maremmano – sheepdog)
{this moment}
{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
Weaning Day
We weaned the lambs on Monday. We did FAMACHA tests on all the lambs and ewes, and weighed all the lambs. Only two lambs were somewhat pale but we gave all of them wormer because of the stress of weaning. We only had to worm a couple of the ewes. A great improvement over last year *knocks on wood*.
As always, we had a lot of help… Erma insisted on coming in with the sheep and helped with inspection.
Spot and Muffy helped move watering troughs.
The ewes went out one door into a paddock and moving lane,
and the lambs went out another into the corral and then on to the graveyard field which hasn’t been occupied since early spring. The ewes were moved in the evening because another task awaited us.
After lunch we hit the field and made 586 bales of hay. We are over 1,400 bales and not quite finished. It has been a good year for hay. We probably won’t have to buy any this year if the 2nd cutting is as good as the 1st.
A very hot, long day but very productive… think we are still recuperating.