Thanksgiving

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Larry, the turkey, made by Lena

“Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.”
– Edgar A. Guest, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Treat

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Feeling very blessed and thankful for our readers and our followers… thank you for all of your comments, questions and insights.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Just in case you need a quick, easy, last minute Thanksgiving recipe, here is a family favorite from “Recipes From A Kitchen Garden” by Renee Shepherd; a small recipe booklet published by Shepherds Garden Seeds in 1987.  My son’s favorite Thanksgiving dessert.  It has graced every Thanksgiving table since he was born, 23 years ago.  We think it is best served around room temperature.

Pumpkin Cobbler

Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
3 cups cooked mashed pumpkin (or butternut squash)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon giner
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Crust:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup regular or low-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk and pumpkin; add the rest of the filling ingredients, mix well and set aside.  Then prepare the crust; melt the stick of butter in a 9 X 11-inch baking pan.  In another bowl, mix the remaining crust ingredients until just combined and pour into baking pan on top of the melted butter.  Spoon or slowly pour the filling evenly over the crust batter in the pan.  Do not stir.  Dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Bake 1 hour.  The crust mixture rises to the top during baking to form a rich topping.
Serves 8 to 10.

Liam’s Ladies

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Liam (in the foreground below) is our 5-year old registered Border Leicester ram, purchased as a yearling from Kelly at Spring Breeze Farm.  He still has a wonderful temperment and throws a great lamb with a long top and beautiful wool.

Liam’s ladies are kind of scattered about but a few are pictured above.  He is turned in with a wonderful group.
604 – Sweet Pea – Lincoln – Wensleydale – Coopworth cross
616 – Rosey – Border Leicester – Wensleydale – Coopworth cross
716 – Harmonia – Coopworth – Border Leicester – Wensleydale cross
720 – Cassidy – Cotswald – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
802 – Prudence – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
821 – Siar – Cotswald – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
906 – Lucy – Romney – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
907 – Ceres – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
914 – Bertha – Cotswald – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
931 – Minerva – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross


Let the Games Begin!

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After taking a group of ram lambs to the stockyard, Saturday morning, we settled into establishing our breeding groups for this season.  We have been working them out on paper for a couple weeks; finally Saturday is THE day!

We gathered the breeding ewes into a small paddock that we set up with temporary fencing, and armed with our breeding master list began to split and move them.  We set this up right at the corner of our two largest breeding group paddocks.  So the majority of the ewes didn’t have to be coaxed to move very far.  They are separated by sturdy perimeter fencing as we have found that no matter how many ewes a ram has to himself, he does indeed tend to think that the grass is greener on other side.   




After the ringing (removing the wool from the belly) of Poseidon and Aragorn, we positioned the rams’ breeding harnesses.  These have a wax marking crayon attached that enables us to identify on our breeding chart when a ewe has been bred.  We will change the color of the crayon in 17 days and if a ewe is marked a second time, we know that she was not caught during her first cycle. 

We moved the lovely Juliet, last year’s bottle baby to the graveyard field paddock with the ewe lambs as she is still quite small.  Hopefully she will do some catching up this winter and can be bred next fall.

We decided to keep the ram lamb 1032, Braveheart, and put him with a small breeding group in the barnyard.  He has great registered Border Leicester bloodlines.  His dam is Charity and his sire is Aragorn.  Charity is out of Hope and Liam.  We will use him this year and maybe next, then sell him as a proven ram to another farm.
Braveheart’s breeding group (left to right)
924 – Meara – Coopworth – Blue-faced Leicester – Wensleydale cross
613 – Hebe –  Coopworth – Wensleydale – Border Leicester cross
912 – Roisin – Border Leicester – Coopworth – Wensleydale cross
922 – Funella – Coopworth – Blue-faced Leicester – Cotswald cross
We think that these ladies’ breed and fleece characteristics combined with those of Braveheart’s will produce wonderful lambs with beautiful wool.
More on the other breeding groups tomorrow.

Guinea Bandits

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The guineas are very excited that the ram lambs are back in the barn paddock.  Twice a day we throw a little grain out for the lambs.  When the guineas hear the grain hit the feeders, they come running, squawking loudly.  Generally they muscle their way right in, stealing a treat of corn and oats.

Sugar Coated Sunday

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“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?”
— J. B. Priestley

Our first significant snowfall was to occur this weekend.  They were predicting an accumulation of 4 to 6 inches.  Instead, it spit snow off and on Saturday, and on Sunday we awoke to this magical, sparkling, sugar-coated world.

As the sun burnt through the fog, it began to heat up the snowy ground, and large billows of steam began to rise; creating another, almost surreal world where grazing ewes and newly shorn ewe lambs became mere shadows, spirits moving through the rising mist.

Shearing Day

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Thursday dawned cold, wet and foggy; pretty miserable.  Luckily we put the lambs in the barn the night before, so they were warm and dry. 

We had a wonderful group of helpers – Jonathan and Travis caught and threw the lambs, Mom prepared bags and made notes, Nancy bagged and David and Delores were the shearing mat sweepers.   Now, I know you are wondering what were those two shepherdesses doing?  Well they were helping with all of the above, along with fleece grading, catching and sorting ewe lambs from ram lambs.  A busy, busy barn full of somewhat damp and chilly but cheerful workers.

And these two guys – the shearers – Melvin and Joe; we can’t say enough about how great they are.  We sheared 49 lambs and were done before noon.  Thank you everyone for all your help… feeling so blessed to have such great family, friends and neighbors

Now onto the big job of skirting… hope to start that later today!