These are days….

you will remember.

never before and never since, I promise

will the whole world be warm as this

and as you feel it you’ll know it’s true

that you are blessed and lucky

it’s true that you are touched by something

that will grow and bloom in you

these are days you will remember

when may is rushing over spring with desire

to be part of the miracles you see in every hour

you’ll know it’s true that you

are blessed and lucky

it’s true that you

are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you

these days you might fill with laughter until you break

these days you might feel a shaft of light make it’s way across your face and when you do

you’ll know how it was meant to be see the signs and know their speaking to you

to you…..

Website updates are tedious….

I want to be outside right now working in the garden or sitting with my sheep….or watching my chickens, even mowing the lawn.   Instead I will be sitting in front of this sloooow computer updating the website.   I should be thankful (and I am, really) but I just wish there was a trick to make it go faster!

I did get some new colorways dyed up:

This one is called Desert Bloom and I love it!  In fact I am going to dye some up in fingering weight for a shawl for me.  (Don’t worry I will dye some up for you too!)

I call this one Raspberry Bush.   I am anxious to see it reskeined.  It’s fabulous the way it is but it always takes on a different character once it’s reskeined.

In farm news, Mama Cow will be artificially inseminated tomorrow with a registered Dexter Bull.  We are praying that she not 0nly takes on the first try but that she has a heifer (I know we only have a 50% chance but we’ve got nothing if we don’t have hope!)

We also have two Cormo Ram Lambs available.   One will be registered, the other has a small black spot so we won’t register him (blame those recessive genes!)  but he would be great for crossing another breed as he still has beautiful fleece.   We also have one lovely Cormo Cross Ewe for sale.  Beth is a beautiful black lamb and I will be just as happy if no one buys her!

Store Update!

The fact of the matter is that the sheep must be fed.  and that takes money. and I can’t grow money here on the farm.

To support our lovely animals and farm we produce several products:

Our bees give lovely honey (sorry we are out but we’ll have more!)

I also use the honey and milk (from our cow and sheep) to make handmade soaps.

We sell shares and provide raw milk to families with milk allergies (the natural enzymes in raw milk enable some people with allergies to digest it with no problems).

The sheep provide wonderful wool that we sell raw and in the processed form.

I also hand dye several fibers and yarn to supplement our income and pay the feed bill!.  

I hope you’ll stop by the Farm Store or the Etsy store and check them out!

Joy in the journey…

We have a lot to be thankful for here on the farm.  Although the work is hard and plenty the fruit of our labors is very rewarding.

My husband recently installed two new bee hives and I never get sick of watching the process.  These little gals fascinate me to no end!

Here he is spraying the hives with sugar water to calm them down a bit.  (Notice his nice new suit!   Contrary to popular belief the bees are pretty easy to get along with.  I frequently stand right along side them with no gear and in three years the only time I was stung was when I stepped on a bee barefoot.)

The queen cage holds the queen and her attendants.  It is plugged up with “candy” that the bee eat through to release her.   This process helps the bees accept their new queen.

We are enjoying the spring here at the farm and are thankful for the joy!

For those who support the farm through our Farm Store, (thank you!) it has just been updated with soysilk, yarn and more!

The end of lambing season…

Our final lamb was born yesterday, a lovely ram lamb.  The is our second lambing season and it wasn’t without it’s difficulties.   We lost two ewe lambs: one to pneumonia, the other was a wrong presentation that we weren’t able to get out soon enough.   I know that dying is part of living but I ended this season wondering if I was made of tough enough stuff to try again next year.  As I buried my beautiful CormoX lamb (a twin, thankfully I still have her sister) I cried like a baby and wondered if I should be done breeding sheep forever.

  

But then another little lamb comes along and I forget the pain for the joy of new life.   So will I continue breeding sheep?   Yes, I will…and I will still cry when things go wrong.  I think after all, part of joy is understanding sorrow.

Little Mercy is doing great by the way!   She is convinced Twila is her mom and she often serves as taxi for Peter Pan, Twila’s parrotlet.   And…..she is still, well, in my house.  I know, I know but we just haven’t had the heart to put her outside yet.   She thinks she’s a people after all.

The Little Lamb…..

living in my house at the moment is Mercy.

 

Mercy is a beautiful Icelandic lamb born slightly premature (only4lbs at birth) and honestly I didn’t even think she was going to live.   She had been trampled by her mom and was bleeding from her mouth, had a really weak sucking reflex and seemed completely unable to use her back legs.  I worried that the trampling had caused serious damage.    The resident 10 year old is not so quick to give up faith and she sat by her box praying for her and petting her.  We fed her at regular intervals and kept her comfortable.   I’ll be snuckered if that little lamb didn’t stand up on her own.   The bleeding in her mouth had appeared to stop (we now know it was caused by a cut but couldn’t see it until it began to heal) and she was eating with vigor.   All seemed well until she peed for the first time…it was red with blood.  Twila went back to praying and wouldn’t now it, the blood in her urine was completely gone within hours.   We’ll have a quick look over by the vet to be sure but I think I am going to learn to just have the faith of child.   Sometimes things go bad but gee whiz, sometimes they don’t!!

(The name was Twila’s idea.   She felt it was fitting because in her opinion God had mercy on Mercy.)