Happy Thanksgiving!

Messenger
by Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—

          equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
          keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
          astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,



which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

          and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

          to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

          that we live forever.

Winter Sunrise

The snow and wind paused just long enough to grant us a couple days of sunshine.  Sunday arived in a most glorious manner.  Let us share with you a winter sunrise as it comes to the pasture and makes its way into the mountains.



Peek-A-Boo

joining The View From Right Here for Weekly Top Shot

Friday's Fences

nothing like a corner well done... perimeter fencing... the beauty of utility
joining Life According to Jan and Jer for Friday's Fences

{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.

{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.

A Glimpse of the Nursery Paddock

We thought you might enjoy this glimpse of the nursery paddock at feeding time.  While some of the lambs enjoy some play time as the ewes are eating a little grain, others are very intent on quickly reuniting with their mama.  It usually takes a little while for everyone to get sorted out.

Big Weekend Plans

The breeding ewes have spent the last six weeks or so in one of the hayfields, giving some of the pasture paddocks a rest.  They spend the day in temporary fencing, coming inside the pine grove paddock's perimeter fencing at night.  We have moved the large temporary paddock twice which has allowed the ewes to graze a large portion of the hayfield.  We have followed this plan for a couple years and it seems to have really improved the hayfield along with eliminating many of the weed problems.

This weekend we plan to move the ewes back to the barn paddock and begin hoof trimming and crutching in preparation for breeding season.  It won't be long now... the circle of life begins again.

Greener Pastures

The yearlings, wethers and ewes without lambs are busy bio-mowing a new section of the barnyard.  This portion includes our dyer's garden where they are working on the weeds and fertilizing a bit. 

That accomplished, we then tackled the more complicated task of moving the ewes and their lambs into a new paddock.  This proved to be somewhat comical because as soon as we opened the gate, all the mamas ran through, but the lambs... uuhhh, the lambs... uummm, only the oldest, Maebh's ram lamb, followed. 

There is definitely something wrong with this picture!  Now, in the lamb's defense... the gate is small and it no longer opens all the way (having once been knocked off its hinges by an over-enthusiastic ram), but honestly... honestly, the grass really is greener on the other side.



We decided to leave the gate open so that the ewes could sort things out, and slowly, one by one, they came back looking for their little ones; eventually coaxing their lambs through.  Happily, by late yesterday, most of the families had migrated to the new paddock, and we should be able to close the gate today. 

In other...  really good... news...

-- Poppy's head is healing nicely and she has rejoined the yearlings in the barnyard.

-- Ceres has really perked up.  She is eating well and loudly greets us when we open the barn door.

Moving to Summer Pasture

 

We must say that the back paddock has become a very busy and noisy place, having been invaded by 50 lambs and their mamas.  So, much to Betty Lou Moo Moo and Beefcakes relief, they have been moved to the summer pasture on the 'almost back forty'.

 

 

They are now most happily located away from all the noise and confusion that comes with little lambs.  The grass is growing, the spring is going strong, the watering trough is over-flowing... all is now right with their world.

What a Weekend!

In a stroke of luck, the stockyard was open on New Year's Day, and the roads were open enough that our neighbors could finally get their trailer into the barnyard. We took the cull ewes and seven more of the ewe lambs to Grantsville.  This will surely help our hay bale count.

The stars just seemed to align this weekend, and the combination of snow melt, fairly warm and mostly decent weather blessed these shepherdess/s with hours of pretty comfortable outside farm work.  This and the fact that not one single ewe was marked the second time around meant that the breeding was complete and the groups could be moved.

Breeding harnesses came off.  (That Davita... she will snuggle with anything that is not another cat.)

Liam, Aragorn and Poseidon, the three older rams, were crammed and twenty-four hours later moved back to their original pasture.

A brand spanking new, fancy shelter was put together (by Terry) for the goat boys and they were moved to the pine grove paddock via halter and truck.  You have no idea how exciting this is to have them in a virtually, inescapable paddock for the remainder of the winter.   No longer will we be greeted by surprises in the barn when going to feed in the mornings... no tearing down of fencing... no leading the ewe lambs into trouble.  (They only do these things in the winter... maybe they find winter boring.)  Right now there is a lot of noisy complaining but they will adjust, and there are plenty of rocks and fallen trees to amuse them.

The 33 breeding ewes and the ram lamb, Braveheart, are all now in the barn pasture.  Moving lanes were built with temporary fencing and this all went pretty smoothly.  This group of ewes appears to be kind of flighty.  Hopefully they will settle down before lambing.  Speaking of lambing season... there was much excitement around here that everyone appears to have been caught  during the first 17 day cycle... until it sunk in that all 33 ewes will probably lamb within an intense 3 week period.  We will have to start planning for that.


















And last, but certainly not least, Betty Lou Moo Moo and Beefcakes were brought over the pasture and through the woods from Madison.  They followed Jonathan and Megan up the hill to about 50 feet away from the fence line.  Surprisingly they came closer and closer by calling "C'mon Betty" "C'mon Beef" (all of our animals seem to equate the word "C'mon" with the word "Food")  and it went pretty smoothly once they were enticed through the open gate with a little grain.  More temporary fence lanes were put up to connect the two gate openings and we had a bale of hay waiting on the other side. Ahhh, success.

There is still a little bit of organizing and housekeeping to do, but all in all, considering last year's winter feeding challenges, we are pretty (pardon our language) damn excited!

Hayfield... Pasture

With the click and rattle of the bottom gate opening, our quiet roadside pasture suddenly turns into a very excited stampede of ewes and yearlings.  The word passes quickly and loudly from one to another, "Baaaaa... baaaa... the gate is open to the hayfield!"