Six Months

Hard to believe... the boys are six-months-old!  They are doing great and are right now on their own with the bred ewes.  They do still have their... ummmm... teachable moments but all in all they have wonderful natural abilities and are just amazing.

Asher - ready to take off down the hill

Birka - guarding Hera

Red - watching the chickens

Farewell to February

February said farewell in a lovely way... cold temperatures but lots of sunshine.  It seemed as if suddenly the birds truly believed that spring would soon arrive and began their songs in earnest.  March 1st definitely roared in like a lion, but oh, on that last day of February, we all enjoyed the sunshine and had a renewed sense of hope.

Happy New Year!

"And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke 

What better way to start the new year, than with a peek in at what the pups have been up to?  The boys have been making forays into the pasture sometime in the company of the shepherdess/s but most of the time they have been helping their mama out.  Bella is a tough instructor and keeps them pretty much in line. She is still quite affectionate, but doesn't take any nonsense.  Right now the pups are spending part of the day in the pasture and part of it in the barn next to a group of ram lambs. Although they are very busy learning their craft, Bella still finds time to work a little play in to the day.  She is doing such a great job being a mama.

{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

Pink and Asher's Excellent Adventure

Pink and Asher are two very curious pups.  Under the corral gate and off to explore they go.  Just a few yards into the pasture and they can watch the big girls in Liam's paddock.  They really love to watch them and are on their best behavior... no barking, just a lot of 'guarding'.  Then when we call "Come, puppies, come", they squeeze back under the corral gate and come running. It is so wonderful to observe their natural inclinations to be good livestock guardian dogs.

Puppy Update

The puppies were four weeks old yesterday. They have begun to eat a little solid food and are becoming very active.They all display good livestock guardian instincts, such as barking when someone comes in the barn door.
Both parents are working livestock guardians and provide protection to our flock.
Belladonna is a registered Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese 
Samson is a purebred Komondor 
The puppies were wormed at three weeks. We do not have an available date yet as we are taking things slowly, watching closely to provide for the family's growing needs.
There are two females and four males. Some of the puppies will be available to farm approved homes at $350

Puppy Pillows

The puppies are getting fat and sassy... slowly beginning to try to walk.  They look like tiny little tanks, trying to lift their bellies off the ground far enough to get around.  They are beginning to yip and yap a little also.  Still, their favorite activity is sleeping... snuggling, cuddling, using each other as little puppy pillows... all in their sweet little puppy piles.
Honestly, we could spend the entire day just watching them.

It's a..... Surprise

About a year ago we had Bella and Samson to the vet and had some discussion about breeding.  For months and months we watched and noted and counted days... and watched and noted and counted days... and watched and noted and counted days.  And nothing happened.  Seasons turned and we turned to other tasks - shearing, lambing, hay making.  And then in the last few weeks, the kids started noticing a change in Bella.  She was a little grouchy and as they put it, becoming obese.
And so, in her own time and season, Mother Nature took charge and delivered the most wonderful surprise... actually seven beautiful surprises. We're so proud of our wonderful mama and of course the papa too.

{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.

{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.

Belladonna Meets the Ewes

Sunday morning presented the opportunity to introduce Belladonna to the grown-ups, since we had the ewes in the barn paddock.  She is constantly exposed to the lambs, but has not spent much time off-leash around them because of both their age-appropriate tendencies to run and chase; not good habits for a guard dog.  But around the ewes, she was much calmer and displayed a great natural inclination to sit and observe while occasionally investigating a new sight or sound.  All in all, the five hours Bella spent with the ewes was a great success, and we will continue her exposure this week with the ewes that were not moved with the breeding group.

Bella was particularly enchanted with our old girl.  Curly did not back away at all when she approached, and this certainly intrigued Bella.  She spent a lot of time slowly prancing up to Curly, tail wagging wildly.  Then she would suddenly spin and run away, looking back over her shoulder as if to say, "Catch me, catch me, if you can!"  Quite entertaining. 

Bella Bella

Belladonna, our Maremma puppy, is growing up fast!  She is about 14 weeks old and full of mischief.  Yesterday she went to the vet for her check-up and weighed a whopping 36 lbs!

{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.

Meet Belladonna

Those of you with enough patience to make it to the end of the previous post about our visit to the Wild and Wooly Fiber Festival, have already met the newest member of the Sheeps and Peeps Barn, Border and Brush Patrol.  She is Belladonna.  Bella is a  Pastore Maremmano Abruzzese, Maremma Sheepdog, and will join our Komodor, Samson, in guarding duties.  She was born on July 15th and weighed 16.4 lbs at her 8 week check-up. 

Of course you realize that this will result in flurry of puppy pictures and puppy stories because we love new babies here at the farm.  Today will be no exception....

We currently have a few lambs in the corral and Bella is staying in a small enclosure inside the barn pen when we are too busy to keep an eye on her.  Saturday evening and Sunday morning I took her for a long walk to the bottom of pasture and back.  Sunday evening we started down the hill and made it just over the crest when Bella firmly planted herself and sat.  Well I kept going, whistling and calling (a good training experience, I am thinking).   I am sure that she will follow.  About half way down, I look back up and there is no Bella.  Walking swiftly back up the hill, I am wondering what she is up to.

She has gone back up to the corral gate.  In no time at all Feisty's ram lamb comes over to investigate.



And Bella immediately knows where she is supposed to be.  She just isn't too sure how to get there.

Soooo smart!!