First Lambs

Here are the pictures I promised y'all of my very first lambs. Taffy had twins! Praise the Lord that she had no complications. I just woke up Tuesday morning, and there they were, cute as can be!

They are so adorable and so much fun to watch. And Taffy is the best mama sheep ever. She takes really good care of her babies. Whenever they cry, she stops whatever she is doing to go check on them. Now I'm waiting on Esmerelda and Puff to have their lambs. I might have 6 lambs before too long.

Here's one

and the other one

Here they are with their mama

-Tricia Ann

Floating Row Cover

One day recently, it was very windy. I was inside when I heard Mom calling, "Tricia Ann, come look at this!" It was a huge piece of row cover that had blown out of the garden and gotten stuck in the trees at the edge of the pasture. It looked like a giant sail:

Sheep Shearing

Whenever I have spare time and it's sunny out, I've been working on shearing my sheep. It's not as easy as I imagined, and it takes a long time., but I am getting faster. I've finished 3 out of 5 sheep. I still have Mo and Laz to go. I hate to shear Mo because her woolliness is so cute, and I'm not really looking forward to doing Laz - somehow I don't think he will be as compliant as the girls.

I am expecting lambs very soon! I am so excited, and can't wait for them to be born. I will be sure to post pictures when they get here.

Here's a picture of Puff; who ironically, is not so puffy anymore.

Whenever I am out shearing, Daisy comes over to watch. Turns out that it's a spectator sport. She really likes the John Deere lawn mower seat.

-Tricia Ann

Hoss, The Lap-Dog :)

Recent Photos

The last time I posted, I really intended to begin posting more regularly - that was 3 months ago! I'm sorry for the lack of posts. We have been busier than ever around here. Here are some pictures of recent happenings.

I put together our big yearly seed order at the beginning of February. Gimli helped by sitting on all my seed catalogs.

Hoss has been loving the sunshine and breezy weather. He has been a very good Hoss lately; staying out of the garden, protecting the animals, and not jumping on people...at least not often.

I re-vamped my soap business in December - got new soap molds, redesigned the packaging, and came up with several new kinds to offer. It has paid off. I can hardly make enough soap to keep up with the demand.

During the past couple months, when there hasn't been as much outside work to do, I've been working in the "marketing department" :) I designed brochures for Jacob's grass fed meat and this year's CSA. I was happy to use all my own photography this year...no more stock photos!

We have had an ongoing struggle with how to display prices and special signs at our farmer's market booth. Mom had the great idea to use black plastic "chalkboard" signs like they use at Whole Foods. So, we asked one of the managers there what they use to create them, and he gave us a bunch of sign-making supplies. Mom ordered me a video on how to design the lettering. I have made 3 so far. It's really fun. Here's one of them:

This week, we began construction on our new equipment shed.

Dad and Jacob milled all these posts out of Cedar trees from our woods. How cool is that?

And this one? Well, to get the story, you'll have to read this week's edition of the Gimli Report in the BCF Newsletter when it comes out tomorrow. You can sign up here, or read it on our Facebook page.

-Tricia Ann

Pictures of My Sheep

I finally got a new computer. Yay! I promised a couple people pictures of my new sheep and now I can finally post them.

This is Puff

And this is Taffy (Jacob named all of them on the way home from picking them up).

They are Romneys and have very nice wool. I can't wait to have some yarn from my own sheep's fleeces!

And here I am with Mo, the little ewe lamb. She is absolutely adorable!

I'll post pictures of Esmerelda and the ram when I can get some good ones. They don't pose very well.

A Great Farming Blog

Hey y'all! I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been having computer issues and I haven't made it to the Apple store yet. :/

In the meantime, I thought I'd post a link to one of our favorite farming blogs: Hearth to Harvest

The author of Hearth to Harvest is a friend who is an experienced farmer, and she has a wealth of information to share. She and her family run River Cottage Farm. They are committed to producing healthy, local food. So, check it out. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

-Tricia Ann