Farm Photo: 4/14/07

Snugglebunny

Now I remember why I don't let the sheep eat out of buckets.

Lamb Report:
Things have been difficult, and there have been problems. (Is it just me, or does trouble always seem to arrive in clumps?) This is to be expected--we do live on a farm full of animals after all. If an entire lambing season ever went off without a hitch, we'd probably both drop dead from the shock.

Why did this happen? How did this happen? Was there something I could have or should have done? There is nothing to do but deal with things one at a time, the best you can, knowing there will never be answers to most of the questions. (Though I'd really like to know just how a baby lamb can manage to tear a large chunk out of his cheek.)

And then you carry on. You think about the bed of baby spinach in the garden and the first of the mesclun mix in the greenhouse that are waiting to be picked for tonight's salad. You smile as you play work down by the spring, clearing paths through the piles of leaves with your rubber-booted feet so all the ponding water can flow downstream, happy that so much badly needed rain has fallen in the past two days. You scoop up a baby lamb in your arms, bury your face in its warm woolly body, and wonder if it is the softest, cuddliest thing you've ever held in your life. You look at this photo of Snugglebunny and realize that it is going to make you laugh out loud for at least the next 30 years.

On Monday we have houseguests arriving for the week. Since this is a very rare occurrence, there has been a flurry of frantic activity in the house as well as the barn as we struggle to make The Shack look halfway presentable. All the lilacs froze to death last week (they sure were lovely while they lasted), and the raised bed I sowed about 5,000 seeds in hasn't offered up a single sprout yet, let alone a bouquet of blooms, so I won't be able to distract roving eyes with vases of freshly cut flowers.

Nope, food will have to do it. Menus are being decided (Grilled lamb chops or roast leg of lamb? Two kinds of pizza or three? Apple pie or blueberry--or both?), and the house is full of the mingling scents of homemade chicken stock simmering away on the stove, an old-fashioned pecan coffee cake cooling on the counter, and an oven full of baking bread. And if all that doesn't distract them from the dust, I figure a couple of lambs in the living room should definitely do the trick. Current lamb count: 37. Number of little things to be grateful for: the same number as yesterday & the day before that--way too many to count.

A year of Farm Photos ago:
4/14/06: Bright Spots Are Everywhere
4/13/06: The Forest Floor Is Blooming
4/12/06: One Final Photo Of BB & Her Baby Girl
4/11/06: Looks Like He Has His Mother's Eyes
4/10/06: Look What Landed At My Feet

We also had:
Spring In The Spring
Girls' Day Out: No Room At The Bonding Suite Inn

Things weren't going real well with the sheep last year at this time either:
4/12/06:Hearts & Rocks & Numbers & Thoughts
4/13/06:Shepherd's Nightmare

And out of the kitchen came:
Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti (Chocolate & Kitchen Therapy)