Friday Dose of Cute: Yoga for Sheep

Monday Dose of Cute and Loss

Annette and Her Newborn Twins on 4/7/10

© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the mourning foodie farm blog where after a very long, very hot, very exhausting, and very frustrating day spent tending to a very sick ewe (one of your best of course) only to have her die that night (which meant you then had to deal with her very large dead body at 11pm—and happened to be the only person home at the time), it's always a good idea to spend some time looking back at happier and cuter times while you're crying your eyes out. (Cake for breakfast helps, too.) Rest in peace, beautiful Annette. And thank you for giving me Cary.

Wednesday Dose of Cute: Big Annette

Let's Hope It's Twins

Thursday Dose of Cute: And She Sleeps

Annette and Her Twin Ewe Lamb (taken 4/5/09)

New around these parts? Here's a look back at lambing season:
4/2/09: Baa Baa Baby Baa Baa! Lambing Season 2009 Has Begun!
4/3/09: Black Babes for Black Beauty
4/4/09: Spotted Beast?
4/6/09: Whispering Sweet Nothings?
4/7/09: Think Pink
4/9/09: Oh, You Big Baby
4/14/09: Too Cute for Words?
4/16/09: Smile for the Camera!
4/16/09: Amendment to Today's Earlier Lamb Count
4/20/09: Morning Traffic Report
4/21/09: Snack Time!
4/22/09: Oops
4/26/09: Lamb Whisperer
4/26/09: An Important Message from the BABS
4/30/09: Reading Lesson
5/1/09: May Day! May Day!
5/21/09: Rest Stop

© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the always up for a nap foodie farm blog where we just came across an entire file of forgotten cute lamb photos that were never posted. The last lamb of the year may have been born several weeks ago (where does the time go?), but that doesn't mean the baby pictures have to stop anytime soon!

Thursday Dose of Cute: Baa Baa Baby Baa Baa! Lambing Season 2009 Has Begun!

Annette (Cary's other mother) and her newborn twins

In keeping with the old saying, March on the farm came in like a lion and out like a two three lambs. Tuesday evening while Joe and I were maneuvering poor old (and heavy!) Sweet Pea—my beloved pet wether who is unable to get up and walk anymore—into the barn for the night, Annette had two lambs lickety split.



Chocolate Chip Biscotti's newborn girl

When we went down to make sure the three of them were resting comfortably in their bonding suite before going to bed a few hours later, a quick check of the rest of the prego flock revealed that Chocolate Chip Biscotti had just given birth to a beautiful black girl out in the barnyard—with the cutest little pink nose.

She also has one inverted eyelid, which causes irritation and tearing, and I'm trying to fix it by simply pulling it into place several times a day, rather than resorting to a more complicated procedure. It's worked for me before, so I'm hopeful.

Wednesday morning Amy had twins, and last night sometime between the 10pm check and a 2am check, one of the two still unnamed Katahdin ewes we bought last year from our sheep shearer had twin girls way out in the barnyard.

At 3:30 this morning I finally crawled back into bed, reassured that the three of them were safe and sound in a bonding suite, and while only one of the lambs had nursed, both had drunk a little colostrum from a small syringe that I'd miraculously been able to milk out of not-real-friendly mama.

This morning both lambs were up and seemingly full of energy, but for some reason mama has decided that she only had one lamb, not two, and keeps knocking away the other one every time it gets near her and tries to nurse. Talk about a heartbreaking (and frustrating) sight.

If things don't improve soon, my plan is to see if I can trick the next new mother who has a single lamb into thinking she actually had twins by rubbing the birthing fluid from the newborn baby on the rejected lamb and hoping the mother will accept her—and the lamb (who has already imprinted on her birth mother) will also be amenable to the plan.

If that doesn't work, I'll bring the rejected baby up on a bottle—but unlike Cary (who is doing great by the way), I don't think she'll be let into the living room!



Of course the Nanny Bear is always ready to assist.
Oh, baby baby. And so it begins!

Current lamb count: 7. Ewe lambs: 5. Ram lambs: 2. Hours of sleep one of us has had in the last two nights: There are certain things it's just better not to count this time of year.

Can't wait for more baby pictures?
Lambing Season 2006 Photos & Reports
Lambing Season 2007 Photos & Reports
Lambing Season 2008 Part 1
Lambing Season 2008 Part 2
More Sheep Stories & Photos
Farm Stories & Farm Life Tidbits

© FarmgirlFare.com, the bouncing baby foodie farm blog where this is the first year we bred—in an attempt to build up some parasite resistance—our mostly Suffolk ewes with a Kathadin hair sheep ram (you don't shear this breed's coarse, furry 'hair') and the resulting little hair balls, as I've fondly started calling them, are cute as can be but look so different than what we're used to! (Chocolate Chip Biscotti's black lamb above was bred with a Suffolk ram so she's 100% wool sheep.)

When? Soon. Living on Country Time

When will you let me out of here?

Life in the country moves at a decidedly slower pace than it does in the city, and that's just fine with me. It's nice to know that when you finally get around to introducing yourself to a neighbor, they don't think it the least bit odd that it's taken you three years to do so.

Everything eventually gets done. It just might not get done in a timely manner.

Along those same lines, people in the country rarely expect to be pinned down to an exact time frame for anything. I completely understand this, as I know how often unexpected delays tend to jump into your way.

We are almost always late for everything, and although you can't get away with the classic, "You wouldn't believe the traffic!" excuse out here, pretty much any other explanation will put you in the clear. Dogs had an armadillo trapped under the camper? Baby goat in the middle of the highway? Triplets born just as you were about to leave the house? I've used them all.

But sometimes you really want to know exactly when something is going to happen, or at least get a rough idea. For instance, you hang up the phone after negotiating the delivery of a load of desperately needed firewood only to realize that the conversation ended with the seller simply saying, "Okay then. We'll be seeing you." Wait. Wait. When? You have been given absolutely no clue.

I quickly learned the subtle art of casually inquiring as to when something might be expected to happen. And no matter what the situation, I would receive the same answer: "In a bit."

"So, um, when do you think you'll have that tire fixed?"

"Oh, in a bit."

"What time did you say you expect her home?"

"Well, let's see now. She should be back in a bit."

"And you figure you'll be bringing over that firewood when?"

"In a bit."

At first I thought I was getting somewhere. And then I realized that "a bit" has absolutely no set real-time definition. From what I have been able to figure out over the past 11 years, it can mean anything from 30 minutes to a week and a half. But as I said, everything does get done—eventually.

So why am I explaining all of this? Because lately I have come to realize that I have wholeheartedly adopted this handy, yet often irritating, vagueness. Only I don't say "in a bit." I say "soon." It's my standard answer to when I'm going to do something, and I use it quite often, including on this blog.

And so, for the sake of those who do not run on country time and are wondering, say, when in the heck I am going to get around to writing out the rest of those bread baking tips, or finally posting a recipe I promised I would share, I feel I should clarify what exactly I mean by "soon." Let's figure anywhere from an hour to a couple of weeks, with "very soon" definitely falling closer to the one hour mark.

And if it takes me longer than that? Well, you know I'll have a great excuse—and it won't have anything to do with the traffic. See you soon.

© FarmgirlFare.com, never on time, always with a story.