And Staying in Line
I Love the Black Sheep Best! (Except for my baby Cary, of course):
11/18/05: Frosted Snugglebunny
4/8/06: BB and Her Newborn Baby
4/28/06: Snugglebunny's Twin Girls Always Stay Together
6/27/06: Snugglebunny's Twin Girls Heading Out for Breakfast
7/10/06: BB and Her Mother Tana Are Always Together
9/30/06: Seeing Double
2/9/07: I Love Black Sheep! (Sheep Shearing Photos)
3/14/07: Tana and Her Baby Boy, First Morning Outside
3/20/07: All Booked Up at the Bonding Suite Inn!
5/13/07: The Tail of Two Mothers: A Mother's Day Story from the Farm
10/11/07: Living by the Light
12/5/07: Spy Sheep
4/4/08: Anybody Need an Experienced Sheep Dryer?
4/20/08: Raa Raa Black Sheep! Another Black Baby Lamb
10/2/08: Gossip Central
4/3/09: Black Babes for Black Beauty
4/14/09: Too Cute for Words?
6/9/09: Stop, Look, and Listen
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the finally remembered to switch to the new summer header foodie farm blog where so far these two Suffolk/Katahdin crosses (who also have a little black Border Leicester thrown in from my very first ram 13 years ago) look like they're going to keep their color. As you can see in the top photo, one has a slight brown tint to her coat now, but considering that their mother, BB, is a true black sheep (these days she looks grey but there's jet black wool underneath), and most of the spotted lambs have bleached out already, chances are good these twin girls are going to stay black. Hooray!
It's the Big One for Her, Too! (And Only Two Days Late)
Our hay stacking supervisors: it's a rough job, but thankfully they were up to the challenge.
Wishing you an enjoyable and relaxing 4th of July!
© FarmgirlFare.com, the planning for winter mealtimes during summer foodie farm blog where this year's big hot haying adventure is finally over (hooray! more photos soon), and at one point we had 7 four-footed critters supervising our stacking abilities—not to mention Rooster Daddy crowing his opinions from the sidelines. You're never alone on the farm—though you're often the only one actually working.
Attack! (taken 5/16/09)
© FarmgirlFare.com, the hand tossed, homemade sauced, fast growing foodie farm blog where there's something for everyone when we clean out a chest freezer, and the homegrown/homemade chicken food discussion continues in the comments section below. Feel free to join in the conversation.
And if you'd like to read more about what we feed our chickens and why, check out the comments section of yesterday's Dose of Cute. You'll also see why I never have time to reply to all of your comments—I easily get carried away!
At just a few days old, they're already turning into foodies (taken 4/21/09)
© 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the baby gourmet foodie farm blog where this year we decided to skip giving our eight newly hatched chicks overprocessed commercial 'chick starter' food and went straight to a mixed diet of fresh meat, fruit, veggies, cheese, and yogurt with a side of ground up oats and flax and a sprinkling of kelp and natural calcium mineral supplement instead.
Everyone seemed very pleased with the menu.
Wondering what all you can feed chicks and chickens? I talk a lot more about what we feed our flock in the comments section below, and lots of other chicken owners chime in, too. And then the discussion continues in the comments section of this post. Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!
Ignoring the New Kid
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the peeping foodie farm blog where, considering these baby chicks (who were born back in, ahem, April) are usually fed (and often photographed) several times a day, it seems impossible that the only picture that's been posted of them so far is this one, and yet it's true.
Where the heck are our priorities? Oh wait—they would be over with the whole 'several times a day' feeding thing. Current chick photos coming soon. Can't wait? Get a peep of past peepers here and here.
Bird
Dog
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the soft landing foodie farm blog where one of the only sheep memories I have from my pre-farmgirl days is of taking a favorite back road parallel to Highway 101 in Sonoma County (the name of which I've completely forgotten, despite the fact that I used to drive on it all the time—I'm thinking it was Old Highway Something or Other) and seeing black birds sitting on the backs of sheep. For some reason I just thought it looked really neat, and I love that this sight—which never ceases to delight me no matter how many times I see it—is now a part of my life.
One of BB's Twin Ewe Lambs On the Way Out to Breakfast in the Front Field
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the black is always in fashion foodie farm blog where one of the questions I'm most frequently asked (which will definitely be included in the Frequently Asked Farmgirl Questions page I'm diligently working on) is whether our black lambs stay black. The answer? Sometimes and sort of. It usually depends on if their mother is a true black sheep, and even then their wool usually bleaches in the sun to brown or grey. Most of the black Suffolk lambs fade to white and only keep their black faces and legs. But the Katahdin hair sheep (if they aren't bright white) retain their color and spots better, and since this lamb is half Katahdin and her mother is a true black sheep, there's a good chance she's going to stay that way (yay!). You can read more about black sheep and how much I love them here.
That's One Way to Get Your Minerals
Farmgirl Fare is four years old today!
In my very first blog post, An Unexpected Beginning, I wrote about the word unexpected, which my thesaurus told me meant surprising, unforeseen, sudden, stunning, eye-opening, astonishing, astounding, amazing, breathtaking.
Yep, that pretty much sums up the last four years (along with all the cute of course). Thank you all so much. Here's to another four and hopefully many more!
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the time-sure-flies-by foodie farm blog where it wouldn't be a birthday without cake, so there's an Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake cooling on the kitchen counter. But since the oven is still hot and there's plenty of yogurt left over, I'm thinking about mixing up a quick Chocolate Emergency Cake—because it's always good to be prepared for an unexpected emergency.
And the winner of The Laws of Harmony by Judi Hendricks
Or At Least Kick Up Her Heels
Okay, I admit it. One of the reasons I like to hold book giveaways is purely selfish. I always make you answer a specific question in order to enter because I know I'll love reading your responses—and once again you didn't disappoint.
For The Laws of Harmony giveaway, I asked you to share a favorite novel that somehow features food. You not only mentioned several of my favorite novels (including Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy the caterer culinary mysteries
and Like Water for Chocolate—which has been sitting on my nightstand waiting to be reread for months) but you've also given me a whole new list of books I can't wait to read—especially Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch since I really enjoyed her quirky second novel, By Bread Alone. Thank you!
The random winner of the signed copy of The Laws of Harmony is Gen, who said,
When I was a child I would read Little House on the Prarie every summer. I remember the food that was written about very well, it was homemade & homegrown most of the time.
I've just heard from Judi, and she's starting the California leg of her book tour. If you'd like to meet her in person, check out her Events Calendar to see if she'll be in your area. And I hope you'll let me know if you read and enjoy The Laws of Harmony!
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the high kicking foodie farm blog where, unlike our Suffolk sheep, these new Katahdin hair sheep get to keep their long tails (rather than having them docked), which means they swing around and around in hilarious circles any time the little lambs—or their mothers for that matter—pick up speed.
The Lamb and the Laundry Line (taken 5/18/06, when Cary was 12 days old)
Wondering who Cary is? Meet her in A Tiny Tail For Mother's Day. Then see what she's been up to during the last three years here and here.
I've mentioned before that while things are constantly changing on the farm, in some ways they stay exactly the same. I looked back to see what I'd written last year on Cary's second birthday and realized it could have been written today.
It's hard to believe that my little girl is already two three years old, but that's what the calendar tells me, so I suppose it must be true. Cary had a quiet and uneventful birthday today, as the ewes and lambs spent the day stuck in the barnyard like they have every day for the past few months. We're just about out of our carefully hoarded homegrown hay, though, so tomorrow in a few days she'll get to gorge herself on some of those greener pastures. Happy birthday, baby.
Many thanks to all of you who have so kindly been asking after Cary. She is fat and happy and doing just fine. After much deliberation, I decided not to breed her last fall because of the terrible time she had last year, but she's been living with the pregnant (and now nursing) ewes for the past month, enjoying the extra treats and special attention. I hope that you'll enjoy this little look back at some of my favorite yet never posted photos from her babyhood, along with a couple of more recent shots.
Looking for a Snake We'd Just Seen Slither Under the Steps (6/7/06)
Meeting Molly Doodlebug on 6/7/06
Riding in the Truck on 6/8/06
Visiting the Library on 6/8/06 (Yes, Cary has been to town—twice!)
In the Snow on 1/31/09
© Copyright 2009 FarmgirlFare.com, the proud mama foodie farm blog where it's amazing how quickly the time goes by!
