2/18/07 Farm Photos: Scenes from Sheep Shearing Day 2007

One-month-old Baby Cary spent Sheep Shearing Day 2006 safely tucked in a makeshift playpen adjacent to all the action.


More below. . .

Farm Photo 2/11/07: Cary's First Woolcut

Scenes From Sheep Shearing Day 2007

Cary before. . .



Cary during. . .

More photos and story below. . .

Farm Photo 2/7/07: Cary Coming At You!

Carybunga!

Baby Cary is 9 months old today—and she's about to get her first haircut!

Don't know who Cary is? Click here to read her story. And click here to catch up with what she's been doing over the years.

Late Afternoon Update: So, um, I messed up for the second month in a row. Cary actually turned 9 months old yesterday. I thought about just trying to let this totally embarrassing screw up slip by, but I figured somebody would bust me.

As for all that lovely snow and ice? Yesterday it was a freaky 67 degrees (with lots of sunshine) and everything melted just like that. Today it was back down in the 30s. Weird.

The biggest news of the day, though, is that Cary and the other 54 sheep have been successfully sheared. But photos will have to wait, as there are treats for the sheep that need to be passed out, and treats for my visiting mother (aka Vital Member Of The Shearing Crew) to be made. I've promised her a dinner of garden haricots verts (by way of the freezer), warm crusty bread, and lamb ribs (yes, we do eat some of the lambs we raise, it's the best lamb I've ever tasted, one of these days I'll get around to writing more about my meat eating practices and opinions as people are constantly asking me about them, and don't worry—nobody is ever going to eat Cary!). Tomorrow night we'll be having her favorite pizza (my mom's, not Cary's).

Then an hour or so ago she casually mentioned she'd never had one of my Emergency Chocolate Cakes, so there is frozen butter softening by the woodstove. Oh, plus there's been a request for cranberry orange scones for breakfast. (Her motto when she visits is, "I work for food!" and over a lunch of Spur Of The Moment Summer Squash Soup—hers topped with thinly sliced Monterey jack cheese & tomatillo salsa, mine with a dollop of sour cream—we mapped out our menu for the week). Okay, I've just been informed that it's 4:30, the living room is still cold, and there's no more firewood on the porch. Now I hear Cary calling to me from outside. I guess I'd better get going. . . (I hope to answer more of your questions soon!)

A year of Farm Photos ago:
2/7/06: My Seed Starting Headquarters (check the comments section in this post for some helpful tips on starting your own seeds). And click here to read about my two favorite seed companies, plus my favorite edible gardening book for the past six years.
2/6/06: Tree Sock Laundry Day?

© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com

Farm Photo 2/3/07: Sheep Shearing Delays

Lucky Buddy Bear—Stock Dog Extraordinaire

Slight change of plans. Since this is about the least treacherous stretch of our steep and curving (and very icy) driveway, we cancelled last Thursday's scheduled sheep shearing session. We didn't want our sheep shearer to make it down the driveway and then not be able to climb back out.

The last thing I want to do is annoy him in any way, as sheep shearers are few and far between around here, and this guy is really good. When I heard he was out of commission last year due to a broken leg, I started making panicky phone calls looking for a substitute shearer and came up empty.

Fortunately he was a fast healer, and late in the season I managed to sweet talk him out of his convalescence and into coming out and shearing our overheated sheep.

More below. . .

Farm Photo 1/31/07: This Year's Sheep Shearing Plan

You won't be seeing this in 2007

Oh, there'll be bouncing baby lambs of course. In fact, if all goes well there may be as many as 50 of them racing around here by the end of April. What have I gotten us into?

What there won't be, though, are big woolly mamas, because The Plan this year is to shear the sheep before lambing season starts.

More below. . .

Farm Photo: 1/15/07

Our Wet Weather Creek Started Running This Morning

Shhhqwit! Shhhqwit! Shhhqwit!
From what I've heard, we've been very lucky so far. That predicted freezing rain and other nasty stuff ended up coming down as regular old rain instead, but boy did we get plenty of it. The creek is running. The overflow from the spring box--which is often not more than a trickle--looks like a baby Niagra Falls. And there's mud. Lots and lots of mud. The barnyard turned into a mushy, yucky mess.

Shhhqwit! Shhhqwit! Shhhqwit!
In my beloved rubber boots and thick woolen socks, I can slog through the barnyard just fine--even with my hay cart in tow (no sense in feeding those bales that are safely in the barn just yet). I cannot believe I survived the first 26 years of my life without rubber boots. They are so liberating! Today I marched right through a puddle that came halfway up to my knees.

As for the sheep. . . well, they avoid puddles whenever possible. And I can't think of anything they despise more than having to walk in the mud. You don't know what pure disgust is until you've seen it staring back at you on 56 faces at once.

By choice, the sheep and their guard donkey spent the day plodding around in the wet and nibbling on low hanging branches of cedar trees rather than munching on hay in the muck. It is obvious they blame me not only for the mud, but all of the bad weather as well. So when I tucked them in for the night, I consoled them with their favorite treats and the comforting news that this would all be frozen solid by morning. Which is good--because I hate to think how much it would cost to buy 112 pairs of little rubber boots.

As for us, we are hunkered down and awaiting zero degrees. The fire in the woodstove is crackling, there is freshly baked bread in the kitchen, and the two raised beds of my special high dollar garlic have been mulched with a thick layer of manure hay from the barn. I even managed to install a makeshift plastic tarp drop ceiling in the greenhouse to help hold in the heat from the space heater. There is nothing more to do but curl up, get some sleep, and hope there's running water in the morning.

A year of photos ago:
1/14/06: Patience Is Not One Of Their Virtues
And WCB #32: Posted Patchy Cat
1/15/06: Nice Green Hay On A Very Cold Day
And WDB #17: Robin & Leopold

Farm Photo: 1/10/07

Yeah, so?

Okay, maybe not everybody around here is quite as excited as I am that Farmgirl Fare won a Food Blog Award in the Best Food Blog--Rural category. Though I suppose if I had to spend a minimum of eight hours a day eating just to stay alive (I wish), I probably wouldn't have much time for awards either. But I don't, so I do have time to send a hearty congratulations to all of the Food Blog Award winners and finalists, especially my far-flung and well deserving 'competitors' in the Rural category: Field To Feast (Zimbabwe), Lucullian Delights (Italy), Gluten Free Goddess (New Mexico), and last but not least, my pal Tana at the very wonderful I Heart Farms (California).

Many, many thanks to everyone who voted for Farmgirl Fare. We're all I'm so honored to have won. If you didn't have a chance to check out all of the other fantabulous nominees yet, you can click here for a complete list that includes live links to each one.

A year of Daily Photos ago: Fungus & Vine Intertwined

Welcome new visitors!
Click here for a brief introduction to this site.

Farm Photo: 1/7/07

What I Learned From Cary Last Year:


The best things in life only appear to be unobtainable. . .




All you have to do is reach up, grab hold, and take the biggest bite you can.

A lot of memorable things happened on the farm in 2006, but for me it will always be remembered as The Year My Lamb Laid Waste To The Garden.** And I wouldn't change a minute of it--even if the raspberries and asparagus don't grow back.

Little Cary was 8 months old yesterday! (These photos were taken back on August 20th.) I'm a little late here, I know. For some unknown reason, all last week I had it in my head that Cary was born on the 7th, not the 6th. Fortunately she doesn't hold that kind of thing against me, because Cary is extremely good at pouting and inducing guilt. Almost as good as Dan. But not quite. I don't think anybody has perfected the art of inducing guilt better than a sulking little donkey, especially if he is wearing an extremely ratty blue halter. (It's coming off soon, I swear.)

Wondering who Cary is? Click here to read her story.

And if you'd like to see more:
Cary Is Seven Months Old Today!
Cary Is Six Months Old Today!
Cary Is Five Months Old Today!
Cary Is Four Months Old Today!
Cary Is Three Months Old Today!
Cary Is Two Months Old Today!

Cary captured in the garden:
--On July 31st sucking down the surprise lilies
--On July 27th eating around the bean poles
--On June 30th in the weeds
--On June 27th eating weeds & inhaling asparagus ferns
--On June 19th lunching in the greenhouse
--On May 28th by the beets
--On May 27th with the turtles
--On May 23rd on the cucumbers

A year of Daily Photos ago: The Boys In Dan's Hood
And WCB #31: Now You See Him. . .

**With many thanks to Finny for providing me with that perfectly fitting phrase last summer, "lay waste to the garden," which never fails to make me smile.

Farm Photo 1/5/07: A Glimpse Back At Lambing Season 2006

Serena's Baby Girl On April 28th, 2006

Don't worry--she grew into those ears (but she still has that defiant stare). It's hard to believe that in two short months another lambing season will already be here. Before you know it, there'll be bouncing baby lambs everywhere.

A year of Daily Photos ago:
1/3/06: For Horsing Around
1/4/06: Barn Light
1/5/06: Woodland Wonder

And in my kitchen garden today:
There's a broccoli on my broccoli!

Welcome new visitors!
Click here for a brief introduction to this site.

Daily Farm Photo 11/18/06: Oats Everywhere!

Cary's last dish of treats in the house

I think this one's pretty self-explanatory. What the photo doesn't show is Joe sitting five feet away, shaking his head in disbelief—and me laughing hysterically. He didn't believe me when I said she'd never done this before. What I couldn't believe was how far she'd flung those flakes.

A year of Daily Photos ago: Snugglebunny With Frosting
And out of the kitchen came: Hearty Lentil Soup With Smoked Sausage

© FarmgirlFare.com

Daily Farm Photo 3/11/06: Oh, Just Take A Seat Anywhere

When It Comes To Food, My Sheep Have No Manners. . .



. . . At All

Note: These photos were taken five minutes apart. Those are two different sheep in the trough. My back was turned. All I heard was some scuffling. Probably better that I wasn't watching.

© Copyright FarmgirlFare.com, the foodie farm blog where who needs TV when you can watch laugh out loud wooly reality shows 24/7.

Daily Farm Photo: 1/20/06

Doll Face Will Be Ten Years Old This Spring

Daily Farm Photo: 10/1/05

I Wonder If Anyone Has Noticed I'm Gone

Have you Named That Sheep yet?

Daily Farm Photo 8/3/05:A Big Serving of Tranquility on the Menu

Breakfast Under The Mist