And Then There Were Four

We laid an old friend to rest today. I would never trade the 15 or 16 years of companionship with a dog because of the heart break of saying goodbye, but it doesn't make it easy. His last days were getting harder. His hind legs hardly worked, he couldn't get up in the morning without help, he fell down a lot, sometimes down the stairs, or out in the snow. He's been relieved of his pain, and his non functioning knees and hips. He can run free wherever he may be. Someday, Athena will be there to join him, just like my Hobbes will some day join Ditka again. Until then, I hope he died knowing he was loved, and that we were letting him go because we loved him so much.

Still, nothing makes goodbye any easier.

Grish and Athena chewing on a "stick" they found on a camping trip in Michigan several years ago.

Grish playing fetch just the other day

Larry and Grish playing fetch in the snow this week

Grish with snow on his nose

Larry and Grish

It's Autumn!

Autumn is my favorite season. I love Halloween, the changing colors of the leaves, pumpkin pie, and sweater days. It also brings the opposite of Spring to us. In the Spring, we have baby animals galore (which I also love!) Lambs, a new calf, and more baby chicks than you can imagine.

This time of year is when all those babies we raised start to fill up our freezers, and our tummies for the months to come. That's right - it's time to harvest.

We have had a mini-success for our first year in the greenhouse - from zucchini to tomatoes to basil and cilantro - lots of yummy veggies for us to eat. Next year, we'll be even better at it!

We also took half our lambs to the processor this past week. I do get sad when they go, and say goodbye to them when I can. I miss them, but I also know they had a great life, and our pasture can only support so many sheep - I can't keep them all. So when we say goodbye to them, I know they spent their days running and playing, being silly and being sheepies. We have folks lined up to take them home and fill their bellies.

It also means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and our baby turkeys will go on to their final destination, too. I have to tell you, that I appreciate my food like I never have before. And I take none of it for granted. We are getting to the point where we can grow everything we need right here on our farm. You can't appreciate food more than when you grow it from seed to plant, from baby to full grown.

So it's a bittersweet time for us. It's a time for goodbyes, but also a time to reap what we have sown, to see our hard earned successes, and to eat well. We eat like kings at our house, and we love every morsel!

We're in the news!

Click the headline above to see our article this past week in the Berthoud Recorder.

And don't forget, it's time to order lamb, and your Thanksgiving Turkey!

We love Surprise Lambs!

Remember that time Shirley gave birth and we had no idea? Charlie Brown and Linus were the product of a tryst with Lenny OR Squiggy (we'll never know). Lenny and Squiggy were our first lambs, Laverne's boys. Charlie Brown and Linus were our second batch - we didn't elasticate any of them. Looks like Charlie Brown OR Linus got to Miss Velma. Velma was the ONLY ewe of our then 11 ewes that did NOT get pregnant from Jean Claude Van Ramme. She had one more winter with a ram to get pregnant - and if she didn't... she was going to have to go. Which would have been a shame. Velma is one of our 4 friendly ewes. She likes to be petted, and has the cute white patch on her face! I like her. I spent all spring trying to get a peek at her behind to see if her udders were swelling - hoping hoping hoping she was pregnant.

Unlike Shirley, when she had surprise lambs, and we thought she was just getting fat off grass. We've been watching Velma. We watch them all. At the end of a day eating grass, they all look pregnant. So we look at them in the morning, when they have spent all night ruminating, and they are back to being svelte. Velma never looked big!! I swear it. So when Larry said to me, with a grin that only comes for the happiest moments... "come here, this is really funny" I thought he was talking about the dogs in the truck. When I asked if I needed the camera and he said "yes!" I knew it wasn't about the dogs in the truck. It had to be a lamb (but he wouldn't tell me!)

Good job Velma! he's a real cutie!

Marlow is curious and wants to have a look at the lamb, while Larry cleans out the barn stall.

Little Shaggy lamb. Born 8/18/09. No, that's not milk on his chin, he has a white spot like his mama!

Velma and little Shaggy

Just when it is time to start "processing" lambs and saying good bye to our other lambs, another little one comes along. He's so sweet.

And speaking of saying goodbye, Simon and Sparks are probably going to go soon. We originally wanted to increase our flock to 12 ewes. That meant keeping 1 ewe lamb. When Pretty Princess Penelope died, that meant keeping 2. Larry now thinks we have enough pasture and space in the barn, let's up our flock to 14. That means out of our original 16 lambs from spring, we get to keep 4 ewe lambs. We've identified them based on size and their genetics (i.e. their moms are good sheep, stout sheep, and have multiple lambs) Our lucky ladies are Betty (Laverne's, and by far the largest ewe lamb we have), Fiona (one of the smallest, but she belongs to Shirley, who had triplets this time), Angel (she's big and very sweet - and all white!) and Trouble (she's a good sized ewe lamb, and very very friendly. And she has a big mama, Marcia!) Shhhh... just don't tell the others. They get to go on to their destiny and fill lots of tummies with yummy food. Don't ask me any more about it, or I might start to cry.

SO, we also discovered a way to keep our spastic house dogs very happy. Let them hang out in the truck. Of course, they were expecting to go for a ride. They didn't get one.

GAH! Icky tomatoes!

OK, I think tomatoes are icky to begin with, but what's up with these? I hope the rest turn out ok! Thanks, in advance, to the folks at the hightunnels discussion group for any input you have!

Summer Update

Just a quick summer update on fun things on the farm. It's summer in full swing - that means Farmer's Markets, running irrigation, flies everywhere, and animals seeking shade...



This is Scout kitty, one of our barn cats. NO, it isn't Schroed. This is Scout - she was confounded by the fencing in the garden. All she wanted was to get to me for some loves and pets. I love Boo Radley and Scout - they let us know when they need water and food, and always check up on us for affection. I don't think these two are going to run away. I think it's more likely they are going to turn into house pets. We'll see!



Our watermelon plant has a flower! Will it give us melons?

The turkeys are now on their own. Turkeys tend to be pretty self reliant, and don't need us to fill their water and food for them often, as they go looking for their own stuff. They had a field day after last night's rain, the field was full of bugs. I can't imagine what it would be like without birds eating the bugs! And the turkeys, well, they just let themselves right into our back yard.


These are our current pen chickens - broilers and egg layers, about a month old. The layers will stay here until they can eat adult chicken food and move in with the rest of the hens. The broilers will be gone in a month! You can see the Silver Lakenvelders, which I plan on breeding someday. And then there is my mystery bird!



Is it BEAR? Is is a MOUNTAIN LION! Is it a WOLF?? No, it's an Atlas footprint. That's my foot. And that's the size of Atlas' paw! We have big dogs!

Baby Chicks

I hatched 2 more baby chicks, they are about 5 days old, and living in a box in our office. This keeps them from being eaten by cats in the barn, or stepped on by a cow. They can't go outside for a few weeks, so they get to stay inside until our new turkeys and meat birds show up. Once there are a few more out in the brooder, we can fix the lid and they can stay safely in the barn until it's time to go outside.

These are successful Ancona chicks. As opposed to my weird mystery chick. Don't know what was its mother or its father - so we'll see what she turns out to be. But these two are certainly Anconas!