Tuesday, June 28, 2011

And then there were two

The farmer and the farmers wife had a long night.
Around 1am they started hearing baahing from the barn direction.
Nothing serious just a few baahs every 15 minutes or so.
Just enough to perk one up out of rem.
And so it went on and on through the night.
It didn't seem like a distressed animal at all just one or two bleats at a time.
Just enough to keep the Farmers listning in case things should become more intense.
Things quieted around 4 and they drifted off to sleep.
No need to count sheep as the hours had taken their toll.
The morning brought a nice suprise when the farmers wife went out for the paper.
A brand new life in the paddock a handsome young man she calls Rudolph.
Due to the tiny trait passed on from mom who has a very dappled face.

As you can see mom isn't the prevelant genome here only the tip of the nose.

Everyone is welcoming Rudy even dad Ramses is singing his praises

He appears to be checking out the other food dispensers in the paddock.

He ? Yes were sure.

Bye Bye



Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Lamb update

Well yesterdays lamb looks much nicer today

Mom & Lucy


Hey wait up

MMMM GOOD

Baby Lamb

The Farmer was out picking garlic scapes this morning at 6 am.
His beautiful calm morning was being disturbed by the constant commotion in the barn.
The sheep were all baaing like crazy. 
So after listening for 10 minutes he went to check out what all the excitement was about.
One of the girls had a fluid sac protruding from her hind end.
Every one knew it didn't belong there.
The farmer shooed the others out and closed  off the doorway.
With a fence panel in place to keep light and fresh air coming in he went back to tell the wife.
The labor took another hour and a half or so.
The lamb was coming with only one leg out and one folded back.
That made things difficult for both animals and it took a while to get the lamb up and eating.
All wet and new
Mama Cleaning


Finally standing up

All is well the Farmer will post some more pictures 
after the baby is clean and jumping around.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Garlic and Sheep Update

The farmer decided that it was time to undress the sheep.
The wooly coats that had kept them warm for the winter had to go.
The way they were rubbing up against everything in sight was the signal. 
The time had come.
The pile in the back is what used to be a shelter.
The sheep were in the big barn when the weather turned nasty.
The farmer cant remember winds as strong as this in his 51 years.

Now to the garlic update
 
The farmers wife got caught in this shot.
She gives some perspective to the size of the garlic patch.



 
This shot shows four different varieties.


The shorter ones on the left were the first to sprout.
They came up very quickly last fall.
The darker ones to the far right didn't pop up till spring.
The farmer thought they weren't going to grow at all.


 
The lettuce is planted through landscape fabric.


The farmer hates weeding so he is experimenting.
The black fabric would have cooked the poor plants.
Some old straw should cool things off and hold in some moisture.


 
The farmer planted 72 heads of cabbage.
He hopes to have a sauerkraut making party.



The peppers eggplant and tomatoes are in as well.
The plants are all so small that they aren't photogenic yet.
Once they grow a bit the farmer will post some more pics.
The seeded things like chickpeas beans Swiss chard etc aren't up yet.