My Dad Called…. No, I’m not in trouble, at least not that much. My dad is so busy that sometimes, early in the morning when he’s practicing his insomnia, he reads my blog to find out what’s new with me. When he checks a few times and there’s nothing new, it’s time for a phone […]
Triple Treat The first spring lambs have arrived—triplets! (Since most of our ovine hussies got pregant three months early and had their lambs in February, we only have 13 pregnant sheep this spring. We’ve never had such a light lambing load.) Some ewes are calm and let the camera approach. But #2 is not quite […]
Only One Casualty The Farmer has returned from her California trip, refreshed, renewed, and ready to jump right back into letting me do chores every day. Ha. Not so fast, I said. She’s now outside checking on all the animals, making sure I did, in fact, keep them alive. All went well. The steers got […]
Roll Call The Farmer has flown the coop. As I type this, she’s somewhere over the western half of the US, heading for San Francisco to help friends with a house project. She foolishly has left me in charge for six days. So with trusty camera in hand, I took roll call this afternoon to […]
Don’t Believe It! So I must take a minute and comment on a farm-related topic, but not our farm. The topic is a youtube link being passed around called “Extreme shepherding.” I’ve been sent the link by many people. The first time I watched it my mouth dropped open. What? That’s impossible! Sheep would never […]
Good Neighbors We live on a dead-end road that contains seven homes, a flock of sheep, a herd of beef cows, a herd of buffalo, eight dogs, and an unknown number of cats. Twelve adults and six children live on the road. Since we’ve lived here, three kids have grown up and flown the coop, […]
A Winter Surprise Here’s what is currently outside our house, and outside our 3-sided barn, open to the elements: Snow, ice, and below freezing temperatures. Here’s what is currently inside our house: Let’s do that again. Outside: Inside: And up in the 3-sided barn? Here’s what’s up there: And this: Holy Hanky Panky, Batman. As […]
Please, Someone, Save Me… I’ve been looking for something to distract me from this winter… -20 below, nasty snow and ice, the tractor breaking and the woodsplitter breaking and the water hydrant freezing up so Melissa had to shovel snow into the troughs and let the water heaters melt it. (Tractor running again, woodsplitter needs […]
Chicken Cartoons Oh, it’s been a hard January. Don’t even get me started. Not only has the weather been totally sucky, but menopause just isn’t the fun you’d expect it to be. Hot flashes are mildly amusing when they happen to someone else, but when it’s you going 2 1/2 months without sleep, it ain’t […]
How Do You Weigh a Cow?While this isn’t likely a question that burns at you day after day, it does occupy a bit of our time. How the heck do you weigh a cow? When we harvest our grapes, I weigh them by dragging the bathroom scale out to the shed, weighing myself with two […]