Missing Willow Farm

We’re just a few weeks from having garlic scapes, then a few more from harvesting heads.  We changed our starter garlic supplier for this season and have much healthier, happier plants than last year.   Two full raised beds full.  Yeah… we love garlic!

Lizzie is learning to watch over both sheep and chickens.  She’ll be a multi-species guardian.  🙂

We had a lamb born this year that’s developing horns.  That’s a first for us, it must be a recessive gene.   It’s too late to disbud/remove them.  We’ll have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t grow into a bully.

We’re trying something new in one of our raised beds this year, watermelon from seed.  It should be a fun experiment!

Lizzie loves to bite everything.  We got her a few chew toys and are working to break her of this habbit.  Also working on ‘sit’, ‘lie down’, ‘come’ and walking on a lead.

This mom and her lamb are keeping our new guardian puppy Lizzie company in our small pasture.  They are not quite sure about the tiny fuzzy creature who wants to play with them.

Lizzie meets one of the animals she’ll be guarding.  Check out her happy, speedy tail!

We’ve decided to name our puppy Lizzy.  She got to spend her first night in Jack’s outdoor kennel by the house.  She couldn’t quite get the hang of the doghouse, even when we put her inside.   She’s now out in our small pasture with a few animals she’ll be guarding.  All we need now is a Beware Of Dog sign for the front gate.  🙂

Our border collies Jenna and Jack both started their lives as herding trial dogs, trained and handled by a really talented man.  So…  at our farm they dote on Brian.  Actually moon over him, even though we both handle them with our sheep.  Every time Jack fawns over Brian, I tell him ‘I want a puppy for Christmas, dammit’.  I guess Christmas came early this year!  She’s an 18 lb. great pyrenees pup who should grow to about 100 lbs.  Her job will be to guard our flock (not an indoor dog!)  We’re working on a name, and teaching her to walk on a lead so we can get her to the vet when needed.  Our karakachan Milos died last year, and his sister FiFi is showing her age.  We’ll miss her big time when she’s gone.  This little one has big paws to fill.

My mom helped me weed our side garden while she was visiting.  We must have pulled up a mile of applemint roots.  After she left, we added mulch and the first flowers I have purchased in many years.  I am normally so immersed in the raised beds and greenhouse that I can’t bring myself to bother with growing and watering something that’s not edible.  This is the last time I will plant in this bed because while I was putting those snapdragons in, I dug up a snake.  With a hand trowel.  Let’s just say Brian finished planting this bed…