Missing Willow Farm

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Yesterday was shearing day.  We have five purebred wool sheep (texel), the rest are either hair sheep or crosses.  We took them to a neighbor’s farm to meet up with the shearers who drove all the way from Michigan.  They had to spend the night in our trailer because it’s important they stay warm.  It gets their lanolin flowing and makes shearing easier on them.  Two of our texels had babies, one was just a day old.  We took the lambs out of the trailer for the journey because we were worried they would be jostled during transport.  Both fit snugly in a tub in the back seat of our truck.

I included a few shots of Beatrice being shorn.  She was the worse of the day, she always is!  The shearers say ‘pet’ sheep are the worse.  I guess it’s because they’re used to being handled, and it’s never manhandled.  The shearers did over 80 total before noon.  Other farms sell their fleece in bulk, that’s a photo of Brian packing it in.  Our fleece came home in separate bags, I sell them individually.  Champion border collie Brit helped keep everyone in line during the morning’s activities.  It’s always a good feeling to have shearing over with for the year, and this team did an expert job of it.  I hope they pass this way again next year.

Could easily be this one.  My bottle baby from last year, Summer, comes running every time I walk into the pasture.  When I squat down to get a sheep or goat’s eye view photo, she gets right in my face looking for some attention.  It’s a good thing she’s so cute…

 Chick Days at Tractor Supply!  I won’t even walk in there this time of year unless we’re ready for chicks because I can’t walk out without a couple or dozen.  I got four red sexlink layers and ten cornish rock for the freezer.   Bindi was fascinated by the little peepers.  They also had ducks and bantams.  I think I need to visit Chick Days again….

The lambs are getting braver about being away from mom.  They are no longer stuck like glue to them.  This little guy went missing a few nights ago.  We heard his mom screaming for him after dark and went out with our ATV and a floodlight and did a grid search of 8 acres after exhaustively searching the barn.  After over an hour in sub freezing weather, Brian found him wedged between our sliding barn door and the side of the barn.  We had to dismantle the door from it’s track to get him out.  We gave him a disappearing magician’s name.  David (Blaine/Copperfield) was too common.  Houdini and Siegfried were too fussy.  Meet Roy.

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There were many doubters about this crazy plan…. but it worked(!)  How to get a lamb on a spit, coals and fire included, from a festival location to an after party 8 blocks away?  Hook it to a golf cart and drag it through rush hour traffic, of course.  There were zero issues on the trip out, a cop even moved the barricade for us.  On the trip back at 4AM, a cop pulled up and suggested there might be a better time to do this.  Seriously?  A better time than 4AM?

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We don’t get off the farm very often, which makes those rare excursions pretty special.  We had the privilege of supporting a good friend and shepherd with spit roasting his lambs at the Charleston Wine and Food Festival last weekend.  We also got to tag along to amazing parties, after parties and an impromptu midnight gathering by the water featuring oysters, lamb sloppy joes and famous chefs.  I’m tired!

I took Mo to visit the hen house.  We didn’t stay long because the chickens freaked out.  I guess because he’s about the same size as a raccoon.

We are really enjoying produce from the greenhouse.  I’ve been making stir fry and quiche with the broccoli we’ve harvested.  This variety is called DeCicco.  It makes small raab-like heads vs. the big ones.  The carrots are finally big enough to harvest and the kohlrabi finds it’s way onto our table often.

Putting out a new bale of hay is a production.  The bales are stored outside of the pasture in stacks under tarps. Everyone needs to be put up, or else they follow the tractor and risk being crushed.  The sheep go in their feeding pen, the goats in the barn and jack in the tractor bay.  A brand new bale is a treat!

Lambs and kids spend a good amount of their day leaping and frolicking about.  After a few months, they become more ‘grounded’.  Until then, they’re fun to watch!