Missing Willow Farm

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They are just adorable!  I’ve been calling them Summer, Nymeria and Shaggydog after the direwolves of Winterfell (vague literary reference!).   Summer is my little bottle baby.  She’s a little bigger than her sisters, which makes me happy because she didn’t start out  that way.  I can’t get a photo of the three of them together because she runs to me whenever she sees me.  Maybe I can use a long lens to catch them at play.  For the last few days I’ve noticed her romping with the lambs.  Interspecies play time.

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I sat down by our Ritchie livestock waterer to feed the bottle baby and Augusta wandered over for a drink.  She pushes the float aside with her mouth to get to the water.  Our sheep normally run off when I approach them at the waterer.  I guess since I was already there, I wasn’t too scary.

Lambs have a natural camouflage in the winter.  The snow doesn’t seem to bother them at all.

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With the ground covered in snow, our grass is covered which means the critters need a new bale to munch on.  This is a complex project.  The goats are closed in the barn, the sheep in their pen.  The tractor bay needs to be closed as soon as it’s opened to keep the cow out of the square bales which are stored in there.  The dogs need to be bribed with treats to keep them away from the pasture gate (the round bales are kept outside the pasture).  Then when the process is reversed, it’s a party!

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We finally had our first snow.  It’s just beautiful.

Bottlefeeding a goat is fun!  She comes tearing at me full speed when I enter the pasture.  Thankfully, she spends the rest of her day playing with her sisters.   The only difference between them is where they take their meals.

Jenna had surgery on her remaining rear leg on Valentine’s day.  She had a benign skin tumor removed, so she has stitches again.  Poor baby.  It’s certainly not kept her from going for a ride, or from asking to chase her wubba or from her sheep.  As far as Jenna’s concerned, it’s business as usual around here.

Watching over the little ones is a job our karakachan Milos takes very seriously.  With the sighting of a coyote in our yard a few weeks back, we’re lucky to have him and his sister.  He also keeps our cow Jessica in line when she tries to be a bully now that she realizes she’s bigger than everyone.  Good boy.

Dinner last night was lamb ragu puttanesca from a friend’s recipe.  It starred shanks, garlic and goat cheese from our farm.  If you’re a fan of lamb, I highly recommend it.  The recipe can be found here – http://www.virginialiving.com/articles/lamb-ragu-puttanesca

Nellie heard the breakfast call this morning and came running with one of her twins trotting along on little legs.  The other one was left behind in a low part of our pasture with no view of the barn.  She had a fit and cried and cried until Nellie showed up again.  I don’t think she’ll let mom out of her sight again any time soon.