Elusive Spring

The sun is out but we're not reaching forty degrees this weekend in Maine. Spring is as elusive as ever. Saw some crocus popping up yesterday on my way to get some hay, and the robins are back. Heard a lone goose the other night (wondered if his air controller had fallen asleep). There are baby animals everywhere and the days are getting longer - all signs of the season. But the air feels like winter.

The lambs soaking up spring sun

The lambs love soaking in the sun and sleeping outside together, either in pairs or all in a pile together...sometimes next to or on top of their moms. The small pen that was Bill's has made a perfect area for them to run around in and yet stay safe. They're growing quickly and will move out to the big field in late April. After Easter and Passover.

standing still...a rarity

And, an explanation on the "ready or not" post for anyone who wondered what prompted the post. This blogging is a creative outlet for me but also a constant balancing act around what's public and what's private. When I try to meld the two, it's not always successful. So, the post was my response to my experience of almost adopting a puppy. After crazy excitement and preparation for a pup I had bought from a rescue group came extreme sadness and disappointment. I never did pick her up; the pup died. I am waiting for a refund. Her name was Spring. 

Ready or Not

the sometimes salty shepherd

Life just knocks you for a loop sometimes. Things happen that take your breath away, make you steady yourself or sit down if you're fortunate enough to be left standing. I think the younger you are the more resilient in so many ways, mostly because of ignorance I suppose. What they say about ignorance being bliss is so true...
Taking those life hits time after time will definitely build resilience in us adults, but in other ways we become more deeply affected by them. We try to connect the dots of our lives and gain perspective; we actually connect a few of them when we're lucky and move forward with a more peaceful gait. Losing your balance and reeling from the unexpected blows is all a part of the game. Regaining the balance is the trick.
As the lambs begin to play with one another, backing up gently and putting their little heads down, trying the head-butting thing, it's impossible not to laugh and relax. Life has a rhythm that is its own, and we're just along for the proverbial ride. Seasons come and seasons go. Some seasons never get to be.
That's just the way it is.
So, the sometimes salty shepherd is working on embracing the new life on the farm and letting be what will be. Happy Spring.

Spring Snow

After a few days of sun and relative warmth, we're having snow on the second day of spring. Poor man's fertilizer is what I remember my grandmothers calling snow this late in the winter. I'll take it, but only because the ground is still visible and green is beginning to push up from the dirt. My garlic is up. Only an inch or two, but the straight little rows look a lot better than last spring - hopefully whatever got into the garlic bed has left the neighborhood.

Bella and her babies

The lambs are all well and moms are fine, too. I've let them all out into the small pen while at home over the weekend, and it's great to see them bouncing and bounding everywhere. The only way I can tell them apart is because they stick close to their respective mothers, and so until they get their tags in a week or so, I have no idea who's who. This isn't helped by the fact that I still have no names for Callie's twins - there's something to be said for knowing the names even if you can't tell one from another.

After the ear nibbling

Springing Forward

Mercy and Grace

Feels like yesterday (but long ago) that I wrote about Falling Back and daylight savings time. The loss of an hour on Sunday has made morning chores more chore-like since it's now still dark at 6:30 AM. As I write, the early morning sky is breaking open and shades of lighter blues and grays are appearing behind the dark rain clouds. Darker than usual. Watching the light slowly increase on these mornings is one of the best parts of the time change, and it also usually signals the return of the birds. Soon, there will be a chorus of chirping birds ushering in the sunrises here.

Yesterday the lambs and their moms were placed in a large pen together, and when left alone to work it out, they did. It makes me anxious when one of the ewes head checks a lamb that's not hers - sometimes up against the barn wall - and it's not always easy to stay back and let what's happening just happen. And yet that's what a good shepherd would do.

Lessons from lambing continue to surface. Since bringing lambs up to the house at night isn't an option, and my house is feeling too empty without Beate, it's time to bring a new beast home. Spring is coming.

Shepherd's Nirvana

Callie did indeed have her lambs on Thursday night. Two more ewe lambs, both black.

Shepherd's Nirvana is what I heard someone call it once - when your lambing season is short and easy with a majority of ewe lambs; Bella and Callie lambed within five days of one another and with the exception of one of Callie's lambs being huge and a little stuck, all has gone beautifully. Quite something having two sets of black ewes, too. I feel very blessed.

Bella with Mercy and Grace

Callie and still to be named twins

Nate came over yesterday and docked the tails for me - something I have still not been able to stomach doing on my own. They didn't make a peep and were bouncing around within minutes.

Soooooon

Thursday morning

  

Hoping today's the day

  

not her best side

  Still waiting, less patiently today than yesterday. Callie seemed more comfortable this morning than she has in days, so I hope that means she is getting closer. From the looks of her hind end, which pictures I do not dare post, she is going to have those lambs today.

waiting, waiting

Callie still has not dropped her lambs. The past two nights have dropped down into single digits, and so I have been up and down checking on her throughout the night to make sure she was fine. She looks so uncomfortable.

The wee lambs are doing well. Just beginning to jump around and wiggle, which is just so fun to see. I am smiling more these days. It's pretty impossible to feel sad when you're holding a two pound bundle of wool with a little beating heart inside.

The rest of the flock is doing well and adjusting to having Bill back in their space. He was really a nuisance  for the first day or two, and he is still a typical ram - not sure why I expect that he will behave any other way. He will need to go eventually, since there are no more ewes for him to breed. So, I will be looking around for a new home for him and hopefully will find him a family of ewes to stay with. He's a proven ram now and doubt I will have a tough time placing him.

Mercy and Grace

Bella gave birth to twin ewe lambs on Saturday morning. Mercy and Grace are tiny but doing well, and Bella seems to be doing well, too.
Callie is huge and very uncomfortable - up and down a lot last night checking on her. Hopefully she'll lamb out this afternoon. More later.

Hopeful

I have finished knitting for the season - just can't bring myself to knit now with anything other than my babydoll yarns, and I have run out. Will be shipping off a sample of roving to the Hope Spinnery this afternoon to see if the fiber is acceptable to him (question is whether it is too fine for his machinery). I am feeling hopeful and eager to hear his feedback.

It would be wonderful to establish a working relationship with a Maine mill, and I really like everything that I have read about the Hope Spinnery. They use wind power and environmentally friendly dyes, and the products that I saw at the Common Ground Fair were gorgeous. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will accept my fibers and spin for me.

This hat was finished using a lot of leftover bits and pieces of wool, and while I love the final product, the hat is primarily Jacob wool; it itches my head. I have become so accustomed to wearing the soft, non-scratchy babydoll wool on my head that everything else feels too rough.

Monkeytown Camo

So, it will be exciting to get more yarn spun. I hope that the sample I send up will be enough for him to determine if my sheep's wool will work for him, and even more hopeful that he'll agree to process my wool for me in the future.

some captivating hambone models wearing salty ewe hats...hotlanta style