Monthly Archives July 2009

New Faces at the Farm

Say hello to our new Moorit lambs! Last Friday Holly and I drove to Foxhill Farm in Lee, MA, home to Alice Field and her flock of lovely Cormo and Merino-cross Moorits. I had spoken with Alice a month ago about adding a Moorit lamb to bring color to my flock (Moorit is not a breed, but a recessive color gene for a true brown sheep). I surprised myself by coming home with not one, but a flock of four in the back of my Toyota Highlander. I found them all irresistible, their colors amazing.  So let me introduce you.
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Week in Review

I'm not sure where the time went this week. Since my return from Cambridge where I gave a talk on dyeing  & color inspiration for the Common Cod Fiber Guild, we've had a stretch of glorious, sunny weather that has brought busy days. So this post is short on words but long on photos, sharing snippets from this week. We're also preparing for our Sheep Shares Ice Tea Social on Saturday. Lambs' Quarters – The lambs love their new home in the west barn and the forage on the west side of the farm. They're becoming autonomous, as I transition
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Hay’s Happening!

Several back-to-back days of sunshine and gentle breezes are giving us the perfect window for making hay, at last. Norm started mowing over the weekend and has been fluffing and raking ever since. The tedder (above) is throwing up an amazing amount of wake, since the grasses are long and lanky. The lack of humidity and steady breeze is drying the stalks quickly. With any luck bailing will start this afternoon. Although this is very late for first cutting, we will still have a decent amount of time for growing and mowing a second cut later this season to feed
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The Other Llama

Crackerjack has been getting so much attention, being center stage with the lambs all spring. Some of you have asked about Caitlyn, Crackerjack's counterpart and co-guardian of the flock. She's on assignment in the upper pasture with a flock of 40 yearlings and ewes. The group has the run of a 15 acre pasture rimmed by stone walls. There's a shaded lane that runs along the fence line and serves our access road for daily trips up the hill with water. The group has a southeast facing shelter that shades them and protects from prevailing winds and many trees for
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Settling In

I arrived to a quieter farm this morning. The lambs at last are settling into their new home in the carriage barn, no longer pining for their moms. Less stressed but wistful nonetheless, they were very curious about the change in morning ritual, intently watching me through the gate, as you can see in the following video clip. Over the next few weeks, they’ll become more focused on Crackerjack and Buttercup, their surrogate mothers for the time being. Saying goodbye to Charlotte yesterday was hard but her departure was peaceful and it clearly was the right time. Charlotte was always
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Cutting the Apron Strings

A barnyard of not-so- happy campers. On Wednesday, we separated the lambs from their moms, leading the little ones along with their nanny, Crackerjack, to the Carriage Barn paddock while the moms were shut in the dairy.  It's really tough getting lambs to flock properly. They don't want to leave their moms. And they have no leaders, since they have always followed their moms. Whenever we've wanted to call the lambs, we simply call the mothers. (The only lambs to come when called are the bottle lambs, and they've already figured out that we're not bringing them any more bottles.)
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