We have a new set of twins! Meet Jonathan and Pink Lady. Bailey delivered them at dinnertime last night. These are Bailey's first lambs and also the very first lambs out of our black fine-wool ram, Cinder. We had hoped for a Moorit lamb (brown like momma) out of this crossing. PInk Lady has one little spot of brown on her back, but that's it. We love her pink little nose. Bailey has a beautiful udder and (so far) gets a gold star for mothering skills. Happy Sunday to all.
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"Check out my wrinkles!" No new developments on the lamb front since the weekend. MacIntosh (above), Duchess and Pippin are mixing it up with each other in the super-sized pen we created for them. Now they can have play dates. Chanel is mellow about her little ones hanging out with the lamb from next door. But Chloe is an overprotective ewe. She doesn't want anyone getting too close to her lamb, including other sheep. It's kind of funny, since her "baby" is twice the size of Chanel's twins. I love watching all of it during barn chores. I am not
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An April Fool's Day snowstorm didn't slow things down any in the birthing barn. This morning Chanel birthed this pair of Cormo ewe lambs.With three new arrivals it's time to get down to the business of naming our little apples. This year I enlisted help from my Sheep Shares CSA members to name our first lamb. Pippin was chosen as the most popular name for a ewe lamb. And so we've named our first lamb, born yesterday to Chloe. The second most popular name for a girl was: Duchess . The most popular choices for a ram lamb was
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I guess it's true. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Our first arrived late today, a single ewe-lamb born to Chloe, a first time mother. Mike discovered our newcomer when he went to the barn for evening chores. A hefty lamb, she was cleaned up, on her feet and nursing when I arrived. It looks like this little gal may have company before the night is over, so I'm off to get some rest, just in case I'm called to the barn again. Just wanted to quickly share our exciting news! Crackerjack (below) inspects
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Come on, And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing, As your good flock shall prosper. The Winter's Tale We worked all day on Friday, grateful for the mild weather and sunshine. Can you believe, we didn't finish? By 5 everyone was tired and even though there were just a dozen left, it's better not to push. Beautiful fleeces. Lots of Cocoa's daughters (black and speckled) in this group. I'm off to the barn right now to check on the mothers-to-be. No "little apples" yet, but all signs point to any time now. I wish the temperatures were more
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Apples is by far the most popular of our suggested lamb name themes for this year. Thank you, thank you, thank you for voting. It was a lot of fun to watch. We are looking forward to a bushel of new lambs, in less than two weeks from now. I'm thinking of all the fun name possibilties: MacIntosh, Gala, Macoun, Braeburn . . . If you would like to suggest an apple variety to name one of our lambs-to-be, please leave a comment here. My days have gone from busy to busier in a hurry. Immediately after shearing, we've shipped
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Before lambing season sweeps in and captures everyone's attention, I thought you might like a visit from some of our non-gestating critters. Sol llama lives with last year's lambs. Each day we work with him on the same basic lesson: people are ok. It's taking lots of patience and incentives. At first he wouldn't come near us, even though a grain pan is mighty tempting. It drove the lambs nuts that he didn't want it and they couldn't have it. They still swarm around my legs like agitated bees. But now he easily comes within arm's length and sometimes even
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Despite the emergence buckets on the sugar maples, the landscape in western Massachusetts still reads "winter". The snow cover is measurable in feet. Just two days ago the entire woodland was spectacularly sheathed in ice. A trip to the barn calls for hat, gloves, insulated boots and a heavy parka. So it's a little hard to fathom that within three weeks we'll be welcoming newborn lamb here at Springdelle Farm. It's the surest sign of spring's arrival. I am up to my eyeballs in fresh fleece and we have another round of shearing yet to go before the lambs make their
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I thought I'd use today's post to address two questions I've been asked recently: Q: How are Mistral & Georgia doing? A: Happy as clams. Or maybe I should say as happy as lambs. Mistral, Georgia and friends are wintering in the Open Barn. The group has quickly bonded with Sol, our new llama. Feeding is the highlight of their day. As far as I can tell, they spend the rest of their time lounging in the yard with Sol, unless the weather stinks. Then they lounge around the barn. The ewe lambs we have kept from 2010 lambing are
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Attention Sheep Shares CSA members. Susan F. is the lucky winner of our drawing for two skeins of Teaberry Yarn spun from our ram Teaberry's champion Cormo fleece! Congrats to Susan. (If you reserved skeins of this yarn for purchase we are shipping this week upon receipt of payment – either by check or via PayPal. This was a limited edition yarn run and all skeins are spoken for.) If you would like to learn more about joining Sheep Shares, we are still accepting memberships for yarn shares. Click here to learn more.
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