Lambs

We are still waiting for three ewes to birth. The count so far is 6 girls and 2 boys, two sets of twins. Things have gone well, one set of twins is a little behind the others. Every day they make improvements and I believe they will make it and catch up to the others. We had two beautiful days of sun and warm temps. Now it is back to normal spring weather, rain and chilly. The grass is greening up and the spring flowers are trying to make a showing. I am bone tired after 3 weeks of barn checks every 2 to three hours through the night. I am hoping the last ewes will go soon, like tonight. Maybe not all three but at least one! Dolly one of our French Maren chickens is sitting on a boatload of eggs, any day now.

The First Lamb

This post is short and sweet. The first lamb arrived yesterday afternoon. He is super cute and was up on his feet suckling mamma in no time. His Dad is a beautiful brown and his Mom is black. Right now he looks reddish brown, but that will most likely change to black or brown. There are more on the way. I am off to the barn now to check on things. Sorry about the red eyes. I am not sure why that seems to happen in the barn, I guess I need to figure how to avoid that. If you know how I can,leave me a comment. Cause I am sure he looks cuter without red eyes.

February

Well, I am only a month behind. What did you do in February? Mine was filled with snow and more snow, wind and more wind and then of course melting and rain and flooding. Am I ready for Spring ? You betcha ! Oh I forgot to mention while it was snowing and blowing sideways just about everything that could break or go wrong did and of course my husband was gone to work. So blogging I did not even think about it. I mostly threw myself into bed at 7:30 and hoped that the wind would not take down the power lines or lay a tree over one of the barns. I also took very few pictures . The sheep do not photograph that well in the barn and they were smart enough to spend most of their time inside out of the weather. I think I will actively start looking for someone to give me a hand. Things are going to get real busy here soon. I would like to think the lambs will come one at a time a few days apart, but that is never going to happen. I could use some help. Here are some of the few pictures I managed to take when I wasn't preoccupied with what could go wrong next.

Winter

The winter is zipping by here at Woodchuck Hill Farm. Before we know it our first lambs will be making their way into the world. I feel like I am ready, but I still have a few more things to gather together and have on hand for birthing. We have lots of good skiing snow so I have been going out almost everyday. I feel sorry for people who do not do this sport. It is such a meditative way to spend a few hours, breathe crisp winter air and enjoy the beauty of the season. Without the snow in winter I feel lost.  This is the time of year the seed catalogs flood the mailbox. So much temptation. But I know I should reduce the size of my garden so this year I am really going to try to do that. Less of the regular stuff to make room for a few new things. The fleeces are at the mill and I should have lots of spinners roving and some yarn in about a month. It is all Icelandic wool from my sheep no blending. If you read this blog and would like to purchase either of these leave me a comment and I will get back to you with prices and and email. The chickens and sheep are surviving the cold presently there is only one duck. Maybe spring will bring the rest of the flock home. Spring, it is right around the corner so much more to do in the slow months. Where have all those free days gone?