Spring has sprung!

One of the first signs of spring have arrived...spring peepers are here.  They began serenading at sunset today.   Daffodils are poking their green stems up through the dead leaves, crocus and chinodoxia are blooming.   The last frost date is officially 6 weeks away and seeds are sprouting.



We saw the first robin two weeks ago and lambs have obviously hit the ground.   Peeps (chicks) will be arriving next week.  Daytime temps have been in the 60s, and best of all...no signs of any more snow!!!

Hope you all are able to enjoy similar pleasures soon!

Hard Lessons

Shepherding is a never ending process of learning.  Some lessons come easy some simply take time, and some are very hard on the emotions.

After six years of pasture kidding and lambing with the usual crises of assisted births or poor mothering we thought we were ready for anything.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  This past weekend I learned a very hard lesson --- never be complacent about anything involving living creatures.

I arrived home from work on Thursday to find Giselle, a 2008 BFL ewe, had given birth to what we thought were twins.  One was alive, one not.  Our young female LGD was in the process of consuming the dead lamb.   I’d heard varying opinions on this, some believe the LGD try to eliminate anything that will draw predators.  

Since this particular female had gone through a previous lambing season with flying colors, my assumption was the lamb had some type of defect or been stillborn.   Shepherds with several lambing seasons under their belts know this is part of nature's plan...such things happen.

Because I had to pick up my human kid from an after school activity, I placed Giselle and baby in a stall and removed the dead lamb from the pasture.  The other LGD, our senior male, went off to pace the fence line, not an unusual activity for him.  As I drove down the drive, all seemed calm.

An hour later I returned to a nightmare.  

The young female was chasing one of the Coopworth ewes.   It was dark now, but I could clearly see which dog it was.  I called her off and she came over wagging her tail.  Annoyed at the chase behavior I thought she had long outgrown, I grabbed her collar and walked her back to put her in “time-out” – a kennel near the shed.  When I took my hand off to close the gate, I found the blood.    Still not suspecting a problem (maybe it was just the blood from the dead lamb) I set about getting feed and hay.

As anyone who has been to a petting zoo or around any goats or sheep know, these animals are food fiends.   The hair on the back of my neck began to rise when no one was waiting at the gate.   

When I finally accounted for all the sheep, three had varying degrees of cuts and gashes on their ears and heads.  The Coopworth who was being chased when I arrived was fine, the other was missing her left ear and her fleece from neck to shoulder was soaked in blood.  The male LGD was still at the fence line, now racing up and down, barking in frenzy.  If I hadn’t caught the female in the act, I would have assumed a predator had struck.    As it was, I considered his activity something I could deal with later, the wounded Coopworth ewe was a priority – I didn’t think she would survive the night.   I rushed inside to call the vet.

It was another two hours before I could deal with the still distraught male LGD.  And that’s when I found the third lamb, a lovely female, frozen, just on the other side of the fence.  I don't think I've cried so much since my mother passed on many years ago.

We are very fortunate to have a practice group of wonderful sheep vets.   The Coopworth ewe, Symphony, is doing remarkably well and should make a full recovery.   We will likely lose her lamb as well, but still having her at all is a miracle.

The second miracle arrived the next evening.  Triska, our first homebred sheep, gave birth to a beautiful blue ram lamb.   He was between one and two weeks premature and his momma didn’t have any milk for him.   So far our little bummer is doing okay.   

Here are our two beautiful 2010 babies – Inish (blue) and Rocky (white)

While I still believe there are many benefits to pasture lambing, all future Laingcroft lambs will be born in secure pens.  And I will always make the time to investigate anything our male LGD is trying to point out to us.

Cue the Music!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."  

THE SEED CATALOGS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

Okay, so it doesn't take much to excite me :)   This year's selection is fantastic so it's going to take awhile to narrow the choices down.   Once the seeds have come in, I will post the selections on the produce page of our website Laingcroft Farm    If you are located in the metro Richmond area we plan to be a vendor at the Goochland Farmers Market and the Powhatan Farmers Market.   The second is a new market located at the Collier Company's Waterfall and Garden Shop on Route 60 in Powhatan, 2 miles past the Chesterfield County line.  

My other exciting news....I finally have a new laptop so I can go mobile!   Had one years ago, an old Toshiba that I gave to my son when he started high school.   Over the years he modified it and ultimately dismantled it.   Since he is now in his second year of Computer Engineering at VCU, I guess that worked out well, but I'm not letting him play with this one!  It's a lovely green (picture doesn't do it justice) Inspirion.  I also found a Microsoft fan base (and yes, I've added the doodling in silver ink...it's always a bad idea to put a pen in my hand!) that helps keep it from overheating.  The wonderful thing about having a laptop is now I can work on my stories, anytime, anyplace.  Even in the barn. 

Yes, that's right, I said in the barn.   I find it very soothing to sit in the barn after the animals have been bedded down for the night with their last hay rations.   There is just something magical about the whisper of hay pulled from the feeder, and the soft sounds of sheep contentedly chewing the dried grass, their misty breath sweet with memories of summer.  Some of my best inspiration strikes in the oddest places (barn, shower, car) and at the oddest times - most often when I'm trying to fall asleep!

So now that I've been a good girl and updated my blog...it's back to dreaming over all those seeds....

First Shawl Completed!

Here is a picture of the first shawl completed on my new triangle loom.   A total of 16 hours to weave from start to finish, two hours alone for the nine inch fringe.   Woven of baby acrylic and nylon eyelash yarn, it is a loose weave, but still very soft and warm.   Wore it  yesterday for Christmas.   Now to move on to the woolen shawls.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  I'm looking forward to the New Year.   Already planning the gardens...first seed catalog arrived in today's mail.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Went out to feed the sheep to find them sitting in the run-in, refusing to come out.   Sorry guys, if you want to eat, you've got to make the trek to the hayrack.  Of course, I could put the hay in the run-in but three things prevent that: 1) they'd trash it by laying and defecating on it, 2) it would get in their fleece, and 3) hay is expensive!

It's almost noon on Saturday, the town is shut down and it's still snowing.  Twelve inches and counting so far.   Here's a picture for those of you who don't have snow today.

White Christmas!

Okay, so maybe it's not Christmas...but we have snow!   It rained most of the morning; then around 2:00 it started with that granular wintery mix (yuk!) but now it's snowing with those big, fluffy flakes.  Love it!   Here is a picture taken earlier when it was just starting to stick to the ground.   Now there's a bit more white on the grass, but too dark for photos.

Technically it's a Christmas present, but I had to play with the new triangle loom.   I even dragged it out to the porch to take a picture.   The stand was made by John.   What a guy!

I was supposed to work on my newest story, working title "Haunted," but just couldn't seem to settle down and focus on it today.   Instead it was cleaning and preparing for Christmas.  I even reorganized my nailpolishes by color!  (Did I mention I'm an obsessive organizer?)   Here's a picture of the collection along with some sheepie collectibles too.  Notice there are some spaces that could be filled in....*evil grin here*        Tomorrow, weather permitting, we finish putting up the lights and the tree. 

Got Mud?

We do!   Lots and lots of mud.    All the sheep are up to their hocks in mud.    I'm not going to have any grass left in the winter pasture at the rate we're going.   And the dogs?   What a mess.   I have muddy tail lash marks all across my pants.  

I just have to keep a positive attitude...just keep thinking "the well is recharging, the well is recharging"  

We're supposed to get snow tomorrow night too.   I don't think it will be much.   Won't stick either; the ground has been much too warm.  

Sigh....