Someone asked me recently how many chickens I have. I could only guess. In winter, I take a nightly headcount of all the birds during evening chores. Now? A headcount is practically impossible with so many free-ranging...
Read MoreIt’s a day to celebrate mothers and grandmothers and those who’ve simply mothered us even though they weren’t the ones who brought us into this world. I think, too, that it’s a good day to recall the...
Read MoreAfter spending five months together in the womb, the twins are accustomed to togetherness. They stand together, move in tandem, and are rarely more than a foot or two apart when they’re out in the big, wide world....
Read MoreThe mamas here at the farm have been busily adding to the livestock numbers. Nona, a very shy ewe, presented us with twin lambs. She’s a first-time mother, but managed the birth and cleanup duties quite well. The...
Read MoreLook what I found in the barn yesterday morning! My favorite ewe gave birth to this healthy tiny ewe lamb not long after daybreak. She’s Peep’s first lamb — and don’t blame me for the name. Peep and...
Read MoreTiny, the bottle lamb, is grown up now and having hair issues. Actually, she has a lot more issues than just her bad haircut, but that’s a story for another day. A year ago, Tiny was a fat, spoiled lamb. Most days she...
Read MoreA year ago today, Tiny Bottle Lamb weighed about 7 pounds. She still slept indoors in the playpen and followed me around outdoors like a puppy. She still sucked fingers when she was hungry. She hadn’t yet learned how to cross a creek, even a very little one.
When the snow covers the ground in a deep blanket of white, my world narrows. The occasional traffic on our narrow gravel road dwindles to none. An entire day passes without a single set of wheel tracks disturbing the snow. I...
Read MoreTheir house still stands, though it and the rest of the property is neglected and unused now. The county long ago abandoned the road that once bordered the north side of the yard. My youngest daughter and I visited there a few years ago on a long road trip we took for the primary purpose of her gaining a lot more real-world driving experience before taking the exam for her driver’s license. The old farm place seemed a fitting destination for that coming-of-age experience, and I bored her for days with stories of my childhood adventures with my cousins there. Hot summer days picking blackberries . . .
It’s been a while since I posted. Life’s been particularly busy this spring . . . and I’ve not been up to the challenge of keeping up with any but the most critical tasks. Now summer has crept upon me before I’m ready. That’s...
Read MoreLamb Chops and the rest of the herd are celebrating with a day of grazing out in the orchard . . . as soon as I take them out to the orchard. Ingrid, the American Buff goose, and her snowy white Embden companions heard the...
Read MoreTucked into the edge of the woods on our farm is the neglected, overgrown remains of an old farmhouse. There’s not a lot left of it, some foundation stones, rusting roof tin, bricks strewn here and there — and some hardy...
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