The 'it didn't snow!!' edition.
The first year we lived here it snowed Memorial Day weekend. Last year, we had a terrible hard frost right before Memorial Day, killing almost all of the counties apple and cherry blossoms and most of my tomatoes. This year I am smarter! I planned for this. I have enough tomato plants in my upstairs closet that I could replace all the tomatoes in my greenhouse and still have some left over.
So, of course, this has been the nicest spring since we've moved here. Some friends say it's the mildest spring in the past ten years. So...anyone need any tomato plants?
The greenhouse is full and so far there haven't been any casualties. Keith keeps warning me that I've been planting too early, and in most years he'd be right, and it's still to early to say he isn't, but so far so good!
Hot peppers, sweet peppers, tomatoes, winter squash, tomatillos, eggplants have all survived May in the greenhouse, now hopefully June is successful as well!
Another year gardening, another experiment. Just about everyone who gardens around here swears you can't grow corn around here. And maybe they're right, but hopefully I am.
My friend Dionne and I have decided that these people don't know what they're talking about and we are going to grow corn. Not on the 'knee hight by the fourth of July' plan, but on one that works here. I ordered some Early Sunglow Corn from Nichols Nursery. The description sounded perfect: A superior corn for on the cob freezing because of its very high sugar content and ability to retain the fresh corn flavor. Disease resistant; grows under cold, adverse conditions. Four foot tall plants produce two or more ears of golden yellow kernels that are narrow, sweet and tender. And it's supposed to only take 62 day to mature (although I'll believe it when I see it!).
We planted about a week and half ago and about 2/3rds of the seeds have sprouted. And man, does corn look like grassy weeds when it sprouts!
Hopefully the view will inspire the corn grow it's whole 4 feet!
Meanwhile, in the garden: the rhubarb looks just about big enough to eat someone whole and has it's goofy looking flower popping out of the top. I love this crazy plant that I don't take care of at all and it just bounces back from winter like Godzilla!
The past couple weeks around here have been beautiful! All the trees are flowering and everything is green, it's really been amazing! While I can still feel Old Man Winter's breath on my freshly sunburned shoulders, I am trying to shake him off as best I can and enjoy this spring that feels like summer as much as possible!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
We be lambing!
When it comes to looking for the signs that a ewe may be lambing soon, one of the main signs (before all the goo) is just that they lay down a lot. Well, that's not really helpful!
Since we got the sheep, poor Chocolate Swirl has been so huge that walking was clearly hard for her, therefore she laid down pretty much all the time. Everyday for the past two and half weeks, I was certain that TODAY had to be the day and obviously most of the days I was wrong, but eventually I had to be right!
Here she is a day or two before lambing.
Last Wednesday night, Keith and I went to bed a little early thanks to stopping a TG's for dinner and couple pretty strong beers. I was completely sound asleep (at 11:30) when Keith woke me up with news. He heard loud moaning/baaing sounds from outside. It was clear something was happening: either Chocolate Swirl was lambing or Sam the Ram got out and was making his way to the ladies.
Keith went outside to check it out and it was clearly time for lambing! By the time we both got out there with towels and everything, the lamb was already born. Mama was just standing there, like 'what the hell just happened', so Keith and I grabbed the towels and wiped the lamb off a little bit. In about 30 seconds, Mama shook off being stunned and got to work cleaning up the little lamb herself, all while the little, wobbly lamb is trying to hard to find her feet. The whole this was pretty incredible to watch.
One thing that surprised me about this whole experience was how quiet it was. After the initial moaning, both Mama and lamb were quiet, as were the rest of the sheep and goats that were in various places in the barn. Chocolate Swirl and her lamb were in their own stall and all the rest of the sheep were up and attentive, but didn't make a peep (which is really unlike them!)
We cleaned off the lambs umbilical chord and waited. We waited to see if she was going to have another lamb, she was so huge we expected more than one. Then, when it looked like there was only going to be the one, we waited for her to start nursing. This took a while.
The lamb tried to nurse on just about everything including Mama's ears, tail, and the wall of the stall, before she finally found what she was looking for. When she finally did, her tail was going crazy and we knew that our job was pretty much done. We got Mama a bunch of hay and water with a little molasses in it (because that's what the book said to do) and I really have no idea how we eventually got back to sleep that night.
We left Mama and lamb in their own stall for about couple days, where they spent time curled up together, bonding. I only went in to fill food and water. We let them out in the pasture and all weekend they were pretty much velcroed to each other.
Can we talk for a minute about how freaking cute this lamb is! She's looks like a mix between a border collie, a cow, and a Rorschach test, I have named her Bessie. At a week old, she is running around like mad, bouncing off the other lambs, while poor Mama is running after her, with a 'come back here right now, young lady!' attitude! She is also as big as the the triplets that are a little over three weeks old.
In other news, can you tell from the picture that all the sheep are shedding their hairy winter coats?! The one surprise from this is that the one I thought of as White Chocolate (there is also Milk Chocolate and you all know Chocolate Swirl by now), she's actually a ginger underneath that crazy coat! I think it makes me like her just a little bit more.
The goats a doing fine. I'm pretty sure Cupid has been successfully knocked up, but that doesn't stop her from escaping. Snowy just want cuddles, as always, and Franny seems to have joined the sheep herd.
Hopefully we'll be having a kid or two in July. Until then, no new additions are planned, but that doesn't mean they won't happen!
Since we got the sheep, poor Chocolate Swirl has been so huge that walking was clearly hard for her, therefore she laid down pretty much all the time. Everyday for the past two and half weeks, I was certain that TODAY had to be the day and obviously most of the days I was wrong, but eventually I had to be right!
Here she is a day or two before lambing.
Last Wednesday night, Keith and I went to bed a little early thanks to stopping a TG's for dinner and couple pretty strong beers. I was completely sound asleep (at 11:30) when Keith woke me up with news. He heard loud moaning/baaing sounds from outside. It was clear something was happening: either Chocolate Swirl was lambing or Sam the Ram got out and was making his way to the ladies.
Keith went outside to check it out and it was clearly time for lambing! By the time we both got out there with towels and everything, the lamb was already born. Mama was just standing there, like 'what the hell just happened', so Keith and I grabbed the towels and wiped the lamb off a little bit. In about 30 seconds, Mama shook off being stunned and got to work cleaning up the little lamb herself, all while the little, wobbly lamb is trying to hard to find her feet. The whole this was pretty incredible to watch.
One thing that surprised me about this whole experience was how quiet it was. After the initial moaning, both Mama and lamb were quiet, as were the rest of the sheep and goats that were in various places in the barn. Chocolate Swirl and her lamb were in their own stall and all the rest of the sheep were up and attentive, but didn't make a peep (which is really unlike them!)
We cleaned off the lambs umbilical chord and waited. We waited to see if she was going to have another lamb, she was so huge we expected more than one. Then, when it looked like there was only going to be the one, we waited for her to start nursing. This took a while.
The lamb tried to nurse on just about everything including Mama's ears, tail, and the wall of the stall, before she finally found what she was looking for. When she finally did, her tail was going crazy and we knew that our job was pretty much done. We got Mama a bunch of hay and water with a little molasses in it (because that's what the book said to do) and I really have no idea how we eventually got back to sleep that night.
We left Mama and lamb in their own stall for about couple days, where they spent time curled up together, bonding. I only went in to fill food and water. We let them out in the pasture and all weekend they were pretty much velcroed to each other.
Can we talk for a minute about how freaking cute this lamb is! She's looks like a mix between a border collie, a cow, and a Rorschach test, I have named her Bessie. At a week old, she is running around like mad, bouncing off the other lambs, while poor Mama is running after her, with a 'come back here right now, young lady!' attitude! She is also as big as the the triplets that are a little over three weeks old.
In other news, can you tell from the picture that all the sheep are shedding their hairy winter coats?! The one surprise from this is that the one I thought of as White Chocolate (there is also Milk Chocolate and you all know Chocolate Swirl by now), she's actually a ginger underneath that crazy coat! I think it makes me like her just a little bit more.
The goats a doing fine. I'm pretty sure Cupid has been successfully knocked up, but that doesn't stop her from escaping. Snowy just want cuddles, as always, and Franny seems to have joined the sheep herd.
Hopefully we'll be having a kid or two in July. Until then, no new additions are planned, but that doesn't mean they won't happen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)