Sidebar Widget

what’s been happening

Just before shearing last year, I gave up on this blog Farm Journal. Getting photos into posts was such a pain in the neck that posting just wasn’t fun at all. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed because the good folks at WordPress have streamlined the process. I’m giving it another try…

The ewes get to eat indoors the day after        [….read more]

Salad Bar in Bristol

Ewes happily munch Spring grass after a long winter of boring old hay.

The sheep are now officially “on pasture” after a week of carefully reacquainting them to the green stuff. It takes a little while to get their rumens adjusted to rich, wet feed after 6 months of eating dry hay. Too much too soon can cause the sheep to “bloat” and        [….read more]

Island Holiday

I’ve been to an island! OK — not the warm, tropical kind. North Haven is just an hour and a bit out by ferry, and Becky & Bill live there year round. Of course its population grows by leaps and bounds in the summer but at this time of year it’s fairly quiet. Becky met me and as we drove from the ferry to the        [….read more]

Grass…Pasture…Forage

…whatever you want to call it, it’s been on our minds these days and in short supply. Jim, the assistant shepherd in charge of pasture management<BG>, has been watching, worrying, reporting. Finally, with some rain, it seems to be turning around. Too bad that Fall is on the doorstep now and growth is slowing down. Time to switch gears to finding/buying/storing hay. We’ve bought some        [….read more]

To Flush or Not to Flush

This has nothing to do with the john! It’s about breeding ewes. OK — this is one of those “big sigh moments” that most shepherds don’t even think about ever thinking about because it’s unthinkable! I’ve been giving serious thought to not breeding the ewes this season. I know, I know…it really is unthinkable. But when I think about spending more time on fiber work        [….read more]