be moved inside next to the wood stove. With fence lines down everywhere, the chain saw came out and offending tree limbs were removed. As we worked, the snow kept coming down. The silence was broken every 10 minutes or so by the sound of a cracking and falling limb or tree. It was scary for a while with trees coming down around us. The little piglets got out and had to be chased down, which, thankfully, wasn't too hard with the deep snow. In between clearing the electric netting and fence lines, we stopped to admire mother nature's work...and feed a bottle to little Bibo our last little lamb of the season, a triplet out of Mara who needs a little extra help. Once the snow stopped in the late afternoon, the sheep came out to scavenge the many fallen buds and leaves that were lost by the trees in the storm. They washed them down with fresh snow and tramped back to their hay lined shelters to ruminate on things.
Storm of April 28th, 2010
The weather in Vermont never ceases to amaze me. It was a crazy day on the farm with 20" of heavy spring snow. Power went out during the wee smalls of the night and the chicks had to be heated with hot water bottles and eventually needed to 
be moved inside next to the wood stove. With fence lines down everywhere, the chain saw came out and offending tree limbs were removed. As we worked, the snow kept coming down. The silence was broken every 10 minutes or so by the sound of a cracking and falling limb or tree. It was scary for a while with trees coming down around us. The little piglets got out and had to be chased down, which, thankfully, wasn't too hard with the deep snow. In between clearing the electric netting and fence lines, we stopped to admire mother nature's work...and feed a bottle to little Bibo our last little lamb of the season, a triplet out of Mara who needs a little extra help. Once the snow stopped in the late afternoon, the sheep came out to scavenge the many fallen buds and leaves that were lost by the trees in the storm. They washed them down with fresh snow and tramped back to their hay lined shelters to ruminate on things.
be moved inside next to the wood stove. With fence lines down everywhere, the chain saw came out and offending tree limbs were removed. As we worked, the snow kept coming down. The silence was broken every 10 minutes or so by the sound of a cracking and falling limb or tree. It was scary for a while with trees coming down around us. The little piglets got out and had to be chased down, which, thankfully, wasn't too hard with the deep snow. In between clearing the electric netting and fence lines, we stopped to admire mother nature's work...and feed a bottle to little Bibo our last little lamb of the season, a triplet out of Mara who needs a little extra help. Once the snow stopped in the late afternoon, the sheep came out to scavenge the many fallen buds and leaves that were lost by the trees in the storm. They washed them down with fresh snow and tramped back to their hay lined shelters to ruminate on things.
New born Icelandic lambs
The first of the 2010 lambs were born yesterday afternoon to our beautiful Polly. A tall, white ram lamb and a tall, long bodied black spotted ewe lamb. Vanessa was in attendance to supervise and assist in delivery. Polly did a great job and is a wonderful, milky mother. She speaks in a guttural rasp to them and the sound of her calling, stimulates the newborn lambs to struggle to their tiny feet in search of their first bellyful of milk: the all important colostrum with it's critical nutrients, vi
tamins and antibodies to help them survive in the world.
Momma Polly cleans them up. Vanessa cleans their naval and we weigh them. Large lambs. With their hunger satiated, the begin to explore their surroundings. An occasional astonishing hop into the air belays the fact that these little ones are barely an hour old.
tamins and antibodies to help them survive in the world.Momma Polly cleans them up. Vanessa cleans their naval and we weigh them. Large lambs. With their hunger satiated, the begin to explore their surroundings. An occasional astonishing hop into the air belays the fact that these little ones are barely an hour old.
Teenage is a Condition of Sheep Too
As we’re getting ready for lambing here at Stark Hollow Farm, the sheep flock has been divided into 2 groups. The pregnant ewes have been placed near the barn where all pens and equipment is ready for the upcoming lambs. The ram and two yearlings (i.e. 1 year old ewe lambs) have been left at the top of the pasture with access to the round house where the flock has spent the winter.
Already late last summer, the 2 Icelandic lambs, now yearlings, started proving to have quite a personality! After fixing and re-fixing tear after tear in the shade tents, I caught the two of them running, leaping into the air, and landing right on top of the tents eventually touching ground as the tear they caused during the jump reached the edge of the tent resulting in the whole thing to collapse. It seemed they found joy in this. I recall their look when I caught them in action… it was almost a smirk… almost defiance. As I was screaming half in disbelief and half in despair, they looked at me and it was like they were telling me: “whatever”. I thought I felt what teenagers parents feel like when they yell at their children who seem to have lost the ability to listen as they grow taller.
As fall progressed and winter weather began, the jumping and tearing ended, the mended shade tents went away, and I forgot all about my growing lambs behaviors. In the winter, we had a couple of surprises here and there -- a spilled water tank, broken hay feeder part, some rocks from the small wall surrounding the round house moved over, etc. -- but nothing serious. In addition, the frequency of these occurrences was low enough to assume they are due to normal management and/or wear & tear of equipment/structures. But now that the yearlings make up the 2/3 majority of the group at the top of the pasture, my feelings toward empathy for parents of teenagers seem to be resurfacing. Suddenly, I find the sheeting that makes up the temporary walls of the round house taken down (i.e. note that the sheeting has been in place for at least the past 5 months through snow, ice, blowing winds, etc. and 10 sheep), I
discover poop in the water tank, I walk up to a bucked down feeder with all salt & mineral spilled onto the pasture, and the list goes on daily. Then as I discover these nice little gifts of entertainment -- since I have nothing better to do all day -- and express my astonishment, I have to listen to my yearlings going baa-baa, baa, baa-baa while they look me straight in the eye. As my shock begins to morph into distress that borderlines outrage, but of the peaceful kind, I am interrupted by two even more closely approaching yearlings yelping out baa-baa, baa-baa, baa. At this point, they actually manage to shut me up.
As I look at them, while they turn around and walk away stomping their little hooves, that fiery feeling that bordered outrage is gone. Absolute bewilderment sets in as I stand there with my mouth opened and my jaw dropping down slowly. I am not sure whether I should focus on the damage those two have caused for the day or on their demanding yet defiant behavior. But I force myself to step back, remember my morning meditation, take a deep breath, and move on to fix whatever they managed to destroy/buck/etc. I feed them, water them, and clean up their bedding. When everything is finally back in order and my two yearlings and ram have been well taken care of, I look around and pat myself on the back. Walking away with the optimistic view that I have everything under control again, I also don’t pay too much attention to the baa-baa, baa, baa-baa of my two yearlings… but I swear I know that if I did turn around to look back, I would see my dear yearlings smirking and chuckling away as they plan a new prank for tomorrow!
Already late last summer, the 2 Icelandic lambs, now yearlings, started proving to have quite a personality! After fixing and re-fixing tear after tear in the shade tents, I caught the two of them running, leaping into the air, and landing right on top of the tents eventually touching ground as the tear they caused during the jump reached the edge of the tent resulting in the whole thing to collapse. It seemed they found joy in this. I recall their look when I caught them in action… it was almost a smirk… almost defiance. As I was screaming half in disbelief and half in despair, they looked at me and it was like they were telling me: “whatever”. I thought I felt what teenagers parents feel like when they yell at their children who seem to have lost the ability to listen as they grow taller.As fall progressed and winter weather began, the jumping and tearing ended, the mended shade tents went away, and I forgot all about my growing lambs behaviors. In the winter, we had a couple of surprises here and there -- a spilled water tank, broken hay feeder part, some rocks from the small wall surrounding the round house moved over, etc. -- but nothing serious. In addition, the frequency of these occurrences was low enough to assume they are due to normal management and/or wear & tear of equipment/structures. But now that the yearlings make up the 2/3 majority of the group at the top of the pasture, my feelings toward empathy for parents of teenagers seem to be resurfacing. Suddenly, I find the sheeting that makes up the temporary walls of the round house taken down (i.e. note that the sheeting has been in place for at least the past 5 months through snow, ice, blowing winds, etc. and 10 sheep), I
discover poop in the water tank, I walk up to a bucked down feeder with all salt & mineral spilled onto the pasture, and the list goes on daily. Then as I discover these nice little gifts of entertainment -- since I have nothing better to do all day -- and express my astonishment, I have to listen to my yearlings going baa-baa, baa, baa-baa while they look me straight in the eye. As my shock begins to morph into distress that borderlines outrage, but of the peaceful kind, I am interrupted by two even more closely approaching yearlings yelping out baa-baa, baa-baa, baa. At this point, they actually manage to shut me up.As I look at them, while they turn around and walk away stomping their little hooves, that fiery feeling that bordered outrage is gone. Absolute bewilderment sets in as I stand there with my mouth opened and my jaw dropping down slowly. I am not sure whether I should focus on the damage those two have caused for the day or on their demanding yet defiant behavior. But I force myself to step back, remember my morning meditation, take a deep breath, and move on to fix whatever they managed to destroy/buck/etc. I feed them, water them, and clean up their bedding. When everything is finally back in order and my two yearlings and ram have been well taken care of, I look around and pat myself on the back. Walking away with the optimistic view that I have everything under control again, I also don’t pay too much attention to the baa-baa, baa, baa-baa of my two yearlings… but I swear I know that if I did turn around to look back, I would see my dear yearlings smirking and chuckling away as they plan a new prank for tomorrow!
Inspiring Local Newspaper Article
A newspaper article you might ask? No, I did not find it on the internet and yes, some still do read a paper newspaper you can hold in your hands. No, it wasn't me who had the paper -- although I actually would like to read a real paper newspaper i have no time to read (i.e. also am not the most prolific reader), do not want to use up paper if I don't have to, and do not want to waste money... so no paper for me, but I really like the idea.
In any case, now that I have managed to ramble along about nothing (i.e. thankfully i have no time to waste!), the newspaper article was given to us by Laura's parents. I admire them for reading the paper and am grateful to them for giving us the article. OK, at this point I really think you need to read the article otherwise you'll think that I'm rambling again, start thinking I am just writing a dissertation between news on paper on online, or most likely just think that I'm nuts! Oops, looks like you're still waiting; with no further due here is the: ARTICLE. Please read it.
OK, now that you have read the article -- unless you got too bored by my special ability to write nonsense -- here's a summary of the conclusion of my brief review: it's our story and our current condition as we strive to be farmers, but it's so inspiring to know we're not alone! Just such an amazing injection of energy in these days when industrial factory farming seems to be the only way or the highway.
I am going to frame this ARTICLE -- kind of like those motivational posters you find on walls of offices to make you more "productive". But in this case with a VERY different motivation (i.e. as if i actually needed one when i have no troubles being out at 6:30/7 AM feeding animals. carry 5-gall water buckets in 0 degrees F, shovel manure, and the list goes on). But i do need some inspiration at times, here and there. In those times, when I feel beaten down and exhausted from trying to make my "little" sustainable farm viable and juggle 2 jobs (i.e. 1 of which is the "paying" "daytime" job), I will read the ARTICLE.
My final words: I have a smile from cheek to cheek because I am on my way out to feed my sheep!
In any case, now that I have managed to ramble along about nothing (i.e. thankfully i have no time to waste!), the newspaper article was given to us by Laura's parents. I admire them for reading the paper and am grateful to them for giving us the article. OK, at this point I really think you need to read the article otherwise you'll think that I'm rambling again, start thinking I am just writing a dissertation between news on paper on online, or most likely just think that I'm nuts! Oops, looks like you're still waiting; with no further due here is the: ARTICLE. Please read it.
OK, now that you have read the article -- unless you got too bored by my special ability to write nonsense -- here's a summary of the conclusion of my brief review: it's our story and our current condition as we strive to be farmers, but it's so inspiring to know we're not alone! Just such an amazing injection of energy in these days when industrial factory farming seems to be the only way or the highway.
I am going to frame this ARTICLE -- kind of like those motivational posters you find on walls of offices to make you more "productive". But in this case with a VERY different motivation (i.e. as if i actually needed one when i have no troubles being out at 6:30/7 AM feeding animals. carry 5-gall water buckets in 0 degrees F, shovel manure, and the list goes on). But i do need some inspiration at times, here and there. In those times, when I feel beaten down and exhausted from trying to make my "little" sustainable farm viable and juggle 2 jobs (i.e. 1 of which is the "paying" "daytime" job), I will read the ARTICLE.
My final words: I have a smile from cheek to cheek because I am on my way out to feed my sheep!
Bye Bye Fancy Pants
Fancy Pants, our rooster, has found a new home with a family who is breeding and raising chicks. We expect he'll have a good life at his new home. Now, Vanessa can roam the barn yard free from fears of a rooster attack. She spent last night re-vamping the coop...adding the heated poultry waterer she got for christmas, re-wiring and general clean up. The girls seem happy and are still laying lots of eggs. One broody girl has been moved to a brood area to see if we can hatch some of Fancy Pant's chicks. We should know in about 15 more days!
VT Grazing & Livestock Conference
Laura and Vanessa attended the Vermont Grazing & Livestock conference in Fairlee, Vermont. The theme was Farming for Modern Markets and we attended a variety of workshops including Partnering Retailers and Producers to Feed a Hungry Public, Bedded Pack Management for Winter Housing, Managing Small Ruminant Parasites, among others. We enjoyed a presentation by Brian Moyer, Director of Rural Vermont. We networked with numerous other farmers small and large who care about sustainable farming and agriculture. It was a great day.(follow link)
Vermont Grass Farmer Association
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