Here are the more recent e-mails
we’ve sent out to people on our “Fresh from the Farm” list, letting people know what’s up
on the farm. Barb took these pictures, by-the-way, not Maya. (You
can tell the difference because Maya's photos are spectacular; Barb's are not.)
If you’d like to be on the list, e-mail Barb at
barbaraghstewart@gmail.com.
May 13, 2008
Thanks to all of you who have
expressed interest in taking care of Bottle Lamb No.
2, a.k.a., "Mini." Thanks especially to those who actually could do it.
I am so happy to report that we've found a wonderful new home for her, and now
we just have to deal with -- oops -- I mean -- tenderly minister to the needs
and desires of Mira.
May 9, 2008 (extra)
This should, by rights, be on "Dave's
Blog," but I'm putting it here, because there's nothing there yet.
"Mini's World"
Tiny sheep on floor;
Diapered sheep dreams of milk
And leaps in clover.
Dave Stewart
May 9, 2008
Would anyone care for a lamb?
Please?????
Yes, I'm a little buzzed on coffee and fabulously little sleep, but I am totally
serious. Ever since Mira was born, I've dared not voice my worry that we might
-- possibly -- have another creature in need of home-care. And here she is --
as yet unnamed, but pretty darn adorable, don't you think? She is a twin, and
the mother seems to have only enough milk for one. Rather than watch both of
her progeny weaken and die, she has made the eminently practical decision to
feed just one of them. This reject is tiny, but undeformed, and she seems
basically healthy. And isn't she really, really cute?????
So what do we do? We're not on a large-enough scale to make a bucket-feeder
remotely efficient or worthwhile. But there is no way -- no way, no way, NO way
-- I'm going to care for and cart around TWO bottle lambs, and Dave simply
doesn't have time. Spring chores are looming, monstrous and insistent.
Won't you step in and save me? If no one does, we will not abandon this
miniature cuteness. I promise. I'll just turn into a blithering wreck and keep
sending out these e-mails until my fingertips bleed.
Here's the scoop, for those of you still reading. Very likely, this Unnamed One
will need at least hourly feedings during the day for the next couple of weeks,
with maybe one feeding at night. Our previous, non-mutant bottle lambs never
needed night-time feeding, but I can't make any promises about this one.
Gradually, the lamb will eat less and less frequently, and will start to get
into things. She'll find newspapers and magazines and all sorts of other wood
products, much like any of the charming puppies you've doubtless encountered.
It is highly unlikely that she will understand ANY kind of training, whatsoever,
other than the realization that you will usually give her food when she's
hungry. She will offer her cuteness to you, but will do nothing simply for the
joy of pleasing you. She will probably not become totally bonded to you alone,
because of the time she's had with us already, but she will, nonetheless, need
someone's constant presence. Do not expect that you can tip-toe away from her
while she's napping. She will probably have to sleep on your bed at night. She
will need diapers. If you take her anywhere, she could use a harness and a
leash, to keep her from running into the road. You'll need to buy lamb formula
and a special bottle nipple at Agway.
She also might die in your care, through no fault of your own.
That's about it. This is a completely doable thing -- honest. Best of all,
it's SHORT-TERM. Once she reaches the age of eight weeks, you can return her to
us and we'll put her back with the flock and take care of her. Or, you can keep
her!!!! The choice is totally in your hands. If you bring her back here, we
promise -- cross our hearts, etc. -- that we will not ever eat her or allow
anyone else to do the same.
Once again, I must emphasize that I am completely serious. If you say yes, you
will earn my gratitude in magnitudes immeasurable.
Mira Update
Mira is actually doing quite well. She still has coughing/gagging fits several
times each night, and often wants milk every hour, around the clock. But she's
growing up into a feisty thing, butting our cats off the bed and generally
asserting herself with cock-eyed confidence. Dave and I, unfortunately, have
seen better days. Dave, the deep sleeper, usually can't fall back asleep after
being awoken. Because I can, I have night-feeding duty. But the coughing and
gagging still wakes him up sometimes, rendering him a dangerously unproductive
zombie during the day. So now he's starting to sleep on the couch. Apparently,
I'll get a turn one of these nights. Sigh.
New Name for E-Mail List!
I'm very please to announce that Penny Lewis has won our contest. The new name
of our e-mail list is "Fresh from the Farm." Penny thought "fresh" would play
on the occasional pertness of these e-mails, and I have to agree. So,
congratulations to you! Let us know what sort of prize you would like -- maple
syrup, extra bunches of eggs, or something else.
Links to Columns
Some of you have asked for links to the essays
I've written for my newspaper columns. Here are a few.
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/LIVING03/804060311
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/LIVING03/804060332
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/LIVING03/804270304
May 5, 2008
We're up to ten lambs now. They're
all doing well, except for Mira, who continues to struggle, especially during
the night. She's nonetheless a perky, charming little thing and unusually
affectionate, for a sheep. She loves to have her chin rubbed and thrives on
close contact. She's particularly cuddlesome while I'm typing. We're happy
we've had her this long! Keep your fingers crossed.
On a truly unrelated note, I must confess that I have to agree with several
people who have questioned the advisability of calling this e-mail list the
"Food Alert" list. Yes, the name does tend to give the wrong impression. So --
what are YOUR ideas? We'll choose a new name from among your suggestions and
award the creator some morsel of farm fresh food. Or, maybe we'll give you an
adorable little lamb who has a bit of tough time letting her caretakers sleep
during the night.
By-the-way, I'm now posting these e-mails to our website, on a page known by the
aforementioned, totally dissed name. I can't wait to hear your ideas.
And, yes, we're still extremely low on milk, and we still have a lot of tasty
eggs.
April 26, 2008
We have five lambs now! All are
doing fine. Even our little mutant is okay, although she's not as strong as
we'd like. Sometimes she wheezes. We do worry about her, but we're just glad
she's made it this far. Her name, by-the-way, is now "Mira," short for
"Miracle." I ceded naming rights to Madeleine, most reluctantly. She withered
me with scorn for my pathetically pedestrian "Floppy," pronouncing, "You've lost
your touch, Mom."
So far, Robert Adler is ahead in the lamb pool, with Laura Anderson a close
second.
Call or e-mail for visiting hours!
P.S. We have SO many eggs. And they're really good. There's green grass for
the hens to eat!
April 20, 2008
After reading through our last
e-mail, some of you sharper tacks might have noticed a disturbing consequence to
our casual approach to breeding last fall. Certain family "combinations" could
occur that we'd really rather not spell out. We knew this was a possibility,
but we were assured by several fonts of wisdom that this sort of commingling is
okay in the sheep world, if not actually desirable.
Well, "Floppy" arrived yesterday morning and quietly blew that little myth
away. The poor thing looks like a model for one of those demeaning, snarky
bumper stickers about Appalachia and country music. ("Friends don't let friends
listen to country music.") Her right ear is permanently down, and it's a good
deal lower on her face than her left ear. Her right eye is a bit low, too.
Worse, her lower jaw is too short, and we think that's interfering with her
ability to nurse.
I'm sure every one of you has, by now, read and absorbed the treatise, "Color
Genetics in Icelandic Sheep," which I referred to in my previous e-mail. For a
refresher, go to
http://www.icelandicsheep.com/genetics.html. So, I don't need to
belabor the point that Floppy, a brown and white lamb, necessarily carries
recessive genes for all three color traits. Looking around at our little band
of rams, we notice only one that could possibly be the father. Unfortunately,
he also happens to be the lamb's sister -- and the mother's son. Ick.
Floppy is doing fine this morning, but she's really lucky to be alive. When she
was born, her mother took one look -- or maybe one sniff -- and walked away.
She didn't even bother to clean her off. Dave found the lamb alone in the
straw, still breathing, but quite cold. He managed to warm her up in the house,
get some milk into her, and persuade the mother to tolerate her. But feeding is
an issue. Wish us luck.
April 9, 2008
(1) EGGS
We have lots of eggs available now for $4/dozen. Come by and help yourself from
the barn cooler or arrange with us for a Concord meeting. It's still best to
e-mail or call first, just in case everyone decides to make omelets and puddings
on the same day. (Try making tapioca with three eggs per batch; separate the
yolks from the whites, fluff the whites separately, and then fold the whites
back in.)
(2) PORK
No, I'm afraid we don't have any pork available at the moment, but if you're
ever here for breakfast, we can cook you up some amazing bacon and sausage.
Instead, we're looking to the fall and deciding how many piglets to order this
spring. If you think you might be interested in ordering a whole pig or a half,
please tell us. This is NOT a commitment; we're just getting an idea of what
people want. Let us know how interested you are, and we'll try to order
accordingly. This year, we will buy the same standard, commercial-breed piglets
we bought last year and, again, feed them organically and raise them as
naturally as we can. The cost will be $4.50/pound, hanging weight. We will
also attempt to locate and buy a breeding pair of Berkshire hogs, so that we can
offer real Berkshire pork for sale in 2009. This meat is rumored to be the very
best in taste and tenderness. We'll probably have to charge at least $6/pound
for this, but we've been told it's totally worth it.
(3) LAMB POOL
It is lambing month here on the farm, but the lambs are still nowhere in sight.
While the ewes get wider and wider, we can't help making guesses as to who's
going to go first and how many little ones we'll see this year. Are any of you
interested in submitting your guess? The winner will get a quart of our own
dark, flavorful maple syrup.
Here are the details. Our sheep are Icelandics. We have five rams, and fifteen
ewes. Four of the ewes are yearlings. Usually, the lambs start coming at the
very beginning of April and keep coming until the end. Typically (but not
always), most of the older ewes twin, while the yearling ewes have just one lamb
apiece. Also, we usually have just one ram to "settle" the whole flock of ewes,
but we lost our big, gorgeous brown ram last summer and ended up keeping all
five of the ram lambs that had been born last spring. We meant to separate them
and pick just one to stay with the females, but because the boys never really
fought with each other, we didn't see the need. Perhaps they came to some
agreement; we didn't inquire too closely. Also, you should know that Icelandic
ram lambs born in the spring are fully capable of handling a flock of ewes (of
any age) in the fall. It's possible that this little band of brothers somehow
worked things out amongst themselves a little more slowly than any one of them
would have alone, but -- again -- we don't know. All we know is that the usual
percentage of females (the vast majority) appear to be pregnant.
So, how many lambs do you think will be born this year?
When do you think the first will arrive?
When do you think the last will come?
I will weigh each of these factors equally and figure out who is, overall, the
most correct -- or the least wrong.
(3)(a) BONUS
Some of you may be wondering how the heck we'll be able to tell who the Daddy is
for each lamb, given our careless indulgence of free love last fall.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter to us THAT much, given our lack of interest in
registering the sheep. But it is still helpful to know, as we consider size,
health, and color. This coming fall, we'll be a good deal more restrictive of
ovine passion, and we want to make a good decision for the flock.
If you are so inclined, go to
http://www.icelandicsheep.com/genetics.html. There you will find an
awesome article on color genetics in Icelandic sheep. This is really cool
stuff. And, if you come out to visit (assuming the lambs do actually come), you
will be able point the paternity finger with some accuracy. (Hint for the
yearlings: our ram for 2006 was a solid, unspotted brown.) Whichever one of you
comes the closest to correctly identifying the dads will get -- I'm not sure
yet. We could offer a choice of maple syrup, fresh chicken, milk, eggs, beef,
or maybe some sausage. If you do a really lousy job, I'll make you drink some
of Dave's kefir, unadulterated.
