almost
I'm so incredibly relieved that Spring is here and lambing is behind me. The winter and the births were beautiful and trialing—I don't mean to discount them in any way—as lessons were learned and I feel like I truly pulled through. But for it to be a warm 50-degree morning in April and not have to worry about sinking roofs, dodgy commutes, plowing driveways, pregnant animals, or heating oil is such a weight off this girl's shoulders it makes me almost want to retract all my smack talk about April I've done on this blog years prior....Almost.
April is still a creepy son of a bitch.
April is still a creepy son of a bitch.
posted by Jenna at 6:05 AM
20 Comments:
You sure got that one right my friend.
Although I don't thing April has been creepy, this past winter has been very trialiing, even for me!
-Autumn
Oh yeah! I gotta admit, though, you gave me a giggle...you have a way with words. :)
We got snow, about 1.5 inches, yesterday. Enough of this poor man's fertilizer. April will be what it is, temperamental and teasing, one lovely day followed by 4 days of yuck.
Raining and hailing in Burlington. I think April just plain sux. Mud season officially here.
April is the L-O-N-G-E-S-T month.
I'd feel a lot better about April (February through June, really) if there weren't so darned many tornadoes.
JENNA,
I THINK A LOT OF US HAVE HAD
"TESTING" WINTERS'!!! YOURS MAY BE
A LOT DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THE 1800
HOME ISSUES, ANIMALS, ETC. WHICH
MAKES FOR A GREAT READ ON THE ONE, & ONLY "COLD ANTLER FARM BLOG"
WHICH ALL OF US (I'M POSITIVE) READ, ENJOY, & FOLLOW!!!
FROM TIME TO TIME I GIVE IT
A "SHOUT OUT" ON MY BLOG!!!
SO CHEERS WITH A HEALTH DRINK, &
RONNIE A VERY HAPPY EX SEAT WEAVER
http://www.chaircaningdirectory.com
Can I just give a friendly bit of advice that you can take or leave? I noticed in one of your recent posts you said you were keeping 4 lambs...which I guess is 2 ewes and 2 rams (or wethers). Are you keeping the boys for breeding? If not, my advice would be to sell them. Yes, wethers are nice and friendly and make great pets, but they are not productive. Sure, you can get wool from them, but you can get wool and lambs from ewes! It might make more sense right now to sell them for the money (or barter for goods like you're doing with the hay) or trade them for a nice ewe.
The first flock of sheep I had was a motley crew of ewes and a wether that was a pet. I had to sell them due to changes in life's circumstances, and I promised myself to be wiswer with my next flock. Now I realize it takes just as much to keep a wether as it does a ewe, but a ewe will give you much more in return. Something to think about, especially if you want to make a successful business! :-) If the boys you're keeping are for breeding, then please disregard. :)
"April is still a creepy son of a bitch.".....LOL! Hit the nail on the head with that one.
concerning breeding...have you determined if the one male that you thought may have bred maude is fertile or if he was completely castrated?
Amen sister!
So Sal is certainly castrated. In three years of jumping maude there have been no lambs. No with my sheep or other ewes...
I am keeping knox, possibly another wether for the freezer, and a new ram lamb from another line comes in, in a few weeks!
I'm so excited it is spring - I'm glad the dark days of winter are ending for you, too.
I hear you with being a very tempermental winter! Owning a 300 year old farmhouse has definately reared its ugly head! In the 7 years that we have been here we have never had so many problems as this year. The sever year itch perhaps? Well it's all behind us now and time to look forward to a bountiful summer,(we hope). Let's raise a toast to a warm breese, weeding our gardens, bitching about the heat, fireflys, mowing our lawns and watchiing the new crop of babies growing up! Oh and a nice cold beer with fresh blueberries within!
Seven year itch that is, not sever...
Now is the time to prepare the truck for winter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T.S. Eliot said "April is the cruellest month." I believe him.
The wool from wethers is actually significantly higher in quality than that of ewes; they' re not putting life energy into babies and milk, so it all goes into wool...
So if she's serious about the fiber CSA as an enterprise, it mightn't be crazy to keep a few wethers, though I agree it is probably more over-all profitable to keep ewes.
As an interesting side note, one of the ways that archeologists have been able to date the evolution of sheep into a wool bearing animal, as opposed to the kemp ( or hair, basically) bearing animal it was in say, Old Testament days is by the presence of bones of adult wethers at settlement sites....
The one good thing about April is that it marks the sixth month point before October. Only a half-year to go now.
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