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We had a herd of deer cross through our back field yesterday.
This is a pretty healthy looking doe.
There has been enough snow loss that they are able to get out and about and find new food sources. They circled our hill and headed up to Cass Hill where there is a lot more feed for them. Living through the winter is a challenge for deer if the snow is deep. They depend on browse from small bushes and saplings, prefering maple and oak buds and acorns and if times get tough they will eat the bark from Hemlock trees.
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This is Maisy. Maisy is a Montadale and a trained therapy sheep. Maisy and her handler spend time with the sick and terminally ill to give them peace and healing support. We had a chance to speak with Maisy’s handler today when we visited our local humane society. She told us of one story where a hospital called and asked her to hurry down with Maisy. They had a child who needed to undergo surgery and was terrified. Maisy arrived and the handler says she just knows what to do. Maisy walked over to the child’s bedside and laid her head right on the bed and just stood with the child. He was able to touch her head and face and it completely calmed him down. Incredible!
Maisy came from a farm in MA where she was born but not going to live though her first day. The farmer didn’t care and she wound up in the handler’s hands where she works in a veterinarian’s office and by a stroke of fate is now living a life most sheep never envision. Check out the diaper! The handler flipped up her little cover for this photo, otherwise is discretely covered.
Maisy travels in a car, in the back seat and rides to and from NH regularly to help where she is needed. When she is not working, she lives on a small farm in a barn with her fellow sheep. Her handler says Maisy prefers her life outside the barn….smart sheep she is! She is now 1 year old.
Is she not the cutest? This is a sweetheart photo for sweetheart’s day!
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I know…it would be fun to delve into some juicy personal story but, rather, I have to steer you to one of the best novels I have read in many moons.
Not too long ago I read a review from Beverly’s blog for January 26th, 2009 about a book which peeked my interest, Disgrace by J.M Coetzee. After reading Beverly’s review I ordered the book. The story begins in Cape Town, Africa, where David Lurie is a professor at the local university. He becomes enmeshed in circumstances that are within his control but choses not to address. The story leads him north to stay with his daughter, Lucy, for awhile on her small farm. While David and Lucy spend their days living the difficult existence of rural Africa they endure a horrific incident that further stresses their already strained relationship. I can’t give up the story, and I will warn it is explicit and not for the faint of heart. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you should read this novel. It’s short, compelling and not so sweet.
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Thanks to Sam and Anne for helping me just knit rather than stress over complexities and for spurring me into the world of self-photography, I present my FO!
This is a great scarf an easy pattern from The Knitting Experience: Book 1 by Sally Melville. I needed something simple with some panache and this suited the bill. For those not able to view the link, the scarf is knit so to be wider in the neck area where I like coverage and thinner at the ends so there is less bulk. If you need a simple project with elegant style this is it!
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Long Ridge Farm received February’s “Farm of the Month” from Hannah Grimes !
I wish I could link to the article however the recognition comes out only in an email newsletter. Suffice to say our farm is showcased and proud!
Hannah Grimes Center is a successful venue for NH artists, farmers and producers allowing us to showcase our products both on the internet and in the wonderful marketplace shop on Main Street in Keene, NH. In order to be a member we need to be a NH farm, craftsman or business.
So! Our month in the sun! Hooray!
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And now it is Memphis’ birthday. Get a cup of coffee, glass of wine or what have you and enjoy the story.
Memphis is the queen of our flock and has been the great teacher of all things sheepish. Memphis is the face of our farm logo. She is the absolutely most feminine ewe, from her gentle personality to her thin and lovely legs! Memphis is always at the back of the flock but moves right up front and center once visiting begins. She is incredibly photogenic and as I look at these pictures across her eight years, she is ageless, never looking less than beautiful.
Below is the photo I was sent before I purchased her in 2002. It was love at first sight.
Below are photos of Memphis just after she arrived here. The top picture is stunning. The lower picture makes me smile with those ears and full face shot!
We bred Memphis that fall to a CVM ram that we also purchased. Memphis had twin ewe lambs (a shepherd’s dream) and so began our first lessons. First, lambing, which she did with complete grace, and second, one of the twins (Trooper) was born with a nerve block in her spine making her unable to coordinate her brain to her back end with regularity.We named the twins Savannah and Trooper. As with Charlotte, Trooper was born an absolutely perfect little CVM with regard to color and markings. And her personality won us over despite her struggle. Here they were with Memphis on their first day, Savannah on the left, Trooper on the right.
After an unsteady start, Trooper gained strength and was able to romp and play and nurse just like Savannah. After they were adjusted to the barn, warm weather arrived and they went out to pasture to run and jump and sproing! Notice how much smalller Trooper is and how her back is not right. We felt though that if she could make it we just would let her be a fleece bearer and friend, never to breed her, of course.
But after 6 weeks as Trooper got larger, she lost control of her hind end more and more and Savannah wanted to play harder and it was just too much for Trooper. We made the gut-wrenching decision to put her to sleep. And I can tell you, once again, I will never make a tough old shepherd. I cried for days for that little Trooper who fought so hard to survive. We laid her to rest under the maple tree in the pasture behind the house which is now one of the summer shed areas where the flock stays cool in the summer months. And that shed has a tiny little plaque on it “In Memory of Trooper~ May 2003”. Lessons from Memphis that have to be learned.
Memphis has taught us other lessons. In 2004 she managed to get something lodged in her gum line and it eventually worked it way out to her cheek when I noticed the abscess. That was another toughy as it had to be lanced (the vet came, thank you!) and she did not enjoy that at all. Then every day for a week we had to hold her while I drained the wound and flushed it and then gave her shots of medication. That was my first try at injections and that took some doing. I am a bit squeamish but have managed to do them now although I will never enjoy it.
Another lesson I learned from Memphis occurred the fall of 2004 when she started to hobble on pasture. She would actually graze on her knees. Not being aware of the issue or what to do, again, I called the vet and they jumped to the conclusion we had foot rot. No way! I said, and started to read everything. Low and behold in the simple little book by Storey Books “Raising Sheep The Modern Way”, I read about the toe gland which is located just above the hoof area on the front of the foot, shown below.
It secrets a waxy substance and from time to time the gland can get plugged. Then pressure builds in the foot and it is painful for the sheep to walk. Here I am paying Memphis a visit on pasture to help clear the gland. It can take a few times if the situation gets aggravated but clears quickly with no medication. Memphis actually would hold out her leg and let me help her. She knew what the problem was an taught me what to do.
In 2006 Memphis lambed a single ewe lamb, Charlotte. Jack had gone down to the barn early AM to see what her status was as she was showing signs of lambing the day before. Nothing happening so he came back to the house. At 8AM we went down to the barn to feed the sheep and tend to the ewes and lambs in the big barn where Memphis was awaiting her special day. We arrived to Memphis having lambed and Charlotte was in the middle of the barn with the other mothers and lambs all around. We quickly gathered Charlotte and Memphis and got them to their private jug (a small pen with feed, water and a warming box where the ewe and lamb spend a few days so they bond).
The following day we noticed Memphis had a swollen teat , bright red and Charlotte was not well. Vet call. He came and found that Memphis had injured her udder in the lambing process and the udder got blood in it. That blood had infected Charlotte and because she was in her most important 24 hours of life needed immediate help. The vet gave both Memphis and Charlotte injections and left us with the following instructions; twice a day we needed to milk out the blood from Memphis’ udder (about a quart would do) and give her some pain meds for a few days. Charlotte had medicine to take each day for three days. Well, that was a ball. Jack goes to work at 6:30 each day so we got up at 5, milked Memphis, did meds, retaped the teat and then each night we repeated the course. It went on for 11 days before finally the milk was clear enough for Charlotte to drink again. We taped Memphis’ teat shut each time so Charlotte wouldn’t be tempted, and miraculously it stayed on! And thank God Memphis has two teats! If we had not treated Memphis she would have developed mastitis and could have lost the proper function of the udder. As it turned out she came through beautifully and Charlotte used both teats thereafter. Little Charlotte was so good, she felt great after a few days but had to stay with Memphis in a private but spacious pen for the eleven days when all her lamb comrades waited to play with her. We would get them both into the jug for the treatment and Charlotte would lie down under the heat lamp while Jack milked Memphis. To this day I wonder if it is why Charlotte is so mellow. She never runs away or jumps from fear at all. Another lesson taught by Memphis. Here they are in the jug the first few days and you can see the tape on her teat.
Later in the spring this is Memphis with Charlotte. Memphis is the only ewe we have whose lambs still lay with her as adults. Savannah will lay next to Memphis and lay her head over Memphis’ back while they rest.
And so this is the story of Memphis (So far!!). Here she is enjoying her birthday. See how little she has changed? I am sure there will be more lessons to learn from her and I will never tire of listening to her. She is a grand ewe and will be with us for the duration. Heres to you, dear Memphis, on your special day!
