This is March madness, my style. No basketball for me! We are still waiting for lambs to arrive; I think our first will be here by tomorrow. So meanwhile I am keeping busy, today with dying yarn. I wanted a color that would welcome spring and this color is reminiscent of the Azaleas that will be blooming in just a few months! But today the temps never got over 30 and with the wind chill it felt like 15. March is the cruelest month, enough to drive a person mad!
If sleep knits the ragged sleeve of care, does knitting ease the ragged sleeve of waiting? Waiting for lambs to be born; knitting is great when waiting for things to happen! I finished the knitting part of this entrelac bag this morning…been working on it since February. I just need to felt it and it should look great!
Here’s Ashley; she’ll be 11 in April! She’s first on the list for lambing. We took her coat off today so we can watch her progress. She’ll get a sunken look in front of her hips a few days before lambing. She’s got a great appetite and is mellow and happy. Currently she has the lowest micron (finest) count of all our fleeces. Nice color, isn’t it?
It’s a bright, sunny morning. We recieved at least 10″ of fluffy, white snow, the farm is quiet under it all. I let the non-lambers out this morning and Daisy immediately walked the perimeter of their winter area, right to the spot Jessie had died, then she stood at the fence for the longest time, just looking out. Daisy and Jessie grew up together, they were inseparable. She never gave me too much attention because she had what she needed. Now she is at my side. It’s interesting and I subscribe to the belief that animals do have connections, people and their own. They know loss and they show it if you are watching.
We lost this most wonderful ewe today. We got to the barn this morning for feeding and somehow in the night she had gotten tangled up in the fencing and just couldn’t free herself. Jessie turned 2 this month, she was a high- spirited, bouncy, happy sheep. She never really took on ewe status, still acted more like a 6 month old lamb. It has been a very long day; losing an animal, whether it’s expected or not is never easy. Jessie will not easily be forgotten. The shearer came today as planned, so we did shear Jessie too. All the ewes are sheared, coats are back on, the straw is bedded high and the pregnant ewes are nestled in one barn, the non-lambers in another. The weather is supposed to be particularly cold for the next few days but all is well. We have 4 ewes ready to lamb within the month of March! The cycle of life goes on. But for tonight our thoughts are with Jessie as she climbs the stairway to heaven. She’ll get in!
So here is a picture of our Bea and her beautiful udder! I have been anxiously checking every day the past few weeks waiting for some sign that the ewes are bred, time is marching on, come on girls! Low and behold, Bea and Ashley are on their way! Now I know it doesn’t look to promising but it’s just beginning!
