Life and Death

This is not a downer post but if you live on a farm you learn that death is a part of life itself whether you experience unexpected loss or you harvest an animal. If your lucky, you also get to witness a birth and no matter what the animal is it is a real privilege.

About a week ago we got up one morning and noticed that our ewe Tulip was pacing and then rolling on the ground and we knew she was about to give birth. You don't always get to witness these events because it can happen at night or they hide or your just gone for the day so we were all very excited to see this. I invite you to look at her face and look at the little bundle coming out; those little white things in the amniotic sac are hooves.

It only took about 10 minutes for the first one to be born and that is a little head you see. It was moving and trying to break the membrane. Sheep carry twins in separate amniotic sacs so we were privileged to see two distinct births.

This was Tulips second time around so she pretty much knew what to do and she is a very attentive mother.

So we had twins and they cry like a human baby.

Its crucial that they nurse and get colostrum in the first 24 hours so we were a bit apprehensive but it all worked out like it usually does.

The white one was the runt of the two and failed to thrive and we lost him but the little brown one who we have named Cocoa is healthy and active and she could be posted in Wiki as an example of cute.

So we had a birth and a death and the circle of life continues.

Its also been deer hunting season which is a very big deal here but this year opening day was warm and windy to about 50 mph and we didn't even see one deer. Holly and I were in our double tree stand and it was like a Disney ride we were tossed around so much. We normally get a couple of deer but the harvest numbers were way down this year due to the weather and probably last years drought but I did get this nice 4 point buck. He had a small rack but was heavy bodied with a nice fat cap and appeared to be very healthy.

This buck was pretty big bodied for around here. I was shooting a 30-06 Savage 110 with a cheap Bushnell scope and 180 gr Core Lokt ammo at about 130 yards while he was on the move following a doe. I thought I had missed him because I never saw him drop and the doe ran off flashing her tail right across the front of our stand but I didn't take a shot because I didn't know positively about the one I shot at (we had any deer tags and could have taken a buck or doe). I apologized to Holly for blowing two chances to fill our freezer and since these were the only two deer we had seen to that point I was really bummed. I am an excellent marksman with decades of shooting experience and I couldn't believe I missed. But I learned long ago to check and not just assume so I climbed down, crossed a creek and hiked over to where I had seen it and there it lay. It dropped so fast because I had shot it through the heart and thankfully missed all other organs so it was easy to gut.

I am including these pictures because I have noticed a trend where people will go out hunting and then don't want to gut or clean their harvest and I just think that's wrong somehow. I was talking to a butcher right before deer season and he said they get a lot of deer brought in and half the time the hunter hasn't even gutted the thing and then they pay $65 and up to have the animal turned into hamburger...no, no and no.

We use all parts of the animal, antlers for knife handles, bones for stock, the hide gets tanned, and we harvest all of the meat for steaks, roasts, stew meat and sometimes hamburger. And I want to slap those who take a beautiful backstrap like this one and turn it into hamburger or jerky.

 

Some people don't like hunting and I get that but if you hunt be respectful of your harvest and learn to enjoy the process of preserving and using it just like you do with growing vegetables. To me taking your deer to be gutted and butchered by someone else you don't know is like harvesting your crop and taking it to a store to have it canned. Life is good, we are living it to the fullest!

 

Sheep

Its been a busy month here on the farm and as we close out summer we look forward to the bit of rest that fall always promises.

Fire Fighting school continues through 14 Dec and though it can be a pain to drive the 80 miles round trip to school a couple times a week I am finding that its rewarding in many ways. I am certainly learning a lot and I also like the camaraderie from the Fire Fighters from various departments. We have had some drop out but we all just finished the Hazardous Materials Operations level course which is a prerequisite to getting certified as a Level II Fire Fighter and I think the rest of us are hard core enough to stick it out to the end.

We have the fall garden going well, we are getting ready to do our second cutting of hay and as the title of this post alludes to..we have a couple of sheep now. We are also getting ready for number 1 daughter Jenny's wedding next month....and I for one am ready for things to slow down (what happened to the Simple Life?).

We have been getting rain on and off so things are still green here which pleases me as a farmer but its not making the bow hunters too happy...yes its deer season already though I don't hunt until the rifle season in November.

I enjoy these little vignettes around the farm and particularly in fall and spring. The haying equipment is staged waiting for a 4 or 5 day dry period so we can cut, dry, windrow, and bale. 

The Black Walnut trees are some of the first trees to start shedding leaves and though they aren't colorful, their scattering on the ground means fall is soon to come even though its still hot during the day. The weather people are saying that we will have a rough winter and a colorful fall...its time (actually passed time) to start thinking of cutting wood for the wood boiler.

We stated at the beginning of the year in a blog post that we were going to start fixing up the old barn this year and get electric to the pole barn shop and we have now started both projects. Maybe a little late in the year but we have been busy and sometimes things just get pushed to one side for awhile.

The previous owner had built barn doors out of interior grade tongue and groove paneling with no cross bracing and he attached everything with paneling nails. I guess it was an attempt but as you can imagine it didn't last long and we have been putting off fixing this issue ever since we bought this place. Holly and I have now replaced a couple of the doors with heavy 2x6 planks with Z bracing and the doors now open to the inside instead of the reverse like they were. Its satisfying work, very satisfying.

And this is why we finally got around to fixing up the barn and doing a bunch of fencing around the place. This is Tulip, a pregnant Dorper Ewe that we traded the old golf cart for (along with a little mixed Ram).

Tulip and Nike have adjusted well to their new surroundings and they have the run of the stall inside the barn, the barnyard in front and the two paddocks behind the barn.

Nike was bottle fed and is very affectionate and likes to be petted and have his ears scratched while Tulip is more reserved.

They make a bit of noise once in a while, Bandit and Rose have already made friends with them, and the cattle are curious as all get out and spend hours next to the paddock fence bellowing to them or just staring at them and watching everything they do. They add a lot to the farm and we hope to grow the herd.

 

 

A Visit to Bowen Creek Farm for Some Inspiration

We visited our friends Susan and Blenna at their farm not too far from us a couple weeks ago and  had a very enjoyable day looking at their operation, having a great lunch, and getting advice. Bowen Creek Farm (www.bowencreekfarm.com) is a 97 acre mixed beef and sheep operation with a large 300 tree orchard and Susan and Blenna are kindred spirits in their pursuit of a simple sustainable life.

As we progress in our own farm operations its really helpful to see how others are doing things which not only gives us inspiration it gives peace of mind that we aren't totally out in left field. We found plenty of inspiration and ideas at Bowen Creek and now if the weather would cooperate we are anxious to get going this spring. They are both a little older than us but they work around their challenges and Susan is even a published author so it kind of makes my frustration with my own physical limitations seem kind of selfish and there is no doubt about it I need to get back to writing. My writing in the past has centered mostly around grant writing, technical writing and the occasional magazine article but there is really no reason I am not more prolific other than I get lazy.

We are looking at getting some goats this year but seeing the sheep has made us rethink a little bit. Goats I know a little about and sheep not a bit but they sure were appealing. As you can see they weren't far removed from lambing and the lambs were just enjoyable to watch as they played and suckled their mothers.

This little guy had to be bottle fed as his mother doesn't produce enough milk and he followed Susan and Blenna around like a little puppy all the while his mother would bleat her dismay.

But this is a working farm and they do sell lamb and from what I remember the wool.

Their farm is similar to ours in that they build things themselves and reuse what might otherwise have been thrown away but its laid out nice and its a great little farm. You show up to their place and the dogs bark, the sheep are bleating and the cattle and horses (and donkeys) make their own distinctive sounds which all just feels right. One of the things we enjoy about our own farm is having the dogs come running and barking when we come home, the sounds of the chickens and our rooster Carmine, and the cows letting us know its time to feed. Its all part of what makes the place seem alive.

It was a cold blustery day when we were there...until we entered their 30'x80' Farm Tek green house. They were just beginning to prep the beds while we were there but with the cold winter wind whipping outside it was about 70 inside the greenhouse and the grass was already green. We helped plant some ginger root (and learned how to do it in the process which will be the subject of a future post) and got some good ideas for our own operation. One of the things we have already realized and confirmed with this visit is that we need more greenhouse capacity. Their operation is a lot larger than ours and we wont be getting such a large greenhouse but we have already figured out what we want based on this visit and will be ordering ours this week.

One of the things we enjoy seeing when we visit other farms is the unique structures people make out of what is available. This greenhouse was constructed with old windows and pieces of lumber that were laying around the farm from other projects and its full of Blenna's tropical plants. It was warm inside, very tropical and we plan on doing something similar with all of the windows we have from replacing our farmhouse windows.

Not content with making me jealous over the greenhouses Blenna had to take me into her shop to show me the 1972 Harley Davidson 175 dirt bike she is restoring. These are pretty rare and very rare in this condition. Everything was original and it had virtually no rust and it would just be a kick in the pants to ride on the farm....kind of gives me some ideas ...now just to figure out how to get these ideas past Holly.

I just thought this was a pleasing picture and I took it to help me design our own road that we need to define access to our own various pastures. They have nicely sectioned paddocks and to the right here is a nice pasture and wood lot, directly ahead is a large pasture where they are running cattle and to the left are a couple of other pastures where they hay and keep horses and a couple donkeys. You have to have access to feed and water your animals, you need to ensure you have good fences and gates, and it need to accommodate moving livestock between pastures for rotational grazing. It sounds easy but if you put the work into something and it isn't ideal you will regret it and can waste a lot of energy and money.

 

 

And finally, this time of year is the mud season. Snow, then rain, then periods of sunny weather, more snow, more rain and no matter what you do it gets muddy. It also doesn't help that our sewer project last fall left large patches of soil where we used to have grass and that wont be corrected until spring (the contractors will come back in a month or so and smooth out the dirt work and hydro seed).

 

We have been busy, we continue to progress and spring it just around the corner.