Suddenly, Lambs!

What happens when you look at your sheep in the morning before work and think, “Looks like we’ve got a good week” ?

What happens is that you get a text at 9 pm that one of the ladies has birthed twins.

Carina had apparently waited for the two hour window in which no one was looking and then birthed, cleaned, and began nursing twin rams. In a panic, Neve ran out with towels and iodine to take care of umbilical cords and drying off. By the time I got home the boys had full tummies and were ready to nap. I hustled them into a pen  and filled a shelter with plenty of dry bedding and hay for Carina.

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The white boy is called Harris. The black one, Orkney. This year’s theme is Scottish islands.

 

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Solstice!

Well, it’s raining. Again. Still.

My vegetables and flowers are so waterlogged from all the rain that I’m tempted to scrap the garden completely and start over. We had to cancel our plans to pick peaches and roast marshmallows for Solstice. It’s too wet, and there’s flash flood warnings for town. Last time (a mere few weeks ago) this happened, people died locally from swift-moving and swollen creeks. Instead we are watching movies and hoping no one lambs in the deluge.

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We managed to get out for cherry picking not so long ago, and the orchards aren’t faring much better with the weather. The cherries were splitting and then molding on th vine faster than they could be picked.  It was a small harvest.

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We did have enough to make a small batch of Brandied Cherry Jam, though.

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Granola has gotten used me to being out to check on the Ladies (we are in the lambing window now!) , and though he still won’t let me handle him much, he does like to check my pockets for treats.

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While we wait for the rain to end and the lambs to arrive, we are going to eat our weight in blueberry gateau.

Hopefully your solstice is more summery than ours!