By Our Fires!

I am so happy to announce the first lamb of 2014! This is the big boy born this morning from my youngest ewe, Brick. I would have bet money on twins but it turns out she just had this little muppet inside, horns and all! He's healthy with a big belly full of colostrum and born on a mild night (lucky guy). I discovered him this morning when I was out doing chores and it was like getting shot in the heart with a smile arrow. Just seeing that wobbly, goofy, little guy next to his healthy mother was sunlight in my ribcage. It felt so good to be holding that little squirming heartbeat. To hear the sound of a mother ewe, chortle and whisper sheep secrets to her little one. I inhaled that baby lamb smell, wishing I could bottle it but knowing any artifice of the experience wouldn't be the same. New life! Here comes spring in full force. You know, I had started the morning with prayers and smiling. I had a warm fire, hot tea, and a good dog by my side and here was this amazing gift. I had to share this morning's prayer as it was so properly fitting:

Even in the Cold Time, when everything seems dead,
each moment is born after its predecessor and time
goes on: you give birth even in the poverty of winter.
...Together let us fill the long night with light,
calling all beings to warm themselves by our fires.

He'll get his shots soon and if any of you out there are looking for a purebred Scottish Blackface ram lamb for your flocks I'll refrain from castration. He is for sale if someone wants a breeding animal! Just email me or comment here with information to contact you.

I am hoping that the other Blackface Ewe will have a ewe lamb in her. This farm needs young blood and some of the older males sold off. I want to scale down to a smaller, productive, blackface flock. The only other possibly pregnant sheep is Maude but I'm not sure new life can even spawn inside something so surly. I kid. In truth Maude has never had a lamb, though many a ram has tried. Every spring she gets fat and looks pregnant but so far she's not packing anything but pounds from grain and second cut.

Bonita is t-minus two weeks I'd say! She is round as heck, udders are milking up, and I can not wait to have a kid or two in the house, milk on tap, soap in molds, cheese in the fridge, cream in my coffee…..mmmm.

Blessed, This Spring! Now smile and know we're looking for warmer days ahead!