Farm Fresh Blog

I received a gentle reminder from a long time reader that Facebook is nice, but I need to get back to blogging. 
 

She's right. 
 

Life had gotten busy and rather than slowing down and taking time to blog, I'd turned to social media. Facebook is nice, but she's right, it's a poor substitute for real writing. That said, in the face of this pandemic it's a good time to get blogging again. We are all being forced to assess our life choices. Choosing an early retirement meant a whole lot less money but a richer life. It meant taking part time jobs. I teach forensics at a local police academy now and I substitute teach at our local middle school. Since I was a sixth grade Science teacher before I was a police officer, it isn't much of a stretch, and I'm really enjoying being back in the classroom again.

But now, like many Americans, I'm out of work. That's okay because it allows me to go back to being a full time shepherd, and frankly, now the farm is literally putting food on the table. The hens have risen to a new level of prestige around here and that one rooster is king. He is the key to fertilized eggs if we need to incubate some eggs to expand the flock later. 
 

The sheep are now necessary resources. The ewes that were providing milk for making soap may soon be providing milk for my coffee. (God help us if I run out of coffee.) I didn't breed the goats this year and I'm having some regrets now. I may buy or borrow a buck later if it looks like it'll be necessary but for now I will rely on the sheep. My Sheep Mother taught me that sheep are a gift from our Creator and if we take care of the sheep, they'll take care of us. That has never been more true than now. The rains are here and so the pastures are lush. Unfortunately this has resulted in a worm bloom of epic proportions and I've had to worm sheep that I have not had to worm in three years. We only worm those individuals rather than the entire flock and I take note of who needed to be wormed. In this season I don't necessarily hold it against those who needed working but those who did not get a gold star. 
 

We have new lambs now. During lambing season we lost two lambs and my beloved milking ewe, Avis. Avis left us with an orphaned ram lamb, Cecil, who has become a bit of a Facebook darling. Oh, how I wish he'd been born a girl. It looks like he'll be a bottle baby ram with less than stellar horns so against the protests of the Other Half, he'll be neutered. I don't need a wether (neutered male sheep) but I can't butcher him either. My husband and a slew of people on Facebook would have my head on a pike, therefore Cecil is safe.

So now that I remember my password, and we've caught up, tomorrow we'll be back to regular blogging. I leave you with this image that I stumbled upon yesterday while I was checking fence. I followed the sound of running water to this sight. It was what my pastor would call a "yah God moment." This waterfall was so peaceful. It reminded me that in the midst of world chaos we need to slow down, breathe, and look for God. 
 

Peace. Be still.

I couldn't get the video to post here but if you have Facebook you can see it at Farm Fresh Forensics on Facebook.