Reviving the Blog with Updates from the Farm
Wow – I cannot believe it’s been a whole year since my last post. Talk about a hiatus!
The truth is, I have missed writing about what’s been going on out here in the country, but I think I lost some momentum as I focused more on my YouTube channel. Still, I do enjoy having a place to share little pieces of life through words and photos, so it’s time to revive this blog.
Rather than recap this past year, let’s start with the present. In the past, I had refrained from referring to our place as a “farm”, but I think we have officially entered farm status. Here’s the dictionary definition of a farm: an area of land and its buildings used for growing crops and rearing animals, typically under the control of one owner or manager.
Ok, so maybe we could have technically declared our farm status when we got our chickens last year, but for me, getting sheep really made it official. Yes, we have sheep!
In May, Dennis partnered with one of our neighbors and purchased sheep to live and graze on our land. Currently, there are seventeen sheep. Six are ours. Three adults, one toddler, and two newborns (1.5 weeks old to be exact at the time of writing this post).
Did I ever imagine I’d be a sheep farmer? I think you know the answer.
I wasn’t involved in acquiring the sheep (this was all Dennis’s rodeo), but from what I know we have a mix of Katahdin hair sheep and Dorper sheep. Our partner has one Fries Melkschaap and perhaps a Swaledale (unconfirmed breed…please let me know if you have any ideas).
A few months ago, we noticed our girl Daisy looked pregnant, and that was confirmed last Monday when she gave birth to two adorable twins. A boy and a girl. We named them Jasmine (I wanted to pick a name that was a white flower because her mom is Daisy and she is white) and Jasper (my feisty Sicilian great-grandfather’s name).
It was a bit of a rocky start as Daisy rejected Jasper for the first few hours and didn’t let him nurse, but after rubbing placenta all over him (again, something I never imagined being involved with) she finally began nurturing him and he’s been growing strong ever since.
Daisy and the twins have been bonding and roaming around our backyard. At night they sleep in a large kennel so they’re protected from potential predators. Honestly, I’m already getting sad thinking about when it will be time to return them to the rest of the herd. They are probably the most adorable creatures I’ve ever seen in person.
It’s pretty incredible witnessing these new little lives. It has given me a new perspective on life and an unexpected sense of peace.
For more sheep, check out my YouTube Sheep Playlist
And for a good laugh, check out some Sheep Zoomies:
