Farming in the shade

Once all the ewes and lambs became acclimated to being outside, it was time to move them away from the barn and to the real pastures. We chose an evening when several of us were available, and The Farmer led the way.  It was one of our easier moves, actually, as we had fence lanes all the way. It gets really interesting when we move the flock along the edge of an open field. We need a lot more people to act as fence during those kinds of moves, and they always make us wish for a good dog. But this one was pretty easy. Two of us came behind slowly, just to be sure no one decided to turn around and head back home. Here we are about halfway. We're in a tree line with lush grass--much nicer than what the sheep were used to. See how they're getting distracted? I guess I forgot to snap a photo once we had them in their pasture, but they were all contentedly eating. All in all, it was a fairly easy move.

The purpose of all war is peace. --St. Augustine

Our daughter is working for us again this summer, home from college. Two summers ago we had a simply disastrous year with keeping sheep alive. Shepherds all over the state reported heavy death losses to parasites. So we know we weren't alone that summer. But we also knew that heavy worm loads can be minimized with careful management. And there is just too much work on this farm for one employee. Even with all the familial minions. We needed someone whose passion was working with the sheep. Enter college daughter. Last summer she did a fabulous job of managing the sheep's grazing and care. If you don't know anything about rotational grazing, I can boil it down for you. Set up a small temporary fence and let the sheep graze there for 1-2 days, until most of the grass has been eaten. Set up another temporary fence and let the sheep graze there for 1-2 days, until most of the grass has been eaten. Repeat, all summer long. In your spare time, maintain the electrical current ...

It seems that I'm getting a lot of spam here at the blog lately. In an effort to cut down on it, I've added the dreadful word verification form to the commenting process. I don't like it. But I also don't like spam. If things lighten up (spam-wise), I'll try taking it off for a while. In the meantime, please accept my apology for the additional step when you comment. (By the way, I love comments!) We are busy planting crops and moving sheep and cows from pasture to pasture and endlessly fixing broken equipment. We are also struggling with the reality that an extended family member is under hospice care. Forgive me if I don't post as often as I should to hold your interest. Life is short. Please go hug those you love...

The sheep are happily out on pasture now--this is the first pasture we put them on. It was slightly overgrazed late last year, and is not lush like it should be. They spent a couple of days there, closer to the house, where we could easily watch them. This is only a small group of the sheep--we have around 100 ewes and their lambs. They tend to spread out when they feel safe and they're grazing. They've now moved on to another pasture. It's due to be taken out and planted to crops this spring. But it can provide much-needed feed for the sheep before we till it under. With last year's semi-drought, we are being extra careful about not wasting anything. Any pastures that grow faster than needed will be cut for hay in late spring. While many appreciate the late spring this year (to protect other farmers' fruit crops), it was a bad year to have a late spring for livestock farmers. Most of them were low on hay anyway because of last year's drought, an...

Michigan has many microclimates which support the growth of over 200 commodities on a commercial basis, making the state the second more agriculturally diverse state in the nation. Over 702,310 TONS of fresh market and processing vegetables were grown in Michigan in 2010. The state ranks 8th in fresh and 5th in processed vegetable production annually. --agclassroom.org

Spring is our reward for enduring a long winter. Our senses are full with birdsong, the scent of mown grass and tilled earth, breezes through the windows, and the beauty of flowers. 

Lately we've been getting phone calls, emails and facebook messages asking if we allow farm visits. Some of them are even phrased more directly, such as "when can we come and visit?"  We struggle with this, and I always carefully craft a response. I aim for a kind answer, but I'm not always sure I achieve that.  You see, if we started allowing personal visits to the farm, we'd never get anything done. That's our reality. The truth is, there are times when we run from one thing to the next.  But we do realize that we have something very, very special here. Something that not a lot of people have a chance to experience. And we want to share that.  So when there was talk of letting the sheep out of the barn for the spring, we decided to offer a quick glimpse to whomever could come on short notice. We emailed those who are on our email list, and posted it on facebook. We gave about 2 days notice, and we offered only a one hour window to come, late...