Our First Month Home

 We brought the Shetlands home on June 18; one month ago.  

Just today we moved their fencing onto a small section of the "sheep pasture."  Until today, they have only been rotated through the yard; spaces we have mowed in the past.  It has been several years since we even mowed the pasture area.  The forage is tall and mature... lots of weeds.  Obviously the ewes would prefer the tender nibbles of baby forbs and clipped grasses.  But the pasture is decent forage, if not delectable.  As they are moved frequently, they will only be forced to eat the upper third of the plants.

Baby Heidii loves me just a little bit more than fresh grass...
for a couple of minutes anyway.

Green Beans

Mom and I harvested approximately 150 cups of green beans today from my auntie's garden.  It has been years, maybe even decades, since I've picked beans with Mom.  I had to smile a little when she shouted across the rows a reminder to "pick'em close."

 

As if I knew any other way to pick them! I believe I've had more green bean picking training than all other types of preparation (academic, life skills, or otherwise) combined!  Though I've come to realize, later in life, that my veggie and berry picking skills may be specific to my matriarchal line.  These truths I know in my bones:

Truth 1: If you don't pick green beans close, you have to pick them EVERY DAY. If you want to do something fun tomorrow, you better pick those beans CLOSE today!

Truth 2: If you don't pick clean, you will spend your afternoon cleaning beans instead of playing, while your mother describes, in detail, the subtleties of how to snap a bean off the bush perfectly, without sacrificing any length of bean, or damaging the brittle vines or delicate blossoms of the bush.

Truth 3: Bean season doesn't end until Mom says it does. At which point, the vines are ripped up with exhausted, exasperated viciousness, and thrown over the fence to the eager cows.

Every woman in my excessively large rural family had a monster of a garden and put up a year's-worth of food during our short Northern Minnesota growing season. I don't know how other kids spent their summers because I was too busy spending my childhood planting, weeding, picking, snapping, washing, cutting, and filling canning jars with green beans. If my sister and I didn't pick the beans closely enough on the first try, we had to pick the row again. Mom definitely checked our work. If she found one missed bean of appropriate picking size, we had to repeat the row.

I'm not complaining. I'm rather proud of the fact that I know how to pick "close" and "clean." It just made me smile that Mom thought she should remind me.

Cool Morning. Hot Day.

Last night was deliciously cool and we slept with the windows open.  There is only one drawback that accompanies that free luxury: we hear every growl, howl, and bark of our livestock guardian dog, Lleulu.  As well as the sassy nocturnal opinions of the cat.

At some point during the night, I remember hearing a terrible yip.  My sleeping brain registered the sound as "dog touched electric fence."  I should have woken up to investigate.  But I trust Llu to manage things during the night and experience has taught me that she makes a different kind of noise when there is trouble.  So I didn't surface from my sleep.

 My first view of the day.

This morning, much to my surprise, I found Llu sleeping inside the ewe pen.  As a free-roaming "farm guardian" I do not pen her with the sheep.  She can deal with predators a lot better if she can maneuver around all the pens.  I have no idea how she came to be in the pen, other than I believe I heard that yelp of hers the moment it happened last night.  There was no damage to the fence, and the ewes were sleeping peacefully on the other side of the pen, under the tree.

Llu inside the fence

I opened the gate and let Llu out.  She came quickly and seemed relieved.  If she came to be in the pen by way of her own naughty mischief, she may have learned her lesson.  For all I know she pursued a rodent through the electronet...or saved the flock from a coyote in a wrestling match.  Or maybe she just couldn't wait any longer to introduce herself to the flock.  Regardless, I'm grateful everyone was ok this morning.

It didn't take long for the refreshing morning to burn off in the oven-like heat of mid-day.  All of us, human, dog, cat, and sheep alike, are just trying to stay cool in the shade.

Holly, waiting out the heat.

Heidi, in the deep, dark shade.

 

Slightly Curious

I was empty handed tonight when I visited the ewe pen. 

Mirta came right up, sniffed me from arm's length, determined that I was not carrying treats, and dismissed me. I'm learning she is a no-nonsense, forward kind of ewe that is willing to take calculated risks.

Mirta and Amber, the moorit and black katmogets, are usually the first two sheep to approach.

However, it was Holly, that approached next.  She was shy but came in much closer than I had expected.  All on her own.  I think if I continued to bring treats I could make some progress with her.

 Holly

After Holly departed, Leda took her turn at coming in for a closer look.  Of all the ewes, I consider her the most "skittish."  This is the first time I've actually seen her show any interest or curiosity in me.  Until tonight, she has behaved as if I don't exist, unless there is a significant treat barrier between us.  I'm encouraged that she is looking toward me with expectation.

 Leda

I'm content with this evening's progress.

Heidi Snuggles

My random, quiet, calm visits to the ewe pen have paid off.  The ewes no longer jump up and run when they see me coming.  They are starting to associate me with "tasty snacks."

This evening I walked straight out to the girls as they grazed, sat on my stool, and shook a dish of oatmeal. (About a quarter cup in total)  Heidi came running with the rest close behind and all five girls tried to shove their noses in the dish.  While the chaos ensued I simply reached in and caught Heidi.  She made a few attempts at bolting but I was rubbing her chest and ears and she settled down.  The ewes wandered off and I gently restrained Heidi a bit longer.  As she relaxed I released my hold until she was standing freely while I was petting her.  Then she walked away and I left the pasture.

It may take a few more sessions.  But I've had success befriending lambs in the past with this method.  I'm hoping it works again.

Mirta & Heidi

Shetlands Return to Boston Lake

There are sheep again at Boston Lake Farm!

Introducing my flock of Fine Fleeced Shetland Sheep from Kelly & Mike Bartels' farm,
OK Acres, in Monroe, Wisconsin.

Thank you, Kelly, for selecting this breeding group just for me from your outstanding flock.

Thank you, Clancy, for rigging up such a functional sheep hauler and driving to Wisconsin and back.

Thank you to our son, Asa, for dog sitting the puppers while we were gone.

I'm so happy to be a shepherd again.

OK Acres Mango.  He leads so nicely!

The ewes in the front yard.

Balsam Poplar Infusion

Yesterday I strained my jars of balsam poplar infusion that had been sitting in the sun since early spring.

(though we didn't have much sun in May or June....)   This batch has a lovely fragrance, but it is a milder scent compared to the first batch I made which I let steep for over a year.  This infusion was put together in late March/early April.  

So the lesson I learned is to put this infusion together and forget about it like I did the last time.  

However, the strong infusion sometimes puts people off with its pungent scent.  (My kids can always tell the minute I open the jar of salve I made last year.)  My original batch was VERY concentrated.  I'm interested to see if family and friends react to this batch differently.  I tend to think medicine might as well be strong.  But a gentle approach also has its place.  If people are more willing to use the recipe because the scent is not so sharp, then that matters too.

I used organic olive oil for the infusion.  But I haven't decided if I will experiment with a new recipe this year.  Since there is more than 3 quarts to work with, I can play with the original recipe if I want to.  I call the original recipe, Healing Salve.  It is excellent for wounds, scrapes, sores, and bruises.  

"Native Americans used resin from buds to treat sore throats, coughs, lung pain, and rheumatism. An ointment, Balm of Gilead, was made from the winter buds to relieve congestion."

http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/trees/populusbal.html 

One of my friends, a piano teacher, applies it to her hands as "good medicine" to ward off stiffness.

Me?  I just like the smell.  I think it smells like spring... and walking through the swampy section of our driveway to the school bus in the early spring mornings of my childhood.  I loved the smell of "bombagillian", the Northern Minnesota slang for Balm-of-Gilead.  I always knew that beautiful fragrance must be good for something.  So I was delighted when, as an adult, a friend shared with me how to infuse the buds and make a simple salve.

I like to use my salve on my hands and feet in winter time.  My skin is dry and cracks easily.  The salve is very healing and effective on broken skin.

Bonfire & Bears

One of three fires Clancy lit last night.

Six teenagers were on hand to make the most of it.

What a gorgeous night.

 Plus the plum blossoms are in full bloom. 

And I saw another black bear (this one a true shiny black rather than last week's Hershey brown color) grubbing for turtle eggs along Boston Lake Road yesterday.

(sorry-no time for a photo before he bounded into the watery cedar swamp)

 But thanks to our faithful Lleulu, no bears in the yard so far this year.

(I love love LOVE her!)

This has already been a lovely weekend...with one more day to go.  

Thanks to all the Veterans and their families out there.

Spring

Thanks to the ice being almost out on Boston Lake, there are many wonderful dead things washed up on shore for Lleulu to roll in.

She is very pleased with her smears of stink.

It also appears as though a pair of Sandhill Cranes have taken a liking to our small sheep pasture that is currently void of sheep.  I thought the trumpeters were loud...these cranes produce a true cacophony of croaking!  They make quite a fuss when Lleulu makes her rounds in their area.

Clancy is busy cutting down more trees today....trees we've been meaning to cut for several years now.  It seems as though the spring cleaning is happening out in the yard this year.

Spring Work

Clancy cut down several dead, dying, ugly, and inconveniently placed trees this past Saturday.  There are still so many more to deal with, but we wanted to make sure the mess got cleaned up before the grass started growing so we only cut a few at a time.  

Thanks to a chainsaw and use of my dad's Bobcat, we got all the firewood carried to the stove area and all the branches carried to a clear area near the pasture where a bonfire this fall will do no harm.  It is quite a mountain of brush, and I'm sure more will be added to it in the weekends to come.

A few of the trees that we took out were over-mature birch along the lake shore.  They have been there for as long as I can remember.  We will miss their shade and creamy white trunks...but not the enormous dead limbs they would randomly drop.  Thankfully, several young birch trees are already established in the vicinity.  The tradition continues...

Difficult Decisions

About a month ago a local shepherd contacted me to ask if I was willing to sell 5-10 breeding ewes.  The conversation came out of the blue but I couldn't deny that I had been thinking of selling my flock for a while.  After several discussions I agreed to sell my flock as a whole. 

 

This past Sunday my entire flock of 11 Shetland ewes left to live on a farm in Solway, MN.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have my flock sell as a unit.  I know it will be less stressful on them to have their flock-mates by their side as they get used to new surroundings.  And beyond making the decision to part with them, selling to a single person was so much easier than advertising and dealing with multiple buyers over the course of many months.

 

I retained my entire wool clip and will be sending it off for processing soon.  That should give me a great deal of wool to needle felt and spin.  And I always know some excellent farms to buy extra Shetland colors from if I need them.

 

I also am keeping all of my electronet, energizers, and sheep coats.  Clancy and I both agree that our farm is very well situated to sheep farming.  I know my Shetlands were happy here.  And we plan to reinvest in another flock someday.

 

But in the meantime, I am grateful to have this extra space in my life to adjust to my family's busy schedule.  I will be able to focus on finishing our house and investing in our grounds.  I can do more artwork.  And I can travel with Clancy and the boys.

 

I never did fence in the girls this spring.  I would lock them into electronet at 9pm every evening...letting them out at 6am every morning.  But they were free ranging up until the new owner took them away.  I managed to snap these photos on their last morning here.

 

I admit my eye is constantly looking for them out the window.  Since they were never locked up I had to keep tabs on them to make sure they didn't wander too far from home.  I still listen for them.  I still expect to see them across the pasture or in the murky depths of the forest surrounding our home. 

I do miss them.

 

But I am also deeply content and I know I made the right decision for my family by giving up shepherding for a while.

 

Another family member that left Boston Lake this past Sunday was Megan. 

Because of work and travel, she had to spend most of her days in her kennel and crate.  For the past several months I just felt so guilty about her reduced lifestyle and I sought a new home for her.

 

After many interviews with nice folks, we met a lovely couple with a large farm that asked to be her new family.  Meg fell in love with them and their pastured pigs, flock of free-ranging chickens, spacious barn complete with resident cats, and several grandchildren of all ages.

 

During our second visit to this lovely farm, Meg would not leave the side of the little grandkids that were petting her when she saw me climb into my van to leave.  It was like she said, "You go.  I have work to do here."  She was giving her full attention to her new family as I drove out of their yard.

 

I do miss Meg, too.

But I couldn't be more happy for her and her new family.

And so I feel grateful to have such a deep contentment about Megan, too.

 

Through all of these huge changes, I prayed.  As my aunt reminded me the other day, God promises to care about everything that concerns us.  Finding happy, safe homes for my sheep and Megan was something I was so worried about.  God answered my prayers in ways even more wonderful than I could have hoped.

 

I wish my dear sheep and my precious Meg long happy lives with their new families.

And I wish for myself the stamina and self-confidence to make wise use of the open space in this new chapter of my life. 

 



Shearing 2013

The ice just left Boston Lake last evening.

It was freezing cold. 

New snow on the ground this morning.

But shearing is Finished. 

And I am so grateful!

All the ewes looked good...even the timid young girls and my 'narrow Nhu.'

 

The girls have had their CD & T shots, their hooves trimmed, and been sheared now.

Whew!

 

Here are a few 'after' photos...











Late Spring Pasture

There is not much green about yet...

but the ewes love nothing better than roaming far and wide in search of nibbles.

Finally got the girls out on pasture Monday (5/6/13).  That is really LATE!  But we had snow covering everything right up till then.  We still have ice on the lake and Opener is tomorrow.  Good luck to the fisherman trying to find open water.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the sheep enjoying their freedom...

 

 

 



 







Good Lil' Lleulu

To say I am pleased with Lleulu's progress would be understatement. 

Yes, she shreds anything she can get her jaws on.  She tends to target shoes and clothing that smells like her precious family.  She still is ambushed on an hourly basis by the crazy, extra-long tail that's mysteriously attached to her own hind-end.  But when it comes to LGD work...she is showing excellent promise.

The lack of rain and grass has finally forced me to let the sheep loose to wander through all the woods and nooks and crannies of the farm in search of edibles.  Thankfully there is quite a bit to be had.  But it was the first time Lleulu was exposed to "loose sheep."  My only real concern was that she would want to chase them....as she likes to goof around that way with our border collie, Meg. 

Disclaimer:  I know I'm raising Lleulu with slightly different tactics than the literature recommends for an LGD.  But our facilities and circumstances demanded I get creative.  So my goal was to stick to the spirit of good LGD training even if the details were not ideal.  I would say Lleulu is more bonded to the farm, than the sheep.  But that suits my needs just fine.  If she ends up defending the farm, I still have a good dog!  :)

Lleulu did GREAT under this new experience.  The sheep, in their excitement, did run and jump as soon as they discovered the magnitude of their freedom.  And Lleulu did want to chase them.  But I had her on a long leash and I gave it a quick "yank & NO" and she stopped.  I stayed outside with the flock and Lu for about an hour and decided to let Lu off-leash.  When the sheep ran a second time all it took was a firm NO to prevent her from taking off after them.  After a while I went in the house and watched out the windows.  Lleulu had one more chance to chase and all it took was a rap on the window to make her rethink her choice.  She plopped back down and watched the sheep frolic. 

Good dog!

 

I'm sure I will need to correct her from time to time...but I give Lleulu credit for being a very fast learner.  I'm so proud of her.  She's even starting to look like a real LGD...   lol



Boston Lake Pier

It has been a very dry summer and the lake is down.   The old timbers that were once support for a pier at the south end of Boston Lake are visible once again. 

 

When the original forests were logged off a century ago, the huge logs were floated across the lake and loaded onto the rail spur that bordered the south shore.  The submerged timbers, and the rail bed that became Boston Lake Road, are some of the more noticeable reminders of that era.

 

Our farm shore is in the upper left distance.  Those tall white pines are the trees I often photograph with the sheep.  And the spruce spears are next to our house.

 



Sunflowers

I don't have my wildflower field guide handy to correctly identify these flowers. 

 I just call them wild sunflowers. 

Such a cheerful, Autumn flower.

 

Blue Moon

The Blue Moon rising above Boston Lake on August 31, 2012.