WOOD LOT

I took advantage of a break in the weather to do some long delayed management of our woodlot. When we first purchased our farm, a couple of acres had just been logged of some very valuable cedar and other old-growth. In fact - the burn piles of the remaining logging slash were still smoldering as we signed the final papers. Once we became the stewards of this land I noted some great wetland habitat in this recently logged area and wished the logging plan would have provided a bit more protection for this resource. I spent some time to inventory the logged area and clean up some old fenceline and refuse. It didn't take much to realize that this north facing shaded frost pocket wouldn't be too valuable for sheep forage and I decided to restock it with Douglas fir, cedar, and hemlock. Plantingh was done with the help of a Girl Scout troop. I constructed a small footbridge for ease of access and our grandson named the creek running through it Butterfly Creek. Its technically an un-named tributary of Badger Creek (Badger Creek -> Sandy River -> Columbia River) but "Butterfly Creek" works for me. If the truth be known, I bet that that this little drainage has a number of names thanks to generations of grandchildren - but it will always be "Butterfly Creek" to me.

My specific objective the other day was to cut back the Scotch broom, which is an invasive noxious weed that if left to its own would take over this whole region. My hope is that if I can keep on top of this problem, the trees will grow and the canopy will shade out the sun that the Scotch broom requires. So far - I think its working but of course I'm in it for the long haul and patience is a virtue. One thing I noted was that where the native ground cover Oregon grape was well established, Scotch broom was absent. That may be good news and a possible management tool. But of course, it may be just the opposite - Scotch broom is crowding out the Oregon grape. I'll have to research this further. - Jeff Jaqua

Rainy Weather

It appears that the Pacific maritime influences have returned to dominate our weather. In other words - it's going to rain a lot. That's OK and is what we should expect and welcome. The natural grasses in our pastures sure seem to thrive with a bit of rain. And to tell the truth, this Winter has been a bit on the dry side. As opposed to last year, I have yet to plow any snow and the sheep have yet to restrict themselves to the barn. However, they sure seem to enjoy loafing under the lean-to and chew their cud while it rains. If they're hungry enough and there are enough goodies out in the pasture, they're quick to ignore the rain and will stand out in the worst downpour.

The other day, before the rains settled in, I did a thorough cleaning of the barn. I wanted to get this done to ensure the sheep had clean bedding from this point until we shear on February 6th. Clean bedding means clean fleece and clean fleece makes wool processing, that comes later, much easier. I spread all this nutrituous recylable onto the middle pasture and lightly disced it in. I've chosen not to disturb the soil too much and have yet to turn it over by plowing, preferring to preserve the natural microbial component, and working with what Nature provided me when we adopted this piece of land. It may be a bit slower process to get to the most productive forage for our sheep but I believe in the long run it will pay off. I figure the moles will do whatever deep turning of the soil that is needed. Any way, I felt pretty smart as I parked the disc and watched the new rain fall on the newly scratched soil and light spread of sheep manure.

- Jeff

Rotating Pastures

This afternoon I decided to move our ewes into one of our lower pastures. It wasn't necessarily because the forage was any better since this time of year we're not getting a lot of new growth, but they always seem to get so much enjoyment when they get to move. When they realize what I'm going to do they are quick to follow and will often beat me to the gate. Of course they do find some good eats out there, even in the winter. Because our pastures are on a south facing slope, a little green will pop up with only a bit of sun on one warm day. Just enough to keep the girls interested in the field and move their focus from the hay mangers. Moving them periodically of course is healthy for the soil and the importance of soil health in this business cannot be overestimated. - Jeff

The new year is upon us and I suppose it's obligatory to reflect a bit. I guess I can't very well argue with the popular media that we should be grateful to say good-bye to 2009, but I can't help to take a more local view of right here at Drumcliffe Farm, raise a glass to our good fortune, and feel a bit of optimism. And maybe that positive local view is the very perspective that will make things better for all of us. We increased the size of our flock, opened some new pasture, achieved recognition for our Jacobs at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, sold some fleece, improved our wool processing technique, and have a waiting list for lamb meat when we butcher in February. I wouldn't necessarily say that our business is turning a profit, but I can say that our business model seems to be a success.

The holiday season is coming to a close with only a few more bowl games to go and things are returning to a natural rhythm here on the farm, at least as much as any farm can attain a "rhythm". There always seems to be a surprise waiting around the corner. The other morning I awoke to a sheep bleating that didn't seem to be the normal "Get your butt out here and feed us" bleat. I investigated to find Ingrid caught in the brambles of a blackberry patch. She wasn't caught too badly and only needed a little encouragement from me to try a bit harder. She easily freed herself with only a few locks of fleece left behind.

Sheep are great at proving that I know nothing about sheep. It's common that when you introduce new sheep into the flock, they tend to keep to themselves until they get comfortable in identifying the matriarch and the general pecking order. When I introduced our four newest ewes into the flock the other day I noticed that one of our girls (Bide A Wee April) was hanging pretty close by. It wasn't until I was entering the pedigrees of our new sheep into the database that I noticed that April and one of our new sheep (Bide A Wee June) were full sisters - from the same set of triplets. We had bought them from two different farms and they had been separated for about one and one-half years, but it seems that they may have recognized each other. You'd think their names may have given me a hint. But I guess I prefer the sheep to tell me themselves, rather than figure it out from studying a data base.. Happy New Year to All!!