1st snow

We're experiencing our first winter storm of the season. Plenty of snow and wind. I never seem to be ready for this or maybe I just try to deny the inevitable. I got a kick of watching the chickens deal with their first snow. Daisy was the first to fly out of the hen house this morning and land on the night's before snow. She would try to put her weight on one foot to take a step, sink into the snow and squawk. It wasn't until this afternoon that they seemed to figure out how to get around in the snow, or maybe they just got hungry enough to venture out. I made sure they had water in the hen house along with a light bulb for heat.

Speaking of chickens. We moved the henhouse-on-wheels into the garden for the winter. So instead of tilling in the remains of the crops and planting a cover crop, our chickens will hopefully take care of the garden for the winter. The barn cats had thought the garden was their venue but have seemed to accept their new partners.

If the snowstorm was not interesting enough, today was the day we scheduled to break up the breeding groups, loan one of our rams to a friend for their breeding program, and transport sheep to the butcher to fill our holiday locker lamb order. This is all pretty challenging in its own right, but add a blizzard to the equation and now we had a real challenge. We got it all done and everybody has seemed to settle down in their new pastures and barns. In fact, we saw Arthur (our loaner ram) getting down to business as we drove off after dropping him off at our friends' farm. And Jan and the dogs are taking a nap in front of the fireplace.

Now its time for the winter rhythms to set in. The rams are in the ram barn and the ewes are in the ewe barn. I have a pile of fleece left from last year's shearing to process and I'd sure like to clear the project table by the time we shear on Feb 12th. I'd also like be able to spend a little more time at the feed store and/or the coffee shop.

WINTER ON!!!

BREEDING SEASON

We turned the rams out on October 9th which is consistent with our schedule last year. This allows us to shear in early February, puts lambs on the ground in March, and weaning in early May. Though our lambs are small for the show ring at Black Sheep Gathering, this schedule seems best considering our weather and pasture condition. Setting up and separating different breeding groups means of course that we needed to handle all the sheep. This exercise along with the recent sheep handling for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival once again stressed the importance of developing a level of trust with the flock. It's more and more obvious that most of our more mature animals are much easier to handle, both the rams and the ewes. I mainly attribute that to fact that they know us and trust us. Though they may think it all a bit bothersome, they seem to accept what we need to do and put up with it. It's always the lambs that put up the biggest fight.

The pastures are in great condition and the breeding groups all seem to be doing quite well on the fresh grass. Actually the pastures look the best they have all season. Even though the grass is plentiful I'm trying to supplement it with a bit of baled hay from time to time. They seem to like the balance of fresh and cured feed. Because I don't want the working rams to share a fenceline, not all ewes have access to the barn but they all have shelter of one kind or another. Some of the girls miss their barn and tell me about it every chance they get. But I remind them that they are a primitive breed of sheep and they need to get over it. I do see the value of the barn and know they like to loaf there and spend the night. I'm sure they sense the higher degree of security and it reduces stress. They'll get back to the barn after the rams are finished with their business. - Jeff

FRIENDS

Allow me to reflect a bit more on the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival last week-end in Canby. I've been thinking how absolutely impossible it would have been for us to even consider taking part in this festival without the help of dear friends. We showed 8 animals and had a small farm booth to sell some of our wool products. Showing animals means catching them at the farm, loading them into a trailer, unloading them at the fairgrounds, leading them to their stalls in the barn, leading them to the show ring, actually showing the animals, leading them back to the barn, loading them back in the trailer, and finally unloading them back home on the farm. Jacob sheep, being a primitive breed, are not very tame. And I have never found the time to try to halter break them. Thus, moving these sheep can be quite a physical challenge. At one point we had 3 different animals being judged at the same time. This all makes me so thankful for our friends that never seem to hesitate to step forward when we so desperately need them. I can always count on help for sheep shows, shearing, weaning, and vaccinations.

I realize there's an inherent reward when we help others. It feels good and it must be hard-wired in the human social animal to so willingly help those in need. Thank goodness! But I realize now that it feels just as good to ask for help. What a relief it is to set aside that misguided American ethic of self reliance and accept the fact that we are a community. I know many are hesitant to ask for help mistakenly believing its a sign of weakness and a sort of giving in. I can testify that asking for help is just as rewarding as giving help.

I can't thank you all that have helped here at Drumcliffe Farm and have geiven me the opportunity to ask for your help. Your responses and efforts have meant everything to me. And be assured you'll be asked again! - Jeff

OREGON FLOCK AND FIBER FESTIVAL

The 2010 festival is over, our sheep are back on the farm, and we're sort of unloaded. For sure, I've had a chance to breathe and have begun to reflect a bit on the week-end. We showed 8 animals and displayed a humble variety of wool products at our little farm booth. We had some significant success in the show ring and made a few sales of fleeces and yarns. More importantly we had a chance to visit with some old and new friends. We also "talked sheep" with who I'd call the general public. Some of this "public" can be very well informed while others have never been exposed to Jacob sheep or wool processing. We loved talking to both! What a great opportunity this event provides for farm and city to come together. One of my frustrations has been how few of our urban neighbors come to visit the farm even though I've tried to keep the farm gate wide open. This festival finally allowed us to tell our story. We saw many reach such a valuable awareness as they listened to our story while holding a batt of wool in one hand and touching the very animal the wool came from with the other hand.

Here's a partial list of our awards from the show ring:

1st place Jacob ram yearling - "David"
1st place Jacob ewe lamb - "Sara Beth"
1st place Jacob ewe yearling - "Elaine"
2nd place Jacob ewe yearling - "Lady Anne"
1st place Jacob young flock
Champion Jacob ewe - "Sara Beth"
Reserve Grand Champion ewe, Classic Sheep Show - "Sara Beth"
Best Jacob Fleece - "Sara Beth"

I think the award for the best fleece was the most meaningful to us since our prime objective is to produce quality fleece for handspinners. It was nice to have our labors recognized in this manner. Last year "Lady Anne" was the Grand Champion ewe of the Classic Sheep Show and since then has developed quite an attitude. I guess we can look forward to the same from "Sara Beth", especially once both are back in the pasture and can compare notes.

A NIGHT OUT

Last night Jan and I took a break and attended a performance of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra with guest artist Joshua Bell at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland. It was a spontaneous decision to go and I figure spontaneity is always a good thing, especially when its so easy to get buried in the consistent rhythms of farm life. As I sat waiting for the performance to begin I took in the opulence of this great restored concert hall and reflected on how blessed we are. Here I am in this great hall next to folks that are dressed in something other than boots and blue jeans. There's chandeliers rather than fly-specked bare light bulbs, beautifully sculpted carpet rather than dirt floor with straw highlights, the tinkling of wine glasses rather than the peeping of insistent chicks, the sweetly mixed smell of perfumes and and colognes rather than - well, I think you get the picture. Earlier in the day Jan cleaned out the chicken coop and I was still recovering from unloading and stacking 3 tons of grass hay in the ram barn the day before. And later, in the same day, we're at a performance of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra - amazing.

One of the pieces played was the "Orchestral Suite from The Tender Land" by Aaron Copeland, one of my favorite composers. The melodies remained with me yet this morning as I did my chores and checked out the health of the pastures. I was anxious to see how they were responding to the recent warm rains and was pleased to see a growth of new grass. This should give the flock some good feed, reduce our dependency on baled hay, and at the very least give the pastures a healthy secure basis as they enter the winter months. Copeland provided a whole new way to view my "tender land" and I gained a whole new appreciation of what we had accomplished here, and what still awaits us. My time in the pasture took a little longer than usual, the sheep seemed a bit more at peace, the clouds were whiter, the skies were bluer, the grass was greener, the rain was wetter, and the warm was warmer.

I think Copeland stuck with Jan as well but maybe in a bit different direction. As I return to the house after my chores, I normally find Jan reading the morning newspaper with her first cup of coffee. This morning I found her barefoot, in my bathrobe, and a pair of rubber gloves on the kitchen porch tending her natural dye pots. I guess beautiful music can move us all.

SURPRISE AT DUSK

The other evening I wanted to move the rams from one of our lower pastures back up to the barn for the night. I normally leave them out at night and they seem to enjoy sleeping under some of the big Doug firs along the fenceline. I had planned to rotate them to a new pasture in the morning so thought I'd just get ahead of the plan a bit. And besides it was a pleasant evening. Our sheep have learned to come to me with a call of "Sheep, sheep, sheep". They know to move away from me with a call of "Up, up, up". This has allowed me to have them follow me or I can herd them from behind the flock depending on the need. No matter which I use, Melody our guard llama seems always to bring up the rear. Of course when she's moving the sheep on her own she pretty much is always in the lead.

So back to the task of moving the rams. I knew they were below a slight hill and out of sight. Rather than hike down the hill to herd them up I called out "Sheep, sheep, sheep" and they soon began their way up the hill toward me at the gate. As I started back to the barn I looked back over my shoulder to make sure all were following and noted the flock had grown by five. Three deer and two barn cats (Barney and Gunther). The deer soon came to the realization that it may not be in their best interest to respond to my voice commands and be following me. It was as if a switch was turned on and over the fence and into the woods they bolted. The cats stayed the course.

I can only attribute this rather strange behavior to the fact that the deer saw that the sheep were very quick to respond to my call and they must have thought the sheep sensed a danger. Because they couldn't sense any danger themselves they figured they would go along with the sheep just in case. Once they realized I was in the lead they decided to return to being deer.

CLOSING SUMMER

Summer is coming to a close. The grandkids will be leaving us soon to return home and to school. They've both seem to have grown so much this summer. Our laying hens are now comfortable in their rolling coop in the pasture. We recently did a bit of remodeling and constructed new nesting boxes. I noted tonight as I closed them up for the night that all were using the boxes, so hopefully our first crop of fresh eggs will be soon delivered. We also just completed a rolling chicken run for our fryers. It should be easy enough to move that we can move it to fresh ground each day. After a touch-and-go garden season with a cold wet Spring and a hot-dry summer, the vegetable garden is looking pretty productive and harvest has begun. I still think if we get any ripe tomatoes, it will be a miracle.

Our newly installed solar photovoltaic panels have finally passed the final inspection and we are now producing electricity. We even have a new meter that shows whether we are either pulling in electricity from the utility or pushing out power to the grid. Its not as if I sit and stare at this meter for hours however on the sunniest days I tend to check it out more often. PGE, our utility, estimates that our 2.4 kW system will reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 2165 pounds annually. We're now part of a solar powered grid producing enough electricity to power over 1,263 homes a year. That feels pretty good.