Greetings, and nearly a happy new year. We have been living at Elm Glen Farm for nearly 2 years now and are very happy here. Its a beautiful piece of the world that we are happy to call home. We have a healthy and VERY happy 4 1/2 month old boy named Soren Vaughn. He is indeed the light of our lives. He's a beautiful boy who gets to have this farm for his entire life if he so chooses.
We have undertaken the full remodel of of about 50% of the house, done some structural repair on the foundation, and invested heavily in a new high efficiency heating system. Not to mention a fancy high efficiency wood burning stove. We have planted and harvested our 3rd garden and have had the soil tested in the fields. ( it was nearly ruined...ph of 5.7...by a local dairy farmer who had been raising corn upon corn upon corn for years while renting the fields). We have in turn developed a plan to fix them. It includes lime and livestock.
On that note we have a feisty Icelandic Ram and 4 ewes on premises. My dad and I worked on their lambing pen today in anticipation of some March births. The ewes are of mixed breeding. the ram is full of piss and vinegar. lets discuss the Ram first:
Ramikin...or Eigel Skallagrimson ( a tip of the hat to Snoerri's Sagas) as I would have prefered to call him if it rolled off the American tongue a bit easier was an orphaned orphan my good friend Blaise passed on to me. (Blaise raises top quality pork outside of Washburn, WI on the shores of the Big Lake). Blaise and I butcered Raminkin's female counterpart earlier this fall and roasted her heart and loins over an October campfire. Delicious lamb with sage and sea salt washed down with a budget, but quality Pinot Noir by firelight...tough to beat.
Ramikin was spared however and I brought him back to Polk County with the hopes of breeding him to some heritage ewes. He toughed it out here for three months as a bachelor. He made friends with my Gordon Setter bitch, Freya. Crapped on the front step etc., until I completed his fence. Once fenced in he was perpetually grumpy. Christmas came around and I bought two Jacob crosses and 2 Dorset/Friesen Cross ewes. I delivered the Jacobs first. Ramikin was beside himself. He was downright comical with his lingual and iliac antics. Horny Goat indeed. The ewes, however wanted nothing of it. They were already knocked up. Same with the Dorset Crosses that showed up the next day. Ramikin, nonetheless is a much happier fellow, with his feminine entourage. Big Love, indeed.
The upswing is that if these ewes are as pregnant as the sellers promised, we will have anywhere form 4 to 12 lambs on our hands to raise and slaughter come fall. As my good friend David in Norway said about rabbits..."cute and cuddly when they're little, delicious when they grow up".