Lambert's Easter Picture

This is wrong on so many levels. First Lambert is in the house. Second we make him wear a diaper while he is in the house. Third....please forgive me Lambert, but we put him in a dress for Easter.

There is going to be a penance for this I can see it coming. God: Child I have forgiven you many sins in your life. You are forward, don't deal well with authority and have a potty mouth on occasion. Those things I can forgive. But why on my good earth do you dress my noble creatures in clothing? Me: Father, I have no answer. But isn't he cute?

Yep. I can see it coming. But isn't he cute?

Much Love and Many Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Vaccination Time for Lambs

There was talk in the pasture today. "Hey, the feed and hay people are coming in. What are they up to? I got a baaaaaaad feeling. On my baaaa you go that way and I'll go this way. I don't know why but we should. Ready set...."



Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


What the baaaaad little lambs didn't count on is that they people had grain. Their mommas love grain and came running. That made the baaaaad little lambs easy to catch. Muahhhaaaaaa....
Lambert was the first to get his Bose (vitamin E and selenium) and CD&T. The CD&T vaccine had been given to the ewes a few weeks before the lambs were born thereby providing them immunity. They needed a booster now and again in about 4 weeks. Clostridium perfringins type C and D and clostridium tetani are diseases that frequently affect lambs and kids.

When you have 10 lambs to give injections to you grab them any way you can. Even two fisted. They are really speedy. The lambs are growing very fast on the rich mother's milk. Fuzzy is in the background making sure we aren't hurting her babies. She gets anxious when they baaaaaaa.

I didn't realize that Esther had licked the lens so this picture is a bit blurry. We used a waxy crayon to mark the lambs after they received their injections. That way we didn't miss anyone or give any lamb extra.

We are still a bit water logged here. Rain every day. I'm not complaining really. Our pasture is turning green and the sheep and goats are very happy. I have been asked if Ted minds being in the blog so much. He is a good sport and always willing to get in the middle of everything here on the farm. We work together and that makes taking care of the animals so much easier. Much Love and Prayers from a soggy Mainely Ewes Farm.

Happy Easter 2011

Happy Easter to all my Peeps!
Oops......

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Dr. Pepper and Pork?

Do you ever need a recipe that is a load and go meal? We don't go out to eat very often. However, there are some nights when I just don't want to cook. So I look for recipes that are easy. I am in a very serious relationship with my crock pot. If it ever breaks I will go through a grieving period and head straight to buy another one. I thought when the kids grew up and left home I could trade down in size. No way. I can make a meal that will last for three days in that giant. After saying that, this recipe goes in the oven. I was on Pioneere Woman's blog and she made a pork butt with Dr. Pepper and chipotle peppers. I wasn't even sure that I could get Chipotle peppers in Maine. Even Maine is having an ethnic change and previously unknown foods are showing up on our grocer shelves. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Start with a good size pork butt. The bigger the better. Salt and pepper that puppy. I had Pioneere Woman's website up and went step by step so I didn't forget any steps.
Cut up an onion or two in the bottom of a Dutch Oven. Place the pork butt fat side up into the pot.

Open up a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce.

If you don't care for a "really" spicy hot flavor use only half of the peppers. We like it hot so the whole can goes on top of the roast.

Next come the starring characters of this play. Pop 2 cans of Dr. Pepper.

Pour over the roast. I had to buy a six pack. Oh, darn. That leaves an additional 4 cans for me to drink.

Cover with a lid. Close the oven door. Set the timer for 6 hours and take a nap.

Your nose will know when those juices start popping. The whole house smelled so good. Mine was fork tender after 6 hours. If you use a bigger roast you may need to cook it a bit longer.

I took the roast out and let it sit for a bit to cool. Then poured all of the drippings (southern term) and put them through a gravy separator to get the fat out. I then shredded all of the meat and even smashed up the peppers in the liquid.

Easy pulled pork recipe. Tastes great. We put ours into flour tortillas like recommended by Ree. However, I think we will try it next time with toasted buns. I was able to get 3 separate meals from this one roast. I like that. If you want to get the original recipe go to http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I have her cook book and use it frequently. Try the jalapeno poppers if you get the chance. Oh My Goodness.

Much Love and Prayers from a full Mainely Ewes Farm.

What..you think this house is a barn?

What's wrong with this picture?
A little comfy?

"Are you taking pictures again? Wait, I just woke up and my eyes are sleepy."

"Now I'm awake."

Yes he is darn cute. A little too comfortable on my blanket, not to mention on the sofa. Don't even think about my bed Lambert!

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm and Pony Show.

A Post of Goats only, for Marigold and Isobelle

First let me explain my title today.We have two goat friends who write and edit their own blog. They are Isobelle from http://isobellegolightlythebeautifulgoat.blogspot.com/ and Marigold from http://http://marigold-goatphilosophy101.blogspot.com/ Two highly intelligent goats. Our goats took over a couple of times to blog but got kind of bored with it. They didn't like having to clean their hooves when they came into house.
We have had another set of twins born. Sophie was one of our first goats and she has had two doelings. No names as of yet.

Still a little damp in this picture but so sweet.

Sophie is turning out to be a great mom. Nature at it's best. She was a bottle kid and never knew her mom. She was raised with Edward and Bella in the kitchen.

Little love noises between mom and daughter

We gave them their BoSo shots and iodined their navals. I always seem to have color changing hands with this task.

Bella, Ernie and Molly viewing their new cousins.

So here is a post of goats only. No sheep, cats, llamas, or dogs. If only I could incorporate peanuts into this post for Marigold. She is a connoisseur of peanuts. We can learn so much from our animals. They bring joy into our lives everyday. Never knew they were critics too. Hmm...how did I do ladies?

Much Love and Prayers from a rainysleety Mainely Ewes Farm

Corrections were made Marigold. Now I have it correct sweet little goat.

There Is One In Every Crowd

Yep, there is always one in every crowd. This year our bottle baby is Lambert. They may take a little more work, time and attention. However, they give back ten fold.
They gaze up at you with complete trust and love. You are their world. You are the bottle wielder. The giver of sustenance.

Because Lambert has become a bottle baby he is also an inside lamb. And he must wear the dreaded diaper.

He can make fun of Emma and Lucy but only while they are in their crate. Now he believes with all of his heart that he is the third chocolate lab on the farm.

He adores his warm BaaaBaaaa's.

Yep life inside isn't too bad. That is until you get too close to the wood stove and melt a little of your pamper into your wool. Now that is not a good day. He loves the wood stove. It keeps his little hooves toasty warm.

Lambert's story: Lambert and his brother were with their mother Moriah in the lambing jug next to Bella and her kids. We had a piece of plywood added to the regular wire to separate them. Moriah has a bad attitude about goats. Go figure. Somehow during the night the board came down and was on top of Lambert. He was absolutely fine, however he may have had some of the goat scent transfer onto his wool. Moriah acted like he was a goat and did her best to cause him harm. Now he is inside, wearing his diaper and having warm bottles. He has learned to land on the sofa in one jump, lay with his head in my lap and get petted. Not too shabby for a little ram lamb.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Sheep Shearing School 2011

After the fiasco last year with shearing we decided that we may not be professional shearers but we couldn't do any worse than the shearer we paid. Actually paid good money to mangle our sheep. They were not pleased at all. We found a shearing class offered by the University of Maine and signed up immediately. We were up early, fed the animals and on the road by 5am. Our neighbor was coming by later to let the pups out for a potty break. We were headed to Littleton, Maine, approximately 2 hours north on the Canadian border. Come along with us on our trip. The scenery was spectacular. We had a gorgeous views of Mt. Katahdin in the distance. We arrived at Fred and Inez Arledge's farm. They have approximately 100 Romney sheep. Fred said that they moved up from Florida 7 years ago and started with 4 sheep. Oh, this story is sounding eerily familiar and a bit scary. Their farm was once a cow dairy. They have wide open spaces with plenty of hay fields. We started with bio security by cleaning our shoes with a antiseptic to kill any foreign organisms we may bring with us.

We were greeted by this big boy. He wanted to know just why we were there and what we were up to. After our, little by comparison, Icelandic sheep the Romney's are BIG sheep.

I love this ewe and lamb room. Something we may decide to add onto our barn.

We were a group of 30 strong. We were given instructions on equipment, stretching, and shearing patterns...........

sheep holding techniques.......

shearing and skirting wool.......

how to catch our sheep..........

They made it look so easy. If only the sheep were into this day as much as we were.

Each student was given 1:1 instruction and assistance.

And then we each had our chance to shear a sheep. We watched many times and after lunch decided to give it a try. Ted went first and did a great job. A couple of cuts to the sheep and his hand but he did a great job.

It looks so easy when done by a true professional. Ted took his time.

Sorry, I had to put one more picture of a lamb on his mom's back.

My turn...... My biggest fear is cutting the sheep. I saw a couple of people pull the wool up and shear into the skin leaving a big gash. We have blood stop on hand just in case.

This ewe was very good but had a case of the scours previously and the fleece on the back of her legs was matted. Thank heavens for the professionals.

We saw a moose (can't stop at 70mph to get a good pic) and these deer. They still have a lot of snow on the ground up there. I love the wide open spaces, low population and quiet. After living in Maine I don't think I could deal with high populations. Too many people.

We had a wonderful experience. I learned many lessons. I was able to use my shears for the first time. I realize how much shearing will kill my back. We met some really great people with varied backgrounds and experience. Lunch was provided by Inez and she makes a wicked good lamb chili. As with any new skill it will take time and practice. We wanted to thank Fred and Inez for allowing us access to their sheep. I know that it is difficult to allow a newbie with no experience to shear your sheep. Most shepherds won't allow anyone to touch them until after they have shorn at least 100 sheep. Now we have to put knowledge into practice.

We have been so busy with lambing and kidding lately. I will try and get caught up with blogging. Hope all is well with our friends in the central states after the bad weather.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

How many pictures can I take of lambs on their mom's backs?

Evidently quite a few. So many that I can make a whole blog post on these two. Bernie and Bea are happy bouncy lambs. Poor long suffering mother Esther is a saint. Actually she lays down so that the twins can use her as a bouncy toy. She doesn't get annoyed, just makes sweet lovey noises to her lambs.

Just in case you didn't get enough.......

another awwwwwww......

Okay, I know I'm addicted to cute little lamb pictures. The weather is suppose to be warm, 50's today, so lambs will go outside. I promise, more cute lamb pics tomorrow. I love holding those little sweet babies and petting those curls. Oh and in case you thought those were all the cute little lamb pictures of Esther with her babies, I had at least another 20 or so that I didn't include. I do have some control.

Much Love and Prayers from the bouncy Mainely Ewes Farm.