A friend of mine told me I should blog more. Seeing as I haven't blogged in over two years, I can see why some people might think I should send along a life update. I'm not sure I'm really the blogging type... but I can give it a whirl. My husband plans to blog about our farm once our website is up and running.... I figure I can always tell a story or two about something crazy that happens on the farm. It certainly happens often enough! Last November I could have talked about how two of our rams jumped the fence and started breeding our females (of both breeds) before we were ready. Just this last week I could have talked about saving a kid's life... and by kid I mean baby goat. :-)
But before I start talking about sheep and goats... I should probably talk about me.
In case you haven't been keeping up, here's my life update:
I graduated from SUNY Fredonia with a B.S. in Geosciences/Adolescence Education.
I turned down a teaching job to take a position in the Environmental Health & Safety office at SUNY Fredonia. I still work there... my hours and job title have changed a few times, but I'm still basically doing the same job as when I started back in 2007.
I graduated from SUNY Fredonia last December (2010) with a Masters in Biology.
I got married in September of 2008 to my high school sweetheart Ryan. He was going to be a sound engineer (and was for a while) but has since decided he doesn't like dealing with people so much, and sheep are easier to get along with. So now we own a sheep farm - Lauridell Acres. It's right down the road from my dad's goat farm - Homestead Acres. We use land owned by a family friend - Sangamon Farms and then there's my brother who also lives on that road, and may or may not be starting a beef cattle operation. But there I go again talking about the farm....
So, married 2.5 years - no kids, probably not for at least a few more years.
We have 2 dogs... one's a pet (Jack) and the other is a sheep dog (Ellie). We have two fish (Red fish and Blue fish) who were part of the center pieces at our wedding.
We own a house about half an hour from our farm.... we bought it b/c it's close to where I work, and it was in the right price range. But we don't plan on living there forever... in a few years we hope to move out by our farm, then I'll be the one commuting to work every day (Bummer).
Other than work and school, I spend my time playing volleyball (recreationally), leading a youth group at my church, knitting, and a few other hobbies I only have time for once every few months. I also work at a tax office on Saturdays Jan - April. That's a fun job. Not sure why, but I love it.
I have 4 nieces and 1 nephew... and I love them all dearly. I have another niece on the way so I'm super excited about that too!
Alright... so I think that's all of the boring life stuff.... at least the basics any way.
Now's the tough part: thinking of something to write about that people would actually care to read.
If you're interested in goats, I could talk about my dad's goat farm. The goats are almost done having their kids. I'm not sure what that's called. For sheep it's called lambing (b/c baby sheep are called lambs). But that would mean for goats it's "kidding"... and that just doesn't seem right. "My dad's goats are kidding"... hmmm... any way... he's got something like 13 baby goats running around.... just a few more pregnant moms. They are SO adorable. It's been a lot of fun visiting them on Sundays when I help Ryan feed the sheep (the hay for the sheep is stored in the goat barn, so he loads the hay while I pet the goats. Seems like a fair deal to me!). Last Sunday we found a mom who had JUST had her two kids. My parents had already left for church, and it was obvious they didn't know she'd had her babies. She was ignoring one of the babies... wasn't cleaning it off or helping it to eat... and it was obvious after a while that it would die if we didn't intervene. So I went in and cleaned it off a bit, and held it up to the mom to help it eat. After it ate a bit, it was visibly stronger, and could cry much louder, and mom started to pay more attention to it! I helped it eat a few more times that day, and now it's up and eating on its own, and playing with its sibling. It's a great feeling when you save a life :-)
We're in the process now (by we I mostly mean my dad) of trying to save another. It was born with "hip splay". Of course, we didn't know that's what it was... we just knew it's back legs didn't work too well, and it couldn't stand or walk. I did some research online and found out what it was, and that it's easily treatable. Dad's treating it now, and hopefully it'll survive. Only time will tell.
So that's the goat farm.
The sheep will start lambing later this month. I can't wait. I'm actually going to be taking some time off work and helping out. I'll be sure to post pictures. By then, I hope to have our business website up and running, so you can view photos there as well. Very exciting.
Before lambing though, we need to sheer. That's presenting itself as a challenge. The forecast says it's going to rain or snow every other day between now and March 20th (the date by which sheering must be complete). If the sheep get wet, we can't sheer for 3 days.... the fleece has to be dry. So when exactly are we supposed to sheer? Hopefully the weather clears up enough. But this is our first farm "crunch time". Will we get the job done in time? I'll keep you posted.
Let's throw in another complication to sheering - I'm going to be "skirting" for Ryan. Ryan will sheer (cut off the wool from) the sheep and when he's done with each one, the fleece (wool/fur) should come off in one big piece - like a blanket. At that point, I take it over to a "skirting table" and lay it out flat. I then "skirt" the fleece - that means pulling off all the unusable or low quality bits. The problem? I have to build a skirting table! We don't have one, and they are easy enough to build, so I told Ryan not to worry about it, I'd build it myself. Well, I haven't gotten that done yet! I've enlisted the help of my brother though, so hopefully I'll have it done in time for sheering, whenever that is! I'll keep you posted.
Well, hopefully that's a long enough update, and not too super boring. I'll do my best to remember interesting things to put in my next post.
That's my life!
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