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Lambing time, and things were hectic as usual, but going well. “Big Mumbo” delivered quints one more time! One lamb was born dead, but four survived… three ewes and one ram. One of the ewe lambs was an extraordinarily fine specimen, and outshone her two sisters. 
The sheep flock kept growing and demanded a lot of my time. The lambing went well, and we had an absolute deluge of ewe lambs. This proved to be fortunate, as it turned out the demand for breeding stock was very high that year. “Big Mumbo” again had quintuplets, and all survived, but three were added to the bottle lamb pen. 
Not a perfect year, but it could have been much worse. And I learned, the hard way, to “never trust what a feed salesman may tell you!” 
Lambing was going very well, and by March 20, Bluebird produced twins, and as usual they were both ewe lambs! A few days later, her daughter, #146, who had quints the previous year, delivered a set of quadruplets: 3 ewes, and 1 ram. Another thrill! Two days later her twin, #145, delivered twin ewe lambs. No wonder our ewe flock was growing by leaps and bounds! We had begun calling these two ewes “Big Mumbo,” (#146), and “Big Jumbo,” (#145), they were both good sized ewes, capable of carrying a lot of lambs! I made sure I gave “Big Mumbo” extra rations, and she raised all four lambs herself and did a good job of it! We came through the lambing with no lambs lost, the second time for that joyful event, 
I started off the year by answering the many congratulatory cards and letters I received after my “Silver Bell” speech at South East Minnesota Sheep Producer’s Association (SEMSPA) Annual Meeting in December, 1982. Most said my talk was “highly entertaining” and/or “informative,” and there were also lots of questions to answer. 
It was breeding season once again. With the addition of the 18 ewe lambs retained the previous year, we now had 79 mature ewes. The coming year was looking to be a busy one, for sure! But I was already looking forward to it! 
Mid March, the real lambing season began in earnest! It was one very busy time with 60 mature ewes giving birth to 102 lambs, and not one was lost! Our lambing average had reached 170%, our highest so far, which meant the introduction of the 1/4 Finn blood into the ewe flock was starting to pay off. 
Garbed in white pants and shirt, helmet and veil, wearing long gauntlet gloves and wielding a “smoker” to calm the bees, I began opening hives and discovering the wonders within. It was fascinating to me, and I was hooked in no time at all. Not much time passed before I could walk into a trefoil pasture in bloom and find it abuzz with honey bees gathering pollen and nectar, and thereby pollinating the blossoms so they would produce seed. A most wonderful process, I became a confirmed bee keeper for the next dozen or so years. 
March 20, the lambing season began… not an auspicious beginning! In the middle of the night, I went to the barn to check on the ewe, she was up and eating hay… all seemed well. Early next morning, she was dead and had a dead lamb, which she could not deliver. After the rough start, lambing continued to go quite well, with few problems. Of 82 lambs born, only 2 were born dead, and of the 80 survivors, 39 were ewe lambs, so our ewe flock expanded again! 
At the end of February, the lambing season was about to get underway. It was going to be a lengthy one, as the 48 mature ewes would lamb first, and about the time they were finishing, the ewe lambs would start lambing. |
 Video: Seed Saving Around the World
Kate Flint, Australian gardener and seed saver, talks about her seed saving passion.
The Growing Revolution is the story of Jubilee Biodynamic Farm in Carnation, Washington.
Pig Mania
Crown S Ranch, Winthrop WA
(Click the image for a larger version.) |
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