Lambing Unexpected.

What a day to forget the camera at home. I recycle pics from our last trip.


Today we had to run 'country' errands. What does that mean? Well, first, visiting the home of a co-worker that is willing to baby-sit the bee hives while our house is on the market. More on that later. Then, 'grocery' shopping.

So, you take an address or 2, pop them into a GPS device, turn the settings of said device to 'avoid highway' & you're off. Turn where you wish, willy-nilly style, & you'll get where you're going.

That's just how it happened. Our second stop today is the most important detail of how we ended up seeing what we couldn't document via megapixel: Rising Meadow Farm. I discussed this place some here, but in an effort to buy local & celebrate the upcoming holiday (Passover) with real pizazz we went for the leg of lamb available only direct from the farm. Boy are you gonna be jealous. They told us to be there at 5:30, at which time they'd be wrapping up some bottle feeding of newly born lambs.

We get there, a-lah country style: 5:50pm. Drew headed out first to locate someone, but nothing. So, on down to the source of reckless bleating--a field of mamas & babes just baaaing away. Then, round into the barn where we were invited in to view the NEWEST lambs you could ever see, not even a day old. But wait!

The dear farmers couldn't tend to our meat buying needs immediately because--get this--there were lambs on the way; we could watch if we wanted.

Watch if we wanted?! We would have come, paid & had trouble not gathering a crowd if we'd known this was coming!

So sweet, amazing, adorable, magnificent, wonderful...they've been lambing for days & look a bit tired, but wow. The mama got one out then they took a break before (they suspect 2 more) the others are ready to come as well.

this image from here

Now we buy meat.

Is there something that pulls on your heartstrings as you purchase a leg that once belonged to such an innocent & miraculous creature? Absolutely. A connection, a REAL solid connection that is far beyond the convenience of Wendy's drive thru or the supermarket price-cut section. I won't point fingers or name names or even ask for remorse & second thoughts, but this comprehension of life, sacrifice & the work that bring sustenance to us all is a tragedy if lost & perhaps the demise of our civilization. Perhaps.

Right now, it's not lost on us. We drove home with a sense of wonder & excitement; and with 5 pounds of what will be thoroughly appreciated & celebrated meat.

Ewe Should Go Next Time!

We visited a local farm yesterday for their sheep shearing. It was so great--i'm glad we braved the weather! The sunshine made the cold bearable...

Anyway, here's a picture or 2.

While we didn't get any roving, we plan on stopping back by. I read that Dorset is a great wool for needle felting & they'll shear the majority of them in a few weeks, so we'll return. If you're local & not visited Rising Meadow & Goat Lady Dairy make a plan for May 2nd! (after you visit us downtown for this).

& though I'm not much of a knitter, Drew & I are both set on the idea of getting freshly shorn wool then cleaning & carding it ourselves. How can one NOT want to do this, at least once?!

Here are some of Naomi's Shots from the front row.

our farm blog

the road to: Round House Farm

there WAS a picture of Grims here, but I was feeling self-conscious. i know...i know...

This is just a note--in case you haven't noticed the link to the right--Drew & I have started a blog dedicated just to the updates on our farm progress. There's not much to it yet, & I'm certain changes will be made, but I wanted to make sure you all know you're officially invited to chime in at any time. Thanks for your support already!

a little secret

There's a secret that's not a secret at all & I'm divulging it now so that you might encourage me--well, us, or maybe just follow our progress.

We want to be farmers. For right now we're alright with the little urban homestead we have, but we have a master plan (& it's only ours, we'll see where we're ACTUALLY led), of being goat farmers. Well, really everything farmers. All this is the reason we ended up in Greensboro anyway, we thought here we might eventually be able to afford some land and we're getting there--dependent of course on financial institutions who are right now very hard to get money from, particularly self-employed individuals...

Our goals for the farm are immense & modern, eclectic & rugged, vintage & maybe even common (or commune). In practice we've learned so much about crops, chickens, bees, fruit, finding materials, networking, etc.

Relationships with other young homestead yearners, countless online resources, books, trips to local farms, & years of our subscriptions to Mother Earth News, Back Home, Martha Stewart, Our State & others have only deepened our urges & it's the time for us to whole-heartedly push forward. We feel it...

So, the house is being scoured, emptied & things of little necessity are being purged in hopes of impressing some new family in the market for a homestead of the urban variety. Should the money-lenders decide to keep our dreams from us (which we'll only know after January), at least the house is in tip-top shape & our clepto-tendencies have been unveiled.

We'll keep you posted with break-throughs & pitfalls. Do you have similar rural dreams?

Naomi's impressed

She told me the other day, after I drew an "N" how impressed she was with my writing. It honestly made me feel good about myself!

Updates...

1. I'm changing the pic soon as we've made some additions to our garden. (CHANGED)
   
2. Doll-making party is on the front burner & we're planning to set a date sometime in late March. Check back, I'll put up a link to a page with a little more info.
3. We went to Celebrity Dairy in Siler City this weekend for one night & it was very enlightening. We learned a lot from the owner, especially about chickens.
4. 
5. I can smell the bee-smoke right now & there's no better scent. I also watched The Secret Life of Bees with my mom & have to say, it was all my favorite things rolled up into one. Loved it.
6. Naomi's knack for all things creative thrills me. She's just so open to trying ANYTHING. It makes me see how limited our imaginations become over time--she's helps me exercise the recesses of my mind.

*All these beautiful pics were taken by Savta or Sabba (grandma or grandpa Grim)