2024 year end newsletter
'tis the season for demolition and repairs
The last quarter of 2024 was action packed. We had downed trees to cut up and fences to repair in the wake of hurricane Helene. The storm left us with two new babies: Helene, our first Shetland-Katahdin cross (Abe and Sweet Girl), and Hugo of two Katahdin parents (Abe and Blue). Two weeks later, Shyla (and Abe) gave us two more lambs - a boy and a girl.
With all these fall babies we’re up to about 30 sheep and 9 goats.
Keeping up with farm logistics can be a challenge! We have two breeding groups - one captained by our Katahdin ram Abe and the other by our Shetland ram Moh. We’re going for cross-breeding as well as production of some “pure” lines.
The mobile shelters we made from salvaging the old trailer have been a real blessing this year. So far they have withstood a tornado and a hurricane! Next test, a blizzard?
Just before New Years we gathered in all the maybe (hopefully) pregnant girls to over-winter in the home pasture with the fall babies and their mamas. We consolidated all the wethers (castrated boys) into one mega grazing group to finish off to processing weight over the next few months. We’ve updated our meat sales information - you can find it here.
Demo Daze
A few days before Christmas we made a major push to demolish the old trailer foundation in preparation to build a workshop.
Our friend Mike the millwright came over with a track hoe and a skid steer and we went to work making one helluva mess!
I salvaged as much of the good concrete block as I could to use for other projects (along with the good sections of metal I-beams and axles from the trailer frame). We used the broken block to repair part of our road and drainage ditch washed out by Helene and other storms.
Now we’ve got a nice blank spot to build my workshop/laboratory/office. We managed to save the root cellar that was under the trailer and I am incorporating that into the design of the workshop. Very excited about this project!
Even Elijah got some training time in with the skid steer!
We’re planning a five year anniversary on the farm party for sometime this spring. When we get some of the details firmed up I will send out a notice. Hope you can make it to the party, or anytime for a visit!