Then & Now #7
This post is part of a monthly series, Then & Now, that uses photos to show the development and changes taking place on the farm.
July 2020
Millie (Milli Vanilli) came to live with us, ostensibly to protect the sheep and goats from predators such as coyotes.
Young Clarice and Alabama are so cute!
Calamity struck when we were shearing young Forrest. He kicked at the wrong instant and the clippers nicked his achilles tendon. Sliced right through it. Rachael sedated him and did a surgical repair on our front porch.
He spent about the next six weeks wearing a splint in the sheep ICU, AKA a dog crate on our front porch. We brought all his food to him.
He recovered well, and now walks with a barely perceptible limp.
July 2021
Millie gets some much needed hoof work.
July 2021 begins our foray into rotational grazing. I put a roof and side screens on the livestock trailer that came with our property to make a mobile shelter. Introducing The Winnebagoat!
As you can tell by comparing photos of Alabama in July 2020 with those a year later, she put on some weight! I built this special ramp just for her since I was worried she might be too fat to jump into the trailer.
In May 2021 we had our first batch of surprise piglets. Another batch showed up at the end of July!
July 2022
Makin’ bacon!
Dry rub with salt, black pepper, and brown sugar.
A week in the fridge then throw ‘em on the smoker!
We starting to build up our gardening repertoire. A few baby water melons starting to grow on the trellis…
I got an excellent haul of potatoes - about two five gallon buckets full from one strip of potato plants less than 20 ft long. Next year for sure gonna plant loads more potatoes. Feels good to have some points on the board in the gardening game.
Alabama and her boys Gulab (right) and Jamun (center) are doin’ great!
This little eweling is usually too shy to let me get close to photograph her. But one evening she was calm and curious enough and I got this shot.
Two years after his leg surgery Forrest has grown up into an excellent bellwether.
Our lil ram Moh is doing great as well!
One project this month was to retrofit a shelter in our pasture for storing hay for the winter. There was kind of a saga extirpating a hornets’ nest before I could start work on the shelter. I will spare you that chicanery.
In July 2022 we got confirmation that Rachael is having a boy! The other vets at the clinic ultrasounded her back in May and called it, but her 20-week appointment with the human doctor confirmed it officially.
Tried to take some nice pregnancy photos on our trip to the beach.
We are so blessed. I cannot believe it.
I really enjoy these posts, my inbox tends to be be full of bad news. I need to follow more farmers! Haha
Josh, I would love to correspond with you a bit about small (household sized to village-sized) biosolids mycoremediation and it's possible role in regenerative agriculture, if you're interested.