Happy rams

You may have noticed that the 'Lamb Watch' gadget on my blog is up and running again....guess what that means? It's that time of year again. Romance is in the air at Crosswinds Farm, and the 2012 lambs will be here in about 5 months.

I normally put the rams in with the ewes right around Thanksgiving time, and for some reason, I was thinking that I still had a while before we would be playing the Sheep Dating Game, but as I was looking at the calendar last week, it occurred to me that it IS Thanksgiving time and I needed to get sheep moved around....I have no idea where the year went, but here we are!

The sheep certainly didn't forget what time of year it is though. There have been lots of lustful gazes going back and forth across the pastures.

The boys have been waiting patiently to meet their dates....OK, maybe not SOoo patiently.

And there has been A LOT of unlady-like behavior from the girls.

" I smell boys!"

Even the ewes that are normally the best of friends have been acting like guests on The Jerry Springer Show.

 " You're goin' down, sister!"

Have you noticed a common denominator...or, I should say, common dominate-r, in most of these photos?

Awwww, it couldn't be sweet little Athena, could it?

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, it's totally her. She may be the smallest ewe, but what she lacks in stature, she makes up for it in attitude.

The rams and ewes were put together in two groups last Sunday, putting an end to all the fighting. Little Miss Athena and Lucina ( the black ewe lamb) are safely tucked away in a pen to protect their virtue; they are way too little to breed. I can't promise that there will be no fighting in that pen though, 'cause, well....Athena is in there. 

Mama Llama is just happy that things have settled down....

She was getting a little stressed with all the fighting.

" MAKE IT STOPPP!

 In my next post I will let you know which ewes are with which ram. ; )

Signs of Spring? Maybe.....

Spring is still attempting to make it's appearance here in Iowa. It has been very slow in coming this year. Overnight temps are continually going down into the 30's, and there was scattered frost just North of us last night. I know spring is coming though!

My pear trees are blooming.

The Barn Swallows returned around May first, as they do every year.

There has been a turf war, of sorts, going on between the returning Swallows and some opportunistic Sparrows. The Sparrows took up residence in the nests that the Swallows built last year, they filled the empty nests with junk and feathers and made them their own. Now that the Swallows are back they want to reclaim their nesting spots. I am not going to lie, I am on "Team Barn Swallow", I'm not a huge fan of the messy Sparrows.

Speaking of nests, Gary noticed a pair of Starlings collecting nesting material out in the driveway the other day.....then he saw them flying up underneath my truck and coming back out without said nesting material....so, a check under the hood revealed....

Maybe I need to leave the farm more often.

The chicks are a month old now and have reached the...ummm....not so cute stage. This is one of the Splash Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. They will be really pretty some day....really, they will.

The Asparagus is growing like crazy...I'm not sure why I planted it, it's not a favorite of mine, but the sheep sure like it!

I have even gotten a couple of trees planted in spite of the cold weather. What do you mean, you can't see it? Yes, there is a tree there, don't laugh. Look closely!

You probably think I have lost my mind, but this is a Curly Willow and they grow 4-6 feet per year.....and it is planted in 5 years worth of well composted chicken manure, so, see, I'm not that crazy......well.

The chickens have kicked up egg production-just in time for the start of  the Summer Farmers' Market.

Well, that is, most of them have kicked up production...someone clearly is not pulling her weight!

The last of the lambs (Ashumet's ewe lamb) has joined the rest of the flock outside.

Ohhh, wait......that's not the last lamb...because Luna STILL hasn't had her lamb(s)!  You probably want to ask, "Are you sure she's pregnant?"

Yup, pretty sure!

COME ON LUNA!!!!!!

I got nuthin!

I know that you have all been patiently watching the lamb countdown gadget as the days ticked down until the first lambs were due, eagerly awaiting the day when I would post pictures of bouncing little lambies .........well...me too. I guess I should have made the ewes watch the countdown, 'cause I have no lambs yet : (.

The girls are getting bigger.

And bigger.

And Bigger.

Udders are full.

And like most pregnant creatures, the girls are getting juuuust a little...shall we say...cranky.

I guess they are as impatient as we are.

Sigh.

There are, however, a few new babies on the farm.

 Last weekend we went to one of our favorite flea markets about an hour and a half away from here. We always try to get there early- before the "good stuff"  is gone.

Yup,  kinda early.

 Do we really need to be going to a flea market before the crack of dawn?

 Probably not, but then we would miss the beautiful sunrise.

 And we would miss the "good" stuff at the market....

This is not the "good" stuff.

 Still NOT the good stuff.

I am pretty sure that "Spidey" isn't the good stuff either.

Then I saw something that definitely was the "good stuff"...at least to me. There was an antique wooden butter churn sitting toward the back of a booth with a few other goodies.

 I loved the faded details and bent wood legs.

Unfortunately, when I asked the vendor about it, he said that it had already been sold. Stupidly, I asked him how much he sold it for..."$40" was his answer. FORTY DOLLARS???? I was really disappointed because I would have totally bought that bad boy for $40. Even more disappointing; I later tortured myself further by looking up some information about the churn, and  found that it was actually worth several times what he sold it for....not that I care about what it is worth monetarily, but now I know that if I ever find one again...it's not going to be $40.

So, we moved on to other things.
Take a guess at what I found. No, really, you can't possibly guess.

I found.....

Chickens!

Don't worry, I only got a few. There are only a couple hatcheries that I trust to have healthy stock at this market, and it is still pretty early in the season, so many of the usual hatcheries were not there vending.

 I did find three Blue Copper Marans.

 And a couple of Welsummers.

I just about had the new chicks settled in back at home when my friend Chanin sent me an email saying that she had three extra Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks from a hatchery order- for me! Since she has been a victim....errr....recipient of my Chicken Math many times, it was only polite for me to accept her gracious gift.

So, I guess we will have to just watch the chicks grow until the lambies get here.