Spring brings new beginnings

After a long hiatus, I'm back to show you what is happening at Hill Grove Farm.  Last year, the ewes and the shepherdess had a break and we didn't have any lambs, although I brought home 3 new sheep from R3 Ranch:  Zambia and her twin ewe lambs, Summer with her ram lamb and Dexter, the sire of Summer and Zambia's lambs.  Labour Day weekend arrived and I brought home this handsome fellow,  Bailey (aka Emporer Cuzco Lorenzo Bailey III).  Thanks to all those who contributed to his more formal name when they heard I was getting a llama!!!  Bailey is a 6 year old Guardian Llama who needed a new flock after my friend Shirley decided to retire from her Polwarth flock after over 20 years of shepherding.

Bailey

Bailey and I have been getting to know each other a bit better since the Winter has finally decided to at least disappear, although we have yet to have really warm days.  I've experienced a few llama firsts both good and not so good, but its all in the learning:  llama hugs (when I come home and say hello at the fenceline and he puts his head on my shoulder as I wrap my arms around his neck), llama spits (when I was too slow to give him his pellet treat), raspberries (when I thought he was going to spit, but its his way of investigating a new food/taste/excitement), shoves (when he gets excited and pushes past me while I'm pushing the wheelbarrow through the narrow snow path), kisses (as he uses his ridiculous lips to nuzzle you hair and neck), screams (as he noticed my friend's husky dog and thought it was a predator and he decided to round up all the sheep by running a circle around them, resulting in the sheep instinctively running into the barn in a tight herd formation, to the most recent and feared llama kick (when he got strangely spooked while running past me as some hay I was carrying tickled his back legs and he decided to do a little jump and dance resulting in me getting a somewhat gentle kick of his back legs)...good thing he knows I'm the hand that feeds.

Grey Cup weekend (November 24th) was the day I put Dexter the ram in with only 7 girls for this year's lamb crop.  Based on previous documentation, my sheep have an average 147 day gestation, so their due date was April 19th (Saturday of the Easter weekend).  I set myself a Google Calendar note for that day, but I've been watching them carefully since the last week.

Still no lambs on Good Friday morning.  I happened to look at my phone and the Google Calendar reminder popped up around 7:00pm to remind me that my first lambs were due tomorrow.  My children are responsible for evening chores, so I don't usually go, but the reminder had me thinking that I should check.  When I arrived, Caramel had just given birth to a little lamb and was being helped with the clean up of the lamb by Peaches (a girl I didn't breed this year).  I left them to do their job while I prepared the lambing pen.  As I was working I finally heard the little lamb cry out...good sound!  But then, I heard 2 different cries!!  I went to where Caramel was and there was a 2nd lamb.  Many girls were surrounding them, but only Peaches and Caramel were very busy licking and trying to clean/dry up the lambs.  Once the lambing pen was ready, I grabbed both lambs in a towel, did a quick gender check (2 ewe lambs....hurray!!!), and held them at sheep nose height right in front of Caramel, backing myself slowly towards and into the lambing pen.  She got confused and would run back to where they had been born (and the other sheep were crowding around the excitement) and I'd go back to put the lambs in front of her to get her back.  The little lamb cries helped as well, because she knew to follow that sound as well.  The sun had just set and it was starting to get colder.  It had been raining up until about an hour earlier, so that was making the air very damp and with the lambs being still very wet, I had to help her out by drying them with towels.  Not very successful.  I decided that I had to shut everyone inside to prevent any drafts (it was a bit challenging getting Bailey to go inside, but I tricked him with his favourite pellet food) and managed to shut them all in to keep the warmth.  I also put little lamb sweaters on them (wool sweater sleeves with leg holes cut out) to help them keep warm overnight. Poor Peaches was crying for the first part of the night because she thought those were her lambs and that I had taken them away from her.

Caramel with her twin ewe lambs

Phoebe and Chloe

 In the morning I was very happy to see that everyone was doing well.  Both lambs have their father's dominant pattern Katmoget, but the lamb in the front is brown (Phoebe) and the lamb in the back is black (Chloe).  Phoebe is smaller and seems less active, so I will be watching her closely, but Caramel is an awesome mother and both lambs have been nursing regularly and all looks good.  No other lambs born overnight, but I have at least 2 girls that are looking very close and both of them are expected to potentially have twins, so it will be a busy Easter weekend.  11 lambs are expected in total (4 that could have twins and 3 that will have singles since they will be first time moms).

Cappucino & Espresso

After work Friday night, I arrived to find 2 adorable brown lambs, already dry and standing up, staying very close to their doting mother Emma who was protecting them from all the other girls. I shuffled the other girls out and coaxed Emma into the lambing pen by carrying her lambs at her nose level. 2 nice big ram lambs from a mother who is looking pretty scrappy having lost a lot of her wool from her neck, shoulders and upper back. This is also her first set of twins, having had singles in her first 2 years. The darkest brown ram lamb is called Espresso, while we have named the light brown ram lamb Cappucino. This appears to be a breeding from the right ram, Two Bars. The lambs are very cute and are so content and calm. I let them out a day later and they stick to their mother like glue, following right by her side. They will frequently take to following Brianna or I as we move about the shed and yard.

More Surprise Lambs

Early Sunday morning, I woke to find 2 new lambs: a black ram lamb that was totally dry and sleeping peacefully in the corner guarded by his mom Tess, and a tiny black & white ewe lamb, still a bit wet with apparently no mother. I scrambled to check the other mothers to see who else may have given birth, but I couldn't see anything yet, so I shuffled to put Tess in a lambing pen with the 2 lambs to see how things would go. The black ram lamb was much bigger and was sleeping contentedly in a corner, but the wee little black and white Katmoget ewe lamb was up and trying to nurse from Tess, who was not overly interested. She kept knocking her down. I trapped all the other girls to examine them more thoroughly, because Tess was acting like she'd only given birth to 1 lamb, but I could find no other mother that could be this little ewe's mom. Tess had to be her mother. I went into the lambing pen and tried cornering Tess to nurse this crying lamb. She'd let her nurse when I was there. I came to the conclusion that Tess had the black ram lamb first and quite a while later, gave birth to the little ewe lamb, but since this was her first set of twins, she wasn't used to having 2, so she figured that's not mine. I kept them in the lambing pen for over 2 days and eventually, she realized that they are both hers and she'd better take care of them, because I can't have any bottle lambs this year. I've named the ram lamb Cee Lo and the ewe lamb Gwyneth...Glee fans will know what that's all about.

Other surprise is that, once again, that isn't a breeding from the expected ram. Although Tess was in with the ram and was never from what I can gather in with Felicity. They both appear to have been bred by one of my ram lambs from last year, and likely not the one that got Felicity. The ram mysteries deepen and I'm so confused as to how this may have happened and why I'm so unaware of it all.

Above is a picture of the first lamb enjoying the outdoors now. Brianna has renamed her. She is now called Ginger, because of her colouring and her cheeky personality. She's a sweetie and comes for petting.

April's Fool

As Aidan did the evening chores tonight, he was shocked to discover a little lamb in amongst the ewes feet. He and I watched and examined the ewes to discover who this little ewe lamb belonged to. The ewes were all scrambling to get their mouthfuls of the evening grain, so it was difficult to figure it all out, but Felicity seemed protective of her. I couldn't believe it was Felicity's lamb because she wasn't supposed to be bred. She was in my non-breeding group along with 5 ewe lambs from last year. Not to mention that I wasn't expecting lambs until mid April, so I wasn't ready. The little lamb was discovered fairly dry and content around her mother, so I gather she's had her belly's full of milk already, since she doesn't seem too interested in nursing. She appears mainly white with a lot of phaoe which is like a reddish brown on the tips of her wool. She's absolutely adorable, but I have no idea who her father is. I thought I had everything well organized last fall and I don't remember any mishaps or rams getting out. I suspect it is one of the ram lambs from last year, but I'll never know. My only concern now is that I don't have any other surprises. As it is, I could be expecting up to 22 lambs and right now, even that feels like too much. I've named the ewe lamb "Dawn" for her colouring. She's my little April Fool's joke.

Rogan Josh (Lamb Curry)

The intense cold snap and snow storms we have just experienced sends me looking for comfort food. This recipe has become my absolute favourite lamb dish. You can make it with stew meat or you can cut up a leg or shoulder roast into cubes. Because my lambs are small, I've found that the stew meat pieces are very small, so if you prefer bigger pieces, try cutting up the leg or shoulder.

Rogan Josh

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1-2 medium onions finely chopped
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 1” cube freshly grated ginger
• ½ -1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp ground coriander (this is best when the seeds are freshly ground)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground red chilies
• 500-700g of cubed lamb pieces (I have used stew lamb, boneless shoulder roast or leg of lamb cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1 ( 796 mL) canned diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp plain natural yogurt

Heat the 2 tbsps of vegetable oil in a large pot on high heat. Add the finely chopped onions and fry until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and continue frying at lower heat for 2 minutes.

Next add the salt, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, cumin, and red chilies and keep stirring and frying for a couple minutes. The mixture will be dry and this is called dry-roasting.

Add the chunks of fresh lamb and continue frying until the pieces of lamb have been evenly browned. You may have to add a Tbsp more of oil if everything is sticking to the bottom of the pan or if it is too dry.

When lamb pieces are fully browned, add the canned tomatoes and stir, allowing it to cook for a few minutes.

Add the plain yogurt and stir well. Return it to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer the lamb curry for 1 ½ hours covered, checking it every 30 minutes to stir it down.

The curry is done when the lamb pieces are tender, not chewy. If it appears too runny, you can continue simmering with the lid off. Adjust salt if necessary. When it is ready to serve, sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and stir it in.

Serve over basmati rice, warm naan bread and chutney (our favourite is Mrs. Ball’s Peach Chutney).

This recipe was adapted from the recipe at http://www.route79.com/food/rogan-josh.htm

Snow Day!!!

I love Snow Days! Snow Days here mean that the buses are cancelled and the kids get to stay home. There isn't much point driving them into school because there are very few students that go and they don't do anything and luckily, I'm home so they have that option. By this morning, we had more snowfall than any of the other days this winter. Before going out to do the animals this morning, I joked with the kids that if I didn't return within an hour, they should come looking for me. It was the first time I really had to dig out the way for me to reach the animals and for them to get out. Luckily, my heated hose worked just fine, so I was able to water the animals. There have only been 2 days so far that my hose wouldn't work and it was understandably cold (-20ºC and colder with the windchill) on those days. Half an hour later, Brianna poked her head out the back door calling for me. I was in the barn so she couldn't see me. I thought she was going to ask me if she could play computer, but she just wanted to know if I was OK. She's so sweet!

Snow Day is a relaxed and happy day here on the farm. With the power still on and no one having to leave or drive in the weather, there is a wonderful feeling about being "snowed in". In the morning, I don't fuss much about the kids watching TV or playing video games...they pretty well do what they want. After lunch, they have to shovel and go play outside. Brianna took Emerson out and was training him to pull a tobaggan. Both dogs and kids alike enjoyed climbing the big mountain created by Hugh with previous snow clearings. Unfortunately, it means that I can no longer contain the dogs in the front pasture because the mountain now spans across the top of the fence and they are agile at going up one side and down the other. Baking brownies, hot chocolates, reading and popcorn movie night will round out the day. Here's hoping that I can get out tomorrow morning, because it doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Stay safe everyone!

Devilled Eggs

The first recipe I'm presenting is Devilled Eggs, not necessarily because my recipe is spectacular (although it is simple), but to talk about how difficult it is to peel a hard-cooked Farm Fresh Egg. The eggs you buy from me are usually laid that day or the day before. As an egg ages, an air pocket naturally begins to form between the outer shell and the inner membrane. Fresh eggs have no such pocket and when hard-cooked in the first few days, will stick to the shell and make peeling nearly impossible, frustrating and result in unattractive devilled eggs. For any Farm Fresh Eggs you buy, where you know they are likely a day or 2 old, I recommend to either wait at least a week before making hard-cooked eggs or leave them out on the counter for a day or 2 at room temperature.

To hard-cook eggs, I place the eggs in a pot of cold water and slowly bring the temperature up to boiling. I will boil for 1 minute in a full rolling boil, then turn off the heat and cover the pot and leave it on the same burner for 10-15 minutes. After that, I will put them in the sink, remove the hot water and run cold water from the tap over the eggs to cool rapidly. When they are fully cooled down, I will crack the eggs and let them sit a bit longer in the water. Then I peel the eggs carefully from the large end, trying to get to the air bubble.

Devilled Eggs

(adapted from a recipe on pg. 56 of Company's Coming Pint Size Books by Jean Paré "Finger Food", Company's Coming Publishing Limited, 1993)

8 hard-cooked eggs, cut lengthwise, yolks removed

To the yolks add the following and mash together with the back of a fork...

4 tbsp. mayonnaise

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp onion powder (0ptional)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I like to put the yolk mixture into an icing/piping bag with a large star tip and fill the egg white halves, but you can also spoon it in. Garnish by sprinkling with paprika or chives or whatever is your preference. Refrigerate them for an hour before serving.