Homestead Hill Farm: Sunday Walkabout 5-19

This week has been one of contrasts…a week of extremes.

Highs and lows …

Good and bad…

...this week there didn’t seem to be much middle ground.

Early in the week it was cold. VERY cold!

The heavy frost looked almost like snow.
We had temperatures below freezing for a couple of hours

By mid-week, it was hot and steamy and the frost seemed a distant memory.

In observing the lambs, I had a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction looking at all those nice, plump lambs lined up at the feeders. I know I say this every year, but this is the best crop ever. They are gorgeous! Observing the lambs at the feeders is one of the best ways I (as the shepherd) can assess weight gain and health. Did you read this one?

The next morning, one of those gorgeous lambs was missing. Following the biblical example (Matthew 18:12) of the shepherd, I left the rest and set off to find the one.

Oh, there he is… (expletive deleted)…and (again, expletive deleted) he is NOT taking a nap or a little sunbath. Nope, he was stone-cold, stiff-as-a-board dead. Why? No utter idea. Dealing with unexpected death first thing in the morning is the absolute worst way to begin the day. The Boss and I found ourselves completely re-working the plan for the day…checking all the other lambs and then the Boss had to deal with the corpse. Honestly, I guess he had the worse lot in the whole deal.

Death without explanation is unsettling at best and makes for some anxious moments as we keep a close eye on the rest of the flock. A loss always makes me second-guess my abilities and spend parts of the day reviewing the situation without the satisfaction of a real answer. But, life goes on.

The contrasts continued…

covering beans

We (I) felt a great deal of anxiety concerning the predicted cold weather…we covered crops and worried over the ones that weren’t. Thankfully, the plants handled the cold better than expected and it looks like the fruit crop is still intact. The sense of relief was palpable.