Of Rams and Roosters

We got the chance to help out a cousin last night.  Among her many endeavours is a sheep farm, and it was time to shear 'em.  Kaden, Jim and I headed down. 

There were quite a few helpers, so it was relatively easy work for me.  And pretty amazing work too.  The farmers know what they're doing, whether it's fixing a barn door, shearing the sheep, or trimming hooves.

We had the treat of seeing lambs, too.  They don't get sheared, but were brought in to stay close to their mom.  When the mom was taken away for her turn (literally, about 12 feet away in the same barn, but in a different "pen"), the lambs started bleating.  It was adorable and heartbreaking at the same time.

Some were a few weeks old, but the little guy above had been born just that day.  He was the only one of three who survived the birth.  When his mom was taken for her turn, he just laid down near the gate.  We took the opportunity to pet him (Mama was a little too protective) and he started sucking on the boys' fingers.  They all got a kick out of that.

The main shearer guy taught us how to lower our shoulder and guide (manhandle?) the sheep into position.  He was able to hold and clip away.  Amazingly enough, the sheep would balk a little at first, but once they were "held", they pretty much stayed still.  Only their wide eyes and quick breath indicated they weren't sure about what was happening.

Since they had the sheep "in custody", the farmers also trimmed their hooves and gave them dewormer meds.  So there was a lot of shuffling - a sheep would go from the holding pen to the shearing station, to the hooves station, to the front pasture.   Kaden got a turn with the 'shepherd tool hook stick' (he was never sure that calling it a staff was enough).  His job was to guide /encourage the sheep out into the pasture.  He was so excited, he swung the staff toward the sheep- who prompted jumped about 3 foot high and out the barn door.  It was pretty cool, and Kaden took the next 10 minutes to go to everyone and tell them personally how he made the sheep jump.

There was a ram in the mix, too- sorry no pictures of him.  Towards the end, we let the sheep out into the middle pasture, and made sure the field was clear of sheep and kids before we let the ram out.  Our eight year old nephew asked me why it was so important to keep the ram and sheep separate.  I opened my mouth to answer matter of factually about (not) breeding... and then remembered he was 8.  So I told him it was a good question, and he should ask his father.

Later I gave my brother in law a heads up.  He laughed and told me about their chickens.  Apparently the kids would come in and complain about how mean the rooster was.  "Walker's always picking at the chickens, Dad, and then he jumps on them and just beats them up, jumping and jumping.  And he does it all the time!  He's so mean!"   

Farm Boy

There's a really neat place near us... a working research farm whose mission is to end hunger. They work on all sorts of cool things... training missionaries for third world assignments... appropriate technologies (i.e. how to build a water pump from stuff you find in the junk yard)- most of those are human powered. They look into stuff for different areas: rainforest, semi-tropic, urban rooftops... It was a favorite place of my Dad's way back in the day. It's still one of our favorites.

Today, ECHO had their annual FARM DAY celebration. A few bucks gets us in, and then.. WOW. Tons of demonstrations on how to grow food, how to use/ re-use the non-edible parts. And... all sorts of way cool edible samples. Turns out Kaden likes Lemongrass Ice Tea better than Orange or Sugarcane Juice (which is straight juice squeezed out of the cane... and no where near as sweet as as it sounds!). Coconuts and tangelos were a hit, but fresh roasted peanut butter and purple yams were tasted and passed on.

One of the best parts of the day? the animals! Bunnies: set up in a hutch where the roof grows veggies, they live in the middle (about eye level) and down below catches their "fertilizer". Goats! Ducks in a pond that also has Tilapia! Chickens- set up in either movable coops or within perennials so they can eat the bugs and fertilize the crops. The friendly chicken was the absolute best... check out our little farmer, with a small smile and a tiny hand wrapped around those feathers:

Right after this, the chicken flapped his wings a bit. The whole crowd flinched- not Kade. But he was done holding the chicken and content to just pet it! The photo is thanks to Tasha- a great childhood buddy I was able to reconnect with today (one of the redeeming features of facebook).