Loquats

If you don't live in the south, you might not know that word.
Then again, you might have lived here your entire life- like I have - and still not know that word.
I ate my first loquat two weeks ago.
I had my first loquat cake the same day.
I had my first loquat jam the next day, when I made my first loquat jam. I will be making more loquat jam, I assure you.
Loquats, also known as Japanese plums, are free food, y'all. These yummy orange plums grow on the easements of the roads throughout the city of Houston. They grow in yards, and people ignore them, which I think is a sinful waste, let me tell ya. We need to be thanking God for the stuff He hands to us without us working too hard.

I used a recipe I found off the internet. I was surprised at how many popped up when I searched.
I used Pectin, but I won't next time. Loquats have plenty of pectin in the them.  Do yourself a favor; if you make loquat jam, add cardamom. Trust me.

spring shearing Ba-aAA!!

First step in shearing is to bring sheep close to the sheering area, keeping them comfortable and content and safe. We used the portable electric fence to move them from the pasture to the area behind our back patio, where the shearing professionals whom we hired can use outlets for their electric clippers and hold each sheep safely from flock while shearing the wool.

who is that grown man in my back yard?! (it's my little boy home from college on spring break. :o ) 

Little Dido wasn't sure what to make of all the commotion. But she loves belly rubs enough to not ask many questions.

I leave the 140 pound lamb wrestling to the experts.

The wee lambs will wait until June to have their wool sheared. They don't have enough skin protecting lanolin under yet, nor is their skin thick enough to protect them from the sun if they lose their wool. Besides, we'll have more, thicker wool if we wait a bit.

Cici was not sheared when she was a lamb, so she had an extra heavy coat from this, her first time. She quickly surrendered to the experience.

Even the ram was compliant. 

before and after

The wool of each sheep is kept separately wrapped in sheets until Harmony can get to it to clean, card, and make ready for felting or yarn making. 

With the removal of the wool, is also the removing of the lanolin the sheep makes to keep her wool water resilient. This lanolin is a rich emollient; I would love to extract it from the wool for hand cream and other skin products. Cici's wool is especially rich in lanolin, so perhaps I can preserve some of it when the wool is washed. 

The scent of the lanolin varies from sheep to sheep. It's not a difference we humans can detect, but each lamb knows his or her mama from not only the sound of her call, but by her distinct smell of her lanolin-- the distinct smell we just had sheared off!! 

It was sadly amusing to see each lamb call for her mother, the mother respond, and watch as the poor lambs slowly found his mother by calling out, listening, calling again, roaming, and then quickly running to the sheep who responded with the right distinct "ba--aa" to which he was most familiar.

Dido was a different story. It was sadder, which- and I'm almost embarrassed to say- made it even more amusing. She wondered aimlessly crying out with a questioning "ba-a?" To which her mother looked up and responded, "Ba-aa-aa." Again, Dido asked to the open field before her, "ba-a?" To which, again, with more gusto, her mother responded, "Ba-aa-A!".
Poor Dido tried again, looking around, "ba-a??" Cici stepped forward, and almost militantly resounded, "BA-A-AA!!" And poor Dido asked one more time, "ba-a?" By this time Cici the young mother simply mumbled, "ba-a-a-a-a" while biting and chewing and swallowing the green grass before her. Eventually, Dido heard her mother's distinct grumbling. Or perhaps, by default she simply chose the sheep mama without a baby. Either way, mother and daughter were soon reunited and Dido was able to wash down her grassy meal with her own mother's milk.

lambing in the winter

Meet the twin boys. Born January 31st, 2019

These little guys were expected. Their momma, Cherry, is mother to our Cici born last winter. She was clearly carrying more than one lamb, and we anxiously awaited their birth. Cherry, an experienced mother, didn't need any help her babies to feed and walk. They were bouncing around within minutes. One little guy needed a little extra cleaning, but other than that, no human intervention was necessary or offered.

They were out and about within twenty-four hours.

This little girl is another story.

February 11th, while Harmony was getting into bed after midnight, she heard our one-year-old Cici crying out from the barn. Checking on her, she found a hungry wee lamb in the corner of the barn, and a confused Momma Cici wandering loudly about. I received a text from the barn requesting back up. After sizing up the situation, which included one young inexperienced sheep mother and a little smaller than average baby girl who couldn't find milk, I went to the kitchen and made a bottle of colostrum. Yes, we actually had lamb colostrum in our pantry. The next couple of hours included a few ounces of bottle milk, as well as a forced nursing session with the mama. It also included me catching a confused, tired, and very strong sheep and holding her still while my daughter cut away excess wool from around the udders so our new lamb could reach her tiny mouth around the milk supply. What you see here are photos of happy healthy lambs and their content mothers. What you don't see are photos of me in my flannel pajamas grabbing hold of a frightened 130 pound ewe and holding her while someone comes at her underside with scissors. Nor will you see photos of that same 130 pound ewe butting me in the ribs, just enough to let me know she was not happy being held. (I am forever thankful that this particular ewe knows and likes me and was merely letting me know she was not comfortable; therefore I have no broken ribs)

After making the milk more accessible, Harmony was able to hold Cici still enough my little man to hold the lamb and direct her to her mama's milk. The shepherds made this a daily practice throughout the following week or so,  until our little Dido learned to nurse on her own.
For a few feedings a day, while Harmony the shepherdess was at school, the younger children would take a bottle of milk to the pasture to feed Dido the lamb. She knew them by sight, and the bottle by smell and would run to meet them. Their job was to try to feed her close to her mother's side so that each sheep would get the idea that feeding is related to the mama. In the morning before school, and in the evening after, Harmony would hold Cici still for Dido to nurse. After a few weeks of this, mamm and lamb finally found their own routine and neither bottle nor ewe catching was necessary.

A well established nursing routine after a week.

proud papa, scratching his itch

Meet Banana. (we didn't name her; she came with the name) This is her leggy son born without any aid needed. This is a blessing because Banana lets no human get near her, unless the human has alfalfa or clover in his hand. Any attempted nursing help with this ewe would definitely resulted in a broken rib for this human.

Uncle and niece, half brother/sister... animal husbandry; probably better not to ask

Now it's simply a matter of time, watching the lambs grow.
A word to the wise: don't get attached to the young rams.