Here are the new additions to our little farm. These are 10 Hair Sheep all with lambs to be born anywhere from May 23rd to June 21st. Michael did not get home until well after dark with them last night so I wasn't able to really see them. I did stick my hands in the trailer to touch them. After touching them, I am convinced that this is what clouds must feel like. I could have stood there for a very long time just squishing their hair.The farm that Michael purchased the sheep from was a wealth of information. My husband and children all came home quite impressed with the Border Collie that she used to herd the sheep. Michael said that he enjoyed watching the Border Collie work as much as he enjoys watching bird dogs do their thing. I am sure a Border Collie will be in his future. I told him that we could use our English Mastiff to round up the sheep. He glared at me and said that would look more like a nuclear explosion! Not a pretty picture to think about there!!!
As we learn more, we will be sure to pass on the information. I would like Michael to post about his growing knowledge of sheep. He serenaded me to sleep last night telling me all about sheep breeding and genetics. I drifted off somewhere between the RR factor and the QQ genetic factor.
grace and peace,
julie
4 comments:
Hello. I've enjoyed reading your blog. Your pictures are lovely. Tell me about East Tennessee. Is snow a regular occurence in Winter? I'm a Christian Agrarian (or working hard to get there). Would it be easy for me to find a church community that shares my stmt of faith? I'd like to homestead and market my farm products. What are gov't restrictions in your part of TN like, for example, max number of chickens that can be processed and sold without inspection? Are laws favorable to homeschooling? THank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Sonya
Sonya,
I am so glad that you have been enjoying our blog. First let me say, Tennessee is a beautiful place to live. Our family has finally found our home in this area. The people are great. They exude the southern ways of life that I so often longed for when my husband was in the Navy. Out here in our corner of the county, each person waves as you pass each other driving. That never happened when we lived in New York!
Home school laws are pretty straight forward here. First, you either have to have a school covering such as an acadamy to be accountable to. Many home schoolers here use Gateway Academy. If you don't want to go that route, you can also register with the county. This is the way our family has always home schooled. The law requires us to school 180 days a year and at least four hours a day. We must turn in an attendance sheet to verify that we have made this commitment. They do not tell us what we have to teach. If I take my children to the YMCA to swim for 30 minutes, that can be counted as part of their school for PE time. The county requires that TCAP test be taken in 5th, 7th, and I think 9th grade. You can either choose to take your child to the public shcool for the testing or their is a local Christian college that administers the test for home school families.
Our winters are not full of snow as I would have expected for living so close to the mountains. We usually get a decent snow (1-3 inches) about 2 times a year. About every 6 years, there have been large snow storms reported. We have lived here for 7 years, and we have yet to see one.
Our area has many farmers...most of the traditional mindset. Many people raise gardens locally. We have a farmer's market, but I haven't been there. I haven't tried to sell produce here so I really don't know how it would turn out.
There are many different churches in our area. For our family, the most challenging part of living here has been not finding a church that we are like minded with. We see the church as a family that have deep relationships first with the Lord and then with one another.
The other negative to this area is the price of land. We moved here because God opened up a job for my husband. He works in the Nuclear Industry so we are limited by his profession. However, if purchasing land is one of your goals there are much cheaper areas than ours. We grew up in Western Ky. The land values there are drastically different than here. For what we paid for our 17 acre farm and ranch house, we could have had nearly 50 to 75 acres in Ky and at least as nice of a house.
This area has become our home. My husband was in the Navy for almost 12 years and we moved a lot. We have been here for 7 years, and it is home for all of my children. After waiting 12 years to have a home, Tennessee has provided us with much of our earthly desires. Unless the Lord moves us, we will remain here because we do love it. I just wish we could purchase more land without having to give an arm and a leg for it!
Hi Julie,
I'm looking forward to hearing more about your adventures with sheep. They are also in our future, and we need to learn a lot before acquiring them! We do cover for neighbors when they go on overnights, and they have sheep. We had a Border Collie mix dog, and she was terrible with our animals. It seemed no matter what we tried with her, it just didn't work. I would love to see how someone would train one for herding animals.
Lynn,
It's good to hear from you. We will share as we learn about this whole sheep adventure. I know we have so much to learn, but it is nice learning as we go.
I too would like to see how somebody trains a border collie. I am not very good with training dogs. I am just a big push over and the dogs seem to know that. Our English Mastiff did get in the pasture with the sheep. It wasn't a nuclear explosion as my husband feared, but she wasn't very effective at rounding up sheep. She was however VERY effective at chasing them. We were just thankful that the sheep didn't break through the new electric fence!
grace and peace,
julie
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