To date we have four new lambs here on The Covered Y Farm! (By the way they weren't scheduled to start arriving until May 26th. When I am pregnant, I always take my due date and add at least 2 if not 3 weeks to it. That is always a more appropriate due date for me. You can imagine my shock to realize that animals can and sometimes do deliver their babies EARLY)! We have 2 ewes (girls) and 2 rams (boys). We have already sold our boy lambs to two families for meat. We will grow them for at least 6 months and then deliver them to the butcher. Michael is hoping for another boy so we have one for ourselves to butcher. (I don't know if I have it in me to eat one of them).Today will find me in the kitchen making Strawberry Jam once again. I will make 6 more batches which should have me at a total of 36 pints of strawberry jam. If I make my kids and husband ration the jam, that should be enough to get us through until next strawberry season.
I will also be overseeing my oldest son with the tiller in the garden beds. I have 3 beds to prepare in order to plant. I NEED them to plant in. This year I am 3 beds short from last year at this time. We have donated one bed for strawberries, one bed for cabbage, and one bed for broccoli. The cabbage and broccoli are still going strong so I can't use those beds to plant in for a bit longer. I may actually plant some things out in our row garden. Michael wants me to plant pole beans around our corn stalks. His point is that they are true companion plants. The corn takes nitrogen out of the soil and green beans put it back in. (Leave it up to a chemist nuclear man to think in these terms). Now here is my practical idea....I want to plant pole beans in a straight line growing up a cattle panel. The picker (that's me) walks up a nice and tidy straight line and picks beans growing up a nice NON ITCHY cattle panel. I will let you know how we resolve this issue!
If there is time today, I would like to do some cleaning. I always like my house clean to start the weekend. I also know there is reality and sometimes reality says that there is always tomorrow to clean the house!!!
grace and peace,
julie
2 comments:
I found you through Old Paths and already feel like we are good friends! SO many of your posts mirror my life!
We JUST butchered our two male lambs, though don't tell my kids. We follow the rule that you don't name what you're going to eat so that you don't get attached. But these were originally going to be 4-H projects, so we had to do it on the sly. I don't think they'd eat the meat otherwise.
I also grow my garden in raised beds, except for the corn and potatoes. And food from the home produce section is always better because of the work put into it!
Motherofmany,
Thanks so much for stopping by! It does seem that we have have many things in common. I am looking forward to checking out your blog soon.
grace and peace,
julie
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