Yesterday afternoon I was making my normal rounds after work, feeding and petting the sheep, fed Cam and was on my way to feed Turbo and I noticed his bowl was still full from the morning feeding. This is VERY unusual. I asked if anyone had seen him and no one had. So Willie and I went on a walk about yelling for him, No turbo. We went across the street into a barn to see if maybe he had gotten himself into a live trap that was set to catch the raccoons that have been around, No Turbo. I kept checking outside every hour to see if he had come back to eat his food, and nothing every time.

This morning I went outside praying he was going to come greet me, but he didn’t. I started my car and went back inside to finish getting readyfor work and I was trying to cope with the idea that my little guy was gone. As I was leaving, I opened the door stepped out, turned around and grabbed the door knob and I heard a loud MEOW and felt a cat on my feet, IT WAS TURBO! I dropped my purse right there on the deck and grabbed that cat and hugged him! Thank god he came home, I went in and woke up the guys the let them know he had come home; they were all as excited as I was. We all went out and fed him, and pet him letting him know we are SO happy to have him home safe and healthy!

Yesterday we decided to shear all of the ewes, except sweet pea she has really short hair already. Dorpers do not require shearing but we shear them to keep them looking clean and more uniform. They look a lot better, we don’t have finish clippers so we did as good as we could with the big shears. They all did really well!

Yesterday was a busy day. We got a lot of farm chores done. We started off the day de-worming and vaccinating all 6 of the sheep. I was very surprised in how well it went. This was our first time having to vaccinate full grown sheep. But with the 4 of us it went very smooth. Next, we all split ways and were working on various things. Larry and Willie got the riding lawn mower hooked up with a bagger, we bag the clippings from the yard for ensilage to feed out during the winter. I worked in the greenhouse. I trimmed all of my poor pansy’s. They looked terrible, between sitting out in pots in standing water all winter(oops) slugs, and aphids those poor things do not look well. So I trimmed all the yellow leaves and dying stock, added more dirt, sprayed them with soapy water and hoped for the best. We will see if they snap back or not. Then I separated crososmia bulbs, last year my mom brought me some bulbs, I didn’t have time to plant them so we put them in sawdust for the winter, well after sitting that long they all rooted together in a tight mass, it was not easy getting them out, but I did!

Then I sorted out my seeds, ok I admit I have a seed buying addiction. 33 packets of Veggies and 17 packets of flowers.

While I was working in the greenhouse, I had 2 great helpers.

We began setting up the lamb cam yesterday, while we were at Radio Shack getting a monitor I spotted a Nikon digital camera, after looking at it for a bit I decided I needed it, because using my cell phone for pictures is not really the best quality for my blog or website.

It been a couple days since I put a picture of the AeroGarden on here! They have grown a lot since my last post!

Last year was a gardeners’ nightmare. It rained up until the last part of June. We were not even able to till the garden areas until July because the ground was so saturated. All the rain made a perfect habitat for the slugs. I have never seen so many slugs in my life, the slug population was outrageous. I tried everything to keep them out of my plants Sluggo, Salt, and Beer in tuna cans but nothing worked. Besides the slugs, the growing season was just not long enough. My corn didn’t have time to ripen, onions didn’t get bulbs on them and if they did they were soft and mushy. I did manage to get green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes though.

My Plan to fix the problems I ran into last year.

This year I am not going to let the rain slow me down. We covered the garden with sheep bedding in December (this is the first year that I have not had to buy manure from a local farmer, thanks to our sheep) let that start decomposing, then last month we covered both areas with black plastic so that the ground could start drying out early and if we ever get sun, it will just heat up the sheep bedding under the plastic even more to decompose faster! I am going to purchase strips of copper. I have done some research on copper and I have heard nothing but good reviews on using it as slug repellent and it is usable for many years. So I am going to give it a try. My other expenditure will be a pea fence, the last couple of years my poor peas have gotten too tall and fell over the top of my makeshift pea trills and snapped the tops off, then the plant went into shock and did not produce very many peas for me. So, I will fix that issue also. I am praying for a much better gardening season this year, I need to replenish my freezer with veggies and I am going to try my hand at canning this year.

Yesterday I got a package! I was so excited my Aero Garden order came in, well most of it. I am still waiting on 1 more item, but here is what came.

The other day when I got home, Larry had mowed some fresh grass and fed it to the sheep. They ate it up like candy! I couldn't help myself, I had to capture the moment.

You would think after living in Tillamook my whole life I would be use to the rain. Well I am not. I am so ready for spring I am going crazy. While sitting inside watching it rain yesterday, I worked on my Cross Stitch. On the right is what it is suppose to like when I am done.

Today, My Kitchen was BUSY!

And of course, what would a blog post be without an AeroGarden Update? Everything is getting its second growth! Makes me smile!

Yesterday I was wondering if it was EVER going to stop raining. Well Yesterday evening when I got home from work, there was a break in the weather! The sun was kind of shinning and the wind was pretty calm. I was in desperate need of fresh air and I was wanting to walk around and see what sign of spring were appearing, and of course to take pictures for all of you :) Willie and I went for a walk around the farm, and here is what we saw.

Also, we spotted a hummingbird eating out of the feeder! This made me really happy, considering I saw one the other day, but I had not yet cleaned out the feeder. I was scared that the bad nectar would discourage them from coming back, but it didn’t. It came back not once but 3 times in a row! Hopefully he will hang around all summer.

Here in Tillamook we have had nothing but rain and wind. We have had at least 3 in a row if not more, I have lost count ;) So, as you probably guessed, nothing has been getting done at the farm. All the ewes are still in the nursery, even though the babies are gone, and Big daddy Moe is still in the corral area under cover. After all of the storms we have had, I am anticipating spring more than ever. As soon as the sun peaks out from those nasty gray clouds, I am going to walk around and look for any signs of spring. 

On a good note, OUR LAMB CAMS CAME!. Even though we have about 6 months until our next lambing season, I am still excited to have them.

Aerogarden update, all the seeds have sprouted! I will get a picture this evening. All the tomatoes seem to be growing great, so I will not have to try again! Yay for good seeds!

Yesterday was a sad and happy day all intertwined. It was sad because the last of our lambs got picked up yesterday. But the happy part is that we still have our original 6, and we get to re-breed so we can have more babies!! I am really excited for next lambing season. Dorpers are a wonderful breed, they breed all year. So as soon as we turn the ewes back out with Moe, about 5 or 6 months later we will have babies again! I am excited to see what the next generation of lambs is going to look like, and how many we are going to have.  I love farming!

Update on the Aerogarden, all but 1 Tomato seeds have sprouted! I will give them a couple more weeks in there, then I will transplant those and start more seeds! Going home and seen those little seeds sprouting gets me really excited for spring and summer!