Day: May 14, 2014

It’s been nearly two weeks since one of the donkeys – Simon, we are pretty sure – stomped Liam and bit him on his back. The bite was minor, the stomp broke several of his ribs. He recovered quickly, and every evening after dinner time he goes over to the fence where the donkeys are and checks Simon out, Simon returns the favor.

Simon, we think, did not recognize the small lamb as a sheep, he moved to protect the flock, as he often does. This is not aggressive behavior for a donkey, they are very protective, but we had not experienced it before, and Simon has been around sheep and lambs from the time he arrived.

We will wait until Liam and the other lambs are bigger and then introduce them in closer quarters while we are present. As it is, the donkeys can see the lambs through their fence, they can see that the lambs live here and are not intruders.  Liam does not seem intimidated in the least, and he is bigger and faster now.

We will move slowly, I’ll keep you posted.

I wrote a lot last week about the hard part of lambing, it’s only fair to write about the sweet part, which began on our return from New York. There are no more births to come, we had four lambs, lost one, Ma’s delivery was a struggle. Today we docked the tails of the new lambs and next week we will band (castrate) Jack and we will be finished with the lambing process.

We are not planning to do it again, I’ll give all the lambing tools to Darryl Kuehne, our farmer friend. I’ve done it a bunch of times, I wanted to do it with Maria, this is enough for both of us, I think. But now, it is a pleasure to have these lambs. In the evening, we come out and see them dancing and running and jumping together across the pasture. The lambs are friendly, they are happy to come and sniff us and be held, their mothers watching warily.

The weather has been beautiful, dry and warm, the memory of the winter is fading. It is a joy to see the ewes and their lambs out in the pasture grazing. We need to figure out how re-acclimate the lambs and the donkeys, but not for a few weeks. There is a hard part to having animals, there is a sweet part. Life itself.

Today was Maria’s first day back in her studio since her trip to Gee’s Bend, Alabama last week to work with the famous quilters of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective. She stayed with Mary Ann Pettaway and they worked together, they inspired one another. Maria said she calls these the “Freedom Potholders” because she had no plan for them, she gathered the fabric and a scissors and put the potholders together as she went along, a first for her. Mary Ann, after talking with Maria, just grabbed a pile of scraps and made some beautiful small square quilts. She said she had never done that before.

These potholders are very different, bold, strong, original. They are very much in the striking, even modernist tradition of the Gee’s Bend quilters, now famous all over the world.  They are, in fact very free. Maria is just now making them, she has not put any up for sale yet. You can follow the progress of the Freedom potholders on her blog. She went into her studio with a mission this morning, I just got out of the way.

Sometimes Zelda, newly shorn, will call out to one of the lambs – Jake was nearby – and the lamb will answer her. She sniffs him carefully, looking for the smell she still recognizes. Jake’s mom Socks comes rushing up and calls him away. Zelda is making her crossing, she is out grazing, sitting in the pole barn looking for shade. She is searching less and less. I am sorry for this loss, I know she would have been a great mother, and her lamb would have been an amazing creature, just as she is.

Zelda, for now, is not so vigilant, not guarding the flock as much. She will return to it.

I appreciate the trust that still exists in the country. While we were in New York, our shearer, Jim McRae of Rutland, Vt., came to the farm, got the sheep into the pole barn, sheared them and left a bill for $76. He is a good man and a great shearer, and it is always a certain sign of Spring to see the sheep shorn, cool and light. Maria has more wool to take to the mill.