Just as we started preparing for spring lambing - Winter started - our sheep shearer arrived in the middle of the snow storm and all the ewes parted with their fleeces even as the snow piled up outside. And now that summer has arrived with seventy degree temperatures, spring activities are in full swing here at the farm. The first ewe to give birth did a week early and gave us our first bottle-fed lamb. The other ewes began birthing on schedule and as of today, eight of our our thirteen ewes have given birth. It is good that we were already planning to cut back on numbers, since a record number of ewes gave birth to singles this year. We do have three black ewe lambs - Popcorn, Popover and Pesto (its the year for names beginning in P) - that we tentatively plan to keep.
We have tapped a few maple trees, though with the dry winter and the record breaking temperatures, the run is likely to be extremely (pardon the pun) short and sweet. The sap runs well when the days that are above freezing and the nights below freezing. Beth and Ashley, our first two interns to arrive helped tap a few trees and today we collected approximately 8 gallons - 5 of which Robin took to make Sunrise Maple Porter Beer. We hope to cook down a little to make syrup - though we'll probably only make a quart or two this year as the ratio of sap to syrup is 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.
Tapping Maple trees is becoming an annual rite of spring to make a batch of beer (Oatmeal Stout or this year Porter) each spring using maple sap instead of water. If all goes well we'll be serving Sunrise Maple Porter at our Spring Farm Festival on June 3.
After collecting maple syrup, we get back to the lambs. Once the lambs are at least three days old, it is time to vaccinate, dock tails, castrate the boys, and ear tag. Ashely and Beth got a crash course in baby lamb care as they handles elastrators, ear taggers and syringes- handling lambs as though they were both old hands at shepherding.
WE STILL HAVE VEGETABLE SHARES AVAILABLE. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. Gigi will be sending out individual emails inquiring to previous shareholders - but we'd love to hear from you telling us YOU WANT VEGETABLES AGAIN THIS YEAR first. If you have joined us already, we thank you and welcome you to the farm. If you are planning on joining, please let us know so we can finalize our planting schedule. Remember we have TWO SIZES OF BOXES - BIG (1 1/9 bushel) AND SMALLER (5/9 bushel)- to best fit your family. Feel free to share our name with friends, family or coworkers who may be interested. You are our best method of advertising.
Email us at
nittygrittydirtfarm@gmail.com if you have any questions. We look forward to being your farmers again this season.
Happy Spring...
Robin and Gigi and the crew.
