Early August Update

Recently, there has been much activity going on around the farm.

The smoke has become a lot worse in the past few days. It was pretty sporadic before that. There are three fires southwest of Happy Camp that are causing the smoke. (Normally, there you would see hills in the background of that picture)


The three sheep have been named Larry, Curly, and Mo. We call the ewe Curlette instead of Curly. We have discovered a few problems with the new sheep. Curlette developed a case of foot rot. As a result, we had to treat all of our sheep's feet. We mixed zinc sulfate, dish soap, and water in a large tub. Then, we put a cattle panel along one end of the tub, forming a three sided enclosure with the fence. Shaun was the easiest to catch. Macy and Little Beau were very difficult because of their size and skittishness. We held each sheep in the solution for 5 minutes. Curlette got an extra 10 minutes. While doing this, we noticed that Shaun had a lump on his face. Lisa worried that he had C.L. (Caeous Lymphadenitis), a sheep and goat disease. We separated both Shaun and Curlette from the rest of the herd. A few days ago, we had a blood test done on Shaun and the result was negative.


The peaches and yellow plums are coming in right now. Lisa made plum jam today and I froze some of the peaches. I also blanched 6 quarts of green beans, baked bread, and made bran muffins.

The second set of baby chicks are going through their awkward stage, growing in their adult feathers. They are a little less tame than before. I haven't been able to spend as much time with them.