They tend to stay with the sheep for the most part, but occasionally come and play with the other dogs. The females, Jade and Jenna, do not have much to do with them, and would just as soon herd them back to their sheep than have them out.
It is very cute when I reprimand the pups and the they scurry back to their sheep pen. They turn and check to see if I am coming and once they are inside, then I praise them and pet them. I also go inside the sheep pen frequently to visit the sheep and the pups on their own territory.

I am not sure where Mike and Joe sleep. Usually it is outside, though when it is raining, which it has done a lot this summer, they must seek shelter somewhere. They have a small area that is grassy with no sheep manure that they are allowed to go to and that is where they are fed. There is a shelter that was constructed for the potbelly pigs that the pups may be sleeping in. It is on the other side of the sheep pen, but the sheep are sometimes allowed there and I do not send the pups away from it, so they feel secure there too.

It won't be long before these are really big dogs. It is time to tie them up for short periods to get used to their collars, then to leash train them or they will not be moveable when they are grown. Ofcharka went to the hospital today to get porcupine quills out of his nose and he showed everyone how wonderful he is on a leash. He walks with no tension on the lead, beside the person who is leading him at the pace of the person. Excellent! Now to teach Mike and Joe the same skill.

I have always loved to cook and serve my concoctions to guests, just to hear their approval. Since I was a young girl, this was a very enjoyable task. When we moved to White Rock, BC, I was just 14 and already had invented some good things, such as mushroom soup from scratch, salmon pate from canned salmon and little gourmet meatballs. At least, I was led to believe the food was great, though looking back, perhaps the grownups were only being encouraging.

And, for dinner tonight, I had the pleasure of serving a young family of four. The starter was a broiled avocado with Grueyere cheese, a little green hot sauce and some organic soy sauce too. It was well received. Following the starter, the soup was a delicious sweet potato, coconut curry made with chicken broth from our farm chicken earlier in the afternoon. The dad had seconds!! The salad was a mix of baby kale greens, wild blueberries, grated dark chocolate and some orange zest, a little red onion, and marigold flower petals, tossed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Every morsel was devoured and the youngest lady said, " It was REALLY good!" The beverage for dinner was organic coconut milk and organic peach juice mixed together. The young ladies especially loved it. The adults took mint tea to their boudoir after dinner.

Oh, I forgot the peasant bread served with the soup. The bread is barely leavened, though it does contain yeast, but the organic flours, wheat, barley, and rye are so heavy, that it is more like a flat, round loaf. Again, the partakers had seconds and passed on the butter to savour the flavours. 

The main course was slow roast Icelandic lamb from our farm, rosemary roast potatoes, skillet okra with garlic and zucchini with pesto. Everyone ate with gusto and much praise and the dad was happy to clean up the plates of his daughters, who were already full, but they did save room for desert, which was a raspberry cheesecake. The crust was a half whole wheat, half white flour (both organic of course) and lard pastry, and melted in the mouth. The filling was cream cheese, lime juice, a little cane sugar, Madagascar vanilla and whipping cream and this was topped with raspberries from last year's crop that were frozen with sugar, and a spoonful of vanilla yogurt completed the confection. The last taste of the night was a little decadent piece of organic dark chocolate.

This type of meal is the Gourmet Dinner and consists of a starter, soup ,salad, main  course and desert with two beverages. The Fat Ewe also offers a basic farmhouse supper, which is the main course and beverage, sometimes desert at a different price point. What a privilege to be able to share my culinary talents and serve my guests. I hardly mind doing the dishes!

Animals raised for meat are subject to fluctuating prices in the market, despite the constantly rising cost of feed and care. Hay in this area is fifty dollars a bale, plus transport, which is thirteen dollars per bale to go a mere 17 kilometers. Of course, the hauler has to pay the increased fuel costs and repair costs for maintenance too. But the market cost of sheep does not follow the increase. Why? Last year sheep were a great investment with lamb fetching high prices, but this year, for no apparent reason, the lamb price is less than a dollar a pound on the hoof. The grocery stores are still selling lamb for exorbitant prices though and do not reflect the low market value the farmer is offered. So, this year, I am weighing the cost of feeding the lambs or selling them. Because they are strictly grass fed and have not had antibiotics, vaccines or chemical wormers, they can be shipped to the organic meat farm, which will grow them out and butcher them, selling the cuts to the grocery stores and specialty market. Yet, I have cannot sell lamb for grocery prices in this area. Another question of why? Why is it that people buying organic farm raised lamb from the farmer expect to pay next to nothing while they will gladly pay inflated prices from a local chain grocer? Our perception must change if farmers are going to continue raising animals for food.

Currently, the Fat Ewe Farm has a wonderful lamb crop with most ewes delivering twins. There are purebred, non registered Icelandic lambs, registered Cotswold lambs or a starter flock even, and Cotswold cross lambs that will not be bred at this farm. The question is, is it best to keep them until spring and sell them then, hoping that the prices will have stabilized or rather, just get rid of them so they do not have to be fed all winter? What a decision.

The Fat Ewe Farm has 100 acres of trees, mostly white and black poplar and spruce with the odd tamarack and some willows in the low areas. The smell of the poplars in the spring is ingrained in my memory from childhood, from going to my Auntie Dora's farm and inhaling the pure, green fragrance. It always made me feel special, to smell the trees, as if they even smelled better for me because I loved them so. I did not even mind when they shed their seeds and the fuzz was everywhere. They still smelled good. In the fall, they also have a peculiar scent, the smell of autumn and leaves.

This white poplar group stands on the diagonal trail, tall and proud, but a little too close to the beaver pond. The little varmints have been chopping trees exactly like this to create new water areas. I have no idea how they cart such large pieces, but they seem to be able to. In the meantime, the majesty of these poplars reaches out to the heavens..simply beautiful!

It is not common for Khaki Campbell ducks to be setters, but last year, one duck did hatch 8 babies and this year, a different duck has a nest somewhere unknown to me. She has been sitting for a long time. Duck eggs take 28 days or a little more, depending on the diligence of the duck. An interesting sight occurred today. The Muscovy hen, who hatched 5 of her own, but only one survived, had two babies in tow today, only one was very small and unable to keep up to her. I picked him up when a goose attacked him. Geese have strong bills and possibly would have killed him and eaten him even. He is in the house in the bathroom living in a Rubbermaid until his mother emerges with the rest of her babies, hopefully in a day or two. I cuddled him in my hand and placed him next to my heart. He laid his tiny head on my chest and though he fought it, he fell asleep. I knew in that moment how sacred each life in this world truly is and how blessed I was to be holding a newly hatched baby in the palm of my hand.

On the Fat Ewe Farm, there are six Jacob ewes and two Jacob rams. The flock is growing, though, and next year the four young ewes will be bred. Usually, the first lambing is a single and after that, the ewes may have twins or triplets. Jacob sheep have a medium wool with no coarse long hairs, except in the babies, but that is shed by the time they are six months old. Most common is two or four horns and the breed has generally been unimproved by man, but rather, let to continue on as is. Because man has not interfered, the Jacob sheep are parasite resistant and may not require worming. They thrive on forage that is less than perfect and do not require grain. Although their carcass is smaller than commercial sheep, they do not store much fat and the meat is very lean. The pelts are superior when tanned at two inches and with the piebald, white with black, brown or lilac spots, the result is very pretty. Polycerate (more than two) horned sheep are mentioned in the bible and have been seen throughout history. A passage from the bible indicates that Jacob took a sheep from his father's flock. Some believe that was a Jacob sheep and that is where the breed name originated. Jacobs do not flock and prefer to spread out in search of the best forage and graze alone. The ewes are very protective of their lambs and are excellent mothers, leading them away from intruder and perceived dangers. Although they are not overly friendly, they are not mean and they do show their intelligence when compared to some other breeds. The Fat Ewe Farm will continue with the Jacob sheep and eventually further the breed in this area.

Mice are dirty little varmints that can cause a lot of destruction in a short while. I think the mice came in during the deck construction because the door was wide open for quite a while. In the meantime, they have been enjoying the Hershey's Cookies and Cream kisses. They can carry a whole candy down the stairs and sit and peel it, and devour it not leaving a crumb, just the shredded foil and the paper. I trapped one with the candy as bait yesterday and discovered damage from what appeared to be another one today. He ate my heat wrap that had lavender and flax in it and lavender is supposed to repel mice! Hmmm, no one told him that. Anyhow, he was caught and fed to the kittens. They are funny when I give them mice. One grabs the mouse and then growls at the others to keep away. I hope it trains them to like the taste of mouse! And I hope there are no more mice in the house!

The Polish/Ameraucana bantams came to the farm in a round about way. I had ordered some Beltsville White turkey poults and the seller also had 7 random chicks. They had little stick ups on their head, and were small. The seller said they came from blue eggs, but that is about all she knew. I bought all seven hatchlings for seven dollars each. A raven got one of the chicks. As it turned out, there were 5 hens and two roosters and the second rooster also disappeared. Then another hen disappeared and the three hens and rooster left were amazing. They fly very well and were hard to train to roost in a coop, but they do so now. They forage all over the place, even in the bush and some how always escape the fox and coyotes there. One hen had a nest in the tall grass just before the bush outside the fence and hatched a brood of 13 and is raising 11 of them. The second hen has nine babies as of yesterday, small little fluff balls and the third hen is setting somewhere unknown to me, but she will likely also have her brood out soon. I will keep all the females and mate them back to their father and hope to increase the numbers of these spectacular birds. They also lay an egg a day, better than the heritage layers. Thanks little bantams! You are awesome!

The Ancona ducklings and Guinea fowl have been here for a week and have been moved around in a large chicken tractor. Today, I decided to see how they did on their own in the farm yard. There are many ducks, geese, and chickens foraging in the yard, and the more adventurous birds, like the Ameraucanas and Bantam Ameraucana/Polish crosses venture out quite far, even to the bush. We do have a fox that comes by, but so far, the losses have been none. I though I lost the three bantam hens, but two have broods and the third is also sitting on a nest.

The Ancona ducks were bullied by the Saxony ducks, which really surprised me because the Saxony ducks are the most docile in the yard normally. Most of the other birds ignored them as they explored the new areas. In the evening, when it was time to herd them back to the tractor, I could not find them. They were at a different tractor, an unoccupied one as it turned out and I simply herded them inside and closed the door. The guineas went into the Ameraucana tractor and did not want to stay. They ended up not perching with the chickens, but sleeping huddled on the ground. The Anconas were happy with the new tractor because the grass inside was lush and green and they love grass. I will keep them in their for a few days until they can find their way back on their own. It is a nice safe place for them. The Guineas may join them because they did bond with the ducks as tractor mates for a week or so. Stay posted for the next chapter on the Anconas.

It was not that they never get out, for they are out all the time, but are told to go back to their sheep and they do. They were legally out today with the sheep. The lawn needed mowing so the sheep and goats first got their turns out, along with Mike and Joe, who thoroughly enjoyed being allowed out without the scolding to return 'home'. Then the boy goats and boy sheep took their turn. As a matter of fact, I forgot they were out and wondered what was black and moving outside, since Robbie was tied up. I realized it was Little Johnny, the Jacob ram, and I had not put them back in their pens. Their gate had shut so they could not put themselves in, but the chickens and even the ducks went to bed without having to be herded in tonight. It is a fall night, though it is only mid August. The temperature is already cool at only ten degrees. There is a blue moon tonight and it is very amazing and is illuminating everything brightly, but storm clouds are also passing by. The animals seem restless and were glad to go home for the night. I had to don a jacket when I rounded the boys up, but they gave me no trouble and went right into their pen. Even Robbie came in tonight without being asked twice.
The little Maremma boys were out when I put the rams and billies in, and did go home when they were asked as well. Hopefully, everyone is settle and warm enough tonight. The leaves have started to turn colours and are already falling. No doubt winter will come too quickly, though hopefully, it will not last seven months as it did last year. I still have dog houses to build!