Madeleines
I have been wanting to share this with you all for a long time. It is about a simple pleasure in life. A gourmet experience, except that nobody would ever call it gourmet really. This is about a little cake, … Read More
Artificial Insemination with Gotland Sheep
The benefits of artificial insemination: Gotland sheep are not native to the US. Through the GSBANA, There are 10 recognized breeds of sheep that breeders can use to cross with and up-breed their Gotland flock. At Appletree Farm, 2019 will … Read More
Running a micro farm in the Pacific Northwest, Part 2
Running a micro-farm, Part 2 From February through September, it is endless rotations of seeding, planting, harvesting, cleaning, re-seeding, re-planting, re-harvesting, re-cleaning, interspaced with fertilizing, watering, loving! The work never ends is seems. In September, here in Oregon, we are … Read More
Why do we keep a teaser ram?
This year we are going to use a teaser ram to try and increase our success rate with Artificial Insemination. A teaser ram is a normal ram which has been vasectomised. Teaser rams work by inducing a hormonal response in … Read More
Running a micro farm in the Pacific Northwest, Part 1
I grew up on a farm in the South West of France. By the time I was 17 years old, I was kind of ready to leave the farm and spread my wings outside of the farm. When my first … Read More
Felted bars of soap
There is a little gift that is always nice to give and receive. It is one of these useful givings that is made right here in your community. It supports your soap maker, it supports your shepherd, it supports the … Read More
Growing my flock
I am writing this Blog partly to compile my thoughts, partly in response to a Blog Post that my shepherd friend Kim Goodling wrote last week. Work on our small farm is beautiful, fulfilling, keeps us fit and healthy, it … Read More
Farming and Raising Sheep with Children
I am a mother, a teacher and a shepherd. I cannot stress enough how much our children are an integral part of our farm. Certainly they were part of the inspiration and they continue to help in more ways than I … Read More
2019 Lamb sweetness
Our lambing season is over. Overall it had pretty significant challenges that taught us a few things, kept us late at night looking for some answers to problems, pushed us to network with more people, reminded us that raising sheep … Read More
La tomate de Marmande
I grew up in the South West of France in a small town called Aiguillon. I grew up on a farm. My father is a farmer, my brother is a farmer, my grandparents are farmers. Farming runs in our blood! … Read More