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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Appletree Farm is a small farm in the Willamette Valley in the heart of wine country. Our animals graze about 7 acres of pasture, that is slowly being improved but that is definitely far from being optimal as I am … Read More
RCF Elsa was one of our first Gotlands. She came to us as a bottle fed lamb, As a triplet, she had fallen out of sight right after birth and had a limp that, the veterinarian had said, would go … Read More