At this point I am not sure how many parts this series will have, but I am excited to get back to a regular writing and posting schedule in the Farm Journal. I was going to call these posts “Lambing During A Pandemic,” but considering that social distancing and self-isolation practices could mark our entire farm season (see this useful UW study), I thought I would keep the title more general.
We are in uncertain times.
One of FOUR! of Nancy’s lambs
On the farm we have a lot to be grateful for and I am trying to share a bit more about our lambing season than normal because, well..honestly, lambs are adorable and we all need a bit more joy and beauty coming through our social media streams these days. As a friend said, “It can’t really be #lambspam if we want it.” Our first group of ewes are almost done lambing and the next wave should begin around Easter. So..April will be all lambs all the time! I am a little out of it today because I’ve been up the last few nights with deliveries. Dean and I are both trying to manage the sleep deprivation and stay healthy, with toddlers in tow. The girls love the lambs and they have been really interested in helping us this year.
Thanks for the pic, Dean!
Like I said in our last post, we are used to cancelling everything this time of year because of the unexpected arrival of lambs. Our farm life feels pretty normal right now, but even still I had to cancel out of an online meeting at the last minute this week because Micah went into labor. Three lambs and three hours later (after making sure she was all set in the lambing jug) I could go back to my day. I am pretty sure I wore the same clothes for multiple days this week, which is in part due to lambing and also to this new reality. I won’t lie–I ate a lot of tuna casserole and cookie dough last night, too.
We all need to do what we have to do to feel ok right now.
What will our farm season look like? I am knee-deep in lambs right now and I haven’t had a lot of time to think about this yet. We have our Sheep Cheese CSA and we will have a daily (9-5 pm) farm stand open for business in late April. Farmer’s markets are still up in the air, but our cheeses should be in stores like PCC and Haggen and the local coops by the end of the month as well. We will see!
In the meantime, I hope you are able to connect with us virtually (fyi, we started a YouTube channel, because why not?) and please send me your ideas and questions for what you want to learn about the farm. Despite all the tragedy and suffering surrounding us, my hope is that the present might be a shining moment for our many small farms that have long been champions of community service and sustainability. And I am not the only one who is thinking this–check out this interesting article on radicchio (a crop we used to grow pre-creamery) and late-stage capitalism.
It’s April, it’s spring, there is a lot growing and going into the ground. May you be nourished by the farms around you. May you find solace in simple things.