Lambing Live

Unlike the program of the same name on the BBC at present, lambing for us is a rather quieter, if still rather all consuming affair. Lambing is such a funny time when you have a small flock of sheep. It tends to be a bit on the dragged out side and the majority of the time there is nothing going on... but you feel that you have to be there just in case! Sometimes it seems a bit daft considering that (touch wood!) I have never yet had to help a Shetland to give birth, but I just couldn't risk anything happening to one of my lovely ewes or their little ones and we drag ourselves out of bed in the small hours to check them, spend a fortune in fuel and sometimes have to camp in the stable.

So as a result, I have plenty of time to sit and write, at least for as long as my laptop battery lasts, and after this time for...

 getting to know Danny better...

catching up with Rosie and hearing all about what being mother of twins again is like...

and for swooning over her fleece!

Chris enjoys watching the lambs as they become braver and their characters develop...

and he is always impressed with how good the girls are at caring for the lambs, and how tolerant many of them are. Blitzen is NOT Girlsta's lamb!

The texels next door are just SO different from our dainty little Shetlands that they always make us laugh and Chris couldn't resist getting a photo for the blog.

His photography is really coming along now and the resident tree sparrows make excellent and obliging subjects.

Tolly doesn't understand why the little springy things are getting all of the attention when HE is clearly still top of the flock!

Why Handfasting?

I have spent a good chunk of today, between lambing checks, writing our wedding ceremony. It is quite a difficult thing for me in some ways because my beliefs and spirituality have always been very private, and because I want the ceremony to be understood and enjoyed by everyone, without anyone feeling uncomfortable. I would never try to persuade another person to take on my beliefs because it doesn't matter what rules each person privately lives by so long as they are happy and good: define these as you see fit!

I suppose that my understanding of the world fits most closely with that of Druids. My soul has been deeply touched by the natural world that I spend so much time exploring and trying to understand; to me the stars speak their graceful silent poetry, the grasses and the deep woods are as cathedrals. I love to meditate and feel the energy that flows through all living things. For me there are no idols to worship so there are no mentions of gods or goddesses in the ceremony, just the ancient mysteries of nature itself. A church wedding would therefore have been inappropriate, even though I do find churches beautiful and peaceful places, and a registry office or hotel too impersonal.

We have chosen to have our ceremony at one of my favourite nature reserves, in a meadow beside an ancient hazel wood. This place has been special to me ever since I was a child and Chris has grown to love it too.

Handfasting is often described as being an agreement between two people for a year and a day. However, for us this will be as permanent as any other ceremony and the year and a day idea appears to have come from one reference: Sir Walter Scott's The Monastery. It is an ancient celtic tradition and the origin of the phrase "tying the knot".

During the ceremony our hands will be bound together with ribbon as we travel the circle to each compass point. Each point represents an element and has associated objects or qualities. North is Earth and stability, fertility, experience and inner wisdom; South is Fire and passion, power, change and energy; East is Air and communication, travel, new beginnings and music; West is Water and emotion, imagination, compassion and intuition.

After visiting each of the compass points, the ribbon will be removed with the knot intact ready to be put in some special place and kept safe.

Lambing at last!

After spending my annual couple of weeks staring at the ewes and scrutinizing belly and udder size and shape, they have finally tired of my fence-side presence and decided to put me out of my misery.

First to go was Geherda, which was funny because Chris and I had been so convinced that Rosy or Girlsta must pop at any moment that we hadn't really given anyone else a second look until the night before when I pointed out Geherda and said, "I'll bet she's about to lamb and has been laughing at us staring at the backsides of those two!"

Geherda had a stunning little tup lamb whom (who, whom?) we have named Biff in honour of of friend's Spence an Lottie's new baby of the same name. He is a gorgeous little chap and always looks as though he's smiling.

No sooner had we got Geherda food and water and made sure that Biff was feeding happily, then Kate proceeded to lamb in the middle of the field. I had nipped out and so Chris had to come to the rescue as the other expectant mothers in the field gathered around and tried to steal the twins.

These little beauties are Blitzen and Belingi! Blitzen is the little dark grey lamb with the lightening mark down his shoulder.

Belingi is the grey katmoget, at least I think he will be grey katmoget as the eye stripes etc are black but he has a lot of the brown pigment.

Belingi is so named because when Chris and I are driving about and I point out all of the different sheep breeds in the fields, he tells me that I am making up the names and merrily points at a sheep saying "oh look, there's a belingi!" Belingi the lamb (not the breed!) is a very bold little chap who loves Chris and comes running for cuddles in the field. Probably not a good thing for a tup!

After a 24 hour break, Rosie went into labour and we prepared ourselves for possible triplets since she was so huge. Labour went on and on into the night, but there was no distress and the water bag hadn't appeared. At last at 3am, when I was asleep in the stable and Chris was on watch, Rosie had two enormous ewe lambs.

They are little stunners with really fine fleeces. Bernadette is the dark grey katmoget and Beatrix is the grey ilget katmoget.

Just in time for Chris to be able to watch the football match last night, Gletness had a set of tiny but healthy twins right in the middle of a rain storm. These two aren't even named yet but the little tup is the grey krunet katmoget and the ewe is the flashy little lady.

Only 5 more to lamb now :o)

A Wilde Wedding

In between staring at sheep who appear to have no interest in producing lambs, Chris and I are now busily planning our wedding... or rather I am busily planning our wedding while he makes agreeable murmurings whenever I ask what he thinks of something.

Being true to ourselves has been foremost in our consideration of how, what, where and who. Therefore it is, no doubt unsurprisingly, a Summer Solstice handfasting ceremony which will take place on one of my favourite nature reserves, followed by a party at a woodland campsite with a big hog roast and roaring fire for our friends and family to sit around.

The dress is ordered, the invites almost all written and we are working with our celebrant on the format of the ceremony.

Handfasting is a most ancient tradition and the origin of the phrase "tying the knot". In Celtic tradition the couple would first be joined for a year and a day before deciding whether or not to make the arrangement permanent, but since Chris and I have been together rather longer than this, we're willing to skip this stage!

Of course, you'll have to wait until the wedding to see "the dress" but I'll post some bits about the preparations as we go along. Don't worry, there is no danger of this becoming a wedding blog!!

The Same Old Waiting Game

The ewes are lying in the field looking fatter and more uncomfortable than ever. The first due date is past and their udders are swelling, but they are still hanging on to their lambs.

This morning was the first of the early checks and the girls all looked faintly surprised to see us in their field at such an inhuman hour. What on earth could the people be doing up at that hour?!

I'm so looking forward to my second crop of Galtress Ptolemy lambs. Last year (see the archive of posts starting in April 2010 for photos) there was a wonderful array of spots and colours. That for me is one of the wonderful things about Shetland Sheep, if you're breeding for patterns you never know just what you are going to get!

Time to Blog!

Hello Bloggers!

Let me begin with an apology, there is no excuse for the tardiness of this blog post, I simply have not been feeling quite myself and blogging is one of the things that has suffered, even though I suppose I have plenty to blog about and it might even have made me feel a little better; particularly when I read the lovely comments that some of you leave.

2011 is going well so far, even if the rest of it is a little off in the clouds at the moment. Chris and I are planning our wedding for June 21st (the Solstice of course!) and are also setting up in business together. Because he is so ill with his Chronic Cluster Headaches, and because we do really want to base ourselves in Cumbria for the foreseeable, we think that going self employed will be the answer. So if anyone needs any wildlife surveys or advice, or wants some wildlife training delivering (anywhere in the UK... or indeed further afield!), look no further!

The sheep are looking well and we have finally found a place to move the girls so that they have good new graze for lambing time. We have visited a few plots that are for sale but are reluctant to commit ourselves before we know where our income will be coming from!

I have been spinning some of the wool that Michelle over at Boulderneigh very kindly sent me a while ago now. It is lovely roving and really forgiving to work with so thanks very much. I have even joined a knitting group so that I might be able to make something from it. Must take better photos of woolly things!

Danny is doing well and we try to get out together every other day or so: although weather stopped play last week as it was gale force winds and torrential rain for much of the time. I think he'd like a bit more exercise judging by his antics in the field, the ruddy grazing is all chewed up! But he does look great.

Fox and Whisper seem to be enjoying life home in Cumbria, particularly the space: no more constant dodging of spruce trees! They get a good sprint down the beach, through the lovely ancient woodland, or over the local common every day and have also been enjoying exploring the pieces of land that we've been viewing.

When it is all written down like this life appears to be pretty good. Now that does make me feel a little better :o)

Rounding up 2010

It is finally the end of 2010. Looking positively has been a big year for lessons about myself, the world I live in and the way other people behave. It has been a year of huge changes and challenges and, to be frank, I'm glad to see the back of it!

The support that my family and friends have given me these last twelve months has been just incredible. You really learn who you can rely on at times like this.

Entering 2011, I'm very happy to be home with my lovely family, my Chris and of course Fox and Whisper.

I have managed to hold onto the flock despite the moves and logistical difficulties and I must say that they are looking fab!

 The latest addition to our herd is Danny of course who is settling well into life with us and is beginning to show his wonderful sense of humour; no doubt we will have plenty of tales to tell as the year progresses.

To all of you who are kind enough to stop by and read this little blog and leave such lovely comments, I'd like to thank you all too: many of you have come to feel like true friends and I hope that you'll forgive the lack of posts in the recent past. I shall seek to be a better Blogger in the new year.

All the best,
Jenny xxx