Gotta Start Somewhere...

I figured I might as well start out here with a cute picture of the newest additions to the farm. These are the two ewe lambs that I purchased from a breeder on Saturday. They are 3 months old. Their mamas are Suffolks and their daddy is a Hampshire. I am hoping to breed them in the fall and sell their lambs to the local 4-Hers to show in the county fair. There aren't many quality lambs available in our area.

Since I plan to have these girls for awhile of course I had to name them... Gwyneth (aka Gwenny) is on the left and Lily is on the right. I've been sitting in their pen every morning and night with their feed pan on my lap to get them used to me. Lily is pretty brave, she will already let me scratch under her chin and neck. Gwenny is still pretty timid but she did tolerate some petting today while she was eating.

I've been feeding a 50:50 mix of corn and oats with 2 scoops of sheep pellets added to each 15 gallon batch. I'd feel better feeding an organic mix but it would be hard to justify the expense when their would be no return on that investment. The 4-H kids aren't going to pay more for an organic lamb, at least I don't think so. I'm going to check on a few possible sources of organic feed anyway, maybe it won't be as expensive as I'm thinking.

I've been putting off my first post for a couple days now and just reading some other farming blogs to inspire me. I'm a little scared to start this blog because I want it to be great and I don't want to slack off on it. I tend to get all fired up about things and then lose interest. So, to prevent that from happening I am going to make a list of possible postings that I can create in the future. This way, when I feel uninspired I'll just pull something off the list.

Possible future topics:
-Chickens: updates, housing, feed, find a processor.
-Starting seeds
-Planning the garden: rotation, spacing, depth, mulching, etc.
-Creating an edible landscape
-Building a farm sign
-Homemade laundry soap
-Marketing, marketing, MARKETING!
-Horses and farrier work
-Importance of vaccinating your small animals!! (I'm a vet tech so I get a soap box ;) )
-Natural cleaning solutions
-Farm management: software, budgeting, etc.

That's a pretty good start. If y'all have any suggesions or ideas for things you would like to see me comment on please pass them along! I think this is going to be a lot of fun.