June 27, 2009 What a month and it is almost over!!!! How? The farm lives it’s own life in the summer the hay grows and matures, the sheep eat, and eat, and then eat some more. They make good rich milk from the grass that they eat, and eat, and eat. The days are longer so there is more time to do all those things that need to happen, sigh.... if only. The first 1400 bales of hay have been harvested and are in the barn. Bill has laid irrigation pipe to the fields he is renting. He buried the lines this year, made a mess of the yard and road but grass grows and now we have pipe to the fields. We are selling the last of the lambs today they will go to Wolftown. They will browse the underbrush on Vashon Island and then will be butchered in the new USDA approved mobile slaughter unit and sold. What a releif. T Martino of Wolftown has energy I am envious of and she has taken on this program to provide clearing of the underbrush and a good outlet for our lambs and hers. She will sell lamb to several restaurants and also to a store or two. I will not be feeding my poor little babies on a mud plain and they will be very happy finding food. Sounds kinda romantic T will lead the flock on horseback and watch them in the unfenced area they are to browse. Conjures up all sorts of pictures to me. All serene, slow paced, with a watchful yet peaceful shepherd or shepherdess. Sigh. It all sounds good. I think T has some interns who get the benefit of the horseback ride as well as she. Today I should have gone to Puyallup to market. Jess went instead of me. I am sitting by the river watching three boys make mud buildings and chase bugs. It is very nice after all the month has had to offer us. Jess arrived June first as planned and jumped right in to making cheese and going to markets. She is a gem. She called up wanting to try an internship to learn to make cheese. She had a bit of experience and is one of those people who will take on a project and study its faults and successes until they are all successes. It has been very good for both Brad and I. We will expand our use of the milk and whey. She is making Ricotta Salata as well as the ricotta we have made in the past. She has solved our problem with yogurt.....it was always too runny. She will start taking that to market next weekend. We will benefit from this venture as I hope she has. We will give her the milk and equipment to try somethings she would not be able to in her own kitchen with grocery store milk. I think we have been blessed many times over. So today I have a day off in the middle of this crazy season. And I have enjoyed it. I still have a list of things to do as long as my two arms but I did some weeding and am enjoying the boys playing. Things there is just not extra time to do! May 31, 2009 The barn has new hay in it. First field’s first cutting done and stored, what a releif. It has been a very wet spring here in the Northwest, winter seemed to extend right into May and then sunshine and beautiful days, two weeks of them predicted. How did we rate that? So the crews all over the county have been haying like crazy. We got in our first 400 bales and will cut a new field today. Wonderful stuff, the smell of mown hay is like the smell of mown grass in the evening. The smell of hay is just a bit sweeter but it all indicates a new cycle is upon us. The grass/hay is growing and needs cutting. The warmth from the sun infuses the air with the sweet smell of the grasses. There is a cool brisk feel still in the evening that takes away the sweat of the day and helps us sleep. All this is a part of the new hay season. It is the change in the air as we enter into early summer and out of our late winter. What a blessing. As we said all day at Market yesterday “this is why we live in the Pacific Northwest”. It is a very beautiful time of year. School is almost out, the kids can play outside much later as the days get longer and longer. Our sun sets about 10 PM in June. It is fantastic, once school is out and bedtime can be fudged a bit. It is the new season, a new beginning and I am ready for the change. The sheep are happy on grass, they come in at night to sleep in the barns but soon we will fence them into the pasture day and night so they can eat grass all the time. The field Brad will be cutting today will be the pasture once the hay is off of it. i think the gaurd dogs are ready for some real work. They jumped their fence yesterday. They need more space and the are getting crabby with the rams. The rams are going to go to mow a friends place and my lambs are hopefully going soon. we can disc and seed pastures if the animals are gone and that will bless us next year when we have new lambs that need better feed than what they found this year! Markets continue to be fun, somedays it is hard to get there but once ther the energy level of the customers and market help me immensely.

May 25. 2009 What a whirlwind, Markets have begun!  We have had great days in Puyallup on Saturdays and Portland at the Moreland Market on Wednesdays.  It is fun to catch back up with old friends and meet new customers. 

We have made four trips to Oregon to pick up milk from the Tin Willows Farm.  Terry and Doug are getting loads of good milk from their flock and we are enjoying seeing the cave fill back up as it was filling in 2007.  It is a beautiful sight to behold.  The lambs are almost all gone! I have about 8 small ewe lambs left that would be good pets and two beautitul rams who come out of a wonderful milker.  We will meter the milk again on the first of June and find out just how much she is producing.  I have one additional ewe who is very cute.  She looks like a Babydoll Southdown.  She has short little legs but is so perky and sweet I would love to see her in a nice home.  I would not reccommend her as a good milker though because the cups would not fit underneath.  Sweet and small, the last one born this year Number 153.

There in only 9 more days of preschool left and 12 more days of school for the other two boys....but who is counting.  School schedule and Market schedule overlap for a while in the spring and in the fall.  It is hard to keep it all flowing and not leave someone in the wrong place or not remember a market or an order.  I will feel much better once we have only one or three focuses rather than all school has to add to the pot. 

We are very fortunate to have two milkers now.  Deborah and Daniel both milk several times during the week, and thankfully Deborah was willing to be called in to milk last night as we got ready for our trip to Oregon.  We took 35 lambs to Terry and Doug for next years milking crew.  Catching and considering each one, as well as looking at the rams and leftover ewes we had quite a time.  They all are looking quite good and it was fun but we finished at 9:30 and had to get up at 3:00 to leave this morning. Deborah was a lifesaver as Brad would have had tomilk between 9:30 at night and leaving in the morning. Whew.  We made the trip just fine.  I went along to give Brad a break, We had to be up at 4:30 Saturday am and had not gotten much sleep the night before.  I asked my 16 year old if he would like to babysit his brothers, or go with his father to keep him awake.  He chose the brothers so I went along to help Brad drive.....I think I drove about 45 minutes of the 10 hour trip.  I was so sleepy, I do not know how Brad does it.

Tomorrow is Memorial day.  Brad will make cheese, I will hopefull get the laundry done and enjoy the SUN!  It has been a glorious weekend and I am looking forward to getting some much needed yardwork done and maybe even hang those sheets on the line!  The lambs have been mowing the back yard but they are back in their own pen again so I will have some space to hang out clothes without them being eaten. 
Life goes on and on and on, very busy, but tomorrow will be a fine day to stop for a moment and take the time to appreciate the opportunity to live in a free country.  I will say a prayer for those who have made that possible and think of the families who have sacrificed so much so I can live as I do.

May 3, 2009 First market over. The first one is always a challenge. Change the car back into a market vehicle, get all those things back into the market box that were pilfered over the winter: tape, pens, sacks, trash bags, spoons, toothpicks...... We did it and only forgot three things but my neighbor was in the same boat so we shared, Market people are wonderful. Puyallup was drizzly outside but people still made it to market. It was a great start to a new year. Mentally it is good to get the first market over as well. I just have to make the jump to market mode, the energy level is different, the time away from home changes things, organizing meals and feeding of lambs in my absence needs to be remembered. Brad took cheese to both Redmond and Edmonds as I went to Puyallup so we had three to prepare for. I sold out right at 2:00, right at the end of market.....actually the last three tubs of cheese were bartered for Pasta and Salad greens. Market dinners are fun. So the season is off and running. We will continue to take our fresh cheese to Market of Choice and New Seasons Markets in Portland and on south into Oregon. We even got some of the fresh cheese to Ashland’s Market of Choice with this last order. Next week we will prepare for our event at the Hip Chicks Winery. Then to the Seattle Cheese Festival! April 19, 2009 How did the month get past me? We finished out the year with 153 lambs. The last being born on Palm Sunday. We had one in the morning before church and as I went out to see the crew after services I was thinking how nice it would be to have the last momma deliver today so we would be all done. There she was licking off the cutest little white lambs. They were white because we finally had one deliver in the fresh bedding Brad had put out for them....not in the dirt. We are milking 60 mommas now and have weaned some this week. It has been noisy but everyone is looking good. We had a long winter, wet and muddy. Tha lamb pen has no grass to speak of as it was silted over in the flood and needs to be planted. But by the grace of a Good God we will. Yesterday we had yet another work group here. The Methodist Church had over 100 people in the area to work on various sites. There was a man with a 4 wheel drive tractor with a bucket who scooped and moved the piles of mud. We will be able to plant this summer and with the irrigation pump we will be replacing we will be able to grow pasture for next years lamb crop. These poor little lambs have been muddy and look so sad I will be happy to have new grass next year. We have been making cheese and delivering it to both the New Seasons Market and Market of Choice, in Portland. We also have been getting some to De Laurenti in Seattle. We have been moving as fast as we can to finish lambing, start cheesemaking, work on Market applications and get keep the homefires going. Our friend Deborah has been a huge help in all this. She even milked twice a day while Brad and I sold cheese at the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in Portland. We had a good time and our friend Cory from the 7 Corner New Seasons Market was a huge help to us. I learned a lot about sampling cheese to people from him, his energy and engaging style was a huge hit. Our next “engagement” will be at Gretchens Wool Mill. She is having a fiber frolic next weekend in Monroe. We will go to sample and sell cheese and learn more about wool. Brad may not be able to get away so Deborah may get to go with me and then we can take our spinning wheel and hopefully learn the basics. After that no rest, markets will begin May 2 in Puyallup, Redmond, and Edmonds. We will then do an Event at the Hip Chicks Winery in Portland on May 9th and the Seattle Cheese Festival on May 16th and 17th. Correction, I will do the Hip Chicks event....it is for ladies only, so sorry dear. Today is a day you live in the Pacific Northwest for, Sunshine, 70 degrees, green grass, yellow dafodills, and a nice breeze. John wanted to go to the river so I am enjoying the day. We just took down about 10 butterfly bushes and built the burn pile up about 15 feet I am enjoying the moment.