Tuesday was warm, and best of all, breezy. That meant the garden could begin and the blackflies would have trouble coming in for a landing. So, having fenced the garden on Monday to keep the dogs and chickens at bay, the planting could begin on Tuesday. Three varieties of peas..it would have been nice to have them in sooner, but there is still time for them to ripen for traditional 4th of July salmon and peas. We’ll see. Lettuce in the shade of the pea’s trellis and some arugula and mesclun mix and some “spicy salad greens”. Rainbow Swiss chard seeds seduced me…I don’t even like chard, but the colors on the package of seeds were so pretty I couldn’t resist.
Two more girls lambed today…our first loss of the year..poor Springer lost a huge ram lamb..I think he must have been coming backwards..it looked to me like all was well, but, no…the good to come out of this was that even though he was really big, tucked away in there was a sweet black and white spotted ewe lamb. So mom and babe are doing well. I hate losing a lamb, all the if only’s run through my brain over and over again.
Later in the day, Izzie, who was as big as a houseboat, finally went into labor..2 days late. Worrying that something was wrong,the look on her face was just not right, I decided it was time to check to see just what was going on in there…a ram, stuck at the door by his gigantic horn buds…the biggest and pointiest horns I have ever felt on a lamb…poor Izzie! She was a trooper …what a good girl she is…so after a bit of help, mom was contentedly nickering to her new big fella, mustard yellow from stress, but she didn’t seem to notice,she was happy to see him.
Cool damp weather, with a forecast of heavy rains tomorrow ..only in the 40’s today. Doesn’t look like the laundry will get hung out to dry for a few days. But, the peas will be happy.