Wool skirting as mulch

Small experiment in the garden. I am using wool , the dirty-not suitable for spinning-pieces of fleece as a mulch. Using wool is not the “experiment” part of this project-plenty of people use wool, especially for crops that prefer cooler roots in the summer. The experiment part is that I am comparing wool alone, wool on top of cardboard and straw on top of cardboard as mulch in the tomato row. Because this is not a real trial, I have a gardener’s choice of tomato varieties. I’m curious to see how long the mulch lasts; if the dirty parts of the fleece fertilize the plants and if fleece alone keep the weeds at bay. I’m aLeo interested to see if the pest pressures on the tomatoes with the wool are less than the straw mulch.

For fans of all things sheep, these are skirtings from a Shetland/Icelandic flock with a beautiful mix of colors. The garden does smell slightly of an unwashed sheep fleece, which is not a deterrent for me, especially since the garden is a distance from the house.

I’ll add an image of the wool mulch when I can.

Lilac Hill Farm “rotational grazing” in the North Field

Just moved the ewes and lambs off North Field and chose to mow it today for a couple reasons:

• I’ve been trying to get rid of the multiflora rose so I mow it, on the mower’s lowest setting repeatedly over the growing season. I’m happy to report that there are fewer bushes plaguing North Field this year compared to when I started targeting it years ago.

• Mild temperatures and adequate rain pushed the field grasses to maturity before the sheep could graze them down. By mowing them, I’m hoping the grasses regrow and the sheep can graze that tender regrowth.

• By allowing the cut grasses to stay on the field, they can breakdown and in a very small way, feed the soil as they breakdown.

• Rain is in the forecast so hopefully the grass will regrow in time for the newly weaned ram lambs to move into North Field in a couple weeks.

Mabel

Why did I keep this ewe? Over the winter she hadn’t sized up as much as I had hoped. When in the barn, she is loud, always calling out and nosy about anything going on.

But…

She did lamb a beautiful single that she cares for so well that he is now quite the stocky fellow.

She also started nursing a weakly triplet. The little fellow had a slow start and in spite of bottles and the attentions of his own ewe, he looked hollow-bellied. Once Mabel took him on he filled out and is more playful.

Without checking her records I finally remembered why I kept her; I had hoped she’d be like her mother and grandmother. Mabel comes from a line of ewes that mother not only their lambs, but other lambs in the flock. Luckily for me and the flock, Mabel does not disappoint.

Lambing surprises

For me, every lambing season brings the unexpected. I’m often faced with something I’ve only read about and I need to come up with a solution that works on our farm.

This ewe has no milk; she has a large udder, but it doesn’t give milk. Fortunately for the lambs, I caught the condition right away and tube fed them colostrum.

At my first lambing workshop, I learned to “dip” the lamb’s umbilical cord in an iodine solution, “strip” out any plug to the ewe’s udder and I listen for the lamb’s “sip” of colostrum.

Luckily I not only knew I had to intervene because she had no milk, but I had the supplies to do so. Until a couple of years ago I had never tube fed a lamb. A YouTube video reminded me of the details of the skills learned in that 1st lambing workshop.

The bucket teat feeder was added to my supplies a few years ago after a season of many triplets in need of supplemental formula.

My shepherding experiences expand every lambing season, it is exciting and humbling.

BTW, even though she has no milk, this ewe will mother the lambs until they are weaned.

Barn drama

Beautiful ram lamb twins from this first lambing ewe. All wonderful except… barn drama.

A very maternal older ewe attempted to “steal” one of the twins. While the lambing ewe was delivering the 2nd lamb, the older ewe started licking the 1st born dry. Fortunately I had a pen for the ewe and twins and a pen for the “thief”.

The thief was large and close to term (she delivered triplets within 24 hours). Safely moving her into a pen took all my strength. Her cries for “her” lamb were pitiful.

The new mother tried to reject the lamb licked by the thief so I climbed into the pen and rubbed the damp twins over each other and made sure both took those essential sips of colostrum.

From my very maternal Mauve line, this first timer knew just how to care for her twins.

Barn drama managed; 1st time ewe successful; shepherd bruised and contented “thief” mothering her own triplets this morning.

Prolapse retainer and hair sheep

With hair, not wool, Katahdins are at a disadvantage when holding a prolapse retainer in place. Instead of getting the support strings to felt to a wooly fleece, I’m attaching the strings to small metal hair clips. Hoping this adjustment gives the ewe some relief.

Watching the ewes

Ours is a small flock, it fits our 25 acres and my attentive shepherding style at lambing. Some of the ewes are wide, very wide and if they need help with large lambs or triplets, I want to assist. So we all wait.

Pre-lambing flock

in these days close to lambing the ewes seem to “settle”. Filling udders, quickly growing lambs and full rumens are a load for those four thin legs to support. Eating, ruminating, standing up and lying down all takes such effort that the ewes move at a measured pace. Some ewes choose privacy, turning their backs to the flock, gazing out as they rest while others nuzzle up to their favorite flock friends.

As the ewes settle, I’m on alert, watching for signs of labor and good health. Even with a barn camera monitoring the flock, I was out twice last night only to discover, that to her discomfort, one ewe’s lambs were very active and and another didn’t actually have a leg wedged in a fencing panel but I had a distorted camera view.

Ewes in the extra care pen

The ewe on the right has experienced a prolapse. I was able to correct it but she needs antibiotics for a few days, limited activity and a higher quality hay so she can get the proper nutritional benefit with out as much roughage. The two ewes on the right are perfect company for the older ewe. As first timers they will benefit from extra, high quality feed that would make the older ewes overweight. With a little more than 2 weeks to go, I’m glad I can finesse the set up.

Shifting gears

The Pilgrim geese have left the farm. I enjoyed managing the Pilgrims, selecting breeders that met the standard and thrived on our farm. As much as I enjoyed the project of incubating, hatching and raising multiple breeding groups and multiple hatch dates, it took a lot of time.

Murphy has also left the farm. As the neighborhood has changed, sheep predation by dogs is less of a concern. Murphy now lives at a stable where there are children and equine enthusiasts. I am sure he will enjoy his field companions more than the sheep flock.

These changes are bittersweet. I enjoyed the geese, ducks and Murphy but I want to have time for some new projects.

As Lilac Hill moves forward, I would like to spend more time with the Katahdin flock, my first farm-love. With the purchase of a second cistern this past year, I’ll be able to do a bit more vegetable and berry growing. I’ve already ordered some rootstock for grafting and some of the willow may be ready for weaving. I’ve got lots of ideas and I continue to be grateful for such a wonderful place to pursue them.

Stuffed puMpkin

MEAT MIXTURE FOR PUMPKIN OR MEAT PIE. A family recipe from my Mom

2 pounds ground meat My mom used beef, my my aunt used a combination of ground pork and beef and I use ground lamb.

1 small onion I dice the onion very small

When cooked add salt, pepper, celery salt (1/2 tsp), small amount allspice, very small amount of ground clove, 2 Tbsp tapioca, 1/2 cup water. Mix and cook for a few minutes. May add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Depending on the pan I use, I may add a little oil to the bottom of the pan before I cook the meat and onion. I cook the meat and onion at the same time. After cooking, I drain off any fat that has accumulated. I then add the spices~this time I used 1/4tsp of allspice and half the amount of clove. After tasting, I added a bit more of each. Once the spices are fragrant, just a few minutes, I add the tapioca and water. I don’t use walnuts and don’t remember my Mom using them either.

Pumpkin for stuffing My mom liked a darker pumpkin, she said they were “sweeter”, with a nice stem that will fit in the oven. To prep the pumpkin cut the lid, angling the cut a bit so the lid sits on top without falling in. Scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff. I usually lightly salt the inside of the cavity before filling with meat.

There are no directions for baking on the recipe, it isn’t a very modern recipe, just a card in my box, written by my mom. What the recipe doesn’t say, is that you need to wrap the stem with a collar of foil so it doesn’t burn. I use a pie dish, foil lined for easy clean up and a splash of water in the bottom. I bake it around 375’ until the pumpkin flesh is tender to the touch.

Enjoy.

Drought, grazing poor ground and lambing

Managing a small farm, like most other projects with many interlocking parts, is like balancing a scale where the weights on each side of the fulcrum are constantly changing.

A few ideas guide my decision making:

• Use composting, poultry pens and rotational grazing to improve the fertility and quality of our ground

• Breed flocks of geese, ducks, chickens and sheep that are well suited to our methods and location

• Fit the farm into the other parts of my life

Change one of the weights on the scale and I scramble to make it work; the weather and the ewes have me scrambling.

• We’ve had about 1/2” of rain in the last month and high temperatures. My improving-thanks-to-rotational grazing pastures are brown and crunchy.

• Lambing season begins in 7 weeks so I need to manage the increased nutritional needs of the flock to set them up for success, especially in the month before lambing.

So, to make sure the ewes get enough food, I will start feeding them some grain to supplement the round bale I’ve put in their paddock. Making sure they don’t get too much grain is tricky; get it wrong and I am dealing with oversized or undersized lambs, low milk production and ewes that struggle to stay healthy.

To make sure that we have some soil improvement, I’ve fenced off the poorest section of the North Field. Once we get some rain, the manure will help this poor pasture and the rested pastures will have time to recover.

As far as making my life easier? The hose can reach the troughs, the poultry tractors share the same field so I can be efficient when doing chores and with its proximity to the house, I can keep a close eye on the flock.

Lilac Hill Farm isn’t picture perfect but I do realize it is a process. Since we’ve started the carrying capacity of the pastures is improved, the flocks of animals are better suited to the farm and I have more experience so I can adjust my goals with my reality. Without losing too much sleep.

Filling in the cutting order

When you order a half or whole lamb, the meat is cut up at a custom butcher shop. You, the customer, get to fill in your own cutting order so your freezer will be filled with the cuts and package sizes that most meet your needs.

To plan my cutting order I think about what happens at our own table.

• What are we already eating? Chances are you can use lamb in any recipe you already enjoy.

• How do we already cook? Lamb adapts to grilling, quick sautéing, slow cooking and roasting.

• Who is sharing our table? Meat cuts can be sized to serve the small household or a large group celebration.

A few preliminary thoughts:

• Every part of a lamb can be ground and left plain or mixed with spices and turned into sausage. At the butcher shops I have worked with, the sausage can be packaged loose or stuffed into a sausage casing. Even if you have most of the lamb cut into roasts, chops and cubes, the trimmings will be packaged as ground.

• If you order your roasts with the “bone-in”, you can use the bones for flavorful broth. If you wish, the butcher will save the removed bones for you too.

Shanks - Bottom of the legs.

• Because of the work the legs have done, this cut is best if slow cooked. I usually order 4 shanks to a package so we have leftovers.

Leg of lamb

• These roasts are the centerpiece of a meal, they can be left whole or split, depending on the size of the occasion. Like beef, I season, quick sear and roast in a low oven. I usually keep the legs whole so we have leftovers for sandwiches, salads, and stir fries.

• I also had a leg of lamb brined and smoked, like pork, to give us “lamb ham”.

• With a youtube video as a guide, I have boned the leg, rolled it with spices and tied it for roasting. The butcher can bone it for you.

• Sliced leg of lamb cooks a lot like a ham steak and can be quickly seared.

Loin

• The loin can be left whole as a roast or cut up into chops. I usually have the loin cut into chops so we grill or sauté them.

Tenderloin and Backstrap

• These cuts are very tender will work like the tenderloin from a beef, but they will be significantly smaller.

Breast

• Although I have never ordered this cut, the butcher can offer it boned and rolled.

Rib

• This is where you find the chops or rib roast. If you select chops, you will to choose your thickness; we order a heavy 1.25”. Although I never have had the ribs “Frenched”, the butcher can trim and clean the ends of the ribs for this presentation.

Shoulder

• Portioned into roasts (bone-in or boned) or cubed, the shoulder meat becomes very tender with slow cooking.

Neck

• Steaks or left whole, the neck is flavorful and tender with slow cooking.

Organ meat

• I have not cooked the organs for our consumption, but our dogs, cats and chickens have enjoyed them

Don’t let filling in the cutting order deter you from ordering and enjoying lamb from Lilac Hill Farm. I love talking about food, especially our lamb and mutton, so I will be more than happy to walk you though the cutting order.

Please contact Lilac Hill Farm to preorder your fall lamb.

Registered Katahdin Ram for sale

Registered Katahdin ram, born as a twin and raised as a twin on 4/5/2017. Cormac has sired mostly twins. Certified RR on codon 171. Muncy, PA. $325.

Spring 2019 Updates

Growing tasty food and increasing the productivity and the quality of our land continues to be the focus at Lilac Hill Farm. We have a bit of wanderlust and a desire to visit with family and friends, so to manage all of our goals, our farm schedules have tightened up and our management systems have evolved to make it easier for our farm caretakers when we are away.

This is a transition year for the sheep. Eight of our Katahdins lambed in January/February. Some of the 14 lambs have been set aside to add to our flock, the rest are available for sale as meat, pets or breeding stock. Six more lambs were born in May, one more ewe may lamb at the beginning of June and we anticipate more lambs in September. Starting in 2020, we will only lamb in the fall. I believe the fall-lambing ewes will benefit from the regrowth of the cool season plants in the pastures and I know I won’t miss lambing in the cold barn.

The Pilgrim geese had a good laying season; we hatched goslings in the incubator and in the barn under geese.The flock has readily adopted the incubator- hatched goslings. Some of the goslings will go to other farms and if all goes well we will have grass-fed goose for sale in late fall.

To limit congestion in the moveable pasture pen, we decided to raise meat chickens in the spring and fall. The first group will go to the butcher at the end of June and the other in October. We continue to raise a bird that is bred for a longer grow out on pasture. The flavor is terrific so we aren’t going to change what works here.

Our two bee hives survived the winter. One of the hives is very strong and I hope for a honey harvest this year. This week the strong hive swarmed. I hived the swarm so now have 3 hives on the terraces.

In the early spring I incubated and hatched eggs from a flock of lovely Dominique chickens. Right now we have two groups of Dominique chickens, some old layers and four unattractive (at least when compared to the standard) Dominique roosters. The old hens and roosters are available as soup birds and we are still taking orders for broilers. Until our flock grows we will only have Dominique roosters for sale.

As always, contact me with your questions about our farm and our farm products. I will be happy to walk you though a cutting order and to share some of our go to recipes.

Viv

Why Instagram

I prefer Instagram over other social media platforms because I see more of the accounts I follow and less clutter. The farm account follows local businesses, cooks and small farms like ours. My personal account is filled with wonderful pictures of dear friends and family. I love scrolling through images to track progress on projects and to catch the details that the poster may not think to mention. Our small place has few permanent structures so seeing how other farms manage their systems is very helpful. Following hashtags has expanded the list of like-minded small farms and local businesses I follow. The relatively small number of ads that I scroll through are a small price to “pay” for the pleasure of my own virtual small farm picture book. I don’t follow celebrities, but if I did,  I might create a third account to cut down on clutter in my farm and personal accounts.

I believe that pictures of the farm are the best way to share Lilac Hill. When I need to explain how or why we do something and an image is not enough, the farm blog gives me plenty of room to develop my ideas.

As we go forward, I will focus more of my social media efforts on the farm’s Instagram page. I hope you will check out lilachillfarm on Instagram.

French Potato and Green Bean Salad

While hovering over the pot of cooking potatoes for this dish (hovering because potatoes go from perfect to mushy in seconds), I thought about a comment from a recent conversation. What I understood from the speaker was that she  passed by the farmers’ market because she wasn’t sure what she wanted to buy without a recipe in hand. When we have company, I plan carefully and shop with menus in hand so I can enjoy our visitors. For everyday? I tend to just wing it. When it works, winging it can be delicious, but when it doesn’t, I am glad we are eating late because the patio table is dimly lit and we are just too hungry to fuss.

For this home cook inspiration comes from: food magazines, blogs and shows; restaurant menus; tradition or “my mother made this when...”; community, as in,”will you share this recipe with me?”; whatever is fresh at the farm stand and my children’s shared kitchen endeavors.

I do have some basic tools in the kitchen so that “winging it” works out more often than not.

A well stocked pantry allows me to have flexibility. Our short list includes vinegars, salts, citrus, spices, capers, anchovy/anchovy paste, tomato paste, hard cheese, home canned broths, ginger, curry paste, hot sauces, fish sauce, garlic, and tamari.

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg is a wonderful reference where you can search for flavors compatabile your particular ingredients, regional flavor profiles and recipe suggestions.

Good equipment. Although I am often reluctant to buy new things for the kitchen, I have added an Instapot, a spiralizer attachment for my mixer and a thin slicing blade for my food processor. I have used all but the blade at least once a week since I purchased them so they have earned their places on the shelf. Included on the usual list of kitchen tools, parchment paper and pans, is a drawer full of “food towels”  for drying just washed vegetables and fruits.

And last but not least, I have a family and group of friends willing to be adventurous, appreciative and kind when eating at our table. 

Farm economy

A dictionary tells me that one definition of economy is “careful management of available resources.”  Here at Lilac Hill there is a sort of dance between the management of the different animals and plants that optimizes my efforts to produce food sustainably.

Manure and the straw, shavings, or wood chips that catch it, are valuable because it improves soil fertility and tilth.

Yesterday I cleaned out the wood chip bedding that the geese and goslings lived on in the barn. 

I used the wood chips to mulch the vegetables and the new blueberry bushes and blackberry canes.

The ewes are grazing this barn side paddock and they are clipping the greens to the perfect height for the geese. Both the sheep and geese are grazers, getting most of their nutrition from the mix of grass, legumes and “weeds” and they leave behind manure to fertilize the plants for the next round of grazing.

Fall Lambing

Lambing in the fall instead of spring fits our household calendar, our sometimes drought prone summer pastures and our desire to market Easter lamb.

Into middle age, with adult children living out of town and with interests that take us adventuring, the flock must be “leave-able”.  Lambing season, when I stay close to the barn, dovetails well with projects that we tackle during our mild fall weather.

On our thin soil, our pasture regrowth usually slows in mid-summer, especially in dry years. By breeding the ewes in early summer, when the grass is lush and finishing the ewes’ pregnancies on the more robust fall regrowth, we can take advantage of the growing cycles of our pasture plants.

And finally, lamb is a traditional meat for spring holidays. As a seller, I have more options for marketing if I am prepared to sell finished lamb in early spring.

With flock management practices in place to boost our success, we begin our first fall lambing season. 

Grape jelly

Grape Jelly: unsprayed Concord grapes, sugar and pectin

The Concord grape vines were here when we moved to the farm. They have survived droughty summers, hungry birds and my rookie mismanagement. Delicious for eating right off the vine and baking into a crumble or crisp, I thought it was time to try jelly this year. Our Concord grape jelly was made in a local, commercial kitchen, operated by two dear sisters. The jelly has a full grape-y flavor without being cloyingly sweet and the texture is smooth, not rubbery like a gum eraser. Each 8 oz. jar costs $3.