Summer greetings!
It’s been a while since I’ve sent out a farm newsletter! Inside this newsletter, I’ll share:
A quick update about our farm and what I’ve been up to
Details about both breeding stock and meat lambs available
A sprinkling of pretty farm photos to make it all worthwhile :)
Also, this post may contain affiliate links and if you click them, I may make a tiny bit of moolah at no extra cost to you.
If you meant to sign up for my author newsletter, and accidentally got farm ones too, find instructions on how to fix that right here.
I haven’t written in ages for a couple of reasons which can be summed like this: I took on other projects and put the farm business on the back burner. They were 100% worth while because they helped us take our family on a holiday and a lifelong dream came true. (Several really, especially if you include the vacation to Ireland & Scotland.)
I signed a contract with Descendant Publishing last spring and my debut novel was published in April. If you ever wondered what would happen if someone with an agrarian heart wrote a sci-fi(ish) novel, you can order Endling wherever you buy books. There are also a couple of signed editions available in the shop on my website.
Farm Update
So besides writing and teaching and traveling and generally having a good time, what has this farmer been up to?
Well, I’ve been making improvements in our landscaping slowly. Each year I add a few perennials and build a thing here or there. It’s amazing how this place has changed since we bought it as blank field with a few cottonwoods!! Our first perennials we planted are truly settled here, many needing divided. The first gardens we put in are losing their “awkward tweenage” look and feel grown up and lovely. We’ve added an A-frame play house that matches our house , lovely little pallet porches to clean up the less-developed ground around the house and we’re improving our pond.
Although I haven’t done the market or offered bouquet subscriptions in a few years, I can’t help but plant plenty of flowers every year. This year, since we were expecting so. many. lambs. (more on that later), I didn’t start any flowers inside except Dahlias. Despite getting hit hard by a late frost, they’ve bounced back and are looking lovely. In fact, we already had our first bloom this week!
My veggies are hit and miss this year due to a few challenges. (Always, with gardening! Am I right?) Some had poor germination, some my ducks (who usually stick to bugs) enjoyed as soon as they came up and then a rogue sheep ate all of my cabbages. I hope she had smelly gas later and the rest of the sheep shunned her for at least a day. However, I planted an Irish amount of potatoes and they’re doing amazing, so there is hope yet!
So, about those sheep:
Well, we had the most magical ram last year. By magical, I mean he could disaparate to the other side of a fence like a wizard. No matter the material or quality, if there were ewe’s on the opposite side, that’s where we found him in the morning. The result being: we have over twice as many lambs as we planned to this spring. You could say we have an oversupply problem.
We have at least a handful of sheep left of breeding stock quality. By that I mean: they have good or better milking genetics, hardiness/health, and wool quality (mostly brown based). If I wouldn’t keep them to use in my own flock, I don’t sell them as breeding stock to other people—only the best! If you’re interested in a micro flock, reply to this email and reach out. You’ll never get as good of a deal as you would this year. (See above about the magical ram.)
The rest are headed to freezer camp (which will also be an incredible deal, again see above). So, if you’ve never had a lamb chop with a balsamic glaze, or lamb Osso buco, or sheep sausage in your breakfast crepes, you don’t have to miss out any longer.
If you’re thinking: Yikes, but aren’t they baby sheep? The answer is a resounding no! Lamb is what we call the meat from any sheep under a year. At three or four months, our sheep are nearly as big as their mothers. By the time we butcher, they’re young adults, old enough to breed—nothing like a baby. They’ve been well cared for and well-fed and lived a great little life.
Aren’t they weird tasting? No. Not unless you choose Queen Victoria’s favorite: mutton, which is meat from an old ewe. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that to you. Lamb is milder than wild game and can be cooked similar to beef.
I hate it when people dangle things without a price, so here’s a quick glimpse of how the meat prices will go. A meat lamb can yield anywhere from 20-50 lbs of meat. We keep a small (aka easy to manage on my own) breed of sheep, so ours end up on the low end of that. We’re offering a flat rate of $200 that will include butchering cost and guarantee at least 20# of meat from each. This will make the meat $10/lb or less. (The last time I found farm fresh lamb in MT it was $17 or $18/lb.)
Legally, I can’t sell you packaged meat. If you’ve bought beef from a rancher, you know the drill. Technically you’re buying a live animal or animals. I’ll get them to the butcher and then pick up your meat for you. (If you’d prefer to buy your meat lamb and finish it at home yourself, that can be arranged, too! If I can sell at least six—hopefully more like ten—meat lambs, you’ll save me taking a trailer load to Billings. (Just one more reason the price is so low:)
We’ll start sending lambs to the butcher after August 1st, as he has availability. If you have questions or want to reserve a lamb, you can reply to this email or message me wherever we usually chat.
What’s next?
Well, we’ve been meaning to build a greenhouse on the south side of our house since we built it. We put a ledger board for the roof up and everything. Maybe we’ll get that done in the next year.
\Since Nic’s power sports shop is like Grand Central Station some days, we need an alternative barn situation. The space I use for lambing and milking is walled off inside his shop and he needs every inch of it. So, that’s probably higher on the list than the greenhouse.
At the moment, writing is a higher priority than flower production for me when it comes to spending my “extra” time. If you’re looking for gorgeous stems, my friend Hilary Entz in Simms is absolutely rocking the flower growing and you should get in touch with her! I think her business name is Stem Sweetly.
Alright! That’s all I have for you today. Talk atchya next time, hopefully not like two years from now this time!
Peace!
Elicia