New Years, Take Two

Good news to come home to... Lulu had her lambs sometime early Monday morning. They were already there and thriving by the time Dan got there to milk. Lulu is such a good mama. We love those soft gentle bleats of a mama ewe. Even Coco would call out with her gentle moo when she would hear the lambers bleat. Here they are. Bea is smitten.

Well, coming back home from my little trip I feel like it is New Years all over again - ready to start fresh. Definitely ready for spring. We'll be starting up the greenhouse in about a week or so and I can't wait to start getting my hands dirty. As for my trip I should mention my two favorite places in Santa Fe - Ten Thousand Waves and Cloud Cliff Bakery & Cafe. For folks who've been to Japan and have serious onsen withdrawl, this is the place to go. Sitting outside in a hot soaking tub while snow is falling is amazingly peaceful. As for Cloud Cliff - amazing food and bakery using organic & local wheat.

At a Loss for Words

About 8 hours after I wrote my last post I noticed the signs of an impending miscarriage. Dan came down with the flu. Needless to say we had a terrible week. Yet, farm life goes on - animals need to be fed, the cow needs to be milked. While it is a kind of hell to be milking the cow with a fever in an ice storm, the farm actually offers a certain grounding. Through years of working with life and death on the farm - with the animals, plants and seasons- we can feel comforted that we are just a part of these cycles as well. It turns out that Patches was not bred and will not be giving birth this fall either. Yet, Lulu, who we did not intend to breed is about the lamb any day now. So you see life is full of little surprises. As we often say to ourselves... "Good luck, bad luck.... hard tellin'."

So now a week and a half later we are all recovered and doing well again. I'm off for a little R & R this weekend in one of our favorite places, Santa Fe. Yes, I do have the best husband ever. When I get back it will be like New Year's all over again. I'm looking forward to a fresh start and the new spring season.

Farm Family News

Big news for the family...Beatrice is going to be a big sister! In September. Most of our friends sarcastically say, "Oh, good timing!" But compared to Bea's birthday in July, September looks great. We will have a great crew of apprentices and workers who will be old timers with farm work by the time September rolls around. By some divine miracle, Patches was bred in late December. This means we'll dry her off (stop milking) in August so she gets a 2 month break before she calves in October. We couldn't ask for better timing. A break from milking before & after the baby comes will be like a little gift of time. We'll probably be suffering from dairy withdrawl but we'll have to deal with that when it comes.

Over the course of the next year, besides pregnancy, I'll probably also be mentionning homebirth quite a bit. We had a really wonderful homebirth with Bea with a midwife and doula. We had a water birth and it was a blessing to be able to labor in the tub. (Not in our bath tub. We used a new stock tank from Agway - the kind for watering cows & horses or in our case washing vegetables.) After I got in I couldn't imagine getting out. I won't launch into her birth story now but I will say it confirmed by belief that home was the best place for me to have my baby. And so we're getting ready for our next one! We've already met with our midwife Elayne and are really excited.

If you are interested in homebirth there are some great resources out there. Mothering Magazine and their website is a great place to start (see sidebar link). Ina May Gaskin the great & inspiring midwife has written several books including Spritual Midwifery and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.
Also there is a new film out called The Business of Being Born. It will be showing at the Triplex in Great Barrington this month on Sunday February 24th at 11 am. This is sure to be a powerful film about the medicalization of birth in this country and the alternatives. Check out the trailer on their website! Just the trailer is moving!

Where to Get Raw Milk

Milking Patches with Bea watching.

With a two year old around I often find myself cutting my posts short. Last time I meant to mention where you can get raw milk locally. In Connecticut you can get raw milk from Stonewall Farm in Cornwall. You can go directly to the farm or find it at several area stores. I know they carry it at LaBonnes in Lakeville and Health Food Junction in Canaan. If you are in the Great Barrington area you can join the Twin Oaks Farm milk co-op. The laws about selling raw milk are a little different in MA so they've set up a co-op with a pick up at the Berkshire Co-op Market.