In case you missed this video in our stories last week, here’s Bill mowing the lawn with the girls.
I’m just saying, the grim reaper never had to deal with this many weeds 😆. Bill’s making room for our honey berry plants by using an antique brush scythe to clear tall grass and weeds. As you can imagine, it takes time, practice, and some thought to get the movements just right.
Saturday was shearing day! Since there’s always a lot of misconceptions when it comes to shearing, we’re here to remind folks that shearing your sheep is an essential part of ethically stewarding your animals. A good shepherd seeks out a competent shearer who will safely and properly shear off a sheep’s wool, while striving to cause as little anxiety/stress to the sheep as possible. Grateful to Get Bentz Farm for hosting and to the shearer for taking good care of our flock 🥰. #sheep #shepherd #shearing #sheepshearing #farmlife #smallfarm #homesteader #homesteadersofminnesota #homesteading #womenfarmers #womenshepherds #burningdaylightdraftfarm
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Nope, it’s our cat, Tiny...No Lindseys or Tinys were harmed during this rescue
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#orangecat #cats #farmcat #stuckinatree #catinatree #cattreerescue #fraidycat #petsarefamily #farmlife #smallfarm #homesteader #homesteadersofminnesota #homesteading #womenfarmers
Star bringing the ladies up to the barn with a quick stop to visit Maddy who is behind the camera.
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#bordercollie #workingdog #workingbordercollie #sheepherding #herdingskills #shepherd #star #farmlife #smallfarm #homesteader #homesteadersofminnesota #homesteading #womenfarmers #womenwhoworkwithdogs #womenshepherds
All hail the Queen 👸
All hail the Queen 👸!
This week I want to show you what training with Clover, our Kelpie puppy, looks like. Clover is quite young and this was only her fourth training, so she’s very new in learning how this whole herding dog thing works. I’d give her an A+ for effort (and honestly for me too 😆)!
A few months ago, my in-laws got to watch me take herding lessons with each of the dogs! Bill’s parents lived in the UK for a bit, long before Bill was even a twinkle in anyone’s eye, so it was a neat experience for us all. Here are a few clips of Star working on her skills.
Bill wrote this reflection as we took Jade to her final vet appointment:
The early morning wind swept fields with their crop stubble and traces of snow feel especially barren and sorrowful this morning as we drive Jane to her final vet appointment. Moving livestock of any kind can get complicated, especially when they are sick. This is the first step to surrendering this beautiful lady into the care of people with more resources, knowledge and time than we have. Hoping that they will be able to alleviate her distress and let her live a long and peaceful life. Even knowing that, these familiar roads seem especially lonesome and bleak as we make hard decisions and move into unknown territory and an uncertain future for for the vision of our farm that we hold.
This video is from last December when the team gave sleigh rides at Nash Lake Fiber Farm's Winter Market. Of course Jade was being sassy and Pearl wanted no part of it. Look at that disapproval 😆.
Last week we had three generations on the farm ❤. Allaster is riding Josie, Bill is behind the camera, and CJ (Bill's mom) is riding Pearl.
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#homesteader #homesteadersofminnesota #homesteading #horses #workinghorses #horsebackriding #farmlife #smallfarm #womenfarmers #familytime
When you're feeling good enough to run away from kisses. #jade
Homesteader story time…
We had just wrapped up a long weekend of processing firewood after renting a log splitter. Allaster was off to school, I had the week off, and it was Bill’s first full week at home after being laid off. We assumed it would be a slow morning (wrong!). I take a look outside and see a loose sheep and one in the fence. On second glance, things become clear. The rams have broken out and climbed over the fence to be with the ewes (including the ewes I don’t want to have bred). We bundle up and head out to get the rams separated. Star goes to work and begins bringing the sheep towards the barn. I take off running for the barn gate, which is a hike! I arrive at the gate only for my body to remind me that I am not as young as I used to be and that I’ve also carried and birthed a child. What does this mean you might ask? It means I was retching my guts out while simultaneously peeing myself with every heave. When I finally catch my breath, I realize most of the sheep have gotten away from Star. So with pants peed, sheep on the run, some very unhappy guts, and Bill looking for sheep, I exchanged Doc for Star, and we finally get the sheep inside. As a cherry on top for the day, after kicking the horses out of the barn in the morning, they not only broke back into the barn, but they ate every single bale of hay and pooped everywhere. What a way to start the week 🥳
