When you put your face in a bucket of snacks and get caught.
I spent the morning hanging out with my sheep and this is Anastasia. She has come a long way since she was born back in February. 3 months ago. You could barely get close to her. Now she'll come over with any of her problems. Whether it's something like a blackberry bramble stuck to her wool that she wants out or a bucket stuck on her face, she'll walk over and ask for help.
I love this little sheepy.
Come out to the Lynden Farmers Market and pick up your groceries for the week. So many amazing vendors!
Beef from @faircowspathfarm
Fresh from the sea @lummiseafoodmarket
Duck and Chicken Eggs from us! #hedgerowwillowsflockandfarm
Microgreens from @twinleaf.farm
And all the local veggies! 5 Elements Harvest and @c.and.d.floral.and.produce !
#localfarm #lyndenfarmersmarket #freshfood #eatlocalwa #eatlocalwhatcomcounty #farmersmarket
An evening of bribing my sheep to be friendly. For the most part they're all fairly friendly, but in the evening I bring a bucket of grain out to my use and give them all some attention. And if they want the special grain, not just the alfalfa, they have to come to my lap and allow themselves to be packed. Bessie has decided that my brain is not worth pets, so instead she just eats alfalfa pellets in the evening. I really enjoy spending time with my sheep though and I hope that you guys will come out and meet them on the farm someday.
Last week, Thursday, we had a ewe down with suspected pregnancy toxemia. Because I have a small flock and I spend a lot of time with them, we were able to notice abnormal behavior rather quickly. I watched her for about 6 hours and pondered whether she might be in labor or not while gathering the supplies for potential pneumonia and or pregnancy toxemia.
We treated first for toxemia and then headed to the vet to pick up antibiotics and other medications that I didn't have on hand.
I love our livestock vets.
With some advice from other shepherds, really great books, and our vet team, Annie was able to get turned around. Just in time for her to give birth to four beautiful lambs.
You can hear her happily cooing to her lambs here.
Now we will monitor nutrition, make sure she is able to supply enough milk for all four, and of course, keep you all updated on the cute antics of lambs.
This is the first year on this property that I feel like I'm finally finding my way into the farm that we're going to become. So very different than I imagined when I headed down this path 14 years ago. Shoot, different than when I purchased this property just 3 years ago. And I feel like it's finally settling into proper place.
Finnsheep and Basketry Willow with a sprinkle of other seasonal farm fun.
#HedgrowWillows #firstgenerationfarmer #buildingresilience #buildingdreams #farmlife #farmdreams #dairysheep #sheepdairy #shepardess #lovethelifeyoulive #femalefarmer #eatlocalwhatcom #eatlocalpnw #shoplocal #localfarm #localart
Meet the sheep!
These small hoofed ruminates bring me joy!
I love that my sheep provide milk, meat, and beautiful wool to spin.
I think they're most important part here on the farm is that they mow my grass and turn it into things that can feed and keep me warm.
Not only do they provide for the humans but they also provide for the land and environment that they're using. Their manure is easy on the land, has few contaminants, and they like to eat weeds that other livestock might be picky about.
They're small size means that in our wet land they Don't do a ton of damage in the winter months. We mostly keep them in a sacrifice area, but on nicer days we like to bring them out for some exercise and they follow me around the farm while I do little upkeeps.
What's your favorite part of small farming?
This sweet girl was dam raised and feral, despite her mother's friendly nature.
Daily I am out with my flock offering pets, gentleness, and treats when needed.
This is the first time Mary has laid down next to me. I swooned, and decided to test her. She became my pillow. There was no flight!
We both enjoyed the evening chill and the last touch of the setting sun.
I am so full of gratitude for this life we are building and the lessons every day that come.
#gratitude #lovethislife #helianthusacres #helianthus_acres #sheepdairy
Take a moment to see what our will looks like during the first year of planting. It's sparse and scraggly looking. And that is totally normal.
Some of our willows didn't do as well, whether that's from vowels under the tarp or not enough water, we're not sure. We're learning as we grow.
There are 20 varieties of Willow in this patch, most of them are just trialing to see if the spot will work for them, and how we like the way the varieties weave. I don't want to dedicate a lot of time and energy to willows that won't work for our basket. Eventual coffin weaving, or your basketry endeavors.
Small farms with big dreams. You have to start somewhere.
Our website is slowly being updated with a varieties of willow that will have to offer for cuttings this year. We won't have Willow rods for sale until 2025, but keep checking back here on Instagram and over on our website for updates.
We're so excited to be part of the basket weaving community.
#basketweaving #basketfarming #willowgrower
That's adorable little creature is a mink. Apparently there was a mink farm once upon a time in the area.
Well many years later and nobody having a mink farm in the area. These little guys have become a natural part of our waterways.
Unfortunately, this adorable little thing is also murderous.
$500 in ducklings, 30 ducklings all together and what's left is 4. I would be less upset if the mink needed them for food. But he just joyfully murdered them and left them.
We are devastated. Not only is it a huge financial loss, but it's a lot of death to manage. Are brooderrs have always been secure. To the loss that we experienced over the last couple of days was shocking.
Now we are trying to decide if we reinvest as soon as possible to hopefully be able to bring you fresh duck eggs next spring. Has a little guy took out the new flock that was going to lay the duck eggs for your table. Or do we wait until spring? Will we even be able to find ducklings
How important are duck eggs to the community?
How important are they to our systems of management?
Can we take on another $500 purchase right now?
And this is a life of farming, especially with livestock.
Getting the sides and lighting up for the winter goat area. Super excited to be seeing this project coming closer to a close.
It's not perfect but it's good enough to see many winters.
Good enough to have people over to visit the animals.
Good enough to keep this farmer dry while hanging out with my livestock.
And better yet I did it myself!
Learn, grow, make it work right where you are. You don't need a degree or special training. You just need the will to give it a try. Everybody's capable, just start somewhere.
Meet Hawthorne, and hear a little bit about what's happening around the farm and what are hopes and plans are. We're really excited about some new things that are going to be happening.
Did you know that we ferment our organic feed? That's right, we take the little bit of extra time to make the nutrition in our already amazing feed a little bit extra.
Fermenting the grain that we feed our poultry flocks is super easy. In the morning we head out with our buckets and dump them in the feeders. When we come back in we add in the proper amount of grain for the number of birds that we have, add some water, and set it on the shelf to ferment for 5 days. We label each bucket so that we know which day we are on.
It may take us five extra minutes in our feeding routine, but the boost of nutrition, health of our flock, and watching fermentation happen is just fun, makes that extra time more than worth it.
We are restocking the farm stand today with fresh chicken and duck eggs. Come and pick yours up today!
Also, did you know that you can get a subscription for our eggs? Head over to the website at helianthus-acres.com, and pre-purchase a farm stand share.
We can't wait to see how you use your eggs in your kitchen!
#communitysupport #familyfarm #ferndalewa #eatlocal #whatcomcountyfarm #femalefarmer #chasingdreams #reachinggoals
Planting onions is one of the most time consuming tasks for me. Oh, for the love of these crunchy, sweet, spicy alliums.
We pack 720 onions into every bed!
In 80 days we will begin to harvest reds, sweets, and in 90, the winter keepers will find their way to the curing racks.
We cannot wait for you to find them in the farm stand!
Did you know that you can support our farm by pre season purchasing farm stand dollars? While we are not doing a traditional CSA, we are offering farm stand dollars. Purchase $100 or more before the season kicks off, and you get a 10% bonus, that's $110 to purchase your vegetables and eggs from our farm stand!
Head over to Helianthus-acres.com and check it out today.
The goslings have gone from brooding pens to their new pasture home. These guys are pretty happy about the fresh new grass up they are able to munch on and I am delighted that they are foraging their own.
We still have goose available for the winter holiday!
Check out the website linked in our profile for the details on ordering your own fresh pastured goose for the Christmas table.
#knowyourfarmer #localfoodchain #grassfedmeat #goosemeat #goosefarm #eatlocal #buylocal #femalefarmer #firstgenerationfarmer #helianthusacres #ferndalewa
My 15 year old had a goats to our farm. Her lamancha, Ghost, is to be another part of our Land Management crew. With blackberry vines plenty, this little girl is going to help us keep the lines of our property clear. She's also keeping my 15-year-old happily occupied with bottle-feeding several times a day. The Saneen is her companion until she's large enough to be with the sheep and then he will go on to his own farm with my friend.
#familyfarm #helianthusacres #teensareawesome #lamancha #goatsofinstagram
