Thor is a 14 week old Maremma which is an old breed of Livestock Guardian Dog that originated in Italy. The breed was developed there over hundreds of years by sheep herders to protect their flocks from wolves and other predators. It will be a while before Thor is ready to kill any wolves though, as he has a long puppy hood before him. In the mean time his instinct to guard is already kicking in.
And Cosmo is showing Thor the ropes.
The sheep go their spring haircut this year by a professional shearer named Jonathan Hearne. What would have taken me two days to do he did in one hour. It was pretty amazing to watch this man work. I am sure he was doing some Jujitsu moves on them. I wish I could have gotten a photo of him shearing but I was too busy wrangling sheep in and out of the barn. May I never have to shear another sheep.
I am also processing meat chickens this week. I have already done about 25 of them and have another 25 to go. These birds have been raised on pasture according to the practices as set forth by Joel Salatin, sustainable farm guru. I have had to make some modifications by adding tarps on top of the pens due to the amount of rain we get in Tranyslvania county but the system works well. Next batch may be a heritage chicken. I am selling these birds as fresh the day after processing or frozen after that. They are for sale at the Transylvania Farmers Market in Brevard on Saturday morning. Here is a photo of the chicken tractor in the pasture and one chicken that did not make it to the farmer's market.
The farmers market has been lots of fun, meeting new people, customers and vendors alike. There is music every week as well as breakfast and lots of top quality food.
Allen! I didn't know you were still recording your farm here! I am so excited to discover that you are and to check out all the things I have missed reading about this past year. I can't believe all that you have accomplished out at your place. It looks fantastic- how do you have the time to do so many projects? My place is coming along nicely too- I love it here. I'm busy propagating and growing my own collection of Native and Chinese medicinal herbs. Fun and long term project. I am gearing up to get some mushrooms going too- oyster, lion's mane and reishi.
ReplyDeleteHave a great season, and let me know if you have a party or event out at your place. It would be fun to travel out there sometime.
Hey Dana, I have been following your blog also and watching your progress. I love your writing and it inspires me to blog about my farm even if my blog is more of a laundry list of what I have done and yours in heart warming and poetic. My work partner, Andrew is going to a workshop soon to see about growing medicinals here too. I innoculated poplar logs for oyster mushrooms but have not seen an oyster all year (too wet, too cool??)
DeleteYou are certainly welcome to come out any time to visit too. I'd love to see you and show you around. I love having visitors here and especially when they take an interest in my little experiments!