Thursday, March 31, 2011

Busy Time on the Farm

Wow, spring is crazy! Sheep have been sheared ( check out the pics in our photo stream), sap is being collected and boiled down into syrup, lambs are being born....oh and baby rabbits and chicks......and now snow for tomorrow! My snowdrops and crocuses are going to be buried!
This year we have had three lambs born this year, our black icelandic "Midnight" had a ewe lamb, "Panda". Midnight usually has twins but this year just one big healthy girl! She was kind enough to wait for me to return from a bried trip to Florida and so I was able to witness my first Rumsey Farm lambing! Spot, our black and white ewe who tends to have just one big lamb, decided to have twins on the windiest night of the spring so far! A ewe lamb, "Juliet" and a ram lamb "Gremlin" were born. Juliet, the smaller of the two, was doing well when I peeked in and first discovered that she had already lambed. Gremlin, however, was pretty cold and not getting up to drink. We could not get him to latch on to his mother and so made the decision to bring him inside to warm up and get some colostrum into him. He got warm over the evening, although we did not get any sleep, and started to show a better sucking action in the morning. We tried to get him back to his mother, and he was very willing, but Spot was not and did not accept him back. Well, things happen for a reason and so Gremlin now has a spot in our kitchen, following us around and being happily bottle fed.
We have had him out with the other sheep, and it is going to take some time to get him socialized and accepted. The adults keep headbutting him, pushing him over as he follows them around. Poor thing, he so wants to be part of the group, but is also very happy being cuddled and hugged by his human family. I think he will be fine!
By the way, we tried diapers for when he is inside, but not worth the hassle in my opinion! Stuck on poop not fun to clean, even in a big sink!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Food and Fiber Class, All "Sewed Up"!




Our Food and Fiber class is complete, except for one more class for the Tuesday session as they had two cancellations due to weather!
Thursday's session did an excellent job of finishing up their pillows. Each one is a bit different, and the students did the designing and sewing themselves. Many of them had their first go at a sewing machine and did a great job.
To celebrate the end of the session, the students made their own vanilla ice cream with Harris Farm fresh milk, organic sugar and our own Rumsey Farm eggs.It was enjoyed by all, every last bit!
To see pictures of our day, click here!
Our Spring Babies session will be starting on the 21st of March and spots are going fast, so email to reserve your space! First batch of bunnies and chicks will be born this coming week and the lambs two weeks later!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Summer Farm School Program

Rumsey Farm is happy to announce it's first summer farm school program! We will be taking limited applicants ages 9 to 13 to our intensive hands-on summer program. Join us for a lot of fun and hands-on learning experiences. We will learn about many things including many of the following:
planting
weeding
harvesting
parasite and insect control ( organic and natural methods)
daily animal care of sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, dogs, cats, bees
animal life cycles
plant life cycles
cooking with local and in season ingredients
knitting and crocheting
spinning
shearing sheep
fibers: angora, wool and others
basket making
sewing
building fences
cheese and yogurt making
soap making
fruit trees
predator control and tracking
field trips to other local farms
composting and recycling
organic methods of farming and crop and field rotation
flower arranging
fairy house building
Maine Wildlife
journaling and record keeping
observation skills

Our summer program will run for 9 weeks, from June 28th to August 27th. Please email inquiries to margot@twinfires.com.