As I type this our newest addition to the farm, the above lamb, is sleeping peacefully on the verandah. He has chosen to lie about 1/2 a metre away from Woody who is eyeing him with the tenancity that only a young sheepdog can muster. It seems that Woody is convinced that it is only his unblinking stare that is keeping the lamb in his place, where is the lamb is completely at ease and totally oblivious to the whole process. Woody seems put out. Anyway, we have been busy as usual and freezing cold at the same time. Although we have had some welcome rain, the days are mostly clear skied with a good frost each morning. Last week after getting back from Dubbo we got a call to say that an orphaned lamb was looking for a home... our merino girls need a meat ram and I have always been taken with the Wiltshire Horn sheep. We have been putting everything into the pigs for the moment so buying any of them was out of the question - however we were lucky with Luke. The naming of the lamb took place, Felix was very excited because it was a boy, he must be feeling a little emasculated with all the breeding females that we keep and wondering why none of the boys get to stay. Anyway, although little and cute we thought it was important that he had a strong and manly name for the future. We all put in our ideas but Felix stood firm. "His full name is Luke Skywalker the Jedi Knight" he told us "but you can call him Luke for short". My suggestion of Sean fell on deaf ears and so Luke it has stayed. He bleats incessently at me and is drinking with great gusto from his bottle. So far he has been to a kids party and to pre-school with Felix. He has had his tail ringed and is probably the only sheep in Australia who had this done with a local anaesthetic.
Beccie's spotty piglets have ventured out and we bought in 10 berkshire piglets to boost up numbers who have promptly joined Kimmy and Lil's litters and proved once again how complex the maternal behaviour is in pigs as they have been adopted pretty readily. This means we have to wean all over again but at least everyone is settled and happy.
We have had a flurry of interest in the farm recently, an article in a Sydney newspaper (Manly Daily) http://www.manlydaily.com.au/article/2008/08/01/11372_news_feature.html will hopefully boost Sydney sales. Also in the media have been the latest campaign by Animals Australia to stop sow stalls (which have been illegal in the UK for a long time) http://www.animalsaustralia.org/lucy_speaks/. Lots of orders are coming in and the upshot of it all is that our numbers are starting to look small. It is all good but with lots of our income tied up in hams waiting for Christmas and demand that is getting hard to meet we are up against it a bit. We both want to stay loyal to the farmers market customers and always make sure that we have meat to sell at the markets, but on the other hand wholesale sales will always be vitally important to keeping us running. James has been fencing the next phase over the last week and we will be changing markets around to give us 2 weeks off sending any pigs off at the end of the month. It is hard to believe that it is almost one year since the first pigs came on to the property. Bacon and ham is still our next hurdle.
James' shooting abilities are improving - he managed to bring home a hare this week. It was then cleaned, cooked very slowly and turned into a sort of rilette or terrine (above) with some pork belly and eaten on crusty bread. I was initially dubious however admit it was delicious, I was surprised at how dark the meat was but it wasn't as gamey as I was expecting.
Orange markets tomorrow in the (forecast) snow, and poor James will then get back and head straight to Sydney for the Balmoral Mudgee Food Festival. We are selling our pork and porcini sausages in a roll on Balmoral Beach. I am staying home to look after the pigs...it's a good excuse.