Some BFL cross lambs

Sweet Pea is 3/4 Blue Faced Leicester x Columbia/Targee

Some of the bottle-fed lambs. These are BFL x Corriedale/Arcott.

Premature Blue Faced Leicester "Luna" (one day old) in her work sock sweater.
She was less than 2 kg and it took a week for her eyes to open fully.

Sweet Pea and Luna racing around. At 3 weeks Luna is 4 kg
 and at 3 days old Sweet Pea is 5 kg.

Of weather, wool and lambs

Some ewes and wethers wait there turn to be sheared.

Time flies and it has been months without a blog entry. Winter was uncommonly mild, with little snow.The spring rains haven't happened and the wind whips the dust off the unplanted fields. The grass is slow and we have finally put the sheep onto the pasures but continue to put out hay for them.

Shearing was in March and the days have been so busy, dealing with the wool. Much of it has already been packed and mailed to people eager to start washing and spinning the new wool crop.

Tiny and Tim trail behind mom;

Its hard to believe the lambing has started. First lambs are twins - Blue Face Leicester crosses, a ewe and ram born to old matriarch Tiny. The babes "Tiny and Tim" are doing well. These will be her last lambs. She has no milk for them and I bottle feed them every three hours. Although she can't feed them, she is very good with them speaking in low and quiet utterances. I will let them remain with her, and I'll walk out to feed them where ever she roams.

Sheep Cheese and Rustic Rye Bread

Pecorino is the name of a family of hard  Italian cheese made from ewes milk. The word derives from pecora meaning ‘sheep’, also from the Latin pecora meaning livestock. (Wikipedia)

Today I'd like to feature two wonderful local food producers.

I can't say enough about this incredible sheep cheese Old Pecorino (a full flavoured, aged sheep cheese thats hard/nutty/salty/creamy/bold yet mellow -a nice hard cheese that keeps well and is easy to grate into baking). It's an authentic Italian cheese made on the Canadian prairies by THE CHEESIRY. Rhonda Headon learned the art of cheesemaking in Italy, and I'm so glad she has the opportunity to share this ancient craft with us. Rhonda's cheeses are complimented by her husband Brian's local air cured old-world syle meats.Visit their combined website at  O SOL' MEATOS.

I've served it here with a chewy Rustic Rye Bread with Caraway Seed made by

Sarah in Swift Current Saskatchewan. Sarah bakes custom bread orders weekly and also offers delicious cooking classes. Visit  ALL OUR FINGERS IN THE PIE for details on upcoming classes and Farmer's Markets. 

A New BFL and Sugar Pumpkins

The Corriedale ewe lambs in the background seem to be talking about the new girl, "Ranfurly Soliel".
And Soliel seems to be basking in the moment!

October is a busy month with the sheep. The lambs have been weaned and are selected for breeding, market or butchering. Both ewes and rams are being prepared for their selected breeding schedule. Soliel is our first Blue-faced Leicester ewe. She came from Ranfurly Farm, Chase BC. Other photos of our BFL and Corrie mules can be viewed on our blog Newland Ranch.

My favourite vegetable - little pie pumpkins! The garden woulding be complete without them.

And of course October is a month for preserving and storing all the lovely food from the garden. One of the garden delights is the tiny pie pumpkin "Sugar" which I picked green (after the vines froze September 15). They have been ripening fast at room temperature, while others have been kept green for a while by storing in the coolness of the barn. They are wonderful as a roasted vegetable, pumpkin pie filling, and in soups and stews. The roasted seeds are yummy too. And I always tuck a few seeds away to plant next year!

And speaking of cooking... I took a trip to experience the aromatic foods of Morocco, in Sarah's kitchen. Visit her blog  All Our Fingers In The Pie! If you live in southern Saskatchewan, check out her schedule for cooking classes. It's a wonderful experience!