We have been lucky to have my sister and her family stay on the farm for the past few weeks.  They are in the process of moving back to Saskatchewan, much to our delight. 

They have been a great help while they have been here, whether with weaning lambs, combining, cleaning up the garden or other odd jobs around the farm. 

We’ve also enjoyed having my niece here, at just two and a half, she is lots of fun. She loves the animals and riding in ‘the nellybelle’ (our side x side). 

Here she is sharing a moment with Thor. It’s great to see these dogs, who are so protective of their sheep, be so gentle at the same time.

Fall can be a beautiful time of year. The warmth of the days can easily lull you into complacency, making winter seem so far away. And then all of a sudden, winter can rush right in, making you wish you had done more on those beautiful fall days. The scene now is definitely a strong reminder that winter is coming.

This ewe lamb looks entirely unimpressed with the situation; a feeling we can relate to.

I always find it interesting to see and hear how other people’s farms and ranches work. There’s always something to learn from other people’s operations. Over the last week, I’ve been to help 3 different producers with some fall work. Each one different, all doing what they see best to be successful sheep producers. Each time I go to another farm, I come away with a few hints that may improve what we are doing. It also makes me appreciate what we have done and the animals we have that are doing well in our system and helping us to be successful.  Sometimes you have to step away from your own work to see the positives in what you’re doing and appreciate all the help along the way. And to feel more confident about decisions that you’re making and that striving for goals centered around your values leads to good results, even if sometimes the road is rocky. 

I’m going to try something different. Currently, I’m posting to this blog pretty rarely, which isn’t really through proper use of a blog. So I’m going to try and post something several times a week.  Likely these posts will be short, but the goal is to give you, the readers, a more complete idea of how life on the farm goes. 

I’m sure it won’t always be easy to think of topics, so please send questions or ideas for posts if you have any. 

I won’t be posting these to the Facebook page, so you will have to come to the website to find them.