Yesterday.... My daughter and her baby daughter rode with me, three hours north, to my parents' house. Not to be confused with a full vacation, mind-you...this was a vacation combined with the smell of pig and barn wafting forward from the back of my fairly new Traverse... I had an 8 week old American Guinea Hog boar in the back of the car, being delivered from Bea and Lawnmower's brood to his new owner (who was driving from 3 hours NORTH of that location to meet us in my parents' driveway!!!) All went smoothly. I gave away my cat carrier to the lady, because otherwise the piglet would have ridden back for 3+ hours (and at least one stop for gas/snacks/bathroom break) in a cardboard diaper box on an 8 year old's lap... The piglet stayed right in the carrier, settled on the front seat, safe and sound for his continued trip north.
Last night, there was a treat that I didn't expect. My Mom has been helping to sort through cherished keepsakes from the house where her parents lived, and we carefully unwrapped so many beautiful things, while my mother told the history of those items and shared them with Carrie and me. It was very interesting to hear why certain items were special to her and her sisters and brother, and how things were chosen... Lots of gorgeous and unique items that will eventually be displayed in my Mom's house, where we grand-kids and great-grands can learn the history of my grandmother's collections.
Today... The REAL reason for the visit/livestock swap, or at least the reason the trip had originally been scheduled.
My Dad and I drove 1 1/2 hours into Minnesota this morning to pick up a new Southdown ram lamb, who will be one of my herd-sires this fall and into the future. He....is....gorgeous! Very nice, good shape/conformation, beautiful eyes rimmed with delicate white eyelashes, creamy and fine-textured wool...
I had sent a deposit back in December or maybe January for a ram lamb from a breeder in Minnesota. Pedigrees were compared with what I already have here... Photos of the potential parents were pored over. I had remarked to the breeder, Sue Wiegrefe, that it felt like looking through a Christmas toy catalog as a kid. Her sheep have a certain look, and open- rather than wool blind- face, very well-bred and just what I was hoping to introduce into my own flock of already nice Southdown sheep.
I sent in my first choice request, with a second-choice in case the first ewe had ewe-lambs. She did have twin ewe lambs, but I am quite thrilled with my second-choice result, from the daughter ewe of the first-choice mama.
An hour and a half back with a lamb in a dog crate in the back of my car, and we had lunch together at Mom and Dad's, then packed the Traverse to head back to our farm. My daughter and my granddaughter slept a bit of the way. It was a good trip.
Little Caleb the lamb is settled in a stall in the barn, and I decided to let one of our weaned ram lambs be his companion. Instantly, the sad bleating stopped,some tail sniffing formalities had to be done, and they were friends. The weaned boy from our flock had recently been in that stall with his twin brother, so this felt comfortable to him, and little Caleb had a new friend and wasn't all alone in a strange place. I know it breaks the quarantine rules, but our lamb had been the odd-guy-out without his twin brother, so this works well.
While I was away, I didn't have cell phone reception and getting e-mail was not as easy as usual.
I came home to multiple message "pings" on my phone when I restarted it, and found some exciting news on e-mail as well...
In missionary news, our friends George and Shary had sent a beautiful letter for us to share with quite a few of our mutual church friends who held a plant sale and fund raiser to raise money for a certain aspect of ministry in the country of Cambodia. We had just found out this past weekend that the total amount had been granted/raised/given through many different ways, all because of the love that our church family is willing to share generously with so many. Without going into greater details here, this was a beautiful, unexpected blessing to give thanks for. It was such a privilege to share the letter of thanksgiving from our friends who are currently in Cambodia with our friends who worked and prayed here for just such an outcome. God's blessings are certainly not limited to what I experience on this little farm, that's for sure.
On a lesser scale, but still carrying quite a bit of excitement in it's own right: Cameo the Guinea Hog had her babies this morning at the Lincoln Park Zoo. There are 7 little piglets, 4 males and 3 females, being attended to by their excellent mother (and all the vets and assistants on staff at the zoo).
Photos of Prairie Plum Farm Caleb, and of me with Caleb "ready to roll" in the back of my van... And the pics that Pam at the zoo kindly sent to me, of the newborn piglets as they were discovered this morning by the earliest and very excited staff on the scene.
Laura
