Essex Farm: Lambing

Three lambs at Essex Farm, April 2016 (Credit: Kristin Kimball)

Catch up with Essex Farm happenings with an update from Kristin Kimball:

Last week, hearing the forecast, I got the same physical, fluttery feeling I get when contemplating a fresh double espresso. The body knows before you even taste it: with this there will be action. Dry warm weather in April must be grabbed like a brass ring. All the field work that can be done now, on the early side, will pay dividends at harvest. So with that on everyone’s mind, and lambs coming like hotcakes, it has been a mighty exhilarating week for all.

Lambs! The first one arrived on Sunday morning, and we have 21 on the ground so far, including one ridiculously beautiful set of triplets. The singletons are uncomfortably big this year. This morning I pulled a 12 pounder from a first time ewe. Both the ewe and her lamb are alive and well, but the ewe looks like she would rather not attempt that business again any time soon, thank you very much.

The good thing is that the lambs hit the ground so sturdy and hale they are up and nursing in no time, and after a day or so in the jug they are ready to go onto pasture with the rest of the flock. It’s good for the soul to see them bouncing along with their mothers on the bright new grass….” Continue reading this Essex Farm Note.

Essex Farm: Lambs & Piglets (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Essex Farm: Surprise Lamb (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

About Essex Farm

In 2004 Mark and Kristin Kimball founded Essex Farm in Essex, NY. It was the first full-diet CSA farm formed (as far as they know)! Kristin wrote her memoir, The Dirty Life, chronicling her transition from city girl to farm wife and the first year of life at Essex Farm. Since then Kristin continues to chronicle life on the farm on her blog, which we give you snippets of here on the Essex on Lake Champlain Blog.