A New Beginning

January is full of new beginnings here at our farm, mostly of the newborn lamb kind. Our sheep have had over 110 lambs so far this year. It has been hectic to say the least and My Farmer is beginning to be weary. Today, as Julia and I chatted it up about the new president and all the festivities down in Washington, The Farmer went about his chores barely having a minute to pay attention to what was going on in the greater world. That's how it is during lambing season - lots and lots to be done and barely a minute to partake in what most would consider normal life.


This afternoon, Julia and I went to check on the new lambs after she got out of school. I helped with feeding hay and then got a chance to check on the four new babies that were born this morning.

We don't often name our lambs because many of them go to market. If we name any of them, it is usually the girls which we are more likely to keep or the bottle lambs we feed for a few months several times a day. Frankly, as the lambs grow bigger and more independent, it is almost impossible to know one from another. Besides Cora, none of the other sheep have names.

But this little girl lamb is different. She arrived early Tuesday morning and we have named her Obama. She's has lovely black and white patchy spots. It seemed fitting to mark this day of new beginnings in the United States by naming this little one after our new president.