Galloway Farm

Each spring we shear the sheep of their thick wool for the warmer weather ahead.  Notice how still “Pearl” is here.  When you put a sheep in this position, they freeze.  This allows you to shear them safely.

All cleaned up!

Sheared in one piece, this wool will be given to a girl at church that spins wool.

Charles, Hubbard, Claude & Jack Boone

On a recent Saturday, the boys and I enjoyed lunch at the Black Dog market, known far and wide for their cheeseburgers.  I got each of the boys a Sun Drop to drink.  I hadn’t had one since I was a kid; but they loved them as much as I did.

I went out to feed the animals and check on them as usual, when I heard the sounds of a new baby lamb!   This is the first live birth we’ve had at our farm and everyone is just so excited.  If you’re close by, don’t miss the chance to bring your kids out to visit our new spring lamb. 

I never thought I’d see the day that “Persimmon”, my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and my sheep “Puff” would relax and hang out together.  They’ve got a long history of Persimmon chasing and herding the animals and the animals looking for the right opportunity to head butt Persimmon into next week.  But on this rare occasion, they seemed to call a time out and just enjoy a few moments of relaxation.

Something’s been coming in my barn at night, getting into feed cans, and making a mess of my barn.  So I purchased a wildlife camera to catch the intruder on film.  Let’s just say that my barn is a critter party spot at night!  First came a huge orange cat I’d never seen, then a raccoon, then two nasty opossums! 

The boys are testing out the newest addition to the playground area.  My friends at Gateway Tire gave me these huge old tractor tires.  Turns out they make great horses for riding, a cool tunnel for hiding and a good fort for defending. 

Each year about this time, a small group of Canadian Geese drop in for a few weeks.  We have two that we’ve named Goosey & Gander that will sometimes stay even longer and build a nest.  They are gorgeous, large birds and are very graceful moving across the cold water.  I see as many as seven sometimes and feed them some floating fish food to encourage them to stay.

Another unexpected loss, I found this Hackberry tree down from a recent spring wind storm.  This tree appeared to be a healthy tree, though the way it split at the trunk might suggest it was weak or rotting to some degree at the base.  I’m always glad when the spring storm season passes.  Unfortunately, we still have a good two months of unpredictable storms left.  It is sad to me that a tree that has been growing there for thirty, forty, maybe sixty years is down and gone so fast.

This Tulip Poplar, Tennessee’s state tree, was between 80 and 100 years old.  It was a magnificent, gorgeous tree with lots of orange and yellow flowers in spring.  Lightning hit the tree two summers ago.  According to tree experts, lightening basically vaporizes the root system and kills the tree instantly.  We gave the tree another full year but it didn’t come back to life for us and large branches began falling out.  So I called “Bulldozer John”, the guy who can do anything from excavation to any sort of farm work.  He took the tree down and spent the next day and a half cutting it into firewood.  It’s now stacked in the barn and will provide lots of good fires for summers to come.