Its Spring! Lambing Has Begun !

The Lambing begins in spring when they transport the pregnant ewes from the warmer winter areas to the sheep ranch. Photo by Deborah Moen of Little Utah Farm

The Lambing has begun!

I heard the rattling of the big diesel trucks and stock trailers barreling down the dusty lane towards the sheep ranch. It is just a few doors down. I knew the sheep had arrived and I rushed to grab my camera. I ran  as fast as my legs could go to the ranch to see the sheep unload. My was heart beating fast as I whispered an affirmation to myself, “The sheep are here".

The trucks stopped out in the back field and the drivers opened the back doors to let out the pregnant ewes. I ran to the mound of red clay dirt by the old fence to get a better look.

The ewes leaped off the truck to get some spring grass. The man who owned the ranch was there watching them unload and spoke in a John Wayne-like voice, with a hand on his hip and thumb in his right pocket, “Come on ladies” 


The sheep bells that hung from their collars clanged as they ran over to the tall haystack behind the barn.  They were hungry after their journey. Actually sheep are always hungry. I smiled knowing that within weeks the lambs would be born right here in my own backyard. And soon I would hear their young bleating cries. 

I was practically floating on the way home and took I a shortcut, running through the irrigation ditch that runs near our little farm. I 
 got pricked by the wild rose bushes and whacked in the face by long willow branches. No matter, I was so filled with breathless joy it didn't phase me.

 At home I sat with my husband and animals soaking up the warm bright sun. A beautiful hawk circled overhead and we saw a large V of seagulls, of all things, flying north.

What an amazing and memorable day ! 

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm 

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Until Next time here is a quote: 

 “To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Deborah Moen of Little Utah Farm

This is one of the baby lambs just a day or two old. Look at his sweet face. I have photographed him and put the image on a greeting card. Card comes in semi-gloss which we recommend for beauty and sturdiness. The card text inside is Happy Spring ! but you can personalize it with your own message. 

Adorable Lamb Folded Greeting Card
by LittleUtahFarm

Winter Layers For My Garden

Compost right over the soil.

I discovered a natural way to nourish our garden soil and keeps the weeds down. In this post, I will share how I did it.

 Our soil is hard clay and for 5 years we have mixed in llama manure and rototilled it in. I came across this method of putting layers of materials over the top of the soil like you would a compost pile. This process will invite beneficial microbes, bacteria and earthworms. It will also keep most of the weeds from growing. 

Autumn is now in full force. The nights are in the 20's. The orb weaver cat spiders, which came to visit us this year, transitioned in the cold leaving their beautiful webs behind. The grasses in the pasture have begun to brown, and the leaves that fell from Grandmother Apple Tree were mulched and placed in a pile by the corn field to use later in the garden. 

The garden was dismantled, cleared, and ready for a nourishing mask of green manure, kitchen scraps, hay, and fallen leaves. Husband went out and collected cardboard boxes for the project. You can also use newspaper ( no colored ink or shiny surfaces) discarded toilet paper rolls, shredded junk mail ( no colored inks or shiny surfaces) We had everything else we needed like kitchen scraps, tea bags, hay, llama manure, dead leaves, and hay or straw.

Here is how we laid the layers in the garden.

      1. Removed any tape from the boxes and cut them to lie flat. 

       2. Water the soil first then lay down the cardboard. I let them overlap about 6" so the weeds cannot come through.

      3. Water over the cardboard.

      4. Put down green manure on the cardboard. We used fresh llama manure and kitchen scraps. 

       5. Water over the manure.

      6. Scatter dead leaves and hay or straw over the manure. 

      7.Water over the leaves

You can repeat these layers if you want to. Water each layer.  

The snows will come and in the spring the ice will melt into this nourishing mask and it will be ready for planting and seeding. 
The cardboard will be easy to penetrate for planting or roots to grow through. If the cardboard is still firm, then I cut a hole or x’s in the cardboard to plant.

I thoroughly enjoyed this project. I felt close to Mother Nature. I am also doing the layer technique in our garden boxes. I will lay down what is left from the plants in the boxes and begin to layer over that. 

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm
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Until next time, 

Garden as though you will live forever.

                                                         ~ William Kent

DeborahMoonMoen
Little Utah Farm

Weeds and Bare Root Willows

In the summer of 2007 when we arrived in Utah, our land was barren, a diamond in the rough. We pulled all the wild thorny tumbleweeds and discovered muscles and joints we didn't know we had. 


 Weeds and bare Root Willows
 www.LittleUtahFarm.blogspot.com

When the cooler days of autumn came, we decided to go out and clear the pasture out back. Having a tractor would have been wonderful. It was on our bucket list for sometime in the future. For now we entertained the idea of hiring out someone to plow a 1/2 acre. We called a man who had a tractor but it would have cost $700 to clear the whole thing. $100 dollars an hour.

We decided to DIY. We grabbed our shovels and set to pulling the big old grey and boney tumbleweeds and cleared the debris that the former owners left behind. Funny, we discovered when we pulled on the weeds we nearly tumbled backwards as the roots had let go of the soil. The tumble weeds just lifted out easy with the tip of the hoe or a scuff sideways with our boot.

We had a good laugh after that. To think of all the work we did on those fresh young weeds back in spring along the pasture road. They had quite a hold into the ground and you got to get it all or they will grow back. There were many such lessons when we first arrived here on Little Utah Farm.



Bare Root Purchases For Beginners

 Have you ever had that planting fever in spring where you want to order everything in the catalogue?

 It is like going shopping when you are hungry. In late winter of 2010 I had this happen to me. The pictures show blooms with beautiful bright colors and the prices are cut in half for the big sales in the mail order Burgess' Seed Catalogue.

 I had ordered a dozen Hybrid Willow plants for a wind barrier behind the llama shed.  I was in quite a hurry to get it going so I selected those fast growing wonders. We also ordered some 6 Poplars Screen Hybrids to go in  front of the garden fence.

As I placed my order, I felt my heart racing with enthusiasm. Dreams of lovely lush green trees passed through me day and night. I envisioned the 3' to 4' plantings and played reruns of it till the day they arrived.

I recall, with a little snicker* the feeling of receiving 40 some shrubs and trees that I ordered from Burgess Seed Catalogue. The bare roots came inside a plastic green bag. All of them. I remember the day they came like it was yesterday. I got a knock at my door  and saw that the post lady was parked out on the graded road.


My hands rubbed together in anticipation as our postwoman opened the back door of her mail truck and brought out a large green sack. "What? Well hmm." I thought , "That sack is probably just the bulbs and small perennials I ordered". She sat the sack down with her one hand and gave me a friendly smile and waved with the other to bid me good day. "Wait, isn't there more?" I asked. "That is all." she replied. As she hurried back down the driveway, my heart sunk into my solar plexus.

 I shook off my disappointment and  ripped open the stapled bag. The smell of glorious earth came fuming up into my nostrils. It was love at first sight as I gazed over the little bare roots of my future trees and shrubs. While gently placing the skinny red- brown roots into a bucket of tepid water, I wondered how long it would take before they would grow into trees. I soaked the roots overnight.


Digging Yourself A Hole In Clay

 

 By the way has any of you ever dug in to the hard pan layers of clay?

The shovel may go in as far as the tip and then you hit what feels like rock. This is the hard pan of clay. Little by little it does chip away with the shovel.  I came to a softer layer half way down, from an ancient alluvial fan, and that made the last half of digging the hole a breeze.

20 holes later....

I successfully planted 20 trees and shrubs. I got the routine down.

Only 20 more holes to go...


How to plant bare root willows in clay:

My holes were 2 feet deep and 1 1/2 feet in diameter. Usually you make the hole twice the diameter of the root ball but I had heard stories of the hard clay stopping the roots and trees dying out of the blue, so I made the holes bigger than the spindly roots.  For the hybrid willow wind brake,  I placed the holes 31/2 feet apart.  

1. dig your hole as much as you can ( it may not be all the way yet) if it is not hard just skip steps 2-4
2.  fill with water to the rim.
3. wait 30 minutes or until the water has soaked in you may dance around the plant for optimum fertility
4.  continue digging your hole ( it will be softer now)
5. mound 1 part soft rich earth mixed with 1 part of manure in the center of the hole
6. lift the tender bare roots out of the water while thinking encouraging thoughts
7. gently untangle the roots and spread them over the mound gently, set her down, then breathe
8. put some of the soil mix on top of the roots, filling the hole half way and tamp the soil down gently to remove any air bubbles. I added some water at this point.
9. fill the rest of the hole with soil tamp down a bit then water really good
10. nurture your plantings like they were your children. Water them regularly especially in dry hot weather. You can mulch them also just not too close to the stem.


The catalogue book was right.

The little branches I took out of the green plastic bag did grow really fast just like the catalogue said they would. they grew 4 feet the first season. Now look at them !

My magnificent graceful willows after 3 years. They are about 15 feet! They are just about to bud into beautiful slender leaves. I watered them faithfully, admired them from afar and every time I feed the llamas.  I stayed in faith during the many woe be gone stories and warnings of my neighbors. " Oh my trees never made it, they died,"  they said. Their efforts or lack there of, produced nothing but dead wood. My story was going to be different. These plants would grow big and strong and provide shade and glorious green in the summer. And they did.

Looking up the willows. Hybrid willows planted from bare root. 3years old.
www.littleutahfarm.blogspot.com

Just wait till they are all leafed out. These are amazon sized willows, are happy as can be. The catalogue says they will reach 60 feet tall. They provide shade, protection, yummy snacks for the llamas and satisfying songs in the breeze.


EPILOGUE

It is almost spring 2014. It has been 4 years since my trees and willows were planted. These hearty plants and trees have given us such joy and greenery and shade. The Siberian Elm that grow here in Utah like weeds have rooted in some bare spots and really filled in some of the bare spots quite nicely. Our willows are now flowering after the cold harsh winter, and the bees will come shortly as it warms up.







The willows are gigantic and tower way above the wind harps ( telephone lines). The hybrid poplars tower way above us as well. We are so excited to see them leaf out this year. These memories bring me so much joy and laughter. I ain't done yet. I am still learning and discovering on Little Utah Farm.

Paul is near 6 foot tall. These willows are giants.
www.LittleUtahFarm.blogspot.com

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Believe in your dreams and appreciate life as it is. Those dreams will materialize.
Until next time,
Deborah Moon Moen

Garden ~ Soil As Soft As Cake Flour

Our garden soil looks wonderful!

This year Paul rented a rototiller for the day at Ahearns Rental on 800 W. It costs about $55. A new one cost $1500. We need it done only once a year. So it was wonderful to have a rental place in town that offered this amazing attachment for our Kabota tractor. The mix of grass clippings, chicken manure and llama beans we added all year long  got mixed into the clay and the blades cut the hard clods of dirt deep and when it was done it looked like course flour.


I made my rows  April 25, 2012. This year we had such a mild winter we were able to start earlier. the earth was so easy to work with. I enjoyed making the 3 sections of rows. The one in the foreground is for Peaces and Cream Corn. I planted 95 seeds.





I made my rows the next day.

The little green tips of corn came up one Mothers Day May 13. I was so excited !

Peaches and Cream Corn Sprout

I discovered a volunteer Wallflower and last years Catnip in one of my garden boxes. How nice to see it there.

I am planting celery, beets, parsnip, radishes, spinach, carrots, squash, pumpkin and more to mark what was in the rows I cut stakes out of a milk jug and painted them with acrylics. It was so much fun adding color to the garden.




Homemade plant stakes

Thanks for visiting Little Utah Farm. Say..How does your garden grow?
Until next time, Happy Spring !
Deborah

Weddings and Dreams of a Garden







Our lovely apple blossoms


My new garden beds are awaiting the seeds of beets, lettuce, carrots and parsley. Oh I must not forget the heirloom tomato seedlings and buttercup squash and cucumber seedlings. I am amazed at this weather. Last week the wind, the hail, the snow and rain still visited all in one day. I watch the weather reports and the temperatures are up in the 60's and the night temperatures are in the 30's still. We will have good rain next week so I am going to bury some seeds on this full moon of ours.

I have a summer job mowing the neighbors lawns and pasture along with watering. It is a beautiful acre like ours. Here is the windbreak of Russian Elm they planted by hand 8 years ago. I love how the lawn tractor makes fresh green rows between the long blades of grass.



Russian Elm Windbreak



I have purchased a Knock Out Rose plant and some burgundy columbine. The hot pink roses are hardy here and I have always loved the columbine flowers along the high country trails while hiking. The sweet peas, snap peas and spinach have sprouted. It will not be long before they climb up the trellises. I am excited for it all.




Knock Out Roses



I met a very nice new friend this weekend at a wedding down the road at the Willow Glenn Inn. It is always a treat to find someone who talks the same language and has similar ideas. She was also from California. Willow Glenn Inn is lovely bed and breakfast.




Willow Glenn Inn Bed and Breakfast and Weddings


The wedding grounds this time of year are filled with the fragrance of jasmine and honeysuckle.




Pink Jasmine




Fragrant Blooms



Willows sway in the breezes



The willow branches sway gracefully in the light breezes and the spring birds fly and perch on the dogwood and vines.







Woodland Paths



I love all the well established trees, the woodland paths and



the sounds of water trickling from the fountains nestled in the gardens.

 Now I will go plant my seeds before the rain. The full moon and the rain will help everything grow. What is the weather like where you are ? What did you plant this year ?



Spring Lambs, Rainbows and Purple Fields



Spring lambs



"The Lambing" in spring, is one of my favorite occasions. The ewes give birth here in the frosty cold winds of early spring. The precious human like cries of mother and baby, fill the air day and night. Look at how cute they are ! Such a precious sight for us to see.

This little guy was white and buff. Such a peaceful spirit. This darling little face  staring up into mine just made my day. I keep the lambs and ewes in my kindest thoughts and prayers that they have a safe birth and life. I do not know much about sheep ranching but I would like to learn. I love the cyclical nature of sheep ranching, the tradition, the herding and the lambing. I would love to interview a sheep rancher and find out what their life is like, why and how they got into the sheep ranching business.



An afternoon rainbow for Easter Sunday.



 The delicious smells of Easter dinner was emerging from the oven. I wondered how my garden was doing in the wind and rain. I left the warm kitchen and wondered out to view my garden. There, just outside my kitchen door I see a brilliant rainbow bursting forth in front of dark blue clouds.  Each color was beautiful displayed, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Rainbows are such an inspiration. Rainbows are a symbol of hope and unity. They bring a sense of joy and peace. I just love this big bright rainbow. It arched clear over into the next county. Near the end of the colorful display, a double rainbow finale appeared. It faded as the afternoon sun came shining through the clouds. Rainbows are such a happy uplifting event.



Oceans of purple flowers.



Oceans of purple flowers spread over the fields and lawns here in the spring. They are not anything you would want to have in your yard come summer. But the fresh green grass and lovely young weeds put on quite a show here. The silver, sun blanched finish of the old Mormon barns set the stage don't they?



The water is flowing into the farm fields.



Melted winter snows flow from the mountains and channel into canals for irrigation. Everywhere water flows and sheets out over the fertile alfalfa fields. We wonder how the water is allotted and what a water share is. In the meantime I love to watch it flow and gurgle through the land.

Spring is a great time of year. In the city I remember the sweet scent of roses mingling with the smell of wet pavement, the blue skies and white puffy clouds. Here in the country, the leaves are just now unfolding from their sleepy buds and the bright spots of  dandelions are popping up in the garden and along the roads.  It is wonderful to see the fresh live green things growing up from the brown winter grasses and hear the sweet sounds of meadow larks, nesting robins and lambs.