It's Time to Play "Name the Lambs" Again!

April is here, and on the farm that means lambs will start being born very soon.  If you've been following along on this blog for a year or two, you know that each year I name my lambs with names that all begin with a certain letter.  The letter for this year is "Z".

Since readers of this blog have done such a good job helping me come up with names for the past few years, I'm inviting you all to participate again.  What "Z" names shall I use to name this year's lambs?  I'm expecting maybe 30-40 lambs altogether.  I'll need girl names, boy names, matching sets of names for twins.

Suggestions?

New Soap, New Giveaway!

Help me celebrate my newest soap creation---and win some for yourself!

My new Farmstead Deluxe Cream Soap is very special, not only because it is so very creamy and luxurious, but also because it is so pure and natural.  It features:

• Icelandic sheep's milk:  hand milked (by me) from my own flock of Icelandic sheep
• Guernsey cream:  hand milked and hand skimmed (by me) from my own Guernsey cow
• Home-rendered lard:  hand cut, rendered, and filtered (by me) from my own pastured heritage breed pigs.

The only ingredients in the soap that were not raised and hand-processed right here on the farm are the lye and the pure essential oils that give the soap it's bright, crisp lemon-herb scent.

Would you like to win some of this luscious soap for yourself?  If you enter my holiday giveaway, you'll have at least seven chances to win a variety pack of my hand made soaps, including:

• 1 bar of the Farmstead Deluxe Cream Soap
• 1 bar of the Amber Scented Sheep's Milk Soap
• 1 bar of the Unscented Pure Castile Soap

To enter, you must:

1. "Like" (or already have liked) our Ingleside Farm Facebook page
2. Get a friend to also "Like" our Facebook page.
3. Leave a comment here on this blog post telling me YOUR NAME as well as YOUR FRIEND'S NAME.  (Make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win.)

You will get one entry for each friend who "Likes"our Facebook page thanks to your recommendation.  There is no limit to how many entries you can earn this way.  Your friend(s) will also be automatically entered in the giveaway. 

Seven winners will be chosen randomly from all the entries, one winner per day, for the entire week of December 18 through 24.  Winners will be notified by email and announced here on this blog.

Let the giveaway begin!

WINNERS:

December 18:  Barbara Beard
December 19:  Kristi Elmore
December 20:  Christian Burchett
December 21:  Judy Russi
December 22:  Sarah Hart
December 23:  Jenny Brown
December 24:  Cyndi Howard

The Beauty of Icelandic Rams

A gallery of some of our gorgeous Icelandic rams over the years.

And We Have a Winner!

The winner of today's Sheep's Milk Soap Balls Giveaway is:

Andrea?  Or Morgan?  You didn't leave me a way to contact you directly, but back on January 16th you entered the giveaway by leaving the following comment:

ANDREA said...

I love the idea of giving away extras. I have a small farm in Tacoma and I give away my extra eggs. People try to give me money, but I am raising chickens for fun and it makes me smile to give something away. Maybe some day I will sell my eggs. Keep up the good work. I also follow you on Facebook. Morgan

So, Andrea/Morgan, if you're out there, email me at inglesidesheep@aol.com and give me your contact info so I know where to send your soap!

Thanks for playing, everybody.  Don't forget, there will be another giveaway when our Facebook page reaches 1,200 fans.

Help Me Name My Lambs

Everyone did such a great job suggesting "X" lamb names for my flock last year, I'm asking for your suggestions again this year. 

For 2011, all the lamb names need to start with the letter "Y".  I need boy names, girl names, twin names, "real" names, made up names.  I'm expecting somewhere in the vicinity of about 40 lambs.  So send me whatever names you've got!

Just post your name suggestions in a comment right here.  As the lambs are born, I'll post photos and announce what names I've picked, so stay tuned over the next month or two to see if I used the name(s) you suggested.

Thanks!

Lambing Season Is Fast Approaching

Lambing season will be starting here sometime next week.  Can you tell?  Check out the big bellies on all these moms-to-be!

 

Another Soap Ball Giveaway

Hey!  While I wasn't looking, we reached another of the milestones I set out to trigger another giveaway:  This blog now has 100 followers.  Thanks everybody!

I'm going to give everybody until noon on Monday to enter to win, then I'm going to randomly pick a winner.  If you've already entered to win before, you don't need to enter again.  If you do need to enter, go to this blog post and leave a comment.

Don't forget:  I'll do another giveaway when my farm's Facebook page reaches 1,200 fans.  That's the place to hear all the daily details about what's going on here at Ingleside Farm, so join us, and recommend us to your friends too!

Building a Livestock Loading Ramp

Today Ken built a ramp for loading and unloading livestock into our car.

One of the advantages of raising small breeds of livestock:  When we transport our sheep or pigs, we almost always haul them in the back of our Subaru Outback.  We spread a tarp out, then cover it with a layer of hay bedding.  It doesn't matter if it's cold and rainy out or 106 degrees; inside the car, the animals get the same comfortable temperature as the human passengers.

With the sheep, we usually just grab them and boost them in, but that's easier said than done with pigs.  And also, it's not always easy for the animals to hop OUT of the car at the end of the ride.  So we decided that we needed to build a ramp to make loading and unloading easier for all of us.

First, Ken made the basic framework out of 2x4s that I salvaged from a section of old broken down fence.

The bottom end is cut at a slope so it can rest flat on the ground.  The top end is notched to fit onto the car's bumper.

After attaching the fiberboard platform to the framework, Ken tests the ramp for strength.

If you want livestock to use a ramp willingly without getting scared, you have to give them good traction so they don't slip.  Three rubber doormats should do the trick!

Ken fastens the doormats down with slats, which also provide more traction to prevent little hooves from slipping.

A very important design feature:  When the finished ramp is in place, it rests so that the back of the car can be opened and closed freely without interference.

A bucket of grain attracts many volunteers to test out the new ramp.

Sheep approved, the new ramp is a success!

While en route, the ramp can be tied securely to the car's roof rack, so that it's available to unload the animals at the other end of the journey.

First Soap Giveaway Winners

Yesterday, we reached TWO of the four "milestones" I'd set for my latest soap giveaway, so today I'm giving away two sets of hand-rolled Sheep's Milk Soap balls.

The winners are... (drum roll, please!)

(1)  Justine---You didn't leave an email address Justine, so I hope you're reading this!  Email me at inglesidesheep@aol.com to tell me your shipping address so that I can send you your soap.

(2)  Yarnabees.  I've already sent you an email, all I need now is your shipping address

Congratulations to our two winners!

There are still 2 more giveaways waiting to happen, so don't forget to enter.  All you have to do is comment on the giveaway's blog post for your chance to win.

New Giveaway: Sheep's Milk Soap Balls

Time for a new giveaway, and this time it's something new:  handmade sheep's milk soap balls!

As many of you may know, thanks to the success of my Kickstarter soap making project, I've been able to start making all of our luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside person to do it for me.  I'm currently in the process of building up inventory, which takes a while because after the soaps are made, they have to cure for a few weeks before they're ready to be sold.

I have a small amount of soap that is ready to go now (contact me directly if you'd like to buy some), and a much larger amount that will be ready in early February.

But meanwhile, I'm giving some away. 

I make all of my soap in small batches, and pour it into molds that hold about 6 lbs. of soap at a time.  Sometimes after filling the molds, I have a little bit of soap left over.  That soap gets made into old-fashioned, hand-rolled soap balls.

They are decorative as well as practical, and are made with the exact same natural ingredients as my regular bar soap:  olive oil, sheep's milk from my own flock of Icelandic sheep, water, lye, and essential oils.  They are very mild to your skin, and they smell great.

I'm going to give away four sets of three soap balls.  These giveaways will happen at four different "milestones":

1.  I'll give away one set of soap balls when our next batch of piglets are born.  That could take place any time in the next few days, so enter soon!  If you click the link above, you can also enter our "Guess A Piglet" contest for a chance to name one of the piglets when they are born.

2.  I'll give away another set of soap balls when the number of "Likers" for the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,100.  As I type this, we need only 12 new likers, so this could happen almost immediately.  Feel free to use the "Suggest to Friends" feature (right under the ram photo in the upper left corner of the page) to help speed things along!

3.  Getting 12 new likers for our fan page is too easy a goal.  Let's make you work for the next one!  I'll give away another set of soap balls if you can push our number all the way up to 1,200.  Recommend us to your friends, and don't forget to let them know that they can enter to win some soap balls too.

4.  See that column on the right hand side of this blog page?  The one with my photo and the blog archive and all that?  Right below the blog archive is a listing of this blog's followers, with an easy button to click to become a follower.  When the number of followers listed there reaches 100, I'll give away the last set of soap balls.  If you're not a follower, please consider becoming one.  And if you have friends who like to read about farming, nature, and hand crafting, encourage them to follow as well.  That way, you'll all be first in line to get the news when I announce my NEXT giveaway!  :-)

Okay, I've told you the "What" and the "When" of the giveaway.  Now you need to know the "How," as in "How do I enter to win these marvelous soap balls?"

It's easy as can be:  Just post a comment on this blog entry. 

Make sure to include some way of contacting you if you win---If you comment anonymously, I may not be able to reach you to tell you you're a winner.  Winners will be selected at random from among all the people to comment on this post.  I'll contact winners by email to get their shipping address, and the winning names will be announced on this blog.  One entry per person, please. 

Now, go win yourself some soap!  :-)

Sheep in a Dunce Cap

That's it.  I finally couldn't take it anymore.

I have a sheep named Wheat who---alone out of the entire flock---has developed a bad habit of getting her head stuck in the hay feeder.  Oh sure, a rare few times I've had to rescue another sheep or two who have gotten their heads stuck somewhere.  But those sheep have done it ONCE, learned their lesson, and never done it again.

Wheat, on the other hand, does it daily.  Not just daily, but two, three, four times a day.  Every time I go outside, there she is, stuck again. 

There's another feeder she could eat at where it would be impossible to get stuck, but she rarely uses it.  There are other ways to eat from the feeder she likes without getting stuck (all the other sheep do it!).  But she won't learn them.

As a result, she spends most of her time trapped in one position---all night, all weather, any time when I'm not right there to rescue her instantly.  After all, I DO have a few other responsibilities on the farm besides extracting learning-disabled sheep from the same stupid predicament over and over and over again.

So I finally said enough was enough.  I came up with a solution to the problem.  For the rest of the winter, Wheat will have to wear a dunce cap.  A special dunce cap, invented just for her, to prevent her from sticking her head into places it doesn't belong, so instead of getting stuck all the time, she can move around freely like a normal sheep.

Well, maybe not quite normal.

 Wheat's dunce cap is a spare piece of light PVC pipe fastened to her horns with duct tape.  It makes her head too wide to go through the small holes where she likes to stick it.  If the head can't go IN, then there won't be any issue with it not being able to come back OUT.  With any luck, by next winter, Wheat's own horns will have grown enough that they will naturally prevent her from getting her head stuck.

But for now, it's the dunce cap for her.  And after all the hassle she's put me through over the past month, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a certain perverse satisfaction in making her wear that embarrassing looking contraption on her head.

The other sheep are looking at her like she's an alien.  They'll get used to it soon, but meanwhile they're not sure whether they want to run away, beat her up, or follow her around staring at her new fashion accessory.

At least she can run around wherever she wants to now!

Duct tape really DOES fix all problems!  :-)