Milking and Sheering Days on Bachar Farms

Its been a while since we have posted any new and exciting happenings here at the farm.  The summer kept our hands full with the drought.  The Finger Lakes region suffered like many parts of the country with little or no rain.  Our pastures were reduced to crunchy brown stuff that no honest law  abiding sheep would look twice at :0.  Everyone scrambled to find hay in the middle of July and keep the water buckets filled, a feet not so simple when you are running water to a barn through three or four sections of hose!!! ;-)
But by the grace of God, we had no losses to heat or disease.  A couple of the lambs suffered with a bout of  anemia but all in all we made it through unscathed.

Milking was exceptional! I milked every morning and managed to collect enough pure raw sheep milk to keep me in yogurt and soap for a full year! LOL  I'm sure hubby will be thrilled.

Speaking of soap, Bachar Farms will be introducing its line of pure sheep milk soaps very soon.  I have been playing around with the recipe and tweaking it to perfection.  We have done extensive testing in the last few months to get to the stage we are at now and in doing so I can tell you that the eczema I suffer from on my hands has improved greatly.  No, it is not cured but I can say that the high buttermilk fat of the sheep milk has had a lot to do with the improvement.  I can't wait for you all to try them! 

We also had our Sheering Fest at the farm this past weekend.  Great BBQ (thanks to Georgie) the man can make a mean pork roast (or two or three)! My mom chimed in with her Cuban black beans and rice (deeeelish!!) My  little contributions were fresh pumpkin bread and hot cider! After all I had to be in the paddock with the sheep being sheered.  We did have a lot of hands on deck so a big shout out to Cathy who reminded me I wanted to write the sheep names on the burlap sacks!  Yikes! I would have kicked myself after that.

This is Arna the most gentle giant! And the most beautiful fleece!

 Our Sheerer John is amazing!!! Finally someone who understands the Icelandic temperament and can handle it!! He managed to sheer Arna in one whole piece!! I dreamed of such a moment! After the sheering was over we plied John with good food and drink in order to entice him to return next year to sheer our little (but growing) flock.  We think it worked!

Now they look like goats for a little while!!!

 Kids didn't want to miss any of the sheering!! Well, in between climbing into the hay loft!!

 My mama and our Emma

 Workin, workin, Workin

Our girls with their grandpa and Uncle Rob...oh and the Guard Donkey Radar!!

The Sheep "Don"!  Hahaha Pacino got nuttin on my hubby! This was while he waited for his roasts to cook to perfection.

And that's me, Sandy...your friendly neighborhood sheep farmer!!

God Bless and have a GREAT day!!!



Images of the farm

Its been a long year of hard work but it has really paid off.  Most things are in working order and ready to be used and lived in.  First we added four hens and Buddy the rooster! Wow what great egg layers!! Then with the addition of our Icelandic sheep grazing freely to be seen from any window of the farm house has really made this dream come to life.  Here are some of the images of what it all looks like now.  Soon  I will post pictures of the before and during some of the work.  It really is night and day from those first days. 
George and I walk the line every morning when we are able to be up at the farm, to check the fences (which are all new and have no damages areas) every day just to feel close to it all.  There is no greater feeling than knowing it was all worth it and the fun is just beginning.

The original 1850 Barn

The old smokehouse turned playhouse years ago.

The newer house we live in.

The dirt road leading down to the farm.