parrybaysheepfarm.com

Open Barn Day at the farm, this Saturday, February 18th.

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:37:20 +0000

For anybody who would like to come and experience lambing time, we’d like to invite you to our farm this Saturday, February 18th, between 10:30 and 12:30. We can’t guarantee it, but you may see lambs born and you will certainly be able to see new lambs with their moms in our maaaaaaaternity ward, (s0rry, couldn’t resist!) and perhaps even get to feed one a bottle. Bring your cameras and wear boots, as it’s muddy. If you’d like to be able to hold lambs, it’s best to wear old clothes as well, as baby lambs can be a bit grubby.

For those who might prefer to drive around and see our sheep out in the fields with their lambs, there are now ewes with lambs in the field at the bottom of Taylor Road, and further up Taylor Road between William Head Road and Rocky Point Road, as well as in the big field off William Head Road, just beyond Devonian Park. Some are also at “Ben Acre”, the field on the left of William Head Road directly before 4645 William Head Road and in the field at 4659 William Head Road as well. If you a sheep with a number painted on its side, it’s one of ours.

Holstein cross lambs??

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:04:43 +0000

Holstein crosses for Valentine’s Day?

More photos and lambing updates on our Facebook.

Another interesting article by Michael Pollan and some lambing news.

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:05:33 +0000

Many of you who have read my comments on this website will know that I am a Michael Pollan fan. His letter to the “Farmer In Chief”, published in the New York Times in 2008, is required reading for our farm apprentices. In case you missed that and would like to read it, here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=1 For anybody interested in food security and ethical and sustainable agriculture I would also highly recommend his book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. More recently he wrote another article for the New York Times in which he answers questions readers have asked him about his views on food and farming. It’s a quick read and very informative: http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/michael-pollan-answers-readers-questions/
Hope you enjoy it!
Now I’m heading out to the barn to deal with some new lambs, and I’m taking my camera so hopefully will have some photos up soon. If you use Facebook, I already have some photos there, of this year’s lambing, so check them out under Parry Bay Sheep Farm. If you “like” us while you’re at it, you will probably get more frequent updates and photos than you will here, as I’ve been much more diligent about posting on Facebook than on the website!

First lambs!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:26:38 +0000

First lambs have arrived. Hope we get a few hours gap before the deluge starts. The tractor tire fell off yesterday – spindle broke – so we’re still cleaning out the barn and setting up lambing pens, trying to keep ahead of the lambs. I’ll try to write updates each day if we don’t get too swamped!

Also be sure to check out our facebook page HERE! We try to post news on both facebook and the website, but sometimes we only have time to do one. There is plenty of content on our Facebook which you may not have seen yet.

Sleet

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:44:06 +0000

So glad we don’t have lambs yet and sorry for those people who do. Sleet’s much worse for lambs than snow is and it’s sleeting like crazy out here. Definitely the sort of day we’d be emptying all our garbage bins and putting them on their sides in the fields so the lambs could crawl in for shelter.

Snow!

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:44:32 +0000

Very glad that we have a bit of snow on the grass, to insulate it from this frigid air! Hopefully when the cold passes it will recover and start to grow again. Our ewes and lambs are going to be needing it in a couple of weeks.

Happy New Year!

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:38:15 +0000

Happy New Year everybody! Our farm market is back up and going today – we took last Sunday off as it was Christmas! 4198 Stillmeadow Road in Metchosin (off Witty Beach Road) for any of you who haven’t visited us there yet.
To start off the new year, here’s something from an old year – 1946:

And for any of you willing to brave the icy waters of Witty’s in January, there is a polar bear swim there from 2:00 until approximately 2:01 today. Follow Witty Beach Road past our market to the parking lot – the swim takes place at the bottom of the steps to the beach.

Eating animals

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:38:50 +0000

I found this a thought-provoking article that explores some of key issues concerning the subject of whether or not to eat meat.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/eating-animals/250179/

What do you think about it?

Interesting Article

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:41:11 +0000

Recently I read Nicolette Hahn Niman’s “Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms” and found it very interesting. This article she wrote a couple of years ago for the New York Times outlines some of the issues she discussed in that book. In this article, she brings up some fascinating and controversial points about global warming and livestock farming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/opinion/31niman.html?pagewanted=1

Photos From Friends

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:29:27 +0000

One of the best things about living on a farm is the wildlife we get to see. Unfortunately we rarely get a chance to stop and take photos. Luckily we have some friends who are amazing photographers, and who have spent some time in the last month or two photographing some of the creatures that live in the farm ponds and hedgerows. Even a few of our sheep. Here are some of their spectacular photos.

Chantal Jacques photographed all except the bear photos, which were taken by Dean Sheridan in the Taylor Road orchard last fall, and the cougar photos which were taken up above our top field here at Lindholm by a young friend, Andrew Simmonds, who climbed up Mount Blinkhorn and was followed home by this particular cat.