So with our temperatures dropping into the low 20’s at night, our plants in the greenhouse croaked. We had placed a little heater and light out there and were enjoying fresh tomatoes and hot peppers until now.
Now all I will be enjoying is fresh swiss chard that is still alive in our garden. It has survived the frosts so far and a trimming by the sheep. The sheep escaped into the backyard this morning, since Tom forgot to latch the gate after a farrier visit yesterday. I found bits of swiss chard well away from the garden but not chewed up. I guess our sheep do not like chard.
And I finally got a photo of DC, our accidental lamb. He was born September 24th so technically was one of the autumn babies, but I could not get a decent photo of him to include him in that blog post. He’s not a friendly sheep, and every previous photo of him was of him fleeing. Tom actually caught him today for his photo shoot.
finally caught the little bugger, eh? too funny. he looks a lot like Edgar to me. What does DC stand for?
Yes, Tom snatched him while he was distracted by hay. He may be a half-brother to Edgar, particularly since we do not know who DC’s dad is. DC stands for District of Columbia since we were heading there by train just a few days after he was born.
He’s very pretty! I’m glad you got a shot of him.
Thanks! Tom did most of the work. I just snapped the photos. But what DC lacks in personality he makes up for in beautiful wool.
Dang – bummer about the greenhouse plants. My sheep regularly poach the Swiss chard when I let them out of the pasture on summer evenings – though it’s primarily the BWM boys getting into it, not the Shetland ewes. Beet greens too (and tend to pull up the beets as they eat them). And kale and collard greens. Their favorites are lettuce and rutabaga leaves. So I’ll be putting up a better fence around the garden next year! (This year it was just a flimsy 2 foot high chicken wire “barrier.”)
Thanks Maureen! It is a bummer, but they lasted longer than I thought. I was surprised the sheep did not decimate my chard, especially since there is not much else to eat after their great escape. It was funny- all we had to do was open the back door, and they all ran back through the gate into the barnyard. And a two foot fence will not hold Shetlands, that’s for sure.