Getting Liberty Farm, est 1808: October 2014

Wow, I can't believe how summer has come and gone! We're coming up on the end of October and nearing the holiday season, so I will sum up the last few months on our farm with a quick photo diary! To start off, a not-so-pleasant butchering of the red sheep. After a year of quarantines and footbaths, we gave up on attempting to treat the footrot and relegated them to food storage. When buying sheep, always, ALWAYS check for foot rot. A beginners mistake that cost us immensely.

Canned mutton... sad goodbyes to my red sheep, but a great lesson on how to pressure can. We have at least 2 months worth of meat in storage now.

We started shopping for a new flock of sheep from a reputable breeder, and found beautiful Finn sheep!

Our future ewes...we put in a deposit on 5 ewes and a ram, to bring home after our pastures were disease free.

Meanwhile, late summer shearing of our Icelandic sheep. These sheep refuse to be tamed, so they really have to be tied down well, haha!

With the boys around here, you never know when they will strike up an impromptu redneck band

Or swim in the back of a pick up truck!

Summer comes to an end and it's back to school! Sadly our kids in high school could get a better history education at home, than with the anti-American high school teacher at our high school, but that's another story...

Father and son out riding

My oldest son out on Chessie. She likes posing for the camera!

Hanging out with Mr. Baxter

Shearing Thorin... such beautiful wool!!

Adopted a funny Asian heritage hog named Charlotte

Stay tuned for baby bacon seeds!

Tons of black walnuts this year! The kids crushing them for hulling.

I think he may be stuck in that bucket...

The sister missionaries were so helpful getting all our Icelandic girls sheared! This one is a real pill...we really have to tie her down to keep her from flipping out.

Hanging out with Charlotte

The horses running up for a snack from my sons

Barn buddies

Thorin the Icelandic ram

Chilling with the pig, or plotting for bacon??

Had some time to get around to painting once the kids were back in school. These folk art country oil paintings will soon be for sale in Alta Vista Art & Antiques, in Alta Vista Virginia.

The pig house

And autumn arrives! Passage creek, which runs through our property.

After several months of waiting, we finally have clean pastures, so we brought home our new Finn sheep. They have lustrous wool, and are high efficiency breeders. We are hoping to have many lambs to sell next spring!