The first lambs have arrived

Emma and her charcoal-gray ewe lamb "Miss Bates" (left) and her ram lamb, both born about 16 hours earlier. The orange glow is from a heat lamp that we use for the first couple of days in cold weather to help keep the lambs warm. 

Probably within minutes of our most recent post discussing the lambing season vigil, the first lambs of 2012 arrived Saturday, Feb. 11.
After serving dinner to our B&B guests, Chris went to check on the ewes about 8:30 p.m. He heard the telltale sound of a lamb bleat and knew we had new arrivals. Once he turned the light on in the sheep barn he saw two dark-colored lambs being mothered by our ewe Emma.
Chris went inside to let Sherry know and she came out with our guests, who took some video and photos of the newborn lambs. We used our new vacuum milker and after a few minutes we had collected enough colostrum -- the mother's first milk. Because the temperature was about 10 degrees with a wind chill well below zero, we used a feeding tube and gave each of the lambs -- one boy and one girl -- a feeding.
We then put the lambs and their mother into a pen and hooked up a heat lamp. We checked the lambs at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. We milked the ewe again at 2 a.m. and gave the lambs another feeding, just to be sure they had enough nutrition because their body fat only maintains them for the first five hours of life. They will now nurse on their own, hopefully.
Today the weather is starting to warm and the lambs both seem to be fine -- their mouths are warm and their mother is doing well.
Sherry has named the ewe "Miss Bates" from the Jane Austen novel "Emma." The ram will be called Scalawag -- the generic name we use for all of the lambs which will later be sold for slaughter.
We noticed this morning at least two other ewes that will probably deliver within the next 24 hours. Perhaps we'll sneak in a nap in between deliveries.

Lambing season means little sleep

This is the time of the year when we expect our first lambs of the season. While we've certainly had a mild winter this year, Murphy's law will surely prevail and we'll probably get a cold snap as our first lambs are born.
We've prepared the sheep barn, with lots of straw and the individual sheep pens are ready. Sherry kept track of when the ewes were bred by the ram last fall, so we know roughly when the first ones are due. We check them at least every three hours to make sure there are no birthing difficulties.
The ewes have their lambs in the open area of the barn and then we move them into the individual pens so that the mother can take care of her lambs and we can take care of both. This year we've purchased a special vacuum pump milker that should help us a lot in the event that lambs have difficulty sucking.
It's essential that a lamb get some of her mother's milk within the first few hours, so we may milk the ewe and tube feed the lamb right away just to make sure.
It's not fun getting up every few hours in the middle of the night to check the sheep when it's cold and the winds are howling, but we don't want to lose any lambs.
Besides, sleep is overrated, right?

A romantic Valentine's weekend at Brambleberry

We love Valentine's Day here at Brambleberry. It's one of the most fun weekends of the year for us. Each of the first three years our B&B was open, there was a marriage proposal among the guests. It's fun to be a part of such a special occasion.
 But you don't have to be planning on proposing this Valentine's Day to have a reason for a romantic getaway at Brambleberry.
Saturday, Feb. 11 we have a special romantic Valentine's dinner for guests who would like to participate. We'll even make some special preparations for your romantic holiday if you'd like. With a few days notice, we can arrange to have flowers, candy or any our special romance packages waiting in your room upon your arrival. You don't even have to lift a finger -- except to dial the phone or book online!
There will be a chocolate treat each night for guests to indulge in. Enjoy a log fire in the library while you sip on a complimentary glass of wine. If you'd like to cross country ski or sled, we suggest that you stay for two days to have enough time to enjoy the winter recreation.
If you have other requests to make your weekend special, please ask us and we'll do what we can.

One of Wisconsin's best eco inns

We were thrilled to be promoted this past year as one of the best “eco-elegant” inns in the state by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. It was very gratifying to have our efforts for our accomplishments recognized.

But even if we had not been recognized we would still be doing everything the same way we do. We were “green” long before Travel Green Wisconsin was ever created. Conserving resources and saving money have always been a part of both of our lives, even growing up.

Because we grew up on farms, living off the land, we are much more connected to the land than people in town or in the city. You have to be a good steward of your land and its resources if it is to remain productive and sustainable. Our farm B&B is one of the most diversified if not THE most diversified in Wisconsin. We raise pigs, sheep and Highland beef using natural, organic methods. We grow and harvest crops to feed these animals. We also direct market slaughter lambs.

Our one-acre fruit and vegetable garden produces most of our family’s food as well as the B&B in summer. We’re the only B&B in the state that offers homegrown harvest dinners throughout the growing season.

Late winter we produce maple syrup on the farm, in between delivering newborn lambs. We’ve established a home vineyard for winemaking in addition to our strawberry, blackberry, raspberry and rhubarb country wines.

This year we added an energy efficient heat pump for air conditioning. We heat our B&B using dead trees harvested from our woodlands – a 100 percent renewable resource. Our lovely nature trails teeming with wildlife provide the ultimate green experience for guests.

We also do things everyone – even people without land – can do, such as: using energy efficient lighting, turning lights off when not in use, recycling garbage, using energy efficient appliances, larger but fewer loads of laundry, mulching gardens, combining errands to cut down on auto mileage, install energy efficient doors, windows, siding and insulation. Eat healthier. Shop local. Buy used when possible – shop thrift and resale shops. Don’t use paper plates and disposable Styrofoam cups. Wash your dishes instead. Shut your computer off when not in use. To save more, unplug appliances not in use when it’s practical to do so. Compost non-meat food scraps.

Being ecologically green leads to savings of another important $green$.

There be Highlands here!

Running a farm is expensive. Equipment costs are outrageous. Fuel is costly and is needed to run tractors, to plant corn and cut, rake and bale hay. Little by little we have invested in fencing, livestock shelters, water pipes and a pump near the animals and buying sheep and pigs.

As an English/Scottish style B&B, we thought our Suffolk and purebred Scottish Blackface sheep were great additions to the farm. For a few years we’ve wanted to add grass-fed beef to our operation. More specifically, Scottish Highland cattle. These beautiful, shaggy beasties are rugged and largely self-sufficient. They will eat scrub brush and less than ideal hay other animals would turn their nose up at. The animals grow slower and take longer to mature than other beef breeds. Their meat is leaner and healthier than other beef.

This fall we took the leap. We located a small herd for sale a reasonable distance from us. It took a month to find a trucker that was able to transport the cows for us. We bought three pregnant cows and a bull calf, which we plan on selling or trading for another bull.

The cows arrived at night, after dark. We had waited for these animals for several weeks and had desired them for a few years. We were excited that they were finally here. It was like the scene in the movie “Star Trek IV” where Scotty beams the whales and the water into the makeshift aquarium in the cargo bay of the stolen Klingon spaceship. He excitedly declares to Admiral Kirk and the bridge crew: “There be whales here!” With the same enthusiasm we thought “There be Highlands here!”

Horror of horror, only one minute later they were GONE! As they stepped off the cattle truck, Lucky, the very naughty farm dog, couldn’t resist chasing them. Immediately they spooked and burst through the barnyard’s barbed wire fence, which they could not see in the dark. We were sickened. Those poor animals were wandering the 600 acres of the farm at large, not familiar with the lay of the land. We prayed they wouldn’t breech the fences of the perimeter of the farm.

A neighbor had other cattle grazing on the farm as well. We hoped they would hang out with them, eat at their feed bunk and be sorted out when the other animals left for their own home after the pastures froze. Alas, they did not.

We drove around the farm, looking for them without success. Chris and his dad walked the fence lines, looking for signs of escape. We distributed fliers throughout the neighborhood. Finally, 10 days later we sighted them in a heavily wooded valley. Since there are numerous springs and a creek on the property they had water.

Deer hunting week we managed to contain them in a fenced corn field where they could eat corn stalks and be safe from gunfire. It proved impossible for the two of us to move them to a series of lanes and corrals leading to the barn. They just wouldn’t go through the right gate without circling back around us.

Now that we have snow cover, we are feeding hay bales, bringing them closer to the corrals and buildings each day. These are skittish Scottish!

But soon we will have them close enough that with the help of several other people we can get them through the series of pens and gates and finally to the safety of the small barn, where they were unloaded. From there we can also observe them from the house. The bull calf will be removed and share digs with the sheep until he is needed, leaving the cows to have their calves in the safety of the barn and barnyard this spring.

In the summer they will graze the ridgetop nature trail. We will continue to keep the female offspring of Flora, Skye and Heather, slowly growing our herd. Most of the bull calves will be destined to become gourmet beef on our dinner table or marketed directly to consumer.

A magical winter wonderland

It's definitely winter at Brambleberry Bed and Breakfast. Large, heavy snowflakes fell the first weekend of December and coated the trees on our farm. With little wind and cold temperatures, for several days just looking out the window gave you a sense of being in a magical winter wonderland.
Guests sometimes ask us what winters are like since we live at the end of the road and we can get snowed in. We tell them it's wonderful.
With a four-wheel drive truck and a town that plows the road, we're never snowed up for long. But when you have four freezers full of food and a crackling log fire to keep you warm, watching the snow fall is very peaceful.
Here are some photos of our farm after the recent snow.

The road leading to Brambleberry Bed and Breakfast.




A bald eagle perched in a tree doesn't seem to mind the snow.

 

Our bluff hiking trail (above and below) was a path less traveled.



Brambleberry framed by snow-covered trees.





Mr. Bingley, our Suffolk wether, stands beside Pixie, a crossbred ewe lamb.

 

A hillside winter scene.

A wonderful Iowa winery

Nan Smith and some her crew bottling Red Fox wine at the Stone Cliff Winery.

As bed and breakfast proprietors, we don’t get a lot of vacation time. We do try to get away for a few days each year, usually during the middle of the week when Brambleberry is not open and during a time of year when garden and animal chores are a little less intensive.

Recently we did a three-day trip and headed to Dubuque, Iowa and Galena, Illinois before heading home. Since we enjoy wine, we always try to visit a winery. So we picked Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque.

Stone Cliff is located along the Mississippi riverfront in the historic Star Brewery building. The winery grows grapes on a vineyard outside of the city and makes its wines in the Star Brewery building, which features a comfortable tasting room with a decorative bar.

We happened to luck out the evening we stopped because winemaker Nan Smith, who owns the winery with her husband Bob, was relaxing after a long day. As we sampled Stone Cliff wines, we talked about how we make homemade wine ourselves and that we write a weekly wine column for area newspapers.

Nan gave us a tour of the winery, which includes a fantastic reception area available for parties or meetings. She invited us back the next morning so we could observe the bottling of Red Fox wine, one of their estate-grown wines.

We stopped in after staying overnight at a Dubuque bed and breakfast and watched Nan and the crew bottle and label the wines. Nan even let Sherry run the labeling machine on a few bottles.

Stone Cliff is a great place and we recommend that you visit if you get a chance. Not only was it our first time observing a bottling machine, it was also the first time that we sampled wine that had been poured through an aerator, a device that helps red wine to breathe faster.

Of course we purchased a few bottles of wine to take home. Also coming home with us was a black sequined “What happens at the winery, stays at the winery” t-shirt that caught Sherry’s eye.