A Growing Flock

 My children are always asking me what is your favorite animal? And it’s funny how easily I fall in love with a new animal when we add it to our little backyard farm. So right now high on my list is sheep. 

And our flock is growing. Obviously you’ve all met Ivy,  but here she is again because she’s too cute to write about without sharing a photograph. And now she has her sweater off.  She loves going outside to play... check out this little clip of her excitement that the door is open. Happy Bouncy Ivy Video

And last weekend we went to a farm in Milton Township, Maine and picked out two new sheep at EB’s farm.  Here is their Facebook page.

One Southdown ram lamb who will be the father of next year‘s lambs and one Hampshire market lamb. That little guy was a bottle fed lamb and is super friendly.

Meet Boston the Hampshire wether.  A wether is a male sheep that has been castrated.  They are considered better meat this way and therefore preferred for a market lamb. They are easier to manage at home and for showing at the fair.

Meet Lambert the Southdown ram.  We have his “papers” for being a purebred Southdown and of no relation to our females.  This will allow us to sell their purebred Southdown offspring... In case any of you readers have been motivated to start your own homestead.

He is one of the most handsome rams!  He will be ready to breed this fall.

Both of these little guys have already been weaned from their mother’s milk.  They have their own space in the barn to protect their health and our ewes and lamb.  They will be sharing the outside paddock until this Spring and we’ll separate them before Lambert gets big enough to be ready to breed. We will reintroduce them in September.

The other adjustment we’ve made is moving the Dolly Mama and Ivy out of the lambing pen.  We replaced the dividing fence with a Creap.  Think of this as a lamb’s playpen.  It’s a safe warm space for her to get away from the ewes, and they can’t follow her, but she can come and go as she pleases.

When the Spring flowers bloom, I will have some fun taking Ivy’s pictures.  She will be filling in more and looking beautiful.  Come again soon... the sap has been dripping from our maple trees so we’ll have a maple syrup post coming up soon.

Maine Ice Fishing

 Maine Ice Fishing 

Ice  fishing in Maine is a traditional sport.  When it is winter and the ice is frozen, you will see people in and around their huts out on the lake ice fishing.

Maybe you’ve never been ice fishing before and wondering how it defers from regular fishing.  Well if that’s you or if you just enjoy ice fishing, this post is for you.

 

For starters we need some holes in the ice to set traps and so we have an auger to drill the holes.  

  

To get the hole clean and ready, we have a scoop to collect the floating ice chunks.  This is a family friendly activity and the younger kids enjoy this part.

We use live shiners for bait.  Hook them and slide them into the water a few feet deep and set the trap.

 

We set a lot of traps.  In Maine, on most lakes you are allowed to have 5 traps per licensed fisherman.  Our kids got their lifetime Maine fishing licenses thanks to Pepere Larry and Nana.  (Kids can fish for free)

We space out our traps and tend to line them up so that it is easier to spot a flag.

If a fish grabs the bait and pulls on the line, then the flag shoots up and alerts the fisherman to a catch; a possible catch.  It is still up to the fishermen to hook the fish when they run to the trap.  

There is a lot of waiting in ice fishing and it takes patience. You also have to be paying attention and notice when the flag goes flying so that you will have a better chance of hooking that fish.

A pickerel.

While you’re waiting you can enjoy the big Maine sky and quiet natural surroundings.  I like searching for the bald eagles that are prone to be hanging around these big spaces.  Be careful; they might try to steal your catch.

Here is one in the tree; he wouldn’t let me get close for a photo.  This was the closest I could get and I tried for a while skiing across the lake after him a few times.

Back to watching the traps for flags.

Be the first to a flying flag and you might be the one to pull up a keeper!  The kids take turns checking traps and pulling up the line.  Most times it is a miss or a false alarm, but the excitement of a catch is priceless. 

This particular February vacation fishing day was a very busy day of many flags and many fish.  Here is a yellow perch and bass.  Watch the excitement of a couple line pulls: Click the link for the video below.

Ice Fishing Video

The big catch and this is after we threw some back: two bass, a pike, and a yellow perch.

Resetting the trap.

Teamwork on the ice.  It’s great to get outside and breathe in some fresh air in the winter and this is one activity the whole family can enjoy.  Thank you for visiting my blog and this post today.  Share in the comments below: What’s your favorite fishing story?  (It doesn’t have to be ice fishing.)