…well maybe I’ll throw in a couple more rainbow beets as not all the colours have come out, but aside from that everything in the greenhouse is all there is going to be this season. Oh except for the beans and the corn which will be sown directly once the risk of frost has past – and I’ve weeded their beds. Oh and the successional seeds that will be sown along the way to ensure we have a continuous harvest. So with a few exceptions the season is ready to start.
I am so grateful for my new solid glass greenhouse as we had another storm today and yesterday where the winds were terrific. We didn’t lose any more trees but winds of more than 60km per hour are pretty scary. But I could rest in the knowledge my seedlings were safe. It makes a refreshing change from all the worrying of years gone by.
I had a lovely day when I wasn’t worrying about lambs. I shut myself in the greenhouse and repotted all the seedlings that needed bigger pots and sowed the last round of seeds which were either last minute purchases that weren’t on the list or seeds to replace ones that didn’t come up. But every hour I had to stop what I was doing to feed lambs.
We had a bit of a scare yesterday. The lambs took ill with dicky tummies and we made the decision to take them to the vet. We were really worried about Meep in particular as he really didn’t look well but we didn’t want to freak out the poor Joeyosaurus, and certainly didn’t want to tell him his lamb had died – not two weeks before calf club – well not ever actually. The vet said there were three possible causes, but being as they were still alive then they had the only one that offered a good prognosis for a full recovery in time for calf club, but it would take a lot of care for the next three days to pull them out the woods. The vet prescribed antibiotics and then showed me how to inject the lambs. Seriously – I have come a long way from when we lived in the city. They also needed electrolytes – little and often for three days and then wean them back on to milk.
Meep was in such a bad way I thought we would lose him and pretty much spent the day drip feeding the electrolytes into his mouth. Jigger on the other hand, while poorly seemed to be coping better. Meep just lay on the hay with this pathetic whimper that tugged at your heart strings. But by evening they had both picked up considerably and were acting like normal lambs. I had a wee think about it and decided that Man flu is just as serious in lambs as it is in blokes.
Meep was quite melodramatic in his illness, whereas Jigger – well she just sucked it up and got on with the job of being a sheep without so much as a whimper. We cautiously checked the lamb shelter this morning, concerned at what we would find, but were relieved to be greeted by two bubbly little faces. Then towards lunchtime when the second shot of antibiotics was due, Meep took a turn for the worse and I became really worried again, but a quick injection and more drip fed electrolytes and he was back on his feet being his cute usual self once again.
So we have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster in the last couple of days so it was with a sense of peace and calm found myself sheltered in my greenhouse, hanging out with my plants. Plants are so much less stressful and if it gets sick you spray it with something and it generally comes right and if one dies – well you just pop in another seed and before long the tragedy of it all is completely forgotten.
Come again soon – the safe from frost day is rapidly approaching and I still have beds full of weeds.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Your blog is so inspiring and that greenhouse is amAzing! I can’t wait for the day I have one so fine 🙂 Thanks for the motivation to dig my pumpkin beds tomorrow 🙂
Hi There. Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you managed to get you pumpkin beds dug. There is nothing like looking back on a big job and seeing it done nicely. Cheers Sarah : o )
Lol, just got to love the picture of the lambs. I hope they both recover and quickly.
That’s an impressive assortment of plants you have there and I see what you mean about my chillis and yours being the same sort of size. Let’s hope we both have chillis for Christmas 🙂
Hi Elaine, we have judging for Calf Club tomorrow so I should do a post about how it all went, although I’m not all that confident as they lambs haven’t been trained all that well, but you never know how they will go on the day.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Your plants look wonderful, but I am most fond of those little lambs. My parents used to have sheep on the farm, but my dad always threw up his hands and said any other animal when sick could be saved, but a sheep when down was a lost cause. Thank goodness your vet knows what to do, and you are able to follow through. Cheers to you and them in the future.
HI Lucinda. Normally we don’t have any problems with the lambs, and the ones we bought for “other purposes” are in a different paddock and are perfectly fine and healthy, but these two calf club ones are fickle and fussy and a complete nightmare, but at the same time cute and lovable. So half of me wants to send them back to the farms as soon as calf club is over and the other half will miss their cute little faces. Cheers Sarah : o )
Sheep and kangaroos, two of the hardest things to raise from babies. I love your seedlings. I love that you find peace far from the madding crowd in your new glass house and am wafting you happy thoughts and horticultural love through the ether. I am doing that because I am a lazy so-and-so who hasn’t even bothered to sow seedlings so far this year and who finds herself in the same position as last year, having to buy crap generic seedlings to plant out (SHAME NARF7 🙁 ). See…you brought out the honesty in me :). I think I must be partly Catholic as I keep coming in order to flagelate myself into action 😉
Hi Fran. The lambs have pulled through, in time for the judging for Calf Club tomorrow. You aren’t supposed to wash or brush the lambs, but I don’t imagine taking a lamb along with a very dirty backside would go down well so I have been scrubbing lamb butts on and off all day to get rid of the worst of it. Oh how far I have come. I used to live in the city and have pretty pink nail polish!
You still have heaps of time for your garden, and some things do better from seed straight in the garden so it doesn’t all have to be generic shop stuff – although I have noticed this year the shop stuff is a bit more exciting than in previous years so maybe they have responded to what people really want – the interesting plants. I believe your garden will be awesome! Cheers Sarah : o )
I will take your faith in my prospective garden and will run with it :). Cheers for the camaraderie Sarah, I love coming to your blog because of your positive outlook. It certainly does a lot for buoying the spirits :). I had best ring my inside friend (who works in one of the local garden centres) and ask her if WE have anything exciting this year. Tassie is a bit behind the times with what it offers gardeners. The garden centres tend to equate the word “garden” and the word “old” and usually the garden centres are full of roses, petunias and anything with a “pretty flower”. I have to do a bit of detective work…
Sick animals are always tough, especially when there are kids that love them. Plants are looking great! What a blessing that new greenhouse is. Well done putting that all together. That has to be a great sense of accomplishment!
Hi Keith. The lambs have recovered well enough and we have the calf club judging tomorrow, but it is any ones guess as to how well it will go. We don’t have high hopes.
The greenhouse is an incredible blessing, and it is so nice to be able to grow more than you need and then give seedlings away. Cheers Sarah : o )