| March has really kicked the blooming into gear! Can you believe we are weaning lambs already?! Seems like we just started lambing season! Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: ~ The Barn: Weaning Time! ~ ~ The Coop: Let the Eggs Begin! ~ ~ The Garden: the Month of March! ~ ~ The Woods: Enjoying Nature ~ ~ Thank You! ~ |
The blog is a sampling of all the photos I’ve taken this month.
Please head over to our social media to see the photo dumps!
~ The Barn: Weaning Time! ~
Monday, March 30th was weaning day! The Creep pen and the social pen next to it became the week long prison for the lambs to keep them away from their mamas. Mama’s weren’t overly concerned about the process at first, but when the udders got full they cared a little more! Lambs appreciated their alfalfa but as they got full, they wanted mama!
Based on growth rates only 4 lambs completely missed the mark (one ewe lamb, my daughter wants to keep haha). The rest passed the cut and some surpassed it by a huge margin! I’ll be busy figuring out the wait list for meat lambs for a minute and talking to other buyers about the plans for breeding stock.
Some incredible numbers (For reference: St Croix 70lbs of weaned lambs is a pass and Katahdins 90lbs of weaned lambs is a pass (this is a minimum of twins).):
- 7 year old Registered Katahdin ewe, Poppy, weaned 117.26lbs of lambs at 60 days!
- 4 year old Recorded 66.25% Katahdin ewe, Nutmeg, weaned 105.25lbs of lambs at 60 days!
- 4 year old Commercial un-papered Katahdin ewe, Lily, weaned 103.75lbs of lambs at 60 days!
- 4 year old Registered St Croix ewe, Gillian, weaned 120.17lbs of lambs at 60 days!
- 4 year old Registered St Croix ewe, Devany, weaned 93.61lbs of lambs at 60 days!
April 6th pastures open up so the ewe lambs (including the ones that didn’t make the cut) will head right out to pasture. Ewes and yearling ewes will head into another pasture with the old mare. Rams are coming into the barn because Titus is moving to a new home and a new ram will be replacing him in one fair swap mid-April. I’ll leave the ram lambs and wethers in the barn so I can sell off some of the meat lamb only orders right away. Archie and the ram lambs that are staying until the end of May will need to get acclimated to the new St Croix ram coming in. Once they get all settled, they will be out in the barnyard, orchard and yards around the house for a while. Shouldn’t be too many out there (7 animals, I think, then only 2 after the end of May).
Lamb & Ewe Sales!
In case you aren’t aware: our Recorded Katahdins are often crossbreds with some St Croix and/or Dorper in their backgrounds. Ram lambs from Recorded Katahdin ewes will be banded and sold as feeder lambs. The ewe lambs, that make the cut, will be Recorded and sold as breeding stock. The only ram lambs we will consider will be from Registered parentage. The top St Croix and top Katahdin ram lambs will be registered while the close runner’s up will be sold un-papered commercial breeding stock. Obviously anything that doesn’t make the cut will be sold as feeder lambs. This simplifies things as many buyers want purebred rams whether they are papered or not.
As time goes on, many of our Recorded Katahdin ewe lines will eventually get upgraded to Registered and further simplify things even more. This looks to be about 4-5 years out for all of them to get there.
It’s time to start thinking about what you might want May 2026 or put in an “order” for next season!
Here is our Hair Sheep Price List (subject to change of course).
Categories include:
Registered St Croix, Registered Katahdin, Recorded Katahdin, Purebred Commercial Un-papered Katahdin or St Croix Breeding stock, and Feeder Lambs.
Contact us to be put on a waiting list!
~ The Coop: Let the Eggs Begin! ~
FINALLY we are starting to see more than 10 eggs a day. We’ve started eating more eggs daily so this is a good thing! Maybe we’ll even have some for sale again soon..
~ The Garden: the Month of March! ~
I have been studying Phenology and wrote an article about it:
Phenology & Planting
I am seriously considering following this more than the moon phase plantings, especially since nature likes to keep changing all the time and the times for plantings change right along with it!
It makes more sense to see that when Osoberry is blooming mid-February that it’s time to start cold hardy crops like snow peas! Oh I wish I was planting a garden hahahaha!
I’ve compiled a list of planting dates for 2026 based on the moon phases:
2026 Planting Guide – Zones 7/8
Early April Sow Outdoors: carrots, turnips, beets, rhubarb, chives, parsley, sage, oregano, rosemary and gladiolus. Cut back ornamental grasses. Prune and shape or thin spring-blooming shrubs and trees after blossoms fade (ex. Forsythia, ornamental Cherry, etc).
Mid April Sow Outdoors: endive, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, celery, Swiss chard and Transplant: broccoli, cauliflower, celery, kale, endive, lettuce, early cabbage.
Late April Sow Outdoors: Hardy Alyssum, Phlox, Marigolds, Sunflowers.
I am going to phase out the moon phase planting guides in favor of using phenology more. I will research old folklore and share those pieces of gold once this year is complete!
~ The Woods: Enjoying Nature ~
March Woods Walks
3/8/26 – Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. Chickweed, Stellaria media. Purple Dead Nettle, Lamium purpureum.
I’ve noticed with the Cherry Plums, Prunus cerasifera, that are naturalized on the property, some are pink and some are white! All smell wonderful this time of year though. The pink parent tree (that gets purple leaves eventually) resides behind our old barn. The white must just be a genetic mutation that took off as well.
3/15/26 – Corn Lily, Veratrum californicum. Milkmaids, Cardamine californica. Not pictured, Little Western Bittercress, Cardamine oligosperma (also in the mustard family like the Milkmaids).
3/22/26 – Trillium, Trillium albidum. Yellow Wood Violet, Viola glabella. I also noticed Faun lilies, Camas, Blue-eyed Grass, Bleeding Heart and Western Trillium starting to poke out of the ground. Leaves are coming in strong on Osoberry and just starting to unfurl on Hazelbrush, Hawthorn, and Apple Trees. Stinging Nettle are about a foot tall. Oregon Grape buds are primed and ready but so far no blooming.
3/29/26 – The Oregon Grape is finally blooming!
Hidden Treasures While on the Hunt!
Was looking for flowers and discovered some neat finds! The shed antler was laying next to our pond at the bottom of the pasture before heading into the woods. The Agate & Jasper stone was sitting on the ground next to the Milkmaid flowers I was getting a picture of. The Turkey Tail were on a piece of wood along a trail I was following in the swamp. While in the swamp I looked over and saw a doorway with a path running right through the middle of it. Of course I followed it to see where it led! You’ll see photos in the video below or on my Facebook!
Here’s a new kind of video I did for the March 15th Woods Walk that includes pictures, music and creek sounds!
~ Thank You! ~
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Mazey says she’ll see you all again May 1st for our April Homestead Happenings, where meat lambs find new homes, sheep get to go out to pasture again, and hoping the chickens aren’t hatching chicks in random places! Don’t forget, there will be even more Garden guidance as planting starts to amp up and more will be blooming in the woods!
Hollow Hills Ranch 