Living the Dream: Finding my voice after singing to sheep

We are almost half way through and currently we have four sets of twins and Mabel’s single. We’ve never had so many twins before and looking at the size of Delilah, Baa Baa and Coco, we may well be in for more. I mentioned last week that Pip was rejecting her ram lamb and that has continued in the main, although he is feeding fine as he continues to use the unorthodox route feeding through her back legs whilst his sister is feeding too. Apart from Pip’s situation, all is going well other than one minor hiccup with bonding, but we got over that by forcing the issue.

Some months ago, I was contacted by one of the local branches of the Yorkshire Countrywomen’s Association asking if I would pay them a visit one evening to talk about our adventure here at The Ginger Cow Company. So this last week that day arrived and after much planning, what with us in the middle of lambing, I needed to have somebody watch the sheep in my absence. Off I went, with all that I needed, bearing in mind that I used to talk to and present to large groups of people in my previous life, but over the last three years haven’t done anything remotely similar - unless you count singing to the animals.

I travelled to Bubwith, where the meeting was taking place, and sat quietly as they finished going through the business of their meeting. It was nice to see what went on and what they were up to, which included everything from their day trips out, to giving assistance and aid to members of the association who were ill or just needed the support of their friends.

The business was completed and I quickly set myself up and after a short introduction, I was ready for the off. With the use of technology and lots of photos, I was able to walk the ladies through the journey we’ve taken up to this point and hopefully given them an insight into some of the experiences and challenges we’ve gone through over the last three years.

After almost an hour, I was all done, well I say I was done, but that wasn’t quite the truth as there was then a wonderful supper which needed wading through before I could leave. It would’ve been rude if I hadn’t sampled almost every delight that had so lovingly been baked or prepared for the evening and besides, I could call it research as we do of course have a teashop!

I really enjoyed the evening and am looking forward to my next scheduled event - I’ve been asked to talk at a Women’s Institute meeting in a few months.

I am really pleased to confirm that our first pair of swallows have returned to the farm. They arrived from their epic journey early on Tuesday morning and it did look like they were having a bit of a sit down before they set about renovating their home, or indeed kicking out the wrens who may have moved in, during their absence. Hopefully over the next few days the remaining pairs will make it safely back home too.