The thing about January and February on the farm is that there is never much to report. Our routine becomes much more, well, routine at this time of year. Farm chores in the morning, a quick change out of filthy farm clothes followed by office work, throw something together for lunch, back to answering emails and OH LOOK! it’s time to change back into farm clothes for evening chores. It could be monotonous if it weren’t for the animals and their personalities.
Don’t misunderstand me- I welcome the slower pace that comes in winter. Soon enough we will be kidding and lambing,the farmers markets will start up again, summer visitors will arrive and our lives will once again be just this side of chaos.
Speaking of lambing and kidding, it’s time for y’all to start thinking about naming conventions for this year’s lamb and kid crop. Long-time readers know that we chose a naming convention every year for the new babies. There are a few good reasons for this but my favorite one is that it’s a lot of of fun. Last year we named the baby goats after fonts and the lamberoo after states.
We will be taking naming convention nominations on this post. Because I’m feeling lazy, I’m going to copy and paste what I wrote last year about what kinds of names we are looking for. Here’s what you need to know: The category needs to be something with lots of naming possibilities. Candy was great cause there are umpteen jillion kinds. Think broad. Characters from fiction? Good. Characters from Dickens? Fine. Characters from Salinger novels? Not so much.
We have already used Candy, Herbs and Spices, Presidents, Nannies from movies and fiction, States, Fonts and Islands. I am actually still a little bit in love with state names and could easily be talked into continuing on with that convention until we get them all. Last year’s lamb crop was pretty paltry and we only got as far as Delaware.
Come up with a convention for the lambs and one for the kids. Remember, we only have three bred nanny goats this year, so I’m expecting five kids, maybe six. We have LOADS of bred ewes so the convention we chose for lambs has to give us lots of options. Most of our ewes should twin and one might even triplet!
We will winnow the list down in a couple of weeks and have y’all vote. Put your thinking caps on! The first one to suggest the conventions we go with gets to name the first lamb or kid in that category.
I keep forgetting to tell you that I dropped my camera on New Year’s Day. It already needed to go into the shop but after the fall it was really, really broken. It’s fixable but it takes forever to get it to and from Nikon so I was really bummed. After struggling with it for days I finally gave in and ordered a new camera.
The timing was horrible- January is always our slowest month for sales- but I just couldn’t be without a camera for the next six weeks. I bought another Nikon that works with my lens so it wasn’t insanely expensive. But I still hated having to buy it.
Until I used today and completely fell in love with it.
I really enjoyed taking pictures today and feel like I’ve broken out of my creative rut.
A couple of quick housekeeping things. Erin has put up a Follow the Fleece for our Fall 2009 Shareholders. Wondering when you will receive your yarn? Click here to watch the progress.
For those of you coming to our Fort Worth Stock Show Meet-ups January 21st-24th, I’ll be posting a bunch of here in the next couple of days with our schedule, locations, etc. I’ve gotten some emails from North Texas readers wondering if they can join us and the answer is a huge YES!
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omg sheep ears!
Types of cheeses?
Rivers of the world?
Musical composers?
Naming categories I can think of include:
Marvel Comic Characters
Spaceships from sci-fi tv
Names based on local flora books – like in England you could have ‘bluebell’ ‘gypsywort’ etc.
Teas – different brands, blends etc.
OK that’s enough from me.
Since you’ve already had islands, I think it only fitting that the next crop o’ lambs should be named after bodies of water…there are plenty to choose from (lakes! rivers! oceans!) and I think you could get some adorable names.
And for the kids, I would love to see the theme be colors. Not red and blue per se…but cerulean and scarlet would be neat.
Ohhhhh…..god Susan!! You’re killing me with these pictures!! I love them all but the 4th one is SOOOO, SOOO SPECIAL!!! Who is that? I want to get in my car right now and drive the 7 hours to kiss that nose!!! I’m thinking about names so far Griffin and I have only come up with, Grape varieties (never far from our minds)..ice cream flavors, and have we done crayon colors yet? Happy New Year!
Gee – how come your broken camera ends up being a big win for us? Fabulous photos! I can FEEL those beauties!
Naming conventions? Sorry I’m still busy going ga ga over those PHOTOS!!! OMG!
Continents
musicals: King (King and I) Phantom (of the Opera) Penny (3 penny opera), Carousel
playground equipment
types of cactus
children in musicals (particularly good for twins) Gerome (South Pacific, I forget the girl’s name), Jeremy and Jemima (Chitty chitty bang bang), Gretl et all (Sound of Music), Prince Chulalongchorn (King and I)
How about pasta names? There are quite a bit of pasta shapes with differing names! Must say I like the cheese and marvel comic character names, too. And while we are on ‘character’ names, how about Disney characters or cartoons?
I think goats are hilarious, so I suggest we name them after comedians.
The sheep are warm and comforting, so I suggest we name them after booze. Just think – little baby Gimlet and baby Shandy can be friends!
i worked for a woman who did the same thing – naming conventions, only she raised horses. how about airports – gatwick, heathrow, hartsfield, etc. or soft drinks – pepsi, coke, mountain dew, etc. opera singers? pavarotti, etc,….
and, LOVE your pics…what make Nikon?
Woo. New camera’s good on you. Those shots really are even more beautiful than before.
Is there an option available for someone like myself who adores wool but doesn’t knit and only needs to touch a small amount to spin by hand? I’ll sign up now if there are any chances to.
Towns in Virginia, Colleges, wines, paint colors, famous knitter’s, gems & continue with states. Love the pictures!
Cereals!
Madonna songs!
Classic cars!
Famous dancers!
Children’s books!
Types of cookies!
Varieties of trees!
Okay, names… hummmm wine, like merlot, shiraz and so on… Wild flowers or State flowers. State capitals…
Alabama Montgomery*
Alaska Juneau*
Arizona Phoenix*
Arkansas Little Rock
California Sacramento*
Colorado Denver
Connecticut Hartford
Delaware Dover*
Florida Tallahassee
Georgia Atlanta*
Hawaii Honolulu
Idaho Boise
Illinois Springfield
Indiana Indianapolis
Iowa Des Moines
Kansas Topeka
Kentucky Frankfort
Louisiana Baton Rouge
Maine Augusta*
Maryland Annapolis
Massachusetts Boston
Michigan Lansing
Minnesota St. Paul
Mississippi Jackson
Missouri Jefferson City
Montana Helena*
Nebraska Lincoln
Nevada Carson City
New Hampshire Concord
New Jersey Trenton
New Mexico Santa Fe
New York Albany
North Carolina Raleigh*
North Dakota Bismarck
Ohio Columbus
Oklahoma Oklahoma City
Oregon Salem
Pennsylvania Harrisburg
Rhode Island Providence*
South Carolina Columbia
South Dakota Pierre
Tennessee Nashville
Texas Austin*
Utah Salt Lake City
Vermont Montpelier
Virginia Richmond
Washington Olympia*
West Virginia Charleston
Wisconsin Madison
Wyoming Cheyenne*
There is quite a few to choose from there, I have put a star by my favs…
I love your blog. Someday I will be a shareholder. Great photos! Which Nikon – I could see whiskers, ear hair, eye lashes, and individual locks. You are good.
Mountains and mountain ranges (Andes, Fuji, Baker, Rocky, etc)
Names of knitting stitches (Rib, Eyelet, Garter, Feather, Brioche, etc)
Well, maybe not Rib.
You guys are so clever! Hard to think of a different convention, but how about world currencies? (Rupee, yen, dollar, kroner, franc, sterling, peso, mark, euro, etc.)
Susie – your new camera is awesome – I think I could measure the microns in those cormo locks!
Naming conventions:
Girls after flowers, like Iris, Daisy, Rose, Pansy, etc.
Boys after trees, like Maple, Oak, Cedar, Birch.
Stones? Like Jasper, Lapis, Citrine, Ruby.
Other nature bits? like Brook, Cliff, Hill, Meadow.
Eep, you dropped your NIKON? Oh no! But, still, pretty exciting getting a new one.
And, lordy, Lucy is growing up so fast. She’s going to be out of the cute, fluffy puppy stage in about another two minutes. (sniffle)
naming ideas:
musical instruments (piccolo, tuba, celeste, viola, etc)
cookies (also mentioned previously)
So which Nikon is it? (I’m a Nikon user, and love my D80)
Conventions–Rock stars!
i’m glad u dropped ur camera
this one (and u) take exquisite pics
even better than the old one
i think
don’t u?
love the pics
crisp
clear
and
completely lovable!
or…maybe i just had a terrible (mood) day and your pics really make my mood better (usually i’m in a pretty good mood)
so thanks for the pick me up
I like colors too–think: ruby, scarlet, vermillion, crimson, carmine, cerise, alizarin, cardinal, coral. And those are just a few reds . . . (I like to think of a little ram lamb with an attitude named Carmine–reminds me of the Sopranos). Hey, that’s another one–Sopranos characters.
Hey,
I’m thinking names from Jane Austen novels…? Emma, Elizabeth,Fanny, Mariane, Elinor?? although I like flower names as well…
yes, do tell what type of Nikon you bought…I’m already there! My goal eventually is blogging but I think good to excellent photos are critical for a blog…
Wendy in SC
I was literally JUST thinking about names fr sheep and goats! I found out about this great old shepherding counting method called Yan Tan Tethera link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Tan_Tethera how cool would it be to name the kids the numbers in which they were born??
I LOVE those photos. The sheep noses look so incredibly sooooooooooft.
It would be fun to save state capitals for when the yearlings are old enough to breed. Then it would be like continuing the cycle!
For the goats, how about explorers! Coronado, Cortez, Lewis&Clark, Magellan, just to name a few.
For the lambs – types of fabric – chenille, silk (Silkie would be a cute name!), velvet, linen, corduroy. There’s quite a few choices!
I vote for cheeses, pastas, and booze/drinks. I think perhaps I should go eat something, eh?
Also, if you use states again, then it’s not going to be possible (well, won’t be as easy) to know what year the animals were born in.
What about really strong women and their husbands (for the males). Like Susan B Anthony (but she wasn’t married…), Lucretia Mott and her husband James, Molly Pitcher (husband William Hays)…
Musical Instruments?
Capitals of Countries?
Inventors?
If you want to set up a poll after you narrow choices down, let me know. I bet I can hook you up.
ooo Ooo Muppets!!!
I am fairly certain I could kiss that sheep face, repeatedly.
Let’s see, I gotta go with Austen characters for the males:
Bingly
Darcy
Brandon
Wickham
Willoughby
Farrars, etc.
And let’s see, how about Liqueurs for the ladies:
Bailey
Carolan
Kahlua
Kimora
Tia Maria
Grand Marnier
Midori, etc.
The detail in those photos is stunning! The lighting is gorgeous. Your photos take me to a happy place. Thank you for sharing.
The only naming convention I could think of was colors out of the original box of 64 crayolas. So many better suggestions listed above.
Your camera accessories are already paying for themselves!!
Musical Tempos and Directives: i.e. Allegro, Largo, con Brio
Minerals/Gemstones
Tropical Fruits/Berries
European Capitals
Names of Colors (Have you SEEN the new catalog from Cheap Joes?): Magenta, Umber, Rose, Ultramarine, etc.
Whatever new camera you got and however much you paid for it it was worth it. The new pictures you have taken with it are fantastic, the sharpness, colour clarity and superior results are instantly obvious. It might have been an outlay that you could do without but I bet you wont regret it.
I enjoy the suggestion for tree names, though botanical names of local flora could be good. (And the latin genus instead of the common name could be cool: Acer, Tsuga, Quercus, Poa, etc)
I also love the idea of bodies in space, like planets and stars. (Less the man-made satellites, but Hubble could be cool)
Have fun!
I really cannot handle how cute those creatures are. Must.squeeze.furryness.
That picture of the dog licking her nose….just too much.
As far as themes….counties in Texas?
are there enough different knitting or crocheting stitches to qualify?
How about names that are common in Virginia, like crops grown ing VA-names of Apples, Birds of Virginia, famous statesmen from Va, Cities- like Richmond, Fairfax, Norford
or unusual spelling of the cities, like Norfolk? sorry
the new camera looks like it’s working out great!
as for naming conventions, i think cheeses would be a fun one.
knowing your fondness for fonts: have you ever seen the game “cheese or font?” http://cheeseorfont.mogrify.org/
it’s really funny and unless you’re obsessed with cheese and/or fonts, it’s hard!
colors would also be a fun convention.
thanks for the updates
~ s-j
flowers?
colours?
I really like DebKnits2 idea of towns in Virginia!
Fancy Gap
Cana
Galax
Independence
Java
Orange
Laurel
Shanghai (yes… Shanghai, Virginia)
Here are my thought for naming conventions (in no particular order):
-Dr. Seuss characters
-Constellations
-Stars (up in the sky, not hollywood)
-Cookies
-Types of apples
-Types of cadillacs (or other cars)
-American Indian reservations
-Yoga poses
-Varieties of salt
those photographs are beautiful!! I second (or… fourth, or whatever) the request to know what kind of camera it is?
How about naming the 5 or so kids after types of vintage undergarments? So random, I know, but a little goat named Bloomer is just adorable.
Hmmm…
Bloomer
Knickerbocker (or just Knicker)
Petticoat
Pantaloon
Bustle
Crinoline
um… Garter?
Aaaaand…. um…. feety pajama? Okay maybe not so much…
Me again… With regard to the undergarments idea, If there’s an odd goat out for whatever reason, you could name it Commando.
I like flower names for all the sheep, but since we can go a bit more specialized for the goats, I like the idea of Jane Austen characters.
What about a Tex-Mex theme? The lambs could be the foods (taco, burrito, enchilada, flauta, tostada, chimichanga, taquito…), and the kids could be the drinks (margarita, cerveza, horchata, agua fria, leche…)
I’m making myself hungry here!
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