Update from the sheep farm in North Yorkshire...

So, I arrived at Darlington station in North Yorkshire safely on the 27th. The train ride was absolutely beautiful with views of the ocean all the way along the East coast. The train even had WiFi available for use, which was very convenient. While I was on the train, I met this guy Evan who was from California and is going to culinary school in Edinburgh. Him and I talked for the entire ride to North Yorkshire. Exchanged info and will meet up for a pint when I get back. He was going to London to cook for a party. I arrived at the station and Ellie and Adele (Scottish girl in my class) picked me up. Ted, the dog, also came along and was very cute, but hyper. I had no cell reception and no access to internet. Boo! Since I have been unable to write on my blog, I am writing on my computer every day and keeping track of what goes on each day:

March 27th:
Today I was picked up from Darlington Station by Ellie, the farmer. She took me to her home in town and we gathered the two dogs we drove to the farm. The farm was absolutely muddy from the past few weeks and was very difficult to walk in. Ellie showed me around the farm and I met Jeffrey, which was very nice. Apparently he was in the hospital a while back from pulling poison ivy from his yard and it affected his nervous system. Ever since then, he has been slightly slower with his thought processes and speech. While checking the sheep for signs that they were ready to deliver, we spotted one that had a water bag hanging out. We sat down and observed for a bit. A lot of people thing that you are supposed to reach in right away and pull out the lamb, however, you only assist when it looks as if the ewe is having problems delivering the lamb. Ellie noticed that on front leg was out and still in the water bag. The ewe needed assistance so I jumped right in and lubricated my hands. I reached in and orientated the lamb so that both front legs and the head were positioned to come out. It was a big lamb so I had to pull quite hard! I mean, I really had to pull! The lamb came out breathing right away and I had to clean him off a bit and place him in front of mum so they could bond properly. Adele named him Wee Man Dan. Ever since his birth, I’ll say something in the sheep shed and he responds to it and bleats so loud! Was a very nice chap though. No sheep decided to deliver today. The caravan we are staying in is very small and sleeps only three people. It is actually quite nice and there is a stove/oven for cooking and there is TV as well with MANY channels! We watched CSI and NCIS tonight and had a glass of wine each. We went to bed and Adele and I took shifts checking the sheep. I checked at 3am and 5am.

March 28th:
Today we woke up and fed the chickens, ducks, horses and sheep. We had a false alarm today when one of the ewes began bleating and looking up towards the ceiling. Two indicators that the ewe may be ready to deliver the lamb. Was quite uneventful today and we watched CSI and NCIS again over dinner and wine.

March 29th:
Today was an interesting day. We did the routine feeding of the animals. We drove to Ellie’s daughter’s farm and took care of Ellie’s older flock. There were supposed to be 19 sheep but one was missing. We walked around a bit and finally found the straggler. She had apparently fallen asleep on the hillside and didn’t hear us come with the food. We finished with the sheep and headed back to the farm. Adele, Ellie and I walked out to the ram field and had to catch 10 rams for hoof trimming and deworming. We caught all but two. The two that we didn’t catch were too smart and stayed in the field. I spent a good 1.5 hours flipping the rams on their backs and trimming their hoofs. My back was so sore by the time we had finished all of the rams. We headed back and Ellie and I went to the store to get dinner while Adele stayed behind to watch over the sheep. While we were at Tesco (grocery store) Ellie received a phone call from Adele saying that one of the sheep began to deliver. We rushed to get our dinner and headed back to the farm. By the time we had gotten back to the farm, the lamb was already out. Apparently Adele had seen that the bag was still over the lamb’s face and quickly popped it so that the lamb wouldn’t suffocate. Adele had no towels so she ended up taking off her sweatshirt and used it as a towel. Was quite disgusting looking with placenta material all over it. Ellie and I headed to her home once the lamb was situated and taken care of. I finally got my shower and felt so refreshed afterwards! We headed back and ate dinner in the caravan. We went to bed and took shifts to watch for any signs of lambing. I stayed up until 1am and went out again at 3am.

March 30th:
Today we stayed in quite a bit because of the rain. We fed the animals and watched the sheep cameras. Towards the end of the day, we fed the sheep and I had to put the battery hens away. I got all but one into the hen house. I was chasing this hen around for about 10 minutes and finally gave up. Adele came out and attempted to do it by herself and couldn’t, so I helped a bit and we chased it into the hen house. Ellie made this amazing seafood pasta dinner with prawns, scallops, mussels and squid in a rich creamy white sauce. Was very good!!! Wee Man Dan began to feed on his own after I guided him towards his mum’s teat. Mum kept on battering him away and wasn’t being very motherly with him. We had chicken and potatoes tonight and waited for the lambing to start, which it didn’t again. I was up around 1am and fed the lambs. There was no activity for the rest of the night.

March 31st:
After a night of no lambing activity, we woke up and Gary, the man Ellie hires to come out and help with the farm work, was feeding the animals. We went out and fed the lambs and then went into town, a town called Stokesly and went into a fish and chip shop where I met Roy “Chubby” Brown. He was very funny and apparently he is a very famous comedian. Google him and you will see. Also, was having a conversation with Ellie and she is close friends with (Tanya and Lisa may be slightly jealous) Robert Patterson. They invited the family and kids for a reunion next week and he will probably be coming up as well to the pub around the corner from the farm. I watched the first Twilight but still haven’t finished the second and don’t think I will, was not very into it. So meeting him will be just like meeting any other average person to me. I’ll try and get a picture or two for you guys though. The rain has been coming down like crazy here and apparently back in Edinburgh, it has been snowing. The weather has been horrible all over the UK right now. The East Coast Rail from Edinburgh to Newcastle has been shut down because of landslides. Good thing I wasn’t coming down today, I would have been stranded at the rail station! It started hailing a bit here, but not for very long. We are now watching the news and are waiting for a man to come and relieve us while we head back to Ellie’s home and shower up and eat dinner.

April 1st:
So, today we woke up to the sound of bleating lambs and ended up lambing 8 ewes!!! We got absolutely no sleep and have been up since about 2am…blah! Ok, I know when you are reading this, it won’t be but April Fools!!! So still no lambs have been born and we are waiting for the worse, when all the ewes decide to deliver at the same time… Hopefully that won’t happen at all. This morning was uneventful and Gary came by to feed the animals once again. He feeds only on the weekdays and on the weekends we feed. Ellie and Adele went out for a bit today while I stayed behind and watched the sheep. I talked with Kristen for a bit and talked about when she is coming down to visit me while I am here. We are going to take a train to Whitby. Apparently, Whitby is the place where the story of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein took place. Totally cool! They came back and Ellie and I went back to her house where I had a wonderful shower! Was nice to sit down and relax. Actually, we have been doing a lot of relaxing since the ewes haven’t decided to lamb yet. Adele and I were feeding the chickens today and something hilarious happened. Adele was inside the chicken coop and one of the battery hens jumped up on top of her head (she has a lot of hair which may have looked like a nest to the hen). I had to grab the hen and set it back down and within seconds of letting it down, the hen decided to go to defecate. If I had waited any longer, Adele would have had white droppings in her hair. Ick! After feeding the animals tonight, Ellie made this fantastic dinner of risotto and prawns in a onion/garlic/tomato puree/Niersteiner sauce. Was excellent! We watched a bit of NCIS and now I am going to head to bed since I have the 4am shift. Going to get a bit of sleep now and hopefully tomorrow day, we will have some lambing activity going on.

More to come, have to go right now but will post more. Hope all is well and talk to you all soon! Will have pictures up in a couple of weeks when I return to Edinburgh.