Epworth Farm

05/02/2026

it’s so rare for the full moon of May (the flower moon and my favorite celebration of women and womanness) to fall on the same day.
After a long month of sadness and hand-wringing waiting—to no avail—no lambs this year—I’ve decided to turn the page.
Today I let go of grief and expectation and even the hope that I’ve been holding. And I’m turning the page.
This summer on the farm will be quiet without lambs, but it will also be simpler. Everyone can take a breath, get healthy. It’ll give me a chance to focus on fencing and water systems and soil and minerals and all the behind the scenes aspects of shepherding that take a back seat when I’m doing weekly weigh-ins and constant health checks with growing lambs. Revisit farm goals and re-committing to the reasons WHY we do this. The things that get lost in the press of summer urgency…the things that make rotational grazing and fighting algae in water and the sweat of hot humid days worth it. Today I claim the joy of wool and the honor of stewarding my flock and I hold back the grief of things lost and unrealized. May the fire burn through all my disappointments and expectations and leave me with what is—what I can hold near—what I can gather around me—and celebrate those things. If this year does not hold growth, maybe it holds deepening, trusting, and finding hope again in the ashes.

04/26/2026

Well, you haven’t heard from me. It’s been three weeks since I “thought” we’d start lambing, and there have been no lambs. I’m hiding from instagram/fb equal parts avoidance, shame, and continuing to hold a fragile hope there still might be a few lambs. There’s another week or two that we could still potentially have some lambs, but each day that passes makes it harder for me to hold space for hope. I don’t know what happened…I think they’ve all been healthy all winter, and I felt like they had all recovered pretty well from a brutal last summer plus late lambing last year. I’m in uncharted territory. But now that I’ve said it, I can go about posting about not-lambing things. Like the peonies and the fencing projects and the 36 baby chicks that are causing a ruckus in the barn.

11/29/2025

Watching the fog roll in at sunset

11/17/2025

First time MAMAS: series ISOBEL and ISADORA
Moorit Gray Twins from dam Deja and sire Esteban
These two are indistinguishable. When they were lambs, Isobel had a “Mohawk” white stripe between her horns and Isadora had a white stripe that looked like a Frieda Kahlo monobrow, but as they grew those markings faded. This summer I added a blue fingernail polish mark to Isobel’s horns so I could tell who had been trimmed or treated! They are both sturdy, hardy and healthy, and ready to start growing lambs!

11/15/2025

Mark has been milling and making boards from a downed maple tree that fell in our pasture during a storm in the spring. These boards will be the bulk of the frame and roof for the pasture enclosures in the new fields.
I wish I had taken a video of Mark explaining how he has taken a whole tree and turned it into usable 2x6s and 2x4s

He said if he bought (pine boards) (at Lowe’s) for this project, this is probably only saving like $250. BUT this is a fallen tree, free to us, and he LIKES working it. And it means my bougie Icelandic flock gets premium hardwood structures (nothing is too good for my sheep 😜)

Anyone know how much a 2x6x14’ maple board goes for?

The rest of the tree will keep us warm this winter. We are entirely heated by wood around here, I haven’t turned on the heat in three years.

He said he’d have to dry/cure/season the wood in order to make me solid maple kitchen countertops, but a girl can dream!

11/05/2025

First time MAMAS: series ISTELLA
You’re not supposed to have favorites, but it’s hard to not love Istella. She was born warm, friendly, and engaging. I always meant to halter train her, but never did, but she’s the first lamb I’ve ever considered might be okay taking to the fair or to a live nativity! Most of my lambs and yearlings are far too shy and jumpy to consider public attention!

She has a perfect star on her nose, hence the name ISTELLA. And her wool grows LONG. She always has little felted strand on her back, and I’ve always suspected the other yearlings chew on her wool to get all the hay and seeds that she stores in her back. Though she has luxe wool, it’s always dirty with heavy VM because she cannot resist a good tight space to get into including the hay feeder or a cedar tree or blackberry patch. (Deep sigh)

She is the offspring of Darby (black mouflon) one of my foundation ewes, and Esteban (solid moorit) so she carries a fun genetic assortment. I’m excited to see if her spotting shows through in her lambs once she’s matched with Lamborghini’s strong SGGM coloring.

10/28/2025

First time MAMAS: series
This is IRIS daughter of Fifi, and the only true badgerface (spotted) I have in the flock
She is gorgeous, and albeit a bit shy, but sweet and radiant regardless. Her wool is a lustrous creamy ecru, black underbelly and legs (my boys always thought she looks like she’s wearing thigh-high boots—which she would NEVER😝)
Her grandmother is Darby. There are a lot of singles in this line, but generally good hooves, beautiful wool and a lot of personality. I’m excited to see what lambs she produces and how she is as a mother.

08/06/2025

We lost another lamb today. TWO! Two in less than two weeks. Again, healthy vibrant lamb, good famacha. This time it was Jordan, Haven’s single ram lamb. As a singleton, he out-weighed everyone. Best growth, best parasite resistance, sweet personality. To say I’m devastated is an understatement. Why are my strongest, spunkiest lambs dying? Not the weaker, smaller ones, or the ones struggling with parasite load. It really could be anything… they’ve been in new pastures, he could have eaten a poison plant…I saw a copperhead in one of the paddocks recently, he could have been bitten by a snake… it could be some other invisible deadly germ or bacteria. I won’t really know what happened unless I’m willing to send the liver off for testing, and even then it’s often inconclusive. This time I opted to bury him. Rest in peace little Jordan… I had big plans for you.

I read recently if you have livestock, you’ll inevitably have deadstock. I pride myself on never having lost a lamb and never having lost a sheep to parasites. Honestly, I’ve lost so few over the years, I was starting to feel a bit exempt from a normal shepherds experience. It seems this summer is determined to teach me some humility and hard lessons on grief. Mother Nature doesn’t obey me, and I can’t control all aspects of my flocks health, try as I may.

I have 9 lambs remaining from this years crop that I will fight for every day. And now my flock is down to 25.

07/25/2025

We lost a lamb today
For no good reason and I hate it
Jasmine was playing nearby this morning while Sasha and I were trimming hooves on the adults and when we looked over, she was on the ground and not blinking.
We have no idea what happened unless she simply broke her neck putting it through the fence, I really do not know.
She was not sick, had a good Famacha score, and was one of the spunky tiny pixie lambs.

On our farm we want each and every sheep to live its best life and die its best death. This is not that. A precious healthy lamb just barely two months old dead for no good reason is NOT OKAY. And I am not okay with it.

RIP sweet Jasmine. Thanks for delighting us with your untamed personality and cute little shenanigans. We were honored to shepherd your life even for a short time.

06/01/2025