Being nearly technologically illiterate, I am still struggling with removing photos that no longer seem to be there, and replacing them with photos in the spaces that I want to have photos. Never mind. I am still trying to figure it all out. I will do my best. One of my pet peeves is when I hear folks express that sheep are stupid. Have you ever noticed that animals raised for food are regarded as "stupid"? "Sheep are stupid. Cows are stupid. Chickens are stupid. Turkeys are stupid. Oh, but dogs and horses, not only are intelligent but they have psychic abilities." Food animals are NOT stupid. Sheep are actually quite wily and intelligent, as I have good experience to know. I don't know much about cattle, but certainly cows know enough to hide their calves, protect them from predators, find food and water, and figure out electric fencing. I think folks have the attitude about farm animals being "stupid" in order to justify eating them, and to justify cruel factory-farm and slaughter house practices. |
Our Blog
Transitional Climate Beneficial
Blue Oak Canyon Ranch, home of many Santa Cruz Island sheep, as well as other critters, has been accepted into Fibershed's Transitional Climate Beneficial program. This means that all our wool and fiber, and products made from those, are and are "made from the fiber of animals that are grazed on managed landscapes in a system transitioning to Carbon Farming." Big step for us, but a natural step. At the present time, mainly we are employing targeted grazing using our sheep. Targeted grazing looks like this: and on the woodland/brush lands targeted grazing is like this: The goals are to remove carbon from the atmosphere and put it into vegetation and soil, and to reduce wildfire fuel load. Those are the targets. As well the process works to feed the sheep and give them new "scenery" from time to time. Happy sheep. The saga continues. We are beginning work on a Carbon Farm Plan. |
Sheep Eating Brush
A couple photos of some of our Santa Cruz Island rams helping us with brush control. These guys enjoy pine, oak, California buckwheat, California broomsage, yerba santa, and many more. The objectives are, to feed the sheep (believe it or not, they relish this browse!), to reduce wildfire fuel load, and to sequester carbon into the soil via trampled plant material, woody and otherwise, that they don't eat, and of course, sheep poop. It's not just the rams, either, the ewe/wether/lamb flock is doing their part too! The brown sheep with her head stretched up is sampling juniper. They also enjoy California buckwheat, pine, oak, sagebrush, and others. Grass too. Filaree. Star thistle (newly sprouted and end-of-season dried). Good sheep, helping us out! |
Announcement...
Just real quick, I am announcing that I am in the process of reviving our Etsy shop, BlueOakCanyonRanch, and I put a link in the page "OUR SHOP." So far, just Santa Cruz Island roving is up for sale but more items coming soon, including yarn, Navajo-Churro roving, eventually some batts for spinning or felting, maybe other stuff too. Gosh I hope the link works. |
Blog of the Week - A Brief Update, and a Rant about Humans' Farm Animal Attitude
Being nearly technologically illiterate, I am still struggling with removing photos that no longer seem to be there, and replacing them with photos in the spaces that I want to have photos. Never mind. I am still trying to figure it all out. I will do my best. That's the update. One of my pet peeves is when I hear folks express that sheep are stupid. Have you ever noticed that animals raised for food are regarded as "stupid"? "Sheep are stupid. Cows are stupid. Chickens are stupid. Turkeys are stupid. Oh, but dogs and horses, not only are intelligent but they have psychic abilities." Food animals are NOT stupid. Sheep are actually quite wily and intelligent, as I have good experience to know. I don't know much about cattle, but certainly cows know enough to hide their calves, protect them from predators, find food and water, and figure out electric fencing. I think folks have the attitude about farm animals being "stupid" in order to justify eating them, and to justify cruel factory-farm and slaughter house practices. Let's treat our animals humanely, with dignity that they AND we deserve. Respect them for what they provide for us. That's the rant. |
Brief blog on the blog
It has been so long since I updated this blog, I have forgotten how! I hope to revive our whole website and have updated the home page, "About Us," "Processing our Fiber," and "Our Shop." Bear with me while I slog through this stuff, and I hope to keep updating this blog, the shop, and will let you know on Instagram when I have done so. Hope you and yours are well! |
Ranch Update
The Green and My Worry
Kangaroo Rats
The other evening I was in the chicken yard, putting the chickens to bed, and encountered this little creature, a kangaroo rat. I read a little about them, and decided to share. I know these two photos are very similar but there is a subtle difference between the photos and I like them both, so I am putting them both in! Kangaroo rats are in the same family as pocket mice (who knew?!) and the family name is Heteromyidae (if you're interested in such things). They make underground burrows - we have their burrows all over the place - which they use for shelter, nesting, and caching food. They eat seeds and some green vegetation, the greens get eaten right away and the seeds are stored. Some species never drink water, instead their bodies manufacture water from their food. They have litters ranging in number from 1 to 8, in late spring through early fall. I guess that explains why we have so many, judging from the number of burrows we find. They drum with their hind feet (like rabbits) and this might be to establish territory, or a response to predators. They can run or hop and we have seen them at night doing both - they are nocturnal as you could guess from their big eyes. We very rarely see them during the day. Kangaroo rats take dust baths or sand baths for grooming and to mark territory. At burrow entrances, we often see imprints of their long tails. They are eaten by any nocturnal carnivore, and I believe the barn owls (probably other owls too) prey on them. There's a photo of a barn owl sleeping in the barn, on an airplane wing, waiting for night to hunt. This is the parent of a nest of owlets. As of last night, the owlets were flying around and beginning to disperse - I hope they stick around to continue to keep the nocturnal rodents in check. Kangaroo rats are very numerous around here, some species are endangered, not sure what species ours is but we have plenty of them. They don't seem to be pests, most likely their numbers are kept in check by predators, we can't see that they do any harm - unlike the woodrats which eat my garden plants and chew up the wiring in our pickup truck which is too big to park in the garage. The barn owls are welcome to the woodrats too. |
Santa Cruz Island Ewes and Lambs
We are in somewhat of a holding pattern with respect to our sheep - shearing is finished for fall and is nowhere near to starting for spring, we haven't started breeding yet - because of my work schedule, we lamb late in the season and thus breed late in the season. I am planning breeding schemes - as in, what ewes go with what rams - but we aren't moving sheep around yet. They are growing wool, flirting with each other through the fence, lambs are growing, and we are feeding them hay. It is too early to put them out on range - what little forage is left is dry, and it is too dry here to risk electric fencing - and the barley in the pastures is nearly eaten down. Here are some photos of some of our ewes and lambs. Some of these may also be on our Santa Cruz Island Sheep page of this website, or will show up there sometime. |
Nighttime Phenomenon
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