Marcia's Blog

Basil

So Cap’s bottle lamb has been christened “Basil,” and is living her dream life as a bottle-raised lamb at Deer Hollow Farm, and educational farm

Read More »

Done Lambing!

Our March Madness has finished before the end of March! Our lambing wound up early this morning at 1:20 am, when Mist gave birth to

Read More »

Lambing Coach

Last July, we lost our much-loved and trusted senior livestock-protection dog, Orbit, in the prime of his life. It was so traumatic and sad that

Read More »

Lambs are arriving!

Lambs began arriving right on schedule on Thursday. Smoke went into labor early in the morning and had a big black boy in the corrals,

Read More »

Shearing Day

Back when we were running a sheep dairy, shearing day was something to be endured, for the health of the sheep. But now that we

Read More »

Ultrasound Day

Looks like we are headed for  a lamb bonanza this year! We bred 46 ewes and expected about 35 to be pregnant, as our pregnancy

Read More »

Prize-winning fleeces!

Our fleeces did really well yesterday at the wool judging at the Monterey County Fair! Dale, our awesome Corriedale ram, took first place in the

Read More »

Passing the Torch

I gave away my whole milking setup this week! It went to a wonderful part-Basque family from Wilton, south of Sacramento. I met them when

Read More »

Seize the Moment

We’ve had a very unusual May. Usually May is our little bit of summer–the spring winds have died down, the pastures are still green and

Read More »

Lambing Reflections

Lambing is almost over, and I’ve hardly had a minute to write a blog post this year! We began on February 13, and have had

Read More »

Lamb Storm

Yesterday was one of our miserably windy March days, with gusts so strong anything not nailed down was flying away. It was also a sad

Read More »

A Productive Day

Yesterday morning Melinda and I found ourselves in a puzzling situation. Our older Romney ewe, Swiss Miss, was in labor for quite a while and

Read More »

We’re Lambing!

Lambing began on Sunday morning, when Nan, one of our older Romney ewes, went into labor. Last year Nan had a torn placenta and lost

Read More »

Shearing Day

When the new year rolls around it is time to shear the pregnant ewes, so they will be clean of fleece and ready to lamb.

Read More »

Transfusion!

Well this is a story I must tell, even though I risk ruining my reputation as a serious rancher. Let me start by saying that

Read More »

A Basque Connection

I met a kindred spirit, and she designed me a beautiful yarn label that speaks of both of our heritage and deep love for our sheep…

Read More »

Appreciation

It has been a great lambing season so far: we have 56 healthy lambs from 29 ewes, we have lost only one lamb and no

Read More »

Green Pastures and Lambs

We’ve been having intermittent rain showers, not nearly enough to keep the grass green for long, so we are hoping for wetter weather to come.

Read More »

Two Ewes, Six Lambs

Yesterday morning Melinda and I were just finishing rounds when we heard a loud baaing coming from the shelter in the middle pasture. We went

Read More »

Oops!

Someone (that would be me) failed to latch the lambs’ gate last night…

Read More »

Peg is going to Sheep to Shop!

It seems that every year we have one lamb who isn’t born with a full deck. This year it was Peg, born small and with wobbly front legs that wouldn’t hold her on their own…

Read More »

Lambing With a View

Today began for me with a call from Melinda at 6:30. Lolita was in labor and needed assistance with a breech lamb, and Melinda couldn’t

Read More »

Sun Worshiper

The ewes got their vaccinations today and we all enjoyed working in the sunshine, after a week of rain. But no one was happier to

Read More »

Scooter

Scooter was hanging around in the shelter yesterday while all the other ewes grazed…

Read More »

Squirt

One of the tiniest lambs we’ve ever had was born yesterday afternoon, at just over 3 pounds…

Read More »

Willing to Adopt

Lambing began yesterday: Melinda arrived in the barn at 5 am to find that Brown Betty, a first-time mother, had delivered triplets in the night…

Read More »

A Sad Farewell

We lost Oso today. He was a really special dog and took such good care of his sheep. Like Big Otis, he was unsocialized to humans,

Read More »

Goodbye to three dear friends

Last week, in the midst of the horrible fires up in Sonoma and Napa counties, we had our own little sadness here at the ranch, as we said goodbye to three of our dear old friends

Read More »

Shearing Day

Today was shearing day at the ranch. We sheared everyone, from the old retired ewes to this year’s ewe lambs…

Read More »

New Chickens!

We had a dreadful heat wave over Labor Day weekend–the hottest days ever recorded in Marshall. Saturday the temperature reached 108

Read More »

Gordy in Montana

Back in 2009 we got a new guardian puppy, who we called “Gordy” for Guardian. Unlike our other dogs, Gordy was socialized to human attention, and he had a difficult time adjusting to life here at the ranch…

Read More »

Out to Pasture

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and we decided all the lambs are old enough for everyone to move outside for good. The young lambs

Read More »

Last Cheese Wrap

Today Melinda and I wrapped all the remaining Baserri. Eighteen wheels for my loyal retail customers, ten wheels for Jackson Family Wines, who have been

Read More »

Last Lambs

Our last lambs of the season were born on Tuesday, March 21st! Cousin, the last ewe, was looking like she was in the early stages

Read More »

Family Outing

We had a tour today and Blue Streak and her lambs were one of the highlights. We got her and her little family out of

Read More »

Quints!

I woke up this morning and checked the barn camera and there was Melinda, who is on the early shift, with lambs in the barn.

Read More »

Miracle Lambs

We have a happy outcome with Blue Streak, thanks to some good decisions and a big dose of good luck. She was the highest-risk pregnancy

Read More »

Fresh Salad

This ewe, who we’ve been calling Blue Streak because of a mysterious blue stripe that showed up on her side after shearing (can’t figure what

Read More »

Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes, a two-year old ewe named by Lisa during milking season last year because each of her teats has a perfect black dot right

Read More »

Migratory Birds

Today was a big day for the chickens! Lolo finished their run down by the garden, and then moved the chicken house (with the chickens

Read More »

The Sun Returns

After a rainy weekend, it was a beautiful day today, with just a few lingering showers passing through. Oso and Orbit watched over the pregnant

Read More »

Chip Off the Old Block

This is the first in our “chip off the old block” series. Good Mother, who is distinctive for her “down” ears, and her daughter…same ears!

Read More »

Hectic Afternoon

Today started off well when Melinda found Nanette lambing in the barn at 5 am. Nanette had twins, and then it proceeded to be a

Read More »

Lambing Al Fresco

Good Mother was in heaven today. This five-year-0ld ewe who has always been a wonderful and easy lamber and mother, had a difficult end of

Read More »

Visit From Dad

My 91-year old Dad, who grew up with sheep, came to visit today, with his caregiver Rodney, and my cousin Diana and her daughter Angela,

Read More »

First-Time Mother

Yesterday at 5:00 Lolo was getting ready to bring the ewes in when he noticed Harriet, a yearling who got her name because of her

Read More »

First Lambs!

We have an auspicious beginning to lambing. Lisa left the barn last night saying “my money’s on Bunny.” Bunny did indeed look ready, but we

Read More »

Mother Takes a Ride

A few days after shearing, we notice a huge swelling on Mother’s shoulder. Mother is one of the retired ewes who lives in my back

Read More »

This Too Shall Pass

The ewes are getting pretty tired of both the rain and of being pregnant! They are looking very large, and there is a lot of

Read More »

Shearing Day

With all the rain we have been having lately, we were worried that it would rain over the weekend, and so made hurried preparations to

Read More »

After the Storm

After getting 7.5 inches of rain in the past 5 days, everything is saturated here at the ranch and it was really nice to get

Read More »

Happy New Year!

Our first 11 chicks, hatched on election day, moved out to their new chicken house earlier this week. The chicken house will eventually be down

Read More »

Got Corn?

My select group of retired ewes (the “pets”) live by my house and always gather at the fence when I walk by for chin-scratches or

Read More »

End of Breeding

Not such a Happy Halloween for our boys–we took the rams out today, a couple of weeks earlier than we usually do. They have been

Read More »

All Grown Up

It’s breeding month, and all the ewes are in breeding groups with the rams. Most of the ewe lambs are in with our ram lamb,

Read More »

Road Trip!

Who would have thought you could get two 200-pound ewes in the back of a Toyota 4Runner? I was skeptical when Sam Stack came to

Read More »

Reunion in Vacaville

I took eight ewes who are retiring from production to Soul Food Farm in Vacaville today. We had our first rain of the season, just

Read More »

Last Cheese

I made the last cheese of my professional career yesterday. It was a nearly perfect cheesemaking day; I began at 6 am sanitizing equipment and

Read More »

Dang Me!

Dang me! It has been a rough week for our boy, Pistol. As a matter of fact, it’s been a bit of a bumpy life,

Read More »

Baserri Wins First Place

Woo hooo! Our Baserri won First Place in its category at the American Cheese Society competition today! They even pronounced BOTH “Baserri” and “Barinaga Ranch”

Read More »

Auntie Bebe

Bebe is one extraordinary ewe, and one of my all-time favorites. Her name (BB) stands for Bottle Baby, because she was rejected by her mother

Read More »

Gracie, Frankie and Shep

I’ve been feeling pretty stir-crazy since I broke my ankle two weeks ago, missing my time working with Lolo, Lisa, Melinda and the sheep. Today

Read More »

They Are Pigs!

Melinda got this cute photo of the pigs the other day enjoying a salad of garden trimmings. This triggered her to look back through her

Read More »
Shopping Cart