Ok, don’t look at me like that.
I apologise for abandoning you. I can’t remember when that was exactly, but I think it was sometime between lambing and the start of our direct selling venture. It must have been after we finished pruning our 1,000 odd apple trees, but before the hail netting in the orchard went up.
My memory must be going. I know that that the last post I wrote was before sales of lamb at the farm went up by 35% on last year, leaving me with 35% less time to blog. But I can’t remember if that was before or after my part-time job, or the time that time had suddenly run out and the children had’t done their homework and it was time to make dinner (again).
I guess you get the picture. Even if my website is right up there at the top of my list of “important things to do before I go to bed”, I still haven’t found the knack of turning it into a priority and putting it before hungry kids and a French husband.
A big thank you to those who left comments or emailed to check that I hadn’t gone missing in action in the sheep barn. I was very surprised and touched and it is one of the reasons that I’m back where I left off. The other being that blogging is a hard habit to kick and despite my best efforts to cut down, I’ve found that one quick drag has just brought me right back to where I started – a crafty half-hour in front of the screen deeply inhaling blogs.
I look forward to catching up with you all.
The mountain dweller 
I figured you were quite busy with the lambs! Thirty-five percent is a good number to be up, no?
Oh boy, do I know about not having time to blog! But that’s a good thing too. It’s all good… Blogging. Not blogging. Living life however we do, filling it with have to do’s and want to do’s. Getting the balance right — that’s the tricky part. For me anyway. 🙂
No worries. Our blog readers let us know when you’re back at it.
A big congrats on the 35%! Hope that number keeps going up and up for you.
Welcome back….if only briefly! Glad the sales of lamb are going so well. Is it due to your selling at some American mega-store, or because of that hunky, hunky photo of your hubby? I’m betting it’s the photo!
LOL…I figured you had your hands full. Though I am glad to see you back 🙂
Oh, I’m so glad that the sheep didn’t trample you 😉
Welcome back! I was getting a tad worried… 🙂
Heidi
Glad to see you are back! I get a bit worried when a blogger disappears. Just post when you can, I love hearing about life in France. I was hoping to go to Brittany this summer and see my exchange students but it probably won’t happen. Maybe next year.
Wonderful to have you back! I figured things were busy, and kept checking to see when you’d re-emerge. I knew you would! All best!
It is great to see you and the sheep back with us.
DG
Glad you’re back.
Glad you are fine, albeit busy! Hope you are having some lovely spring weather there.
I’m glad you are back. Reading your posts lets me pretend that I am visiting you in your little corner of heaven.
I was wondering about the manner in which these sheep seem to be sheared. This is new to me. We are in the process of starting a sheepfarm here in Maine and we will have Icelandic sheep. But I have never seen shearing in this kind of stepped coat. Does this serve a purpose or is it a local tradition? Do you have any problem feeding round bales to your sheep? We were told this would give us a lot of waste but aside from storage issues in an old 3 story barn I can’t see the problem.
Hi Alex,
Although we do shear our sheep, in this photo they are not actually sheared – this is the way they are. The Préalpes is a local Alpine race and they don’t have much wool (only a bit on their back). The down side of this is that they can never be left outside in the cold or the rain.
As concerns the hay bales. We have absolutely no waste. They are unrolled the length of the sheep barn on two raised concrete strips which are the width of the bale. The sheep can reach the hay from both sides of the strip.
Hope this answers your questions, if you need any more info. let me know.