April Farmstead Update: Lambs, Sheep Milk Cheese & Farmstay Life
Spring has arrived in full force here on the homestead (all except that warm weather!), and with it comes new life, fresh milk, and cozy farm experiences to share. Whether you’re interested in making cheese with sheep milk, adding dairy sheep to your homestead, or just looking for a peaceful Airbnb stay on a working farm, this month’s update has a little something for everyone.
🐑 Lambing Season: Bouncing Babies and Future Flock Stars
As of April 15th we are all wrapped up with spring lambing 2025! There’s nothing like the sight of playful lambs hopping through green fields. Our ewes have done a great job, and we’re already seeing friendly personalities and great growth in this year’s group. From 17 bred ewes, which included 7 yearlings, we got a whopping 37 lambs!
All but one of our yearlings had twins. All said and done we ended up with 2 singles, 11 sets of twins, 3 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets!
Like I mentioned in last month’s update (you can read about it here if you missed it) we ended up losing 3 of the lambs. Two were stillborn from an infection they contracted while in utero (something that happens) and one passed away at a couple days old. Otherwise, everyone else is happy, healthy and growing like weeds!
Some of these lambs will be available for purchase later this season. If you’re interested in starting your own dairy flock or adding solid genetics to your farm, reach out or join our waitlist here.
🧀 Spring Means Cheese!
Our sheep milk cheesemaking season is not quite in full swing yet as the lambs are taking most of the milk. I have been pulling a few ewes off as needed to get a little extra milk to make fresh cheeses like Feta & Queso Fresco to get us by. Starting next month, I will wean the lambs and have more milk than I know what to do with for making all the cheeses!
My last dairy heifer (my daughters named her Nutmeg) finally calved – another heifer, yay! Let me tell you though, she was a complete bear those early days of milking. Lots of kicking happening. We are finally getting into the swing of things however and I think she will turn into a nice milk cow.
Again, I am still not getting much milk for the house for cheesemaking as of yet. We have 8 bum lambs we are feeding right now (we had 10 but our daughters gave two away to friends) and they are drinking about 4 gallons per day! Like the lambs still on the ewes, the bums will be weaned off of milk late next month, freeing up lots of milk for cheesemaking!
Curious how to make cheese with sheep milk? We’ve got some great tutorials coming to our YouTube channel—so be sure to subscribe for step-by-step videos and behind-the-scenes looks at the process.
🛏️ Airbnb Farm Stays: Springtime Escapes
If you’ve been dreaming of a peaceful spring retreat, both of our farm Airbnb stays are open and ready for guests.
The Sheep Wagon
Wake up to beautiful mountains and sunrise views from this off-grid, cozy wagon nestled right at the edge of our pond in one of our pastures. It’s a guest favorite for unplugging and reconnecting with nature.
We have a lot of new things for the sheep wagon this year!! Jayce, my husband has been busy tackling projects all winter. The sheep wagon now has an old fashioned sheep hook, modeled after one made in the 1800’s, a tin dog, and a hand forged hanger. Intrigued but you don’t know what that stuff is? Check out this playlist.
A couple BIG new things for the sheep wagon this year: A friend dropped off a 1957 fridge, complete with lazy Susan shelves for sheep wagon guests to use! So now guests of the sheep wagon will have access in our shop to a fridge and a microwave if needed!
Our last biggest surprise – Jayce is building a combination outhouse / shower house just for sheep wagon guests! It is not quite complete yet, so be sure to check back next month for photos of it and an update! We are so excited to be able to offer this amenity to our guests.
The 1950s Bunkhouse
Step back in time with our restored retro bunkhouse—complete with vintage charm, farm fresh milk and eggs, and a front-row view of farm life.
The bunkhouse has a few new surprises of its own, including a bench out on the porch repurposed from a vintage grain drill. We’re not exaggerating when we tell you it oozes classic charm!
The end of April brought the end to a long awaited project – we finally got the ladder and railing finished for the loft! We are so excited to open up this space to our guests! Any suggestions for what we should put up there?
Click here to learn more or to book your stay. (Link to farmstay page)
🌼 What’s Coming in May
A new tutorial on how to make Bel Paese & Guido cheese
Behind-the-scenes of raising and training our dairy sheep: including how to draw blood and pregnancy test sheep (we’ll be checking to see if our spring breeding group is bred for fall lambing!!)
A video walk through of what it is like to stay in our sheep wagon!
Thanks for following along with our farm journey! Whether you’re here for the sheep milk cheese tips, dreaming of starting your own flock, or planning a stay on a farmstead, we’re glad you’re here. Let us know what spring looks like in your corner of the world in the comments below!
Until next time,