sheeps!

sad though it was to leave schwalbenhof, sonnwendhof is really looking great so far. the farm is run by an older lady and her son; the goal is primarily self-sufficiency - that is, they don't market their products. they have a large vegetable garden, about twelve small black-forest cattle, a ginormous boar and an equally large sow, 35 or so chickens (with a few geese, ducks, and a turkey running around in the flock), and (primarily) about 30 sheep, which they raise both for milk and meat.

in the short time i've been here, i've already learned quite a bit - for example, that sheep are less hearty than other domesticated animals. this was demonstrated by the fact that all the lambs were having intestinal problems after a particularly damp period made for wet clover, which lambs apparently can't digest. we had to head over to their enclosure and move them to a pasture without clover, in addition to bringing them charcoal powder mixed with herbs to clear up their digestion. sadly, we found one that had already died - farmer lydia told me that with certain intestinal issues, lambs can die within six hours. it was definitely sad, but as we all learned in the lion king, it's just part of the great circle of life.

that's about it for now, but i'm excited to see what we get up to in the coming weeks. also, you may have noticed that there are no capital letters in this post. this is due to the fact that i both (a) have to type on a german keyboard, where the shift key is difficult to use and (b) am wicked sleepy. so, i decided to rock the lower case. i'll try not to make it a habit.

also also, i left my camera at the last farm, but i plan on getting it back soon; i will try to throw up some photos of the lambs and the adorable kittens asap.

liebe grüße