Looking forward to Spring
February was a very damp month, a grey cloud seemed to hang over Yorkshire like a big soggy blanket. We have had rain, sleet and snow with a sneaky biting wind to accompany them. My waterproofs have definitely had their work cut out. My sheep were either stood or laid down with their head down facing the weather. They’ve had shelter under the hedgeline and walls, their lovely woolly coats lined with lanolin to keep them warm, but their mood has been grey. Most of my sheep are tame as I’ve had them quite a lot of years, and have got to know me very well, especially if I have treats to give.
I have one very old Jacob ewe that we call Sawn Off. She comes up the fields twice a day so that I can feed her extra. She has no biting teeth now due to her age, but still has her chewing teeth. She really should not be with me now, but as I love her so dearly, and she was, up until 2 years ago, the matriarch of the flock. She now lives her retirement days pootling about with the rest, but when I wean the lambs off the mothers in August, I pop Sawn Off in with them to show the lambs how to behave. It keeps the lambs calm and happy.
A good few years ago, one particular night when the wind was howling and the rain lashing down, I woke in the middle of the night to a repeated banging on the sheep feeder. I went out to see what was wrong, only to find Sawn Off stuck in the grids of the feeder, one of her four horns fast. As her horns stick out at various angles, I just couldn’t get her free. After waking up the husband, we eventually admitted defeat and had to cut one of her horns short to get her out, hence the name Sawn Off!
Now March is here, lambing time arrives. I am getting a bit fretful due to it being so wet. It makes a farmer’s life very difficult battling against mud day in day out. But there is a glimpse of Spring on the horizon as the snowdrops and crocuses have started to come out, the daffodils making their way out of the ground. It won’t be long before the sun starts to shine, the birds start to sing and the days get longer. There’s been a glimmer of sunshine with a bit of a breeze the last few days so hopefully the land will start to dry out.
After lambing time has finished at the end of April, I will start to get ready for the markets I will be attending with my new season clothing range. My main outlet at the moment is at Yummy Yorkshire’s Market on the Farm, but I hope to be doing a few other markets this year, and I might have the chance to have my stock in a shop in a very picturesque village in the Dales. This is so very exciting for me, but more to follow on that later.
You can find me at Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant, Market on the Farm, Delph House Farm, High Flatts, Huddersfield, HD8 8XY on the following 2026 dates:
31st May
28th June
26th July
20th September
4th October
18th October
1st November
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In the meantime, I’m enjoying more light in the day and capturing those first signs of Spring. Lambing will be hard work, but it’s always worth it to see them leaping about in the field, enjoying the warmth too.
I hope you can get outside to spot the glimmers of Spring; it makes you feel so much better to be out in the sunshine.
I’ll share my lambing adventures with you soon.
With muddy boots and love
Alison x