Lazy Daisy - How do you NOT become too attached to tiny, helpless lambs?

It seems, despite my protestations that I do NOT want to be farmer's wife and spend all my days looking after animals and fixing fences I have become just that. (sigh). I'm a writer, but have always been I suspect, a Visual Artist. Sure, I have dabbled quite successfully in both music:

Here's me singing on a recorded CD


and writing:
Here's my 9 children's books 

But what I am itching to do is get dirty in a workshop, throwing clay onto a wheel, building slab pots, inking up an old fashioned cast iron printing press and etching plates, painting a HUGE canvas, drawing tiny detailed pen and ink drawings etc... You get the picture. After all, I have a degree in Fine Arts. I spent four glorious and fun filled years at Uni. It's my passion!

But instead, what am I doing?

• Stumbling out of my warm bed at midnight to feed a four day old lamb 
• Standing around in the perilous cold waiting for her to do a wee
• Cutting up fleecy clothing to make lamb jackets
• Getting covered in poo and milk trying to bottle feed a squirmy lamb
• Shooing sheep into and out of stalls and barricades (for their own good of course)
• Tramping around in gumboots and mud fetching firewood
• Driving a quadbike
• Fencing in the rain
• Wearing mismatched colours (horror of horrors!) and track pants every day

Daisy's coat, made in about 5 minutes

Until we get renovations sorted out here, I am doomed to live my days as a farmer's wife. Until I can get into my own workshop (why not? Hubby has had enormous sheds to work in for decades) and get grubby I will just have to get on with the tasks at hand. And write the occasional blog post.

VIDEO of Harry and 1 hour old twins

But I guess the hardest thing is not becoming emotionally attached to wee animals you know may well die. The first batch of lambs, 4 sets of twins and 2 singles, have been a lesson already. We need to be organised and have proper facilities before we start expanding the herd. I did point this out, right at the start, but Hubby got so excited about finally having his dream come true (Farming. Figure that out) that before I could say 'combine harvester' we had a flock of 50+ sheep, including two rams, a few wethers, a bunch of older ewes and lots of flighty young ewes and no shelter sheds for them. I have put my foot down and said quite sternly 'NO MORE ANIMALS!' because I saw a soft look in his eye when he watched Rob and Jane's Black Angus calves cavorting about in the sunshine yesterday. NO! Absolutely not. 

OK, here's a video of them running, seeing as you're dying to watch them, aren't you?

CLICK HERE for video

But we do, I have to admit, have the most spectacular pasture you've ever seen. As I lie in bed listening to night after night of rain and blustery winds I am mindful of the farmers on mainland Australia in terrible drought. 100% of New South Wales is drought affected. Even parts of Tasmania are dry. (It's a funny little island, with wildly varying terrain and climate).

We are blessed.