A Bum Lamb and the Promise of Spring

I love the change of seasons. Longer days, warm afternoon sunshine and tiny buds appearing on trees are a welcome sight after the cold grey of winter. But most of all I love, absolutely love the appearance of baby animals. On any given day fields are full of baby lambs, calves and foals–all wobbly legged and impossibly cute. It’s hard not to pull over to pet their velvety noses and stroke their soft fur.

Luck was with me last week when I arrived for my volunteer shift at, Harmony Acres, a therapeutic riding center. I walked into the office and heard the soft bleating of a lamb. A lamb? Most of the animals there are horses, but on that day there was a bum lamb.

Meet, “Peanut.” A bum lamb is a lamb that’s been rejected by its mother. In this case, the mom or ewe had twins but only fed and paid attention to one.

My friend decided to adopt the little foundling, committing to bottle feeding the lamb every three hours which means yes, sacrificing some sleep.

Holding that little four-day-old lamb gave me a spark of hope and a much needed reminder that there are still good people in the world willing to do the right thing. While there may be a lot of nuts in the world, Peanut is one of the good ones.