A newborn lamb gets some love from a visitor at June Colony's farm in Lostine on April 20, 2024.

LOSTINE — About 30 neighbors from Joseph, Enterprise, Walla Walla and Lostine (and places in between) turned up on April 20 with their children to enjoy June Colony’s “Lambing Open House” in Lostine.

According to a report from the organizers, the dozen or so small children who attended were especially fascinated by the lambs, which were less than two days old and taking their first steps.

Colony explained to the visitors how she had helped the sheep give birth, sometimes in the middle of the night, and how helpful even the non-birthing mothers were when they encountered a baby. Then the smaller children (ages 4-14) had the chance to feed the newborn sheep with milk bottles and hold them.

The Lambing Open House was part of the Southfork Grange’s Generations Project, according to the report of the event. The project encourages youth and adults to learn from each other — “whether that be children writing a play and performing it with the help of Fishtrap writers (as happened a few months ago), or families visiting lambing moments and becoming enthralled with the grace of the beginnings of new lives.”