Happy Easter & Farm Updates

Happy Easter all my readers, especially Don M. from Texas! We had a great Easter, lots of time at home, a scavenger hunt for Easter baskets (that silly bunny), and dinner at Grandma Butchy's with my sister and her family. The boys have eaten WAY to much sugar, and took very late naps, so they are still up, but chilling in the great room with Diego.

SHEEP: I had hoped that Annafleece would give us an Easter lamb or two, but no such luck. The seventeen lambs we currently have are doing wonderful. The poor sheep are still hanging out in the garage, we had another couple of inches of snow this weekend, along with plenty of rain. Sam, Northwestern's neglected child (see previous post) was lucky enough to travel to school with me last Wednesday. Dressed in a pull-up, he followed me down the halls, slept under my students' feet at the table, and won the hearts of hundreds of children. We even took a quick morning walk down to Isaiah's daycare to visit 25+ preschoolers. He's still getting three supplemental bottles a day, his mom just is not producing enough milk or being a good mom. I'm afraid I know her future outlook...

GARDEN: I've been busy transplanting seedlings and planting more seeds. Last fall I made a few crazy purchases at an online gardening center auction that involved a LONG drive to pick up. But one of the purchases was a three shelf galvanized steel cart. It works perfect in the back porch, in front of the sliding glass door, with some lights wired to it. I start my seeds on the heated concrete floor and then transfer them to the lighted shelves to grow. They are doing great. Gwenny and Lyle, my gasoline free roto-tillers.

In related news, we've decided to add another garden this year. This one is between our driveway and the sheep pastures. Instead of working myself to break up the sod, I'm working the pigs. We installed portable electronet fencing, and opened a spot in the pasture fence for the pigs to move in. What three snouts can do in a day is amazing. I've been spending some time with them throwing chunks of sod into the pasture, but they are doing most of the work.

Speaking of PIGS, we will definitely have more in the near future. Gertie is starting to show that she is caring some baby red wattles. We are most excited about these additions. The pigs have done a number on the large pasture, but we are planning on building them a new pig pasture soon so that we can disc, plant and get the large pasture ready for rotational grazing of the sheep.

GOATS: The goat girls continue to get wider and wider. I gave them all CD&T boosters today. This vaccine is an important one to help the baby goats immunities when they are born. I cannot wait to see what we get from their breeding to Jeri's boer buckling. He had some nice color, so we'll see what we get. We are all looking forward to fresh milk again too.

KIDS- HUMAN VARIETY: The boys are loving the arrival of spring weather. K has stepped it up in the chores department. He is now able to get a bale of hay from the hay loft, onto the wagon and hauled to the sheep. Some grumbling is usually heard, but he can do it. His favorite job lately is anything that can be done while driving the lawn tractor. Having outgrown the battery powered gator, he's suffering through power withdrawal. He's also been stepping up and giving Sam most of his bottles when he is home. Don't worry, he still has plenty of play time, including playing in the nice black dirt mud, and tracking it into the mud room, and across my floors...or chasing the chickens around the yard with a stick...or "helping" his brother into the giant puddle along the driveway...

On this Easter I feel truly blessed to be living the life we are living. It's hard work, but things are starting to pay off. After Earthfest and some other opportunities I've had in the past month to share the what and why of our little farm with others, I feel so good about the life that Nate and I are creating. My boys are so happy, and learning so much every day. Watching K tell his kindergarten class about a five-day old lamb's life, and how to care for him. Or seeing how happy Is looks when he gets to help me transplant plants (he wanted the Easter bunny to bring him his own spray bottle for Easter, for some reason that didn't happen.) This summer is looking to be a very busy one for the farm, with new additions, and opportunities. I just hope that I can continue to enjoy every minute as much as I have been. Who knew that working this hard could be so much fun?