Around the farm..............

It seems we've been on a roller coaster ride this week. So much going on. Our days are full from start to finish.
We started putting in new hay which is great! I just love that smell and I love to fill the barn. It's a great feeling, knowing we are well supplied for feed to get us through our long, cold winters.

The gardens are growing nicely, especially with all of the gentle, steady rain we've been receiving. It's still raining - it could stop anytime now but we cannot control the weather :) We try to practice succession planting so crops are not ready to harvest at the same time. We should be planting again next week but will have to watch the soil. With all this rain and more to come, seed will rot if our soil is saturated. A day or two of sun and warm temps would provide ideal planting conditions and vegetables would sprout like crazy.

-The moat from the house to the barn -

The ewes that we purposely bred have all lambed. We had one yearling that we suspected might have gotten bred "accidentally". Sure enough, Emma delivered this delightful, tiny ewe lamb, "Audrey Hepburn" early Wednesday evening. She's a sweetie already and we know we will be keeping. I really needed another white ewe and those tight, crimpy curls sealed the deal :).

Our kittens, Jinx and Jade are getting bigger and learning to eat solid food. It's been fun bottle feeding them but they are ready to become more independent. Jinx is the playful, less patient one where Jade is sweet and loving and happy to curl up in your lap and purrrrrr. We are enjoying having kitties in the house again. Danny really likes them as well. They crawl all over him and he's so gentle with them. Miranda the chicken and her guinea Keats are doing well also. We moved her to a separate small chicken coop. We were worried that the other hens might peck her babies. The Keats are growing quickly and learning to scratch and peck for feed. When they are about 8 weeks old we will let her out with them to bug during the day. The will make their way back to their house just before dark as guineas have poor eyesight and will stay right where they are if they are caught outside when it's pitch dark until morning.
Although it's raining, I snapped a few shots of the new hanging plants on the front of the barn and a photo of the new farm shop. Steve has been working on it as time and weather permits and I think it's beautiful. We hope to open soon- the weather is hampering our efforts but we aren't discouraged. All in good time as they say :)

~ Have a great day ~