One new paddock is almost completed while the sheep have been moved to the old paddock where they began the autumn. We are now at over 30 lambs, and lambing season is drawing to a close.

The coyotes have been screeching at night, teasing the neighbors' dogs; fortunately we haven't had any more losses. Three geese are nesting in various locations, two of them quite reliably.

Unfortunately, one of the reliably nesting geese is doing so on the porch by the steps. This has not made some of the delivery people entirely happy.

Green growth has definitely been returning to the land, and soon it will be time to transplant seedlings from indoors into the garden. While we are still getting a fair amount of rain on and off, it's now more off than on.

Each night brings frogsong and the low complaint of sheep across the pasture demanding more treats. They get quite grumbly if they've been given treats and the supply dries up for any reason whatsoever.

30+ lambs manage to thunder quite reliably when they charge, no matter how velvety-quiet they might seem single or in pairs...

Last night there was a large full moon in the sky, and otherwise the night was very dark. Late in the night, it got quite cold, cold enough for a film of ice to form on some of the water containers - and that appears to have been enough encouragement to cause both our house kitties to snuggle together very cutely, only disturbed in the process of turning out lights for the night.



All the same, there were movements in the night - a raccoon was glimpsed, having set off the security lights, but a good shot wasn't found in time. It slid down the driveway and to freedom, and there were no missing livestock in the morning. Next time, Ranger Rick! We'll get you next time!

We are now up to 14 lambs - 7 ewe lambs and 7 ram lambs, all in excellent health. We're not quite halfway through our lambing season, so if this holds true, we could see easily 30 lambs for the season. Time will tell!

The most recent newborn appears to be out of Bolivar; the second most recent, meanwhile, is doing quite well, appearing to have thick socks and a black (or at least dark) coat like its mother's. It was rather disinterested in the camera, preferring to crop alfalfa right behind mama, even when a yearling ram came up.




The newborn, by contrast, is still getting licked and nuzzled by its mama, sex presently unknown. It has been suckling lustily and seems in excellent condition and vigor - at least, from a strictly hands-off examination. Mama is wary but not inclined to try and wander with it away from visual inspection just yet.




Wimsey's tree is budding out quite a bit. It's quite beautiful, and enables us to think of him with only a few pangs for missing our beloved troublemaker. The sunlight filters through nicely. The tree is, of course, a pear tree; we should potentially even see some pears from it, if the birds don't get them all.




Shelley's tree is also budding out, although less fully than Wimsey's. It is a cherry tree of an unknown variety, so we don't know yet if it's self-fertile. If it is, we may well see cherries - again, if the birds don't get to them all. Either way, it is budding less than Wimsey's, but that's to be expected; Wimsey's tree has been in the ground for most of a year, whereas Shelley's has only been in the ground for maybe a month. A fitting tribute to a very sweet and dearly beloved pussycat.

Double Nickel is no longer with us as well - but his son is. Silver Cat Northern Spy is a handsome lad, with Harley Davidson-style horns and an interest in the potential of treats for sheepses. He isn't necessarily cuddly - but he definitely knows what's good in life, and has an eye for the ladies albeit little opportunity to exercise his desires. As it is, Bolivar was feeling feisty and trying to pick on Mitey today - both Hercules and his bearded son tried to join in the scrum, which more or less put an end to it.

Another angle on our little newborn friend, be it a he or a she; mama is very attentive indeed! And very striking markings, not unlike the ram lamb out of Bo Peep's twins. Bolivar clearly was very, very busy this past season...

It is officially spring; and thus we begin to have many many pictures to post again, just like last year. Today was grey and gloomy for about half of the day, coming and going, and the barn kitties largely wanted to stage another invasion - which we sometimes allow, provided that they are well-behaved kittens and do not give our elderly Omaha-kitten any grief. As you can see from this picture, Slightly and Tink would never DREAM of causing her any stress. She's grudgingly giving them the benefit of

the doubt.

We had a newborn lamb today - the sex and status is unknown until both farmers are around to handle that, but it was lusty and upright in fairly short order, suckling eagerly. There were limits to how close the camera could get before the mother got stressed, so it was a bit of a distance shot, alas. The full examination will likely take place later tonight.

During one of the periods of better weather, Tootles and Peter went hunting together, lurking from underneath a green canopy. Whether they caught any of the various birds tormenting their senses is unknown, but Peter has been known in the past to catch swifts on the wing; here's hoping he'll teach Tootles the same. How Tootles, such a massive, healthy cat has the spirit of a tiny, terrified kitten remains beyond us. Peter has confidence to spare!


As you can see, even though Peter wants to express dominance, he knows better than to give Omaha a hard time! At least, not when a farmer is watching. Nibs is perhaps the safest of the lot, carefully keeping his distance during his bed-nap. They were well-behaved whenever they were under observation, at least, and eventually went back outside to enjoy the weather once the skies had somewhat cleared.


The older lambs are doing well. We've had one stillbirth - out of eight births. This is already better odds than last year, and the lambs we're seeing (and their mothers) are in much better condition, and larger and fatter, with thicker fleeces than last year. They also are quicker to become fully energetic and playful - one of the older lambs, not much more than a week old, was racing Bolivar down to the lower paddock for the joy of it. (Bolivar was racing because of a farmer with a load of alfalfa.)

The two newborn lambs are doing well - and are no longer quite so new. A farmer managed to get a close-up today during the morning feeding, with these ridiculously cute results.

The geese have been laying eggs in inappropriate places again. A collection will have to be made, and possibly used to feed the local beneficial scavenger population - as opposed to the ones who will be shot on sight.

One of the ewes in particular looks like she may be very close to going into labour. We won't be surprised if the morning brings more lambs, and we are indeed expecting many more...

All farmers are back on the farm with a certain amount of catching up done on chores today. In the process of disposing of some rather old apples by making the sheep very happy, we were able to get one particularly good close-up of one of the new lambs, as can be witnessed here.

The barn cats had some freedom and were made happy thereby as well. While it's continuing to be an unusually cool and wet spring, it's warm enough that the barn kitties are feeling feisty. Soon we will be spending much time out of doors with various chores, such as building paddocks and fencing the garden area.

Speaking of the garden area, the seedlings are doing well. The older ones will be thinned this weekend in all probability, at which point a rough final count of what should end up going into the ground will be made. Hopefully there will still be enough to survive hardening off...

It has begun

A very short post, because things have suddenly taken a turn for the hectic.

Editing to add: they are two healthy, active, attractive ewe lambs, who have now been given their selenium/vitamin E supplement shots. Their wool is thick and insulating, their mothers are very attentive, and they have good size for newborns. This holds promise for the future.

Rest Cure

One farmer is off vacationing after a strenuous weekend. There was a much of the usual work, but in addition some fifty-four trees were planted. The picture displays a view from a window over some of the orchard. The plastic tree guards cover some of the new trees.

Spring is showing in buds on the trees. Even some of the more sluggish trees are coming to life. Soon we shall see which failed and died, and will need replacement. On the whole we are fairly confident about the survival rate.

We lost another duck. The corpse was left behind and largely eaten out from a spot near the breast, which strongly suggests that the culprit was an owl. Owls are protected, but even in the absence of legal protections, they are so useful as general nocturnal pest control that it would be foolish to harm them.

The ewes have not yet given birth, but are clearly showing their pregnancies. We are feeding them alfalfa hay for the protein (the pastures are still rather thin) and preparing fencing for when the pastures shall be ready for them to move.