The close of Winter

Winter is starting to draw to a close.  The days are noticeably longer, and instead of snow we get clear skies, or drizzle sifting down for hour after hour.  With any luck we may even look forward to an early start to the growing season, which would be welcome.  That will let us judge which trees are alive or dead, which pastures are in greater need of relief, and otherwise improve our position.

Our loss rate on the sheep has reduced.  Both our improved skills in caring for the weak and the improved weather have meant that we still have nearly four dozen sheep, most of which are pregnant ewes, going strong.

The timber bamboo we have planted has weathered the season beautifully, and at this rate we should have culms of ten feet or more this coming year.

Of all our creatures, the waterfowl have been the happiest throughout Winter.  Their feathers laugh off the snow, their down laughs off the cold, and they are merely annoyed by the pond freezing over.  As soon as it thawed, they were merrily washing themselves and cavorting in it.  If they would graze as well as the sheep, we might stick with geese, but they will not take down the brush the way our sheep will.

When we do have to take the head off a sheep for the USDA, we have found that the chickens, particularly the bantams, are very interested in nibbling at the corpse or the dripped blood.  These are definitely omnivores, and not in the least ashamed of the fact.

Of all the brakes on our work, the paperwork is perhaps the most confounding.  While we understand the reasons for the agricultural census, the taxation paperwork, the certification of each formula and label, the animal record keeping and sampling, it adds up.  By our reckoning, we lose a month or more of every year merely satisfying the requirements of the government, a quantity of work which surprises even the deer which pass through the farm.