Today was a day for visiting friends, which moreover involved cheesecake - two cheesecakes, to be precise, an espresso cheesecake and an apricot cheesecake, each with appropriate homemade toppings. Cheesecakes and toppings came out delicious, and sinfully rich. Good thing there's plenty of farmwork for burning off the calories, eh?



The goslings have discovered the joys of clean water in the kiddie pool we use for the geese. They love it so much that they've been seen chasing full-grown ganders out, bullying mercilessly to get their way. The way the geese and ganders spoil the goslings does much to explain why they all grow up to have such entitled, bullying attitudes - but as with most creatures, they're awfully cute while they're young.


We had a nocturnal visitor who actually killed off one of the incipient nests full of goslings by scaring off the goose sitting on it, and which kept returning for more eggs. A fortuitous spotting led to a clean kill - a sizable beast, though not the biggest ever. Either way, our animals are safe from one more raccoon. The rifle is a .22 magnum - not the largest in the world, but not the smallest, either, for those interested in scale.


The weather has been sunny and warm, leading to barn cats taking over the moon chairs for better sunning purposes. This leads to the occasional kitty battle. Poor Tink! All she wanted was to continue her nap. Brother Nibs arrived though and had other views on the topic.




The other cheesecake was also delicious. On which note, we sign off for our food coma...

Spring has sprung right into summer, and despite a brief time away from the farm, the farm continues apace. The volunteer apple trees on the property are all in full and glorious bloom, promising blowsily their potential charms. Wimsey and Shelley's trees have had blossoms on them as well, and the result of those blossoms on Shelley's tree, at least, suggests that it is a self-fertile kind of cherry.

A new lamb was born while we were away, but it was sickly and though our farm-sitters called in our veterinarians, the lamb was unable to be saved; no suckle reflex, and it died under their care despite their best efforts. Hard-won experience suggests that even if it had been saved, it would be much more prone later in life to any number of health issues. Our neighbours were saddened and told us this is proof they could never be farmers - we thanked them muchly for their services.

The cats were delighted to see us again, and the house cats in particular purred all over us so hard that they kept choking and coughing over it. Things have begun to settle down a little bit since then, but the barn kitties show every sign of having missed us almost as much as the house cats - despite not having been allowed out for the duration of our absence, they have since our return preferred to hang out in the house with us rather than outside. While the rain today may have contributed to that, yesterday was a gloriously sunny day and they still wanted to stay inside if they could, playing and being with us.

The goslings are putting on weight fast, and have already gained their first set of pinfeathers. They chirp to one another and to the adults constantly. The nest on the porch has been abandoned, alas; evidence shows something or other, probably possum, had been coming for eggs in our absence. We intend to put a rather final stop to that. She has, however, apparently begun a new nest.

Yesterday was a tree day, and began with the purchase of 51 new trees: 7 Fameuse apple trees on M7 rootstock and 41 Michelin apple trees on the same, and 3 new trees for the garden area. The 3 trees are what the nursery calls seconds: good enough to be sold but not good enough to withstand shipping through the mail. We purchased thusly one Turkish quince, one Mirabelle plum, and one tree which is completely and entirely unknown to them or us as to what it is! We suspect it might be some variety of apple; in a couple of years, we may even find out. Even so, it was still a bargain, at $2.00 for the unknown tree.

Today's rains have proven a boon to the trees and a bane to farmers. The trees, new and old, have gotten a good, solid watering, while it's been sufficiently hard rain to keep farmers indoors and from pursuing outdoor projects. The philosophy of the farm remains consistent, however; no matter the weather, there's always work to be done, and there's always tomorrow.

We have reached about the end of the lambing season, with what we believe to be our final lamb born today to Jojo by Bolivar. A single, sizable grey ewe lamb in good health and as cute as a button, bringing our total to ... somewhere around 32 or more.

The ones born already are getting gradually bigger, and we've seen no signs of ill health, which makes this a particularly successful lambing season so far.

Over the weekend we had a very pleasantly sunny day - so much so that this very small snake was sunning itself in the sheep pasture. It didn't like being photographed much, but it suffered a few shots, although it's a trifle 'Where's Waldo'ish! The sheep seemed utterly unbothered by its presence - if they even noticed.




Here you can witness the sheep being unbothered. There was alfalfa in the offing - what care they for tiny snakes? The lambs, as you can see, are large, healthy and viable. We're very pleased, and we'll be culling in the fall to bring our flock back under the current numbers, emphasis given to those who have some small defects (one lamb, for instance, has shown signs of something wrong with his gait, which would make him not a good choice for breeding and potentially a symptom of something more wrong with him). We'll

likely also offer the sheep for sale live, but whatever's left at the end of the season will need to be sold in a hurry or turned into meat.

The geese having been taking the goslings everywhere, including to the pond although not yet upon the pond that we've seen. Anyone who gets too close is given the stinkeye and hissed at in a way which clearly says 'approach closer at your peril'. Even farmers

with feed scoops in hand are far from immune to this threat.

And with May came a birthday, for which occasion a cake was baked. A sachertorte made with almond flour instead of all-purpose, chocolate ganache frosting, and glazed dried apricots soaked in liqueur decorating it. Truly, the joys of spring are worth mentioning and reveling in!

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...