Winterizing

 We left for our trip in summer and somehow came back to winter! Actually, I think it became winter while we were away...specifically while we were in our tent without jackets, hats or sleeping bags. I'm not sure how we thought that camping with only hoodies and a duvet was a good idea when going 5 hours north at the end of September...but we all survived. 

 Abby and Ryan seemed pretty content riding in their crates. Not having to share the cab with muddy dogs was fantastic.

We saw lots of bears.

Fishing for her cubs.

This guy got tired of us pretending to be wildlife photographers. He sauntered right over to the truck and posed for us (I think people must feed him). We decided we'd better drive away when he looked like he was about to jump up and stick his head through the window. Sometimes it's hard to remember that good photos aren't always good ideas...

There were tons of eagles - everyone loves salmon.

We went whale watching.

Giant humpback mouth.

We also got to see Steller sea lions swimming around! 

Ryan wasn't interested (or invited to join) in wildlife viewing.

As soon as we got home, I rushed to check on Squishy and the 2 eggs. We got home on day 24 of brooding and the eggs should have hatched on day 21. It was dark out so I reached underneath her and felt...an egg. I was so disappointed thinking neither egg had hatched, when suddenly I heard a little "peep! peep! peep!" and out popped one little chick from underneath Squishy.

Little Son of Zebra Head (I'll just assume he's a boy for now) is adorable. Squishy is being a good teen mom and showing the chick where to eat and drink while keeping a watchful eye on the dogs and other chickens. 

I moved the pair of them into the new barn today so they'd have more protection from the wind and rain, and Squishy had a chance to dust bathe for the first time in a month. She got so overzealous that she kept stepping on her little chick. I don't think he knew what was going on when he kept getting dirt kicked all over him. 

New Barn pretty much finished. It isn't the most beautiful thing...but it's functional. The only problem is that since it's only 3-walled and fairly high, it's still drafty inside. We're thinking of building a half wall at the back out of bales of hay and covering them with a tarp for extra wind protection.

Squishy and SoZH's new digs.

Their neighbours:

I built a pen in the barn yesterday and Maggie and May are sleeping there now, until Thomas and the ewes move in at the end of the month. We've been letting the goats out to free range during the day and it's been working well. They go back in their stall on their own throughout the day for a rest and a drink. There is so much for them to eat on the farm that I can't see them trying to get out of the perimeter fence (famous last words). Once the ewes and Thomas and Zeb are in the barn, the goats can have the sheep shelter that we'll set up in the side yard for them as a warm overnight spot.

Oprah's scratching post - unfortunately I had to dismantle it to build the new pen. 

Ewean's foot is looking better after antibiotics but it still isn't healed. We gave her another injection yesterday and we'll check it tomorrow. This constant rain isn't helping it dry out and heal. 

Addiction

After giving the lambs almost a week to settle in, we decided it was time to get them to like us. They've stopped running away from us when we walk by  (it didn't help that we had to grab them on day 1 to check Ewean's gimpy leg - she had been limping but seems better now) but we want them to come running to us (and I want to pet them...and halter train them...). 

Day 2 of training and now when we go outside we see this: 

This was all thanks to the magic of Farmyard Crack. No, I'm not talking about my low sitting farm jeans: I mean sheep grain. We bought some to use for training and we started off yesterday by dropping a bit into a bowl for the lambs every time we walked by them.

Both Ewean and Oprah (her formal name is still Eweneequa but it's a bit of a mouthful) are still jumpy but are now eating out of our hands. Oprah is definitely the leader of the two - she is the first to stomp angrily when the dogs get too close to the fence, and the first to investigate anything new. Ewean doesn't investigate as much but she also seems less suspicious of everything.

The problem is, Farmyard Crack is equally loved by everyone. It's really hard to stay still and try to get nervous lambs to come over to you when you're trying to shoo chickens off of you. Especially when those chickens can get most of their bodies through the fence to try and eat the grain.

Sheep training helpers. 

That Farmyard Crack is something. When I stood up to walk down the driveway I saw this coming towards me:

This following me:

And I heard a pleading "baaaaaa!" next to me.

The cooler weather has slowed everything down in the greenhouse but it's still mostly looking good.

Baby cucumber

 Lots of Kale.

Cantaloupe. Apparently when you grow melons vertically they need to be supported in a net of some kind since they get too heavy for the plant. One YouTube video suggested using brassieres...I'm not sure if these tiny melons will need training bras first?

Itsy Bitsy Watermelon.

Not so itsy bitsy tomatoes. 

The tomatoes look fine but the folliage does not. I really hope this isn't Early Blight. I think the humid days in the greenhouse combined with cooler nights hasn't been great for tomato plants. Two of the plants in the grow bed have most of their leaves affected and the big Sweet Million plants have their bottom leaves affected.