Transplanting Away!

I couldn't have asked for nicer weather for my two days off. It was sunny and warm and it felt so great to be outside and working in the orchard doing our first outdoor planting. 

This was a pretty nice view. Relaxing with their babies:

 We transplanted our broccoli, kale, lettuce, arugula and cauliflower. We're hoping that the thick layer or compost on the first row of the orchard will keep weeds down - we planted the seedlings into little holes that we dug down through the compost. 

Broccoli and lettuce seedlings in the compost:

Our new piece of floating row cover to try to keep flea beetles from destroying the little lettuce seedlings.

Zoey had a fun-filled weekend, too. We went downtown, to the vet for shots, to puppy class, to the feed store and the pet store, to another farm and to lunch at a cafe....plus she got to play with our landlord's daughter again. Zoey loves to stalk Abby and Ryan when they're playing fetch. She flattens herself onto the ground and then lifts just her butt up when they're running towards her - then she spins around and races along next to them. She's getting fast!

The twine that is always attached to her in the photos is for us to step on quickly when she decides that she'd like to play with the chickens. She's pretty good about hanging out with them (and eating their food) but sometimes it's hard for a puppy to resist the chase of a flapping, erratically moving chicken.

Spot the Zoey:

Maggie and May aren't sure what to make of this little puppy.

She's 11 weeks now and 9.5 lbs - growing up fast!

Allergic Puppy

This will have to be a weekly photo as Zoey grows!

Poor puppy had an allergic reaction to something - her face swelled right up in the middle of the night and she was whining and shaking her head and unable to sleep. She went to puppy class yesterday so it was either some new treats she had there, an insect or plant of some kind, or a new type of bully stick she was chewing on in her crate at bed time. We gave her some benedryl last night and some more this afternoon...off to the vet tomorrow if it isn't better!

Winter Spring

It's still hard to figure out if it's winter right now or if it's spring. On the one hand, we still have snow everywhere and it was snowing again today. My hike this morning was a slushy mess...but the dogs had a good time! Zoey ran around for almost the whole hour - she just needed a small rest zipped up in my vest when she got too cold and tired.

My friends Emma and Jess came to visit last weekend. We had a good time that included Emma throwing a halter together and taking a snowy ride on Sam. 

On the spring side of things, guess what's in this box?

Chicks, chicks and more chicks! Our 50 broiler chicks arrived today (the pink dye is to mark that they were vaccinated). 

Unfortunately, it's pretty cold outside for trying to keep chicks warm. Nathan set the brooder up with 3 heat lamps in the 'barn house' (the section of the original barn that has been insulated and has flooring) and the chicks seem to have plenty of warm spots in there. 

Chicks spread out  - a sign that they're warm enough. 

We put a chick waterer in just in case, but they've already figured out the water droppers.

Baby animals everywhere...no lambs yet, but look who's back!

Meghan and Meghan's calf (now called Missy) are back with their calves, Mac and Molly. They are so cute and very curious about the dogs! Some fences will have to be fixed to be calf proof, though - the calves can get under one side into the neighbouring paddock and then don't seem to be able to get back to their moms again. Their moms get very upset when that happens!

And then there's the baby animal that's keeping us the busiest at the moment: the puppy. Having a puppy isn't necessarily hard work (other than the stress of making sure to socialize and train her well!) but it sure is time consuming. You can't take your eyes off of Zoey for even a second or she'll have a power cord, a piece of the carpet or Ryan's foot in her mouth. She is a great puppy so far - outgoing and playful and silly. She loves all people and dogs and she is pretty respectful of Abby and Ryan. Abby has decided this week that Zoey is worthy of play time. 

Puppy in sunny leaves - she was so happy to be out of the snow!

She loves the warm greenhouse.

Meeting our landlord's daughter. 

Having a 4-year old around who just wants to ask the puppy to sit and then feed her lots of treats is great for socializing.

She also decided that the puppy needed a hay blanket.

Abby showing Zoey the ropes.

While not watching the puppy and taking care of the animals, we've been busy planting lots of seeds. Yesterday we planted over 300 tomato seeds.

Nathan built an awesome table in the greenhouse that's under some of the extra greenhouse plastic. It's perfect for hardening off the seedlings since it's even warmer than the greenhouse and protects the seedlings from the cold nights. 

Broccoli, arugula, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, lettuce...

Seedlings on top and mushrooms growing underneath.

The mushrooms look really cool growing out of the bucket that Nathan made.

The Storm!

Little did I know when I wrote that last post that there actually would be a storm! My parents came to visit this weekend and we woke up to this:

It's almost March! I was definitely not expecting a snowstorm.

None of the animals (except for the dogs) seem happy about this. On the left is the collapsed netting on the chicken coop. The chickens don't care because they don't want to even leave the coop.

Thomas and Zeb aren't stepping out, either. 

Abby and Ryan think the farm is even better covered with snow!

So did we...until day 2 of clearing snow off the greenhouse. What a workout...

Zoey is also tired of the snow.

Wait, what!??

Yup, that's our new puppy. It took us a few days to name her but Zoey suits her perfectly.

Zoey and her sister and two brothers were found in an abandoned car on a reserve at 6 weeks, with no mom to be found. That can make for some pretty timid puppies...but Zoey is great so far! She loves people and is a confident and happy. She is respecting Abby and Ryan's "go away puppy" signals (except for ignoring Abby this morning and jumping into her bed to cuddle with her...the look on Abby's face was sheer disbelief). She's a Border Collie cross mystery...we will see what she grows up to look like! 

She's completely different than Ryan was as a puppy (I got Abby when she was already 9 months). She's playful like he was and loves to tug, but she also climbs into your lap to cuddle and fall asleep whereas he would only turn off if I stuck him in his crate. She also races outside through the deep snow on her own to pee and poop and then back in over the steps...Ryan took about 3 weeks to do a step on his own....

Some more photos...

The Calm

It feels like this is the calm before the storm...we have things under control..for now! Once spring hits I don't think we'll feel  like things are under control anymore. 

 We've planted a bunch of seedlings (kale, onions, leeks, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) and the brooder and tractor are ready for the broilers. The pig area is pretty much figured out - Nathan build them some feeders and we'll use electric line to contain them. We're still collecting all the manure and bedding that we can to cover the orchard with as much compost as possible. Since we won't be able to use newspaper or cardboard to keep weeds down, we're wondering whether the layer or compost will be enough or whether we have to look into some kind of plastic covering, as well. 

Ryan has been seriously obsessed with rat and mouse hunting. The rats have nested under a bunch of the trees in the orchard and eaten away at their roots to the point of the trees falling over! 

The goats are *so naughty*. Now that they sleep with the sheep at night, they aren't scared of them anymore. Yesterday May climbed through the fence to join the ewes and started playing a game of 'head but' with Oprah. When Oprah walked away to lie in the sun, May followed her and started bouncing off of her! I wish I had gotten a video.

They also try to eat Misha's grain every morning. I thought i outsmarted them this morning by lifting the trough and shoving it through the fence...

But no...

Seriously, Goats

You can stop with the cuteness, now. I mean, come on...

I was trimming May's hooves and she fell asleep (snoring) in my lap! I wasn't even holding her and I just kept trimming as she slept. After she woke up, the same thing happened with Maggie.

It makes up for the fact that they head butted poor Ryan this morning and then pushed their way into the barn house behind me and almost ate our new arugula seedlings.

Little Molly is pretty cute, too.

Meghan had her calf, Mac, yesterday. Apparently they're pretty much identical. I hope they come back here soon!

It has been incredibly cold here for the past few days - yesterday the high was -4 degrees. All of the animals find the sunny patches to lie in during the day. We put a heat lamp in the barn in case Amelia pops her lamb(s) out early. Last year, she was apparently bred (by Thomas) earlier than intended through the fence...we're wondering if the same thing happened this year. 

Abby loves her new nest bed. She's barely moved from it since we got it!

Spring not Spring

I was going to say that it was starting to feel like spring...until we woke up to snow this morning!

The first seedlings are planted - arugula is first to sprout again! Broccoli and kale aren't far behind.

The grass is starting to grow again and the sheep were happy to be let out to graze in the orchard while I planted some garlic (they decided to pull it up at Nathan's work so we transplanted it here - we'll see if it grows after being so disturbed). 

That's one big future veggie patch...

Our compost pile is HOT! Hopefully that will kill any seeds in the hay and we'll end up with enough to spread thick on the orchard. 

We moved the ewes out to prepare for lambing next month. They need a substantial amount of grain every day now and Thomas is looking even more pregnant than they are with his extra snacking.

Amelia is huge! There must be twins in there...or triplets...

Neither goats nor sheep are impressed at the new shared living quarters.

Nathan's mushroom spawn arrived and he has it growing in sterilized hay and coffee grounds. Yay!...mushrooms....!

(I don't like cooked mushrooms, but I'm starting to eat them on pizza and in pasta. Maybe I'll love them by the time these oyster mushrooms grow).

We missed having the calf born here by just a few days! Meghan's calf had her calf at her owner's property yesterday. We're going to go visit today. I wish the calf had been born here...we shouldn't have helped with the trailer loading!