So it's spring now...

 In other parts of the country there are snow storms and we have...spring! Plants are confused, animals are confused, we're confused. I'm going with it! 

We let the chicks out when we're outside to supervise. They have a great time running around.

First tentative steps outside...

And they're off! Look at GoZ on the right...Frost is on the left. They're the only ones with names so far.

Miss DoZ and her big booty.

Ducks are so funny. They're very curious about everything we do. A few days ago I opened the front door and they were making their way up the steps. They were probably on their way up to complain about something or other....food not tasty enough, too many chickens, dock too far away...

3 amigos.

Green grass! So nice to see you again.

Rye is taking off.

 The swamp that became a puddle that became a pond that became a lake....

What are you guys watching so cautiously?

Bonfire!

Farm life.

Wood chip farm

Well, after that gorgeous sunny weekend it rained non stop for over a week. It is hard to be motivated to go work outside when you get soaked and cold in a few minutes. We did chop a 3rd tree down (we have 5 to cut down along the back fence - we are putting garden beds with fruit trees and some berries there instead). Nathan also shovelled loads and loads of wood chips and made our back deck area look great!  

Even the turkey barn was improved by a little wood chip garden bed. We are in the process of predator-proofing it so that it will be a safe turkey house. Unfortunately, Nathan shovelled so many loads of wood chips that his arm got completely swollen with something (according to google) called "intersection syndrome". 

  

Finally, the sun came out yesterday and we got to work pruning our fruit trees, landscape fabric covering and mulching the raspberry bed (grass likes to try and take it over) and letting the sheep out to graze in the driveway. Phillip was leaping straight up in the air over and over...but it was impossible to catch on camera!

Farm dogs hiding from the rain last week (and looking for rats):

Farm dog retired for the evening with her essentials (on her orthopedic bed by the fire): tiny piece of a stuffy, a dirty sock, bone collection, favourite squeaky stick, old ratty rope, and mega kong. Surround yourself with things you love!

Winter Sun!

I had three sunny days off last week and I had a great time while my mom visited (my dad and sister came on Friday for the weekend and got rain!).

Zoey was so tired after playing with Lucy that she fell asleep with a bone in her mouth..

We got a big truckload of wood chips delivered by a tree/landscaping company. They delivered them by donation to an animal rescue. Win win situation! We get much needed mulch, they get rid of their unwanted chips.

I covered the area around the garden beds, and Nathan added some more yesterday.

Dogs love wood chip piles!

Chickens love that I had to use the compost covering tarp for under the wood chips...time to look for worms!

I brought the chicks out of the coop and out from under the heat lamp for some natural heat. They loved it! Look at GOZ on the bottom right...

(yep, that's Grandson/daughter of Zebra Head!)

Lil' Phillip...

I redid the farm stand! It needs a bit more paint, but almost done! 

It is really nice to have Nathan back home again. I managed while he was away, and luckily everything went smoothly, but it is hard work running our little farm (and working 2 jobs!). When I got home after dark last week, the chicken coop door had blown shut and none of the chickens could get in to go to bed. They were all huddled around the coop on various fences, posts and beams. Saul had taken 3 ladies with him into the old turkey coop (smart guy) and I was panicking trying to find them. Luckily, I got everyone in to bed before owls, mink and raccoon started hunting for the night. Living where there are always so many predators makes getting everyone in to the coop in the evening imperative... definitely easier having one of us home as it starts to get dark! Plus, having Nathan around in general is pretty nice, too ;) 

Lamb Spam

Nathan is visiting his nan in Australia, who isn't feeling too well, and this post is for her. If she can't have a lamb to cuddle with, at the very least she can see some photos of the adorable boy. As a rule, we don't name our meat animals...but this weekend my friends Emma and Jess farm sat and little lamb is now Phillip. 

This is the first lamb that hasn't had other lambs to jump around with. Last year, the twins came first and then Princess Leah, so they always had playmates. Oprah is still veeeeery pregnant, but no sign of her lamb(s) yet. Little Phillip has decided that the chickens will do as playmates.

Teensy does not approve of being lamb-butted!

Like father, like son (except that son's ramming is cute instead of *RUN!!!*):

Thomas is very interested in the new little guy:

Looking deceptively like a real sheepdog (Amelia was angrily stomping at her to go away):

Also looking deceptively all grown up:

Mr. Saul in all his glory:

Of Course..

We've been certain that the lambs would be born any day now...for the last 3 weeks. Every day it seemed like Amelia couldn't get any bigger, that she was acting a bit different, that she was on the brink (she had her lambs first last year, and has seemed further along than Oprah this year, too). 

This morning, Nathan went to do a quick check before I took him to the ferry to visit friends for the weekend. When he shouted "Amelia's having her lamb!" I was sure he was joking.

Nope! 20 minutes later, she had a perfect little ram lamb (and Nathan had to take the next ferry):

In the photo above you can see the amniotic sac that came out after she had the lamb. We thought that that meant another lamb was on the way, but nothing happened for the next hour except for Amelia carefully licking and tending to her lamb. Finally I scrubbed up and checked her internally and felt..nothing. From what I've since read, it sounds like sometimes that amniotic sac comes out after the lamb, instead of before/at the same time. 

Zoey trying to be a patient sheepdog.

These photos don't do this tiny, adorable lamb justice! We'll take some better ones in the next few days.

Chickies!

Our power went out today for 2 hours while we were out! It's so lucky that it happened today and not yesterday when some of the chicks were still hatching and hadn't dried yet. They were pretty cold in the basement and they had all huddled together but they seem fine now. Their brooder has been moved upstairs so that at least if that happens again, it will be warmer upstairs near the fireplace!

Dog, dog, dog, chicks!

The chicks just after I rushed them upstairs to warm up. Poor lil' guys!

The reason we'd been out was to get some fittings for the irrigation. We started on that today:

Bed in front has rye as a cover crop that we'll till in in the spring. The bed with straw has garlic in it, the one next to that is empty and the greenhouse has baby greens and kale. 

Chickens were very jealous of the ducks getting fed. I was practicing their recall back to their pen. 

Male vs. female size comparison! 

Victoria, Dee-dee in front, Rosie in the back.

I accidentally caught a little...err...yeah... in the background.

 Ryan says he'd prefer to hang out with the chickens, thank you very much!

Abby does what Abby wants!

Mini Sauls

Look what I found in the incubator on Wednesday morning!

I was shocked - even though the incubator's temperature and humidity had kept pretty constant, I didn't really think it would actually work! The humidity was low throughout the first 18 days - staying at 30-35% instead of the recommended 40-45%. One day I went downstairs and the thermometer was reading 103 degrees - it should be 101 at the most, so I thought no eggs would hatch after that. 

They kept hatching all through the day on Wednesday and through the night, and then one more late on Thursday. 12 chicks total! 1 hatched and then died, and there are still 6 eggs in the incubator that I'll leave for a few more days just in case (apparently even though most hatch on day 21, there is a chance some could hatch up until day 25). 5 of the eggs in there were blue, and only 2 of those hatched. Maybe that's because I stored them for a full week to collect all 5 before setting them? I didn't turn them during that week and I should have. Also, the blue ones are so dark that it's really hard to candle them with the flashlight that I was using. I couldn't really tell if they were developing properly.

Here's chick #1 (Uno) almost dry and #2 just hatched. You can see the blue egg has been "unzipped" and it hatched 5 mins after this photo!

Yesterday we worked on getting the garden beds ready for the spring. We took out a bunch of our mishmashed raised beds (we'd made them out of shelves, etc. that we'd found around the farm) and instead we made a bunch of straight longer beds. We're going to set up some gravity irrigation from the rain tank that's up the hill, and it's easier to set it up if the beds are pretty uniform. Nathan also put gutters on all of the outbuildings with tanks underneath each so the sheep will have fresh drinking water at each rotation through the pastures this spring. 

Look at our new neighbours! The chickens snuck through the gate to the neighbour's pasture and were met with some very curious new faces. The cows then proceeded to chase Saul all the way through the field while he squawked and half crowed. Poor guy - didn't look too impressive to his ladies, I'm sure. Good thing his 12 new offspring didn't see it happen.