The rain has finally come. Everything looks good except the cabbage and broccoli which are being attacked by the root maggots. We did so well with the cabbage and broccoli last year I thought we would have smooth sailing. Better go start some more seedlings and put them somewhere else. Can't wait to get the tomato plants in and plant the beets, squash, cucumber and beans. Not quite warm enough.

Sheep Shearing

Naked as the day they were born!

New Grass. Happy sheep and hens.

The chickens and sheep are sure happy. Finally they are out on the new pasture with fresh grass.

Freshly tilled soil

Well the compost has been spread and the soil tilled. It's a beauty to behold. After adding a few other soil amendments it will be ready for the seeds and the little baby seedlings. the fresh soil looks great, but can't wait for it to be covered in green.

Spring 2012

Gosh it has been almost a year. Nothing like winter to shut down a blog. So we are slowly starting up again. Some seedlings have been started (lettuce, broccoli and cabbage). I though I would start the tomatoes a bit later this year, when it is a bit warmer. Spent a bundle on heating the greenhouse last year. Soon we will be tilling the ground and then planting spinach, lettuce and sugar snap peas. The pasture was re-seeded last fall with new grass and hopefully it will start to grow soon. The sheep are a bit tired of hay and eager to get on to fresh grass. Ditto for the chickens. The mobile hoop coops need some fixing up and new tarps before they can be used. I will be getting another 200 hens to add to the 300 that we have so there should be plenty of eggs for everyone. Hope to have a bountiful harvest this year. Here are a few pictures from last year to wet your appetite.

Sunshine and Rain

So far it is turning out to be a great spring. Lots of sunshine and lots of rain. The pasture is starting to fill in with the new grass, the lettuce, spinach, onions and sweet peas are coming along nicely. The tomato plants we started in the greenhouse are now five feet tall. All the animals seem happy. Life is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ZSnlCTFKU

New Lambs enjoying the sunshine

Check out the new gang. They seem happy enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ZSnlCTFKU

The new lambs

A few more pics of the new lambs...or are they pandas?

And the chickens are out on pasture....

 

Spring is here and the planting has started

Spring is here and the planting has started. Lettuce, spinach, onions, sugar snap peas, cabbage, and broccoli are all in the ground. The tomato plants in the greenhouse are five feet tall and full of flowers and even a few tomatoes ready for early harvest. the  garlic is coming up. Just waiting for the potatoes to arrive so we can get those in the ground as well.

 

Sheep Shearing

We had our annual sheep shearing on Easter Saturday. Several people of all ages came to  watch. Click on the link to watch the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnADLvfb5vs
 

We now have six lambs born. Two more ewes will deliver next month. They are all healthy and pretty frisky running a round like jack rabbits. It is fun to watch them play together as well. It is hard to tell them apart as they all look the same.....black with white faces and black eyes. They look like little pandas.

We are looking forward to our annual sheep shearing event April 23rd, the  Saturday  before Easter Sunday. It usually if a fun event for people of all ages. the sheep don't seem to mind losing their thick coats of wool, especially with the warm weather coming. Finally it is warming up!

Poor rip Tide lost his manhood last week. He was getting very "rammy" and actually dangerous. In hopes of quieting him down we had him castrated. He doesn't chase me now but I think it is because he is still quite sore. Once he is all healed he still might need some "education" as to proper manners. Basically he is a good ram and I hope be becomes well behaved.

New Lambs

The first of the lambs were born last week. He is already feeling his oats and also runs around like a rabbit. Eight of our nine ewes are pregnant and so we expect a lot more lambs in the near future. Mama is eager to get out with the rest of the flock but it is raining outside and we don't want baby to catch a cold.

Well, there have been a few births since our last entry which was some time ago. Buttercp the goat arrived from a family that was leaving CT and low and behold, at 4 AM the next morning she had a little kid, Lulu. Lulu is now more than a month old and is jumping around like a jack rabbit. She likes to jump up on her mothers back or up on just about everything.

Just where do those eggs come from anyway?

Red Sex-linked Hen

Right now the farm has 500 laying hens.  We have 350 Red Sex-linked hens and these are the most prolific. The sex-linked has nothing to do  with their romantic capabilities but that the color of the chicks is on the sex-chromosome. This allows the hatchery to distinguish the boys from the girls. The Red Sex-linked are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Leghorn. The second breed are Black Sex-linked and are across between a Rhode Island Red and a Bard Rock. They are a slightly larger bird and lay slightly larger eggs but not quite so many. We have 100 of these. And the third type is a less common breed,  the Araucana. They lay blue eggs. They don't lay so many eggs but they are a pretty bird.  

Black Sex-linked Hen

Araucana Hen

Araucana Rooster

Rhode Island Red Rooster