After a rough winter, full of snow, cold, and sickness, we are SO happy to be getting back to our usual activity level. Here’s a spring sneak peek of what we’ve been up to!
FARM KID ANTICS: There is no chore that I ask for help with that the kids don’t turn into some sort of game.
MULCHING EVERYTHING: There’s almost nothing we don’t throw some mulch on top of.
SHEDDING ANIMALS: There’s hair EVERYWHERE.
SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES: It’s a lot more fun to volunteer when your fingers and toes don’t feel like they’re going to freeze off.
BABIES: So far, we’ve had a calf born, and have bought chicks. So many chicks (including turkeys!). I’m not opposed to other baby animals joining our farm, either. As long as I’ve got the right fencing for them and they’re not going to escape/get eaten.
EATING OTHER ANIMALS: Speaking of eating other animals, Panama enjoyed a deer leg for a treat that Jack gifted her. We also sent one pig to the butcher, and have another invited to our hog roast as the guest of honor. Plus, the meat chicks are getting, well… meaty. Such is life on the farm.
NEW COOP: To keep the chicks we DON’T intend on eating (just yet), Evelyn and I put in a new coop in the barn. Basically, it involved a bunch of wood and hardware cloth to convert an old stall into a new safe space.
EGGS GALORE: Ironically, at the time I decided to get more chicks to replace our older gals, the current flock started laying like gangsters. Oh, well. The world could do with a more delicious, beautiful eggs, right?
FEED STORE SHOPPING SPREES: While I was on top of chick shopping early, avian flu has created a bit of panic buying among homesteaders, so it’s taken several trips to the feed store to see if they had the breeds we wanted in stock. It wasn’t always a hit, but the trips were never necessarily a miss. I can always find something useful to buy at the feed store.
RIDING LESSONS: The little girl inside me is squealing with delight that I’ve been able to start riding lessons again. The best part, aside from also remembering most of what I’ve been taught, is getting to flop around on a bunch of really great lesson horses. I’ve decided I REALLY like draft horse crosses, and am excited to go horse shopping… soon.
COMING IN LIKE A LION: Spring in our neck of the woods definitely came in like a lion. Know how I know? By the number of trees blown over with every storm. One section of our pasture is basically an obstacle course of downed trees. I choose to look on the bright side… free firewood. I just have to get it cut up and split first.
FENCE FIXIN’: Because of the inevitable storms and scattered trees, there are endless spots in the fence to repair. Good thing I have reliable help.
FRUIT BABIES: Baby animals aren’t the only newborns around here. The orchard is tentatively thinking about blossoming, though the star of the show is the itty bitty pineapple that’s currently flourishing. It probably pities all the other plants out in the weather from its comfy spot in the temperature-controlled living room.
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY: Work IS fun to me, but I’m trying to do better about reminding myself to have actual fun. Kids are good at that. Farm kid antics, remember? They infuse play INTO work. Best of both worlds.
Spring has only just sprung, but it has already been fulfilling and active, with the promise of growth, progress, and memories.
