Glorious Spring!

   I refuse to complain about the pot holes in the roads and the mud just about everywhere because it's Spring, it's Spring, it's glorious Spring!! I can hardly believe the snow is almost gone. I can finally see where my gardens go. It's been soooo slow coming but spring is here.
   The baby chicks arrived on Thursday and they are just as cute as can be. Now I have to worry. Are they too cold? Are they too hot? I seem to be constantly raising and lowering the brooder light to get the temperature just right. They are in their brooder, a small livestock tub, with a brooder lamp on them to keep them warm, and all seem content- eating, drinking, and napping. What more could a baby chick want?

                                                                      Our new babies.

                                      Day old Silver-laced and Gold-laced Wyandotte chicks

   My first beekeeping class was Monday night at the Randolph Tech Center, and it was really informative and fun. It was not too "technical" and our teacher answered all our questions and emphasized to have fun with this new adventure. He was very laid back and now I feel more relaxed about getting my bees and setting up my hive, and very, very excited.
   With the warmer weather and longer days, our older girls are really laying eggs! So with the new "Fresh Eggs" sign finally completed, we will be setting up our roadside stand on nice days. The price of the eggs are still $2.50 a dozen. I also have a limited amount of cultivated French pussy willows for sale as well. These are the big pinkish-gray pussy willows that I grow in my yard. They are $5.50 a bunch.

The new sign for our eggs.

 

Pussy willows- a sure sign of spring.

 

   Finally thanks to everyone who has contacted me for orders for the Lavender-Shea lip balm. Although I included the instructions and recipe for the lip balm in a previous post, most people do not have the time to make it. I am going to be making the lip balm for sale, and you can contact me at thefarmatmillvillage@gmail.com with orders. The price is $3.50 per tin plus mailing.

   I hope everyone is getting outside and enjoying this fabulous weather. We finally made it to spring!

No Baby This Year

   It is with much disappointment that I write this post to say that Charlotte my two year old Old English Southdown Sheep is not pregnant, nor was she ever. My veterinarian was here on Wednesday to give her a booster shot for the impending birth of her lamb, so that the lamb would receive antibodies from the mother sheep to protect it from some fatal diseases. We decided to do a sonogram just to make sure that she was pregnant and no baby! Nothing! No baby, no enlarged uterus, no placenta, nothing. Apparently her increasing girth was a little weight gain do to her recent increase in grain consumption necessary at the end of  a sheep's pregnancy, and mostly her thick wool due to such cold temperatures this winter. I am so disappointed, but slightly relieved since I was getting nervous and stressed about assisting with the birth. Then, when I emailed the farm where I took her to be bred with the news, I found out they had successful live births where the lambs then succumbed to hypothermia and died do to this frigid spring weather we have had. My disappointment of no lamb this year would not even compare to the devastation I would feel if I lost a lamb after being born. I guess this was meant to be. I will try again in the fall during breeding season, and will also have Martha and Francis to breed as well, since they will be old enough too. I will look into breeding with a ram closer by though since the drive to New York State was just too stressful for the sheep (and the owners).
   On a happier note, I saw two bright yellow goldfinches at my feeder this morning. Seeing them in their spring plumage was so uplifting. The birds are really singing in the morning while I am doing the barn chores now. It is just so great to know we made it to spring! Now we need to get rid of the snow and mud and we will have something to celebrate. The barn has had a bit of water coming in this week due to the snow melt, but as long as we don't get any heavy rain we will manage. Have a great weekend, thanks for reading the blog!

The sheep, and their duck mascot, have made a path through the mud and snow to their favorite spot, but no grass yet to their dismay!

Although the ground is frozen, the chickens still love to look for bugs and worms.