Garden...Spring 2012

Our garden was doubled with the installation of the new garden fence. 

We now have a baby fig orchard, a huge new potato plot in addition to the ground used for last years garden!

Daddy has been working all winter adding manure, 

working the ground, prepping for our biggest garden ever!

baby fig tree

baby figs!!

Pea Blossoms

Peas!!!!

onions

spinach

tomatoes tucked into their houses
(Houses made from roof shingles, used to protect baby plants from wind, sun and frost.)

Spring Lambs and silly Sheep

We have three new lambs!

MaryLou
(Daughter of Virginia)

MaryLou was our first lamb of the season, 

and her birth was the first clue that her mother was pregnant. 

She was knobby-kneed and a little pathetic...but has filled out very well.

Ruthie...the next Mama to give birth

Ruthie and her baby...

Obed...the Son of Boaz and Ruth!

Eli- son of Dolly (about a month old)
He is solid white, our lamb without blemish.

One of my favorite things about having sheep is the multitudes of opportunities to watch them be silly...

Eli-caught eating their jungle gym
(a stack of three hay bales  used by the sheep for climbing and  snacking!)

Dolly says..."I'm soooo itchy"

 The thick, woollier hair (grown for warmth in the winter) is shed, or rubbed off in the spring.

"Yes, that's the spot!"

Sheep Spa
Mama Sheep let out to graze...soaking up the sun!

Textures of the Barn

Wondering about the farm with a camera gave me a new view of what was previously

 only a dusty dirty barn...

I really like all of the different textures, the mixes of wood and metal, 

and especially the white "old barn wood" still in place from when our barn was used as a milking barn.

Fence Building

March 3, 2012.

Daddy and Mother Dearest decided that we needed milk cows...yay! 

But first we needed a fence in which to keep the cows and a place for milking

...so...

we had a cow-fence workday. 

Friends came from far and wide to enclose the garden to keep the cows out 

(simultaneously doubling the size of the garden), 

setting up a hot-wire fence to keep the cows in, 

and concreting under the overhang at the back of the barn for milking. 

Here was our day...

 Lunch for the hungry men!!

With apple pie for dessert...

 Massive show of teamwork as the last panels are put into place. 

(The front and back sides of the garden fence are set into concrete steadied pipes to allow for tractor access into the garden.)

The fence and concrete pad are beautiful...thank you to all who came and helped!!!

A Walk Around the Farm

One morning I gathered my dear brother's camera (with its telephoto lens),  the tips I learned in a 20 minute photo tutoring session, and I took a walk around the farm. 

This is what I saw: