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Livestock News Round-up

Hi folks, it's high time for a farm update! I realized I completely skipped right over alpaca shearing this spring (among other things) – woops!

...And Done!

She's here, the final calf of the season!  We were a little worried that it would be November or later - Kerry has been running about 14 months between calves the last couple of times, and last year was Oct. 22 - but last Saturday, the 7th, she showed up with a little red girl. A teeny little one, too, but healthy-looking which is all that really matters.  That gives us one lost girl, 3 surviving girls, and 5 boys, all red.  Of course, one of the girls is white, so we'll have yet another white cow mama in a few more years.

Finally!

It's done!  I finally finished my latest lace shawl, and it's stunning if I say so myself...  I actually finished it last week, but haven't had a chance to post Since then.  I have put several pictures in the Knitting gallery, of this and a couple of other shawls.  This one is probably tied for my favorite one yet - I really love the butterfly design of this pattern, and I used a somewhat unrefined silk yarn, from a sweater I found at Goodwill last winter.  I love the drape of silk, it's just perfect for a shawl!  

A Lucky Little Fellow

Monday morning we had an exciting start to the day.  When Caleb moved the big cow/goat/alpaca/sheep herd at 6 am, he realized our cow Bridget was in the middle of having a calf.  There were two little feet sticking out, the right ones even (front), but after a while we decided things were not progressing as they should, and maybe the calf's head was back.

Spring Already?!

Wow!  It's only the end of February, and it really seems like spring is here.  It was 75* yesterday - although today is supposed to be only 44*, with a low of 24* - and then a low back up to 52* in just another couple of days!  This time of year gets a lot of gardeners here in trouble - it's so tempting to plant everything when it's this beautiful so early, and then it freezes a week later.  And a week after that... and maybe one more in early May!

News Roundup

Well, I did it again, it;s been a month and more since I posted.  It turns out a new baby, starting homeschool, and all the regular farm business don't allow much time for anything else, especially something as "frivolous" as writing!  So - Ewan's nursing, looks to be in it for the long haul, so I'll give this a shot...

I'll try to sum up the last month in one post.  I'd like to say I'll come back soon and expound on something or another, but to be honest, I doubt that, so I'll do what I can now.

Farm News Round-up

Wow!  So, I blinked and it has been most of a month since I wrote anything here!  A lot has happened in that time, although I personally have been mainly nursing a growing baby, and doing school with Liam.  In fact, I got Ewan to sleep so I could write this, and got as far as the word "personally" before he woke up - he's been ravenous recently, and just falls asleep long enough to trick me into putting him down, then wakes up and eats again.

Another Calf

We have our third calf of the summer (second surviving), out of Bridget.  Yet again, she had a red girl - I think that's 3 now over the last few years.  She was born on Monday, and is looking vigorous and healthy.  We are not getting her weighed - Bridget stands over her and growls if Caleb goes near, so we'll just watch from the other side of the fence, and make sure she's growing well :)  I'm not concerned, Bridget's a great mama.  

...And Yet More

Yes, we have more babies!  Fern had a calf on Wednesday morning, a little blond boy.  We haven't named him yet, and we're open to suggestions.  He looks to be healthy and happy, Caleb has seen him nursing, and actually swooped in pretty quickly and got a weight with our new scale and sling - ~40 pounds, a nice size for a Scottish calf.  We probably won't catch him again, Fern is pretty nervous, but it's still helpful to have a base weight for any other calves, since we've never weighed one before.

Honey!

Well, we finally got around to harvesting our honey for the spring, and it was finally a good harvest.  The first time we harvested, a couple years ago, we had one hive and got 11 quarts.  The second year, we had 4 hives, although some were young, and harvested 8 quarts.  Total.  This year, we've lost a few over the winter (but noticed one was gone quickly and salvaged the honey - about 10 quarts), so we currently have 2 hives.  We collected 24 quarts this time!