Springtime

It's springtime which means baby time around here.  (I have to be careful how I say that, because that's how rumors get started).

The first lamb of 2015 was born three weeks ago.  The next day it snowed.  Because our sheep are only happy if they have babies in bad weather*.  We call this ewe Snowy because she was born on a snowy morning March 2013.  We called her baby last year Star, and this year's lamb is Octavia- after the winter storm.

* I live in the land where snow is debilitating.  Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter is practically a banned book

Snowy and her spawn

The Barbardos sheep are skittish and won't let us get very close to them,  However, I did notice that being a Collins-born-sheep herself, Mama Snowy was much more relaxed about us scooping up her baby and taking selfies with her.

Less than 24 hours old.  

After about five days, Octavia herself was fed up with that nonsense and now runs off anytime I come near her.  She's begun running and skipping around the pasture with all the joy and carelessness of a baby animal.

Monday our chickens came in the mail.  So far we are 24 for 25 so I'm thinking we're finally getting this baby animal thing figured out.  My friend Rachel, who knows her way around a camera, managed to snap some pictures while they were still fluffy and adorable.

This is our third spring doing animal babies, and it is amazing how much easier it has gotten.  I'm more aware of my limitations.  I was completely unprepared for the stress of seeing baby animals die right in front of me - of feeling as helpless to save them as they were to save themselves. We've had fewer fatalities this year that any previous year (if you do chicks, you have to look at the Ecoglow.  BEST way to keep chicks healthy and alive in those precarious first days), and cutting back on our layer hens and turkeys is giving me more time to deal with these chicks.

Here's hoping I can carry that discipline and momentum into summer when the tomatoes and okra start to suffocate me.  Longer days are great, but I eat dinner earlier in the winter.

Flowers are starting to push their way up, the guest room has gotten one coat of joint compound, the hall bath ceiling is stained, and we're getting new siding soon!  Spring is pretty fantastic so far.