Green grass, brown trees and a few chicks

the field

Wet weather has been upon us which is helping everything grow like crazy.  The field that burned is now lush and green.  Bets are on about the blackberry bushes.

 The woods are coming back but not as quick or green.  It's most obvious now that all the trees around the burn have come to full leaves.

the woods

the fields in the foreground, the burnt trees (where the leaves are sparse) in the back

In other news, there was an unfortunate mishap with our chicks.  We ordered 15 Aracuanas.  They shipped on a Sunday but didn't arrive until Wednesday (a day later than the should.)  Needless to say, despite major re-hydration efforts, only three survived. Though it wasn't the fault of the hatchery (it was the mail service), they did refund for the loss.  As to do next, we are undecided.  This breed is harder to find (especially sexed chicks) and we have our beach vacation coming up in a few weeks.  (Pretty sure we couldn't take our chicks to the beach.) Pretty sure we'll be using a different hatchery in the future.

the three amigos... cute little survivors

Kids!

Kidding has begun and in a matter of about a week it appears that it is almost over.

The current kid count is 23! 

Mama goat and her babies

Kids playing on the rocks

the "nursery" -- mamas take turns watching the kids

a brown kid

 Despite the fact that there has been much rain (resulting in very muddy babies!) it has been good.  We've had very few losses and only a few needing bottles. 

Yellow #21 (tag missing) and one of her kids

#21's other kids

 At the moment, we don't have any official bottle babies, but #21 had a set of triplets.  History has shown that she has trouble taking care of more than one so she and her babies are staying in the shed and they have been getting supplemented with bottles.

AND the chicks are due to arrive tomorrow! 

Where there's smoke, there's .... and no kidding!

A little over two weeks ago, a spark (we assume from a burn pile 4 days old) caught the upper field on fire.   The combination of high winds and very dry brush resulted in a fast moving burn.  

The burnt upper field from the south

 We were very fortunate in that the local volunteer fire department (who then called 2 nearby dept.) were able to get control of the fire in about an hour.  We guess that about 7 acres burned in all... no animals injured or structures (minus 3 fence posts) damaged.  

The burnt upper field from the west

 We were also very fortunate to have found it early on.  The grass is now almost all the way grown back and it is guessed that our blackberry patch should come back nice and strong.

The portion of the woods that burned

In other news, well, there isn't any.  

Kidding is supposed to start any day now.  In fact, kids were expected as early as the week after Easter.  The ladies are looking very uncomfortably pregnant lately. 

Very soon we hope to have pictures of baby goats and baby chicks (which are scheduled to arrive in a few weeks) to share. It is definitely a favorite time of the year on the farm.

Spring Forward

It has been somewhat of a crazy year for us.  Mainly an erratic internet connection and new baby are to blame for the blog being neglected.   The internet is getting better and the baby is great.

Luke David Hamman was born November 17th 2012 weighing in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces.  This day is extra special as he shares the birthday with my sweet Grandma who left us for heaven a few short weeks later.

Luke is now nearly 4 months old and takes his growing very seriously. Best guess is he's 14 pounds and legs are too long for a lot of his 6 month clothing.  He enjoys jumping in his Jumperoo and seems to prefer elephants and monkeys.

Other kids are doing well.  Faith and Annabelle are gearing up to run track and Jonah and Micah are excited for baseball season to start. We had a great summer vacation this year as we went out west. You can see pictures here.

Spring fever has hit the farm as well.  See the new post at Sugar Maple Springs for details.

Westward we went!

Here are some photos from our trip out west the summer of 2012.    We spent a lot of time on the road those 2 weeks but saw a lot we otherwise wouldn't have.  Kids have already conjured up a list for "next time."

At the head waters of the Mississippi.
We took a similar picture 12 years prior on our honeymoon.

Badlands

Mt. Rushmore

Chimney Rock

Camping in New Mexico

Silverton-Durango Steam Train

Four Corners

Mesa Verde

Zion Nat'l Park

Grand Canyon

Old Faithful, Yellowstone Nat'l Park

Hot Springs, Yellowstone Nat'l Park

Glacier Nat'l Park

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Spring Update

Except for the fact that there is snow in the forecast for tonight, it appears spring has sprung here.  Kidding season has started on the farm.  For more of that, please see the farm's own blog: sugarmaplesprings.blogspot.com

As for a quick recap of the happenings here:

We celebrated Micah's sixth birthday.

He was a king for the day!

His request: bouncy ball cake

We had a wonderful Easter celebration that included "croc hunting" after church.  (Jonah lost one of his 'croc' shoes in a creek and we all went scrambling thru the thorn brambles to rescue it... and we did.)

The walk. This was moments before
Jonah lost his croc in the creek.
"Croc hunt 2012!"

The garden and orchard have had their ups and downs but for the most part are doing well so far.

The apple and pear trees have bloomed.  :)

Spring garden: onions, garlic, mint and oregano.  :)

The peach trees were hit by frost.  :(

One of the itty bitty cherry trees did not survive the winter.  Here is the one that did.
We added another bigger one (picture to come.)  Maybe we'll have cherries in 10 years!