Like a middle school dance

As it starts to warm up around here (Spring?  Really?  Did we make it through winter?!) the animals are naturally becoming much more active and well- friskier.  This is much more apparent in the chickens, because with the melting snow they are everywhere these days and because we have quite a few males and females.

Which seems to be creating a bit of a problem for our Newfoundland.  Apparently Thora has appointed herself Chaperone of All Chicken Interactions and has decided that there should be no chicken touching whatsoever.  None.  Zip.  Zilch.  All chickens should be at least a foot away from each other at any given point in time.  She hasn't quite broken out the ruler to enforce this law, but she has been seen diving headfirst into the chickens to separate any who might look particularly...amorous. 

This does not bode well for our hope of baby chicks this spring. 

Still here

I promise we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  The farm is still intact, although alternating between snow, slush, and 50 degree weather that makes us almost hopeful that spring will eventually come again. 

The sad news this week is that The Nose threw our very first lambs on Tuesday.  Sad, however, because they were both stillborn.  While it was not a great way to start our lambing season, it wasn't entirely unexpected, as she and her sister did not have good pregnancies last year either (one was either not bred or miscarried her lamb early on and the other abandoned Sweet Pea, leaving her to be bottlefed).  We had wanted to give them one more chance; however, she will likely not be bred again.  We're still waiting to see how Fathead does with her pregnancy but are trying to be realistic in our expectations.  Sometimes ewes just aren't good mothers.  It's a sad but very real truth when dealing with animals.

But even though we had some bad luck with the twins, I have to say it's difficult to be too hard on any mother that gave us this cutie-pie:

Sweet Pea, cozying up to Adam for chin scritches

In happier news, the CVM girls are definately getting bigger, so we're very hopeful for lambs in about a month or so:



Early Spring?

Here at Skirted Fleece we love animals.

All animals.

Even the lying, dirty rotten, seriously misguided groundhogs. 

Ice Ice Baby

So I was all ready to go to work today, when I rolled out onto the porch and saw this:

That would be my ramp coated in ice.  (That would also be a newfie looking suspiciously at the ice)

As this plans to keep up all day, not only am I home bound but also totally house bound (no visiting the animals for me) so here are some warmer and fuzzier things to brighten your day.

1.   A few weeks Adam discovered that Nutsy, our female turkey, had taken over one of the hens' nests and was trying (unsuccessfully) to hatch baby turkeys out of chicken eggs.  Thankfully, she's now started to lay eggs of her own.  I have to say I was kind of shocked at how much bigger turkey eggs are than the chicken eggs.

In other news, the chickens have turned into a small egg laying factory and we're averaging about five eggs a day.  A DAY.  We really need some good egg recipes.

Homemade egg pasta rocks, by the way.  And uses five eggs per batch.

2.  The bunny girls all got groomed yesterday, so Adam took a few bunny pictures as they were hopping around the house.

3.  Saturday we visited the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.  This is a yearly tradition for us and some of our friends.  It's pretty amazing to see all the animals and the crafts and the vendors- and the food.  Adam would want me to remind you about the food.  We didn't take any pictures, but there are some really great ones on the Farm Show website, so check them out and if you get the chance to go, please do.  It's wonderful to see so many different ways agriculture is thriving in this day and age.

4.  A few weeks ago, the Damascus Township Sewage Enforcement Officer turned to the Department of Environmental Protection to help come up with a water plan for the fiber mill.  This morning I heard from our DEP officer and had a lovely conversation that I'm hoping will continue to move things along!

Yaks in the snow

For the first time this winter, we're actually getting real snow.  Enough that snow shoveling is inevitable, the sheep are hunkered down, the chickens refuse to leave the barn and the yaks are having their heyday. 

The yaks are really in their element when the weather gets cold, so we're expecting a day full of yak zoomies and mock fights.  Not a bad way to spend a Friday.

The Great Naming

So we finally settled on names for sheep.  This took a shamefully long time.  Really, I think it's a sign that Adam and I probably shouldn't have children, as they would be halfway through grade school before we could agree on what to call them. 
But anway. 

Presenting:

This is Dutchess, who is the biggest CVM we have.  She's also In Charge of the flock.

Contessa.  We love the half moon on her nose. 

Princess, the sweetest girl.

Milady, our quietest girl.  She's the most shy of the bunch.

New Year's pictures

Happy New Year from Skirted Fleece!

Trigger

Octavia

Eirene

Gaia

Niobe

Loki

Sweet Pea