Sprung
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 4:10PM
[Lisa Rae]

Snow is melting back quickly now.  It's freezing hard at night still, but nearly every day hits 40 degrees.  Bare spots on the paths are turning to mud in the sunshine, and all the animals are ranging out.  We made it through another winter!

My garlic bed is melted up, and the strawberries are cleared off too.  The green onions and chives are starting to poke up through their mulch and nearly all the roofs have slid their snow to the ground.

The inbetween season is basically here, though we're still running the snowmachine for now.  The four-wheeler needs a bit of TLC but it's ready to take over when the bare spots get too long.

I brought home a piglet the other day.  A friend in Anchorage said someone released it into her buddy's airplane hangar as an April Fool's joke.  So now Arnold, a Hampshire sow, is hanging out with our sheep and goats.

And I was able to sell a bunch of 2nd year hens and the surplus guinea roosters to a Girdwoodian for an April Fool's joke of his own.  He planned to butcher them after the joke played out.

Oliver, the Romney ram that I sheared last week, is finally starting to bear weight on his right hind... just after I reluctantly listed him on Craigslist for butcher.   Therefore, he is granted a reprieve, and I'm psyched to be able to keep him.

A friend is going to sell us an Icelandic ewe who is fresh in milk, so I'm hoping that soon I can begin experimenting with sheep milk for my weekly feta offerings.

And on other fronts,  Sherry the Alpine doe is getting ready to kid.  Her udder is full and her bottom is soft.  She's starting to separate herself from the other goats, and I think her time is close.  According to her kidding dates, she's 4 days overdue... but I think she's right on schedule.

I came home from a long day of deliveries yesterday, so grateful that my family is home.  They did all the chores last night and I hit the hay early.  I either need to switch up the delivery schedule or streamline it further, because Wednesday's are too long- especially if I have the toddler in tow.

Blah, blah, blah... that is what is going on around here.  Now back out to the sunshine for me!

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