Budding, Blooming, Fruiting…

Blooming Columbine…

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Red Peony bud

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Almost ripe…

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Cinamon Basil Blossom

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Bellah keeping cool in the shady daisies...

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Iris

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Peony with ants

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Little Apples...

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At Last…

So whether it was all the jostling on Saturday or whether it was just her time Esja decided to finally lamb last night at about 9:00 to a large, single, black grey ewe lamb weighing 10 lbs. 6 oz. (average birth weight for Icelandic Sheep is between 6-8lbs) .  She was well worth the wait.  Tori has had the responsibility of feeding and watering her and reporting any changes,  so yesterday after rushing through morning chores before church Tori told me she thought she would lamb later on that day.

(Sorry the barn pictures are a bit fuzzy and funky!)

Esja hours before birth...

  So throughout the day we kept an eye on her and she went ahead and lambed when we were busy working in the garden so we missed the grand entrance, but that’s ok.  So Tori was right and turning into quite the little shepherdess!  Esja is a first time mom and we were a little worried how she would do as she is really shy and bit flighty but she is doing wonderfully!  When we checked on her last night she was busily cleaning up  her lamb and standing to let her nurse.  We’ll probably keep them in the jug for the rest of the week until the lamb is a little larger before turning them out on pasture with the rest of the flock as we’ve had eagles and hawks and a pesky fox that has been enjoying chicken breakfasts and probably wouldn’t mind a tasty lamb, all visiting us daily.

Briar the newest addition...

Esja with her new lamb Briar...

Getting a quick snack...

The mountains socked in today...

On Sunday the weather was just right…cool enough to wear a long sleeved shirt but warm enough to wear sandals.  And then in the middle of night I heard the rain tapping down on the roof and was still raining when we went up to do chores.  So far we have gotten 4/10th’s of an inch of rain that we have badly needed.  The pasture has been looking a bit stressed and this is perking it up nicely.

Bellah by the time we got back to the house...

Final count: 10 ewe lambs to 9 ram lambs

Dogs Busy at Play…

Here’s a recent picture of Dugur (our Great Pyrenees LGD) and Bellah (our blue merle Australian Shepherd)together…

Dugur and Bellah

 

See how much Dugur has grown in the last couple of months…

Dugur and Bellah in January

 

 Dugur will wait at his spot in the pasture every morning for Bellah  to come up in the morning with me to do chores.  The two goof balls rough house and chase one another until one or the other has had enough and comes up to the barn to check what’s going on up there. 

They were too funny playing together today…

Playing together…

 

Dugur catching some air...

 

Yikes...

And Sawyer took the sky picture today, what do you think…

Possible thunder boomers today?

Friday Farm Daze…

Catching up on the week…

 

Sisters and best friends...

 

The making of Smores...

The start to a beautiful thing...

 

Zayne and Dash hanging out...

 

A brief glimpse of the sun...

 

Enjoying their new freedom...

 

Sawyer and Hayden going through the slush...

Dugur keeping his vigilant watch...

Mom's are fun jungle gyms...

Tori's Indian Runner Duck...

Friday Farm Daze…

Catching up on the week…

Sawyer...

 

Rechristened Butterscotch...

Grey Badgerface Icelandic Sheep in need of shearing…

Our Australian Shepherd, Bellah's beautiful eyes...

Girls and Butterscotch...

 

Spring underway...

 

Busy bees...

Speckled Sussex feathers...

Dugur (Great Pyrenees) and Hayden and Garrett...

Bellah…

“If you take a dog which is starving and feed him and make him prosperous, that dog will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a dog and a man.”

– Mark Twain

Mark and Bellah on a snowy day.

Bellah Blue is our blue merle Australian Shepherd and she has quite a  personality.  She is a bit ADHD and is constantly on the move.  Which is a good thing, to keep up with this crew!  She is Mark’s dog, but she spends most of her time with HER kids, herding them here and there and even sleeping with them. 

Bellah Blue

 Before buying a pet consider adoption.  We adopted Bellah from  http://www.aussierescuenw.org/INWR.htm .  She was two years old when we adopted her and she has been such a great addition to our family. 

Egg Count:

         

      1