Missing Willow Farm

Taking a breather from the flurry of activity when a new bale of hay is put out, Beatrice takes a moment to say hello.

A few months ago we transplanted some resilient potato plants that came up after our potato bed was plowed under.  They went into the new raised bed inside our greenhouse.  Since we shut down the greenhouse heater a few weeks ago, the frigid weather finally did the plants in.  Luckily, there were potatoes under the frozen plants.  We plan to dig the remaining beets and rutabagas for our holiday meal.

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Our Christmas tree kind of encroached on Jenna’s indoor space, aka her kennel.  She’s practically living under the tree right now.  She’s not allowed to run around the house because my husband is allergic to dogs so she relaxes in there when it’s too hot or cold to be outside.  I’m sure she’ll enjoy the festivities on Christmas morning, she has a front row seat!

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Our pond is spring fed so it takes a long spell of frigid weather for it to freeze.  We’ve had that spell, plus an inch of sleet.  What’s weird is there is a round spot near the center that didn’t freeze.   It’s not the deepest part of the pond right there off the dock.  Did some ducks spend the night there paddling around, keeping that spot from freezing or did an alien spacecraft beam up some of our catfish in the middle of the night?  It’s a mystery.

The morning routine…  Milos and FiFi waiting at the pasture gate for us to come in and give them breakfast and some affection.  They walk on either side of me as my escort to the barn.   Those dogs are so big I can pet their backs while we’re walking without bending over.  Jenna waits patiently to be let into the pasture so she can wrangle up some sheep.

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Our good friend and shepherd came over to pick up his handsome ram, 802, and brought his portable ultrasound to do pregnancy checks on the flock and herd (flerd?).  The sheep were surprisingly calm about it.  They closed their eyes either to signify “Hey, let me relax a bit”, or, “If I close my eyes tight maybe this nightmare will go away!”.  My husband has become expert at putting a 150 pound sheep on her rear, but the goats don’t want any part of being ‘sat down’.  They were all about the kicking and fussing.   You can see that Jenna was ready to ‘help’ in any way we asked her to.  That’s her working stance.  She was secretly hoping we’d ask her to nip one.  We didn’t.  Maybe next time, Jenna.   The outcome of this rainy day exercise was that the ultrasound tool needed a better battery charge so we’re planning to try it again, so no results …yet.