Missing Willow Farm

An otter has discovered our pond is full of fish.  Grrrr.  He’s kind of a big one, too.  We’ll need to encourage him to relocate, and hope he doesn’t tell his friends about his tasty find.

For homemade cinnamon rolls!  Gotta start a diet after the holidays…

This guy showed up on our back deck this morning when we were opening presents.  His sibling was lurking in our woods.  We were able to use treats to catch him and read his tag.  Called his owner who said “Oh don’t worry, they’ll come home soon”.  Sigh.  We’ll just enjoy our visit in the meantime.  Merry Christmas.

My friend Lora and I decorated sugar and gingerbread cookies this weekend.  She’s just an amazing baker.  We met in her cookie decorating class a few years ago.  She’s a great teacher!

Our critters get excited when a new hay bale appears in their feeder.  It’s a bit of a chore to get it in place.  We have to put everyone up in the barn to keep them safe away from the tractor, and from a few hundred pounds of hay as it drops into the feeder.  Isn’t Lizzie getting so big?

This little guy was born yesterday.  He spent his first night in the nursery pen in our big barn with mama so they can bond.  They’re both out and about with the flock today in the bright sunshine.   She won’t let him out of her sight.

Lizzie’s got her own pasture for a bit.  We moved her over to our chicken pasture away from our lambs.  Since she’s still a puppy, she plays too rough with the little ones.   It’s just across the driveway from our big pasture so she’s still a presence should any predators come calling.  I don’t think we’ll lose any chickens this winter to raccoons!

We have an early start on lambing this year.   It’s usually a goat who goes first (and we have a couple of goats who look like they’re about to explode!)  This little ram is a cutie.  I’ll try to get a close-up photo in a day or two if mama will let me.

Giving vaccinations and hoof trimming is hard work!  We came up with a genius plan to herd everyone into the tractor bay of our big barn and move them one by one into the adjacent feed room for health checks.  From there, they were passed through into the large section of the barn.  Normally we do this in their feeding pen and have to  mark each one when done to make sure we don’t double up on anything.  It was warm, well lit and cozy in the feed room, with shelves to keep our gear on.   A good solution.