Spring is nearly here, and I for one am ready for it. I enjoy winter and all, but this year it’s gone on too long. I think my sentiments on this derived from the fact that last summer was so overcast and rainy – it feels as though it has been winter for about 18 months now. Enough of skiing, knitting and Hygge; let’s get going with the spring! That said, the fact that the snow and the temps in…
The ducks have officially started molting, the period of time in which they replace their feathers. There are feathers EVERYWHERE. It looks like a down comforter was ripped to bits out there. The ducks themselves are looking pretty haggard. What feathers they do have are misshapen and sticking out at odd angles. I’m looking forward to this being over. This also means that they have temporarily ceased laying… the protein and the energy that it takes to grow new feathers…
Perhaps you’ve noticed we’ve been quiet for almost 2 weeks now. Well, that would be the fact that we spent 7 days as staff members for CAMPS, a retreat for high school students. I’ll post about it later, for now I’ll post about what happened while we were away. Pepper somehow lost her collar. This made it difficult for our goatsitter to milk, as to do so we clip the collar to a stanchion to keep her still. Fortunately, a…
I don’t think I’ve mentioned enough about how rainy the summer has been around here. Seriously, all we’ve had is rain. It’s been so overcast that our goats went into heat this week. This is quite early; most goats are seasonal breeders and don’t start cycling for another month yet. I’m no expect on caprine endocrinology, but if I had to wager a guess it’s because there’s been so little sun due to cloud cover that their bodies think it’s…
This weather has been terrible for our garden! We’ve had rain (and lots of it) virtually every day, which has precluded planting, tilling, digging, etc. Fortunately, this weather IS good for another kind of cultivation: pomology. The blueberry bushes are bursting at the seams with little green berries that will be ready come July. Excessive spring rains are great for all sorts of fruiting plants. If I’d had any way of predicting what the weather would have been like this…