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Hi Everyone,
I have to admit that February is my most favorite month of the year. If we could have twelve February’s, I would be happy---Florida February’s that is! Spring is so much in the air-----I can taste it in the garden through the green onions. When so many customers ordered green onions last week, I just knew that spring was arriving. I can feel it in the air as the temperatures have been cool in the morning and balmy in the afternoon---which calls for short sleeves and not a lot of layers and coats. I can see it in the garden as the yellow daffodils and white narcissus are blooming. Then I can also see it in other people’s yards where the redbuds and tulip poplars are blooming. Down by the river I even saw the little white lily’s in bloom today. I can hear it in the song of the robin, and all the other singing birds. I can smell it in the red roses blooming by our house, and the Florida narcissus blooming in the garden. Yes, spring is in the air, and all my senses are enjoying it.
Monday morning bright and early my friend Lydia arrived to spend the week with us---her purpose? She wanted to finish painting on the little people barn. She is a very detailed person, and an excellent artist. As soon as breakfast was over and the lambs fed, Lydia pulled out her paintbrushes and paints and took a seat beside the little barn and painted until lunch. Then she stopped for lunch and the afternoon lamb feeding and then went back to painting until around 6:00 when Mom or I would tell her it was time to quit. Lydia did this for five days, and come Saturday morning she finished up the third little chick and a barn rat. She was not done with her painting yet though, for she still has other ideas of what to paint (like some grass around the pigs feet), but her time was up and at 10:45 she was off to a birthday party for her niece and nephew. She hopes to come back in a few weeks to finish—and have some fun on the farm besides painting. If you would like to see just what fun we have been having with this little people barn, and get a glimpse at Lydia’s painting skills, you can go to our website at www.shepherdshillfarm.weebly.com and look on the “Fun on the Farm” page. You will find a slide show of pictures of building the little barn and painting it.
While I might have spent many hours sitting in the garage with Lydia, I still had other things that needed to be done. There were eggs to wash one day, and paperwork to be done another day. Tuesday afternoon I had a list of things that I needed to get done. Lydia even helped me prioritize them so that I could get them all done---fold clothes, do the dishes, practice my piano, put together the orders for the Jacksonville delivery, etc. Well, after I did the dishes, I stopped by the computer to check on something, and saw an email from Tallahassee. We are trying to get our Poultry Exemption License. While other farmers have had no trouble---I have had tons of trouble. I tried to make the payment that they needed, for all the paperwork has been done. Alas though, my account just didn’t have the “payment” button on it. I called Tallahassee, and spent 30 minutes on hold before I actually got to talk to someone. She emailed me the paperwork I needed, and said that I would just have to down load it to my computer, and then upload it to the internet. Well, wisdom left me there, and I never could figure that out. At 4:30 I decided to quit, and just print the papers and mail in a check. I spent about 30 minutes trying to accomplish some of the other things on my list. Then at 5:00 I grabbed my harvesting basket and headed to the garden. I had about seven orders for green onions. It was so calm and relaxing, that I took time first to just weed in the onion bed. Then I harvested the onions and picked some beets and some rutabagas for dinner. I grabbed a bucket and put my weeds in them, then headed to the garden sink to wash up all my produce. All the stress of the afternoon washed down the sink with all the dirt from the veggies. As I stood there I could hear the birds singing, feel the warmth of the air, and just enjoyed the peace of the garden. Life was good!
In the milking herd we have had a new kid on the block. Two-year old Decci was finally ready to have her first date with the bull—Flag. After we dehorned her, we moved her out of the heifer field, and in with the milking herd. Usually our heifers are never handled until the day they deliver their first calf---and then we have the fun of bringing an untamed cow into the milking parlor so that we can milk her. This time I wanted to make sure that Decci was still getting her feed (alfalfa pellets) every day. So the first day we gave her a bucket of feed in the field. Then the second day we gave it to her on the concrete, then we moved it in front of the milking parlor. After that, we made her step into the parlor while I held the bucket. A few days later I dumped the feed into the trough, and disappeared into the feed room----and she came all the way in. The next day I tied her in, and brushed her down. We are quite pleased with her progress, and have found her very sweet and calm. I can pet her all over, and she doesn’t care.
Wednesday afternoon we had help feeding the bottle lambs. Our friend Emily, (who is Lydia’s sister), had two children with a birthday on Wednesday. Emily thought that her children would enjoy feeding the lambs---and they did. We have five bottle lambs, and little Freckles is a pretty slow drinker. Rueben had the job of feeding Freckles. As soon as the other lambs are done with their bottles, they like to go and try to push Freckles off of her bottle. So, the other four children were each given a lamb to hold until Freckles was done. When Freckles had enough milk, there was about an inch left in the bottle. So we told the children that they could let go of their lambs—and they all ran toward Reuben to get their dibs on the remaining milk. It was so cute to see five little lambs climbing all over Reuben and into his lap trying to get to the bottle.
Last week I got to spend a lot of time being Lydia’s side kick. While I cannot paint, I can encourage and give little advice here and there. Best of all though, we just got to spend time visiting. Sometimes I sat and planned our spring garden, sharing all my ideas with her. We had fun just spending time as friends. Even though I couldn’t help paint on the little people barn, I did find one project on it that I could do. We wanted a weathervane for the top of the barn---but our goal is to spend very little money (so far just paint and hinges, for the rest was built out of pallets that we have a stash of). We had some sheet metal and I grabbed some stencils and traced them out. Then I grabbed the tin snips and began cutting. My hands are very small, and that was no easy task using those tin snips. The N and the W cut out very easy, but the E and the S were very hard. At one point I gave up and called the local Metal Masters to see how much it would cost to have them cut me out an N, W, E, and S. It was $5 a letter. They even said that they could just make us a weather vane---for a pretty penny I am sure. Then Papa came to the rescue, and with determination he cut out the E and the S. We got an idea to add a rooster to the top of the weathervane. Mom drew it out, and then traced it on the metal and I cut it out. Now we have to figure out how to weld it all together. In the evenings when painting was set aside, Lydia and I had fun together. One night while feeding the lambs, we got the giggles so bad that we were gasping for air. We even walked out to the sheep barn by flashlight to see the newest little lambs. Another night we played duets together on the piano. We both play piano, and have taught piano lessons. Yes, we had a lot of fun.
Saturday was truly my catch up day to get everything done that I had kept putting off---inputting receipts on the computer, updating the website, folding the laundry, and answering emails. I also got to practice my piano some more. My brother came over and he and Mom headed south to buy him a new (used) car. I got a little concerned as they were fixing to leave at 12:30 and Papa was fixing to leave at 1:00 for the Gainesville delivery---for the lambs get fed at 2:00 every day. I had no idea how I was going to feed all five lambs by myself. Mom came to the rescue by saying that I could feed them an hour early, and Papa could help me---and he could help me bring the cows in from the green field. I am glad that he helped, for they didn’t want to come out.
That was my week, and it was a lot of fun. With the warmer weather and the greener grass, the cows have been giving more milk---which is such a blessing as the demand grows in the spring. Tell me though---if you could have a pet bird, what kind would it be? I would have one of the Flycatchers. They are so little and cute, and they love to eat flies. It is adorable to see them under the belly of a cow, jumping up and eating the flies off of their bellies.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare