Fitting the Puzzle Together

Yesterday the warmth began to melt a little snow, then the water began to make a lot of mist then a lot of fog, then we lost the horizon.  Gone. 

I thought  that today I would have a little round up of what’s happening so we can get the next few months in order. Kind of.  At least until another spanner is throw into the works. But you know how I feel about problems. The best thing about problems is when you know what the problem is. Then you can say That is MY problem so you can go about fixing it. Yesterday had no big problems. Nice.

Sheila’s midwife came to visit in her little van yesterday and Sheila has had her dose of the hormone that has the best chance of bringing her into heat. Now we wait with bated breath (how does one bait a breath? with a carrot? a wriggling worm?). Well, my breath is surely bated. My Shakespeare did a lot of that bating (holding back) our breaths.  By the weekend we will know if Sheila’s fertility is going to come out to play.

The milking machine came yesterday evening. The man in a big truck parked at the end of our drive, then called  on the telephone and said,  Are you there?  He could see nothing. Am I in the right place. Is there a place here?

We looked up the drive. We could see nothing too.  Nothing at all.  So John told me to watch the dinner then zoomed down on the tractor to see if in fact there was a big truck parked at the end of the drive with my new milking machine on the back.

There was. So he came back and took the red truck down there and collected my milking machine from the big truck.   He said thank you very much to the delivery man and Drive carefully. All the melted snow was  freezing solid again. Not a good night to be on the roads.

Yesterday I spent all my free time chipping away at slowly thawing barn floors.  The milking parlour has been used as a dining hall for cows all winter and needs a thorough clean, scrub and whitewash.  Yesterday’s warm weather gave me a good start.

 It was so warm that Marcel came out to the barn with me. Look behind Mama; can you see that little pen, I popped him in there and he ran about making a lot of noise, chewing on stuff and attracted a lot of sniffing and snuffling attention from Mama. While Boo spend the entire time with his nose jammed between two boards making sure he did not get lost.  Later I took Marcel back inside to his crate and he lay down and slept with great relief. 

Bees: The Italian Bees are up to date with their food and the Russian bees are due May 12. Their new super has arrived and I have to clean base boards and lids and make two more supers full  of frames for both hives to grow into.

Daisy is due March 14.

Queenie is due April 04. So I have to have one big pen entirely clean and ready for calving. 

100 Lavender plants are due April 9. These are the first big flower crops to make the essential oils. Also I have a great many wild flower seeds (including milkweed seeds)  to plant down by the creek that is really a ditch. We need a lot of flowers for bees and the monarchs.

If, with a good deal of luck, we are able to get Sheila pregnant there may be piglets sometime in June. I will shift her across to the pig pen today. They say that shifting a pig can sometimes help them come into heat too and it is time she was back on the east side. The sunroom pen must be cleaned and got ready for Daisy’s calf.

But for today we have very high winds, snow melting and then ice and freezing rain, snow flurries and another good day of work ahead. But still above freezing. Then the temperatures take a dive again.

But that’s OK.We can see what is ahead and  I am making good inroads into getting the barn ready for spring. (Whenever it may show its face) So I am pleased.

I hope you have a lovely day. Today’s sunrise is 6.37.  Days are getting longer.

Your friend on the farm,

celi