Ending a Year and a Decade...

I thought long and hard about this year end post. How do you look through hundreds of pictures and pick ones that are significant to a whole decade? How do you mark 10 years of a journey and a year that was so memorable with an end that was a dream come true? You don't! 

This year was a record year for the farm. We can only go up from here! Hard work, listening to what people want and working at it was our reward. So thank you to all that support us, help us and are that voice of encouragement! As we go into a new year and decade we look forward to the possibilities ahead not only on the farm but in our lives.

This year we said farewell to a lot of good friends who passed on. It was hard to say goodbye to those that have crossed our paths and touched out hearts.

We also had family come into our lives that was my dream! So farewell 2019, the past decade and we look towards the future with excitement.

Thank You all from Tim and Dawn!

Happy New Year!

The good and the bad on the bee front

Today in Connecticut we had close to 60 degree days, so it was time to get outside and take a look at the hives! As I suspected Hive 3 was a die out. There were small clusters of bees which looked like they stupidly clustered, exhausted food in those areas and died. The bottom box was full of honey while the center medium was empty but the top medium was also full of honey. I hate when bees are just stupid.

These were the small clusters of bees I found, many of them throughout.

Hive 4 was buzzing about with bees. This was a hive that went into fall with what I thought was weak but I guess not. 

Frames pulled out of Hive 3 looked like this which were moved over to Hive 4 in hopes they do well and get through winter. Starvation is one their number one causes of death as well as mites. These hive were aggressively treated in the fall and I saw no visible signs upon inspection.

Rest well Hive 4 until Spring!

Why didn't I think of this before?

Now that the holidays are behind us, it was back to work as usual around here catching up on some much needed tasks. Today's much needed task was Alpaca worming! As I was thinking about it and the dread that comes over catching each one of them was daunting. I decided to make it easier and I can't believe I never thought of this before!

I measured out the worming meds and placed it on some grain...

I then made a ball around the wormer and...

fed one to each alpaca without getting kicked or thrown about! It is always wonderful when we make life just a little easier for ourselves! 

Winter Solstice Blessings

As we end Autumn, begin Winter and begin our journey back to light we look at our blessings. Today, on this first day of Winter, our chickens gave us an egg after a long break. We look towards hope and the promise of life. Happy Yule everyone! 

First snow is scary stuff!

Our first snow is underway and for the Spring chicks it was scary stuff. They would not step in it, they jumped from thing to thing in the coop until they got to the ramp. At first I wasn't sure what was wrong with them but then I figured it out.

This poor Buff Orphington hen absolutely would not step on the snow and then she looked back at it as if it was lava in the coop! It was quite comical to watch as they maneuvered it. When we wake up tomorrow we are supposed to have at least a 1/2 a foot, this should get interesting.

They are also finding interesting ways to keep warm! As we move into winter, these young chicks are on a learning curve!