This year was meant with much struggle and some loss. We said goodbye to "Jax" our beautiful black Alpaca. When we got him he was much older than we thought, so his brief life was spent happy here.
We also lost our old Llama, "Fergus" that we had rescued when he was very old. He also lived here for a short time... 
Our "Sweetie" retired off with her sons on a farm not far from here. We get periodic e-mails showing her happy and grazing away with her "boys"...
But one of the saddest goodbyes was my Grandmother who passed away at 90 years of age, our cat "Sophia", "Scar" our whether and our old goat "Phoebe" who passed away last week at the old age of 14! She was born here 14 years ago to her mom "Daisy". She was the beginning of our farm. We have come full circle with life and death here....So as we begin another year here on the farm we move forward never forgetting our old friends and all that they brought to the farm and to our lives...
One of the biggest things when we know a big winter storm is coming is to make sure our animals are prepared and safe. We woke this morning to listen to the news and realized that the storm they were predicting is bigger than they thought. The track could have gone either way and it just happens to be the worse case senario. In the picture above a few of our Alpacas and "Freddie" the sheep (who thinks he's an Alpaca) peek out of their barn...
In this picture to the right, it is "Autumn's" first snow and she was having a blast playing in it today. I caught her just as she looked at me with a "snow mustache", she is just too cute for words. She was like a big kid for Christmas, each toy was the best one ever!
Here in the picture to the left, our Olde English "Baby doll" Southdown sheep, already snow covered. They did eventually go into their barn and get out of the storm, I was worried because the two on the right , "Rose" on top right and "Belle" in the bottom of the pic are hopefully bred so I don't want them to have any stress at all. Check out the picture though, see the snowfakes?
And last are the chickens snug as a bug in their coop with a nice heat lamp to keep them warm and cozy. Today they layed more eggs than they have been! I guess they were bored from the storm. So hopefully they will ride out the storm and we will dig them out tomorrow under 2 feet of snow!
Good morning everyone! To the left is my favorite ornament of all time! I have had it for years, my little Gingerbread man tree.
As I woke up this morning I went out to the yard and hung stranded cranberries, dried oranges and apples, filled the bird feeders and suets, all as a gift to our wildlife. To the right is our "Wild Tree". Ever since my kids were young we always did this as a tradition on the Winter Solstice morning to honor our wild friends. So enjoy the day, this first day of Winter, as we begin to go inside, take a moment to remember our wild ones and leave them a gift.
Well our sheep "Belle" and "Rose" are home from their dates with Liz's rams from "Short and Sweet Farm", no worse for wear. We picked them up yesterday and Tim was worried because of the almost hour long ride home that they would be cold, so the picture on the left is of them loaded in their crates with thick quilts wrapped around to protect them from the cold.
The picture to the right here is "Charlie", an Olde English "Babydoll" Southdown ram that was bred to "Rose". He is a bit smaller than she is, she is a big solid gal that takes after her father. As you can see he is white and has a beautiful open face. So I am hoping for many of his traits to come through in the lambs.
This is "Hank" who was bred to "Belle", he is also a white ram and I am wishing for a nice healthy white ewe this year, I am so keeping my fingers crossed. Breeding both girls to white rams should give me a better chance but one never knows. Last year our ewes each had a black and white lamb each!
Here are the girls after we arrived home having a snack and happy to be out of those cages and off the back of the truck. "Rose" is on the left and "Belle" is on the right. They seemed happy to be home and "Belle's" lamb "Lily" from this year was very happy to see her mom and carried on until she could get onto the other side to be with them. Welcome home "girls" and thank you Liz for taking good care of them. They are fat and healthy for sure!
This year was meant with much struggle and some loss. We said goodbye to "Jax" our beautiful black Alpaca. When we got him he was much older than we thought, so his brief life was spent happy here.
We also lost our old Llama, "Fergus" that we had rescued when he was very old. He also lived here for a short time... 
Our "Sweetie" retired off with her sons on a farm not far from here. We get periodic e-mails showing her happy and grazing away with her "boys"...
But one of the saddest goodbyes was my Grandmother who passed away at 90 years of age, our cat "Sophia", "Scar" our whether and our old goat "Phoebe" who passed away last week at the old age of 14! She was born here 14 years ago to her mom "Daisy". She was the beginning of our farm. We have come full circle with life and death here....So as we begin another year here on the farm we move forward never forgetting our old friends and all that they brought to the farm and to our lives...
