Early Spring

It is getting warmer, the air smells sweet, and there is green popping up all over.  The chickens are laying eggs and the alpacas are very excited about all the new grass.  Kitty is losing her winter coat and Ember and Piper love mud.

Sage flower:

A dozen regular eggs and one shaped like a little pear:

First asparagus harvest!

The alpacas were enjoying the sun, the green, and the flowers:

Piper is getting bigger, but still pretty sits like a dumpling:

Dogs and alpaca under the plum blossom:

Ember takes good care of Piper:

Piper loves water so much:

Ember loves sunbathing:

Sleeping ladybugs hidden in the fir branches:

Adventure alpacas looking for the best grass:

Dove nest:

Trillium:

The forest floor starting to come to life again:

Some big fallen trees after the snows:

Hello frog!

The stream isn't rushing furiously like it does right after the snow melts, but it's quite full:

Happy water dog:

Happy running dog:

Looking down from the south edge of our farm:

You do you, beautiful tulip.  I love your bendy stem:

Egg oddities:

The big egg at first looked like it had one regular yolk and one white yolk:

But the white yolk was another egg forming inside the first!  With another egg inside that one!

Bees and blooms:

Ladybugs maintaining their population:

Yum!

Winter's End

It isn't quite spring yet, but the cold of winter has mostly passed.  The days aren't feeling quite so short and we are seeing signs that it won't be long until life o the farm is greener and warmer.

The alpacas love the short fresh grass this time of year:

This is a flock of swans that I happened to see fly overhead:

Paco was especially stubborn this evening and didn't want to go back to pasture for bedtime.  Ember eventually convinced him to move along:

Ember really wants to be friends with Kitty and lick her head:

Piper finds our walks exhausting and is often eager to go back inside:

Sunsets are moving farther to the north but they still put on beautiful show:

Puppy love:

I'm not sure how this mouse got into the chicken food bucket, but it seemed pretty happy in there and was not eager to leave:

Sometimes when the sky is clear the hills in the distance look very close:

The moon was especially lovely well into this blue sky day:

Piper definitely seems to enjoy the extra sunshine:

Winter Came After All!

By halfway through February it seemed as if we were going to have a very mild winter.  We had almost lost hope for having more than a dusting of snow.  And then it got cold, and rain in the forecast became snow, and down it came for several days.  Everything settled into winter after all and it felt so very right.  We ended up with probably 6 - 8 inches in some places, and it has been over a week since we have seen the ground without snow cover.  I think we are probably through the real snow now as the cold seems to have broken, but there are still some flakes in the forecast for the next week, so we'll see.  Either way, we love the snow and are so happy that winter came after all!

Meet Piper

We really are just a two dog kind of family.  And Ember couldn't be happier about our new addition.  We wholeheartedly agree.  Meet Piper.

Year End 2017

It's already the very end of the year.  Tree season was a pleasure as always, and Christmas Eve brought a joyful surprise.  We were treated to a dusting of a couple inches of snow, just enough for a little magic (and for several cars to get stuck on the hill). 

It was Ember's first snow and she was thrilled.  The alpacas are not fans of snow and even though this is their ninth or tenth winter, the always seem a little perplexed by it.  This video does a pretty good job at capturing the dog/alpaca antics.  Sometimes the alpacas play really well with Ember, but they really just weren't feeling it with all that cold white stuff falling from the sky:

And one final sunset shot as we get ready to bid farewell to another year and look forward to the next: