The best birthday presents!

The youngsters are always fun to watch, and always hard to capture with the camera. They are at the bouncy silly stage where I could just sit out there and watch them all day!

Spring rain

Baby trees in white protective sleeves are sprouting out the top in their third year. River birch trees we planted several years ago to the right, and blossoming apple tree that was here long before we came to town is on the far right.

New leaves are sprouting on the trees, the apple blossoms have opened, dandelions too. Good thing I picked all the dandelions I need to make my dandelion oil salve before the rain, and before The Husband mowed yesterday.

Today we are getting some of that rain that has been soaking South Jersey for awhile, but rain is good. Rain makes the long awaited green even greener.

A few weeks ago we bought some cedar flower boxes from a guy on Craig's List. I finally got around to installing them on the front porch yesterday. The flowers are from Sweeney's Nursery. They are getting plenty of water, now all they need is some dirt so I can get them planted.

These rainy days are not good for dog walking, but we did it anyway. They are good for napping...until the cat comes in and spoils everything!

Cute baby goat videos to follow, as soon as I have time to process them. One is up on my facebook page if you want to go find it. :)

Not much but something

Mikey

Too late to post anything, and don't have any good pics of the new kids yet, but what the hey!

7 goat kids total. The first, Ray Davies, is from Johnny Cash, the stud man who we thought wasn't up to the task, but he was. He sired Ray Davies, and the 2 kids that we lost with Lucille.

Johnny Cash

The remaining 6, all boy/girl pairs from Blossom, then Rita, then Rosie, were sired by Mikey, the rent-a-stud who was all Boer, a meat goat. You can see the difference in their shape. Ray is all legs and all white. The other 6 are all stocky with varying combinations of white and brown.

Susan Sontag and her son, Ray Davies 

And, since the weather has finally started to feel like spring, I am working on the back porch. Working on decorating it, and working on sitting on it. We had our first backyard barbecue tonight. Nothing special, hot dogs, hamburgers, rice and beans.

Dressing up the back porch. Large framed apple poster from B&E was water-damaged in the basement,
but it looks great out here.

Glimmerglass Vodka bottles from Cooperstown Distillery, and some random roundy bottle with tiny lights

I think we're all done!

Rita with her just born boy and girl

Rita's 2 today, hanging out under the Christmas tree.

I think all of the goat mamas have succeeded in pushing out their adorable healthy little kids. We now have 7 little monsters all enjoying the spring weather and green grass that magically appeared in time for their arrival. The first little guy is eager for them to get playful and bouncy!

I noticed that Rita, in the first pic, had just given birth while I was out walking Cyrus yesterday.

Then Rosie gave us a boy and a girl this morning at around 8:30. If you don't want to see the very newly born kids, don't scroll past the first big pic of her.

Rosie with her boy and girl just after she cleaned them up

Rosie's second, a girl

Rosie's first, a boy

Free goat kisses at Lester's Flat

If goat yoga is a thing, maybe goat kissing can be a thing too! You can give and/or receive kisses from baby goats here. No charge.

I think you have started a new trend, Tara!

2 more kids in the house...well not really in the house...

We have been waiting, and waiting, and finally 2 more little ones appeared this morning. The Husband found one, maybe 10 minutes old. He went around the side of the barn to fill the water buckets and came back to find number 2. It is always a relief when the birth goes so easily, but also a disappointment to have missed it.

Blossom Dearie is a good mom, staring me down while I am trying to take better pics of her new kids. No names for them yet. The close up is the girl. The buckling is hiding his face looking for milk. Better pics to follow, and more kids too!

The chickens were right outside when I came out. Happy in the shade on the side of the barn. We are toying with the idea of buying 4 more laying hens. That would bring us up to 26, and we are already getting a dozen eggs a day on average. Big Roo (in the middle) says buy as many as you like!

Crazy farmers.

Weather report

You know it's a good day if the WoodMan is holding court in his chair outside. My best poser is also hired as my fair weather reporter.

As you can see, the grass is finally green, unlike the Woody pic from April 23. It is actually starting to look and feel like spring. No apple blossoms yet, but probably better that they hold off for a while until all the cold weather leaves for good. We are hoping for another good apple crop like last year's. I gave away most of my apple butter and apple sauce. I need to make even more this year.

I found out that it would cost about $100 to get that table and chairs with the peeling paint sandblasted. I am concerned that the sandblasting might destroy the already rusty metal. So now I am in search of someone with a pressure washer, as suggested by the sand blast guy. Since I paid nothing for this set, I don't mind putting a little work into fixing it up. Any day now...