Hello from the farm! Winter is not the most favorite time here on the farm, but we're pulling through. Lots of hay and new shelters and heat lamps and wool socks. Rachel says she's seeking sponsorship by Smartwool. Several days this week were in the 40's and 50's which felt pretty luxurious.
Lots of new things - piglets on the way, 11 new chicks, new farrowing shelters and tractor. Feels like progress toward our farm goals - making things more sustainable and better for the animals.
I've been reading a lot of Wendell Berry lately. He has lots to say about how far we've drifted from a sustainable model of agriculture. I think he'd also agree that big ag takes a lot of the personal joy out of it as well - the pleasure of seedlings, baby chicks, honest food. Check him out if you haven't. I read The Unsettling of America first and am finishing up a book of essays - A World-ending Fire. And thanks to all of you who are supporting us in this sometimes nutty but always worthwhile venture.
Little ones! These are future laying hens! In 6 months or so, these little ones will be laying blue or green eggs (the brown chicks on the left) and brown eggs (the little black one). This is a picture from their incubator where they spent 21 days in their eggs. Several more batches to hatch before spring still. It's always lovely, meeting the new wee ones. Still pretty special, even after hundreds of them.
This is Cleo aka Cleopatra, one of our beautiful GOS sows. She is expecting littles in a couple weeks but looks like it might be sooner. She's the sweetest one of the young sows. With her sister Catherine, we kept her back from Maybelline's first litter here. She's a real looker and is always in search of head scratch or a backrub.
And these beauties. These are the Sebastopol geese. Some hatched here, some brought the farm as goslings. They are walking pillows. Clouds on the ground. Noisy, mobile marshmallows. We're hoping for eggs soon from this lot so we can have tiny marshmallows.
All in all, a pretty good winter so far. But I'm excited about spring for sure! Seed are arriving, and we're prepping indoor seed planting pots today. Spring comes fast in Arkansas!
Best from here - Holly