With this crazy weather, not only are the humans getting sick, but the animals are too. Today we had to take Daphne, the pregnant Nigerian Dwarf goat, to the vet. She has a touch of pneumonia and we will be medicating her and a few of the others that have little runny eyes and runny noses. I am so thankful that I found Blue River Veterinary Clinic in Tishamingo. They have helped us so much. The staff is very caring and they talk to the animals as if they were their own children. They make the experience much more peaceful. 

With longer and warmer days, we are getting better egg production.  Did you know that a hen has a set number of eggs that she will lay in her lifetime?  We have several different types of chickens. One type we have are called Ameraucana.  These are also known as Easter Eggers. These hens lay colorful eggs, sometimes blue, sometimes pink or light green. Each bird lays a specific color, and will continue to lay that color always. One of my Ameraucanas I have named Miss Priss.  Miss Priss does whatever Miss Priss wants to do! Her favorite thing to do is to fly out of the coop and hang out in the haystack with the goats. It’s a true Easter egg hunt every day looking for her blue egg. The color of the egg does not change the taste or the nutritional value of the egg at all. It’s merely a shell color. But, it does make it very nice to see the variety of colors.  

The rain and now sunshine is the perfect combo to sprout the green grass. It is fun to watch as our world wakes up! The trees are beginning to bud. Have you noticed all of the birds that have made their way back? It is time to get out the hummingbird feeders. The scouts will be coming by soon and the rest should be here by April. When feeding hummingbirds, please do not ever use the food that has red dye in it! This is harmful to the birds. Instead, you can use a red colored container to put your non-colored hummingbird food. You can make a simple syrup by combining one cup sugar to four cups of water. Keep your feeders clean and filled and the little hummingbirds will keep you entertained!

I am so tired of the cold days! I know it is just a matter of time that the scorching hot days will make me wish for some cool relief. I am trying very hard to be patient. There are so many things to do yet to get ready for the Flea to the Market. Are you getting ready for the fun? We are sanding the benches and putting on a new coat of Australian Timber Oil. They will be out and ready for you to sit and visit or just people watch. I may move a couple of benches over by the goat pen so you can sit and watch the cuteness! We may even have a few more babies by that time! Mama Fluff is looking “fluffier” these days! She will be the last Boer goat to freshen this year. Then we have the dairy goats to go.

It is hard to believe how quickly the little baby goats grow up. They are starting to nibble on grain and hay. The moms are going out to graze now, leaving the babies in the pen to play. They are very good to know when it’s time to come back and feed the babies and the babies don’t seem to mind at all. They have each other to play with and can run and jump and play to their hearts content. The tires we have set up in the yard have proven to be everyone’s favorite toy. They jump on and off and zoom through!

I tried something new this week. I took a pottery class. My good friend, Debi, and I traveled to Sherman, Texas and took a beginners class on throwing pottery on a wheel. I am very excited to learn this art. It was really harder than I imagined it would be. I have a pottery wheel that I purchased over a year ago and have never used. Now it’s time to fire it up and give it a whirl! (Pun intended!!) I can’t wait to see what ideas Debi and I will come up with to make. Practice makes perfect so I have a lot of practicing to do!