The peas are beginning to pop out and so far the chickens and ducks have not found them. I have also discover the blueberry and currant bushes that never got planted last year and are still in their pots are all still alive! I need to decide whether to plant them in the fenced garden or behind the garage. If they go back there they will need to be fenced in to keep the chickens away.  
Today we worked on the fence in preparation for the doelings coming home. Three more weeks! Thomas, Daisy's twin brother, had gotten his head stuck a few times and I'd had to snip the wire to free him and that left large holes that were patched. James took down one side of the fence and put up nice new fencing. No more holes that little bits could wiggle through! Looks a lot nicer too. It made me miss Thomas though. There's still more to be done on the other side, but that is mostly to remove chicken wire that was put up to prevent him from putting his head through. It is now mashed up from goat hooves pulling on it.
We also started to clean out the barn today, the BIG spring clean, right down to bare floors. I started but it was soon apparent that it was more job than I could handle. James finished and I got the more pleasant job of spreading fresh bedding down. We didn't finish the chicken side. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Goat pictures and an arrival date, more or less!

                                         

                                         Hay! I'm Clover!!

                                         Little Miss Rose says "Hay!" too.

It looks like we will be bring the doelings home at the beginning of our April break from school! Perfect time to be able to keep an eye on them and make sure everyone is getting along. We've begun barn and fence upkeep, added a hay rack and mineral feeders (So Rosy can continue her tricks....) We will need to raise the height of the fence in the front I think. Eventually this summer I would like to expand the goat pen. The ground is currently too hard, although with the temperatures we've experienced this week it won't be long. I should be able to plant some peas in the raised beds tomorrow. Granpa always planted peas on St. Patrick's Day!

Spring cleaning and getting ready for doelings!

I have a huge bag of clothes that we handed down by my hair dresser. I will be sitting watching "Up" with Alex while going through them. That will make a big dent in the pile in his room. Since he wears school uniforms I don't put a whole lot of effort into his other clothes I'm afraid! There are play clothes that probably didn't fit him a year ago.....  
Tonight I gave Daisy her CD/T vaccine. We'll need to do a thorough barn cleaning and fence repairs before we bring the doelings home next month. It's been too cold this week but this weekend is looking promising. We're hoping to visit Aspen Creek Farm and the babies this weekend. We'll also be caring for the sheep and rabbit at Sheepfold Farm. It is supposed to be 62 degrees on Thursday. I hope it still is by this weekend!

This week I will be purging the kiddo's room as part of Spring cleaning. There are far too many clothes in there that he can no longer wear. It's easy to ignore them, since as long as he has a clean school uniform, he's pretty much set. It is time! I have a huge bag of handy-me-downs to go through. And the toys, oh, the toys! He has made a dent but there are still far too many of those as well...

I know that spring is around the corner. I heard a red winged blackbird today while visiting another farm with the 4-H group!