The Looooong Post!

Well things seemed to have gotten busier.  Its that possible you ask?  Well I don't know how Joe and I have time for any extra projects but always seem to find time for something else to do.  Well I do at least....love my to do lists. Summer flowers and fresh mulch are now making a bright appearance around the farm. The sheep paddocks (we had 4 smaller runs for the sheep) became two and is now complete with new white paint and all.  Did I mention that new white paint on a farm makes for a great day.  We also finished another new pen for the sheep that went from two smaller pens to one larger pen.  We also are now working on our new sheep feeders and are now complete.  They look awesome.  We moved all our sheep from the green winter grass in Penngrove (that is quickly turning brown) back to the ranch.  The silage fields were harvested over the weekend and now the fields are bare bones and brown also.  Lucky for us and Arolo we have a fancy little irrigation reel that works wonders on our fields and has been working every day since the cutting. The rest of our milk string of 200 were sheared and now have their summer coats. Our milking parlor is still also running more than ever.  We are still lambing and more lambs mean more milk.  We added 4 new jersey cows to the herd to provide some more farm fresh milk to the lambs.  Lambing has slowed down a bit and we are just having a few a day.  We at the tail end of this lambing phase and only have a few more to go.  Although we will be lambing again in August full force again.  Yikes...I feel crazy as I am typing this.  This week we also had a USDA sheep nutritionist visit the farm from Idaho to discuss our feeding regimen and make sure we are on the right track.  Well it was a great visit lots of helpful information good to know we are on the right track with all these mouths to feed.  Did I mention there are lots of mouths to feed!  Other farm news includes more ordering from The French Laundry.  You will find us on the menu longer than expected, so we are very excited about that.  The projects continue with a long to do list for the next few weekends on completing the new sheep feeders, new bunks for our supplement feed and shavings.  More paint to complete the fence painting.  New milk barn holding pen for the cows, and whatever gets added to that list in the mean time. So this means busy summer ahead.  Lots of new pics and farm projects to come.
On the home front the projects also have been in full force.  New plants are now planted, new mulch is now in the planters.  The outdoor patio got a new face lift including some new paint.  The new patio table is now fully assembled....with only one marital spat about me purchasing a table. Joe seemed to think an old picnic table that was wobbly and missing benches and that always gave a generous gift of splinters was just fine...of course he would.  So after an hour of me assembling the table and one chair, he gave in and in 10 minutes had it full assembled for me.  We have been already enjoying our family summer time patio time with family dinners, pool time, and lots of kid giggles.  We also attended the future farmers parade in Healdsburg complete with some Snowbunny yogurt.  Great time with the family...nights like those make you stop and appreciate the little moments when we are so busy.  Also who doesn't love a parade?  So a busy summer ahead, Avery graduating school in a few weeks, and one super busy summer ahead!! More to come!