Well - we had our first baby goats yesterday (12/30/2009)! The only problem is that I have "roaming" goats and dang it if they didn't get "knocked-up" by the large boer goat instead of the cute little nigerian goat we brought home from the fair! UGH!!! What does this mean? Well luckily it wasn't one of the kids registered goats - but these guys will be sold as pets - that could get medium height - unlike pure nigerians which I KNOW will be small and can sell like that!!

So from our view point they are cute little animals right now - with no future purpose.

Anyone want a couple of pets??

The barn that is! We had our first baby lamb born (either the 23rd late evening/night or early morning the 24th). She's adorable of course - pure white and just loving. She likes her head scratched.

What a day - we finally get to just sit. Yesterday was our last round of turkeys and we truly hope that everyone enjoys them!! We get to enjoy ours tomorrow when I set up the smoker and try smoking one (I've never done it).

Butchering the turkeys was truly a family event. Unlike the chickens where I can do 10-20 myself in about 1 hour (not including the time the water takes to heat up) - turkeys take awhile. We did our best getting ALL the feathers off - but this is a challenge. All the kids helped out with this and worked with us, creating memories to last for years to come (though I doubt they see it like that right now). Some of the best parts were the kids saying, "This turkey just looks YUMMY - I'm hungry now!" to Joe spraying us with VERY COLD water at the end to remind us we were almost done.

We will be doing the last 13 turkeys for Christmas this year and 1 will get to be ours. What a fun time this has been!!

Then Jacob got to go "mushroom hunting" with a family friend and came back with a treasure of Wild Oyster Mushrooms! I found a cool website: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/ which seems to have some great recipes for these local treats. I think I'm adding the mushroom rice recipe to our Thanksgiving meal today!

Well everyone, it rained Saturday and we STILL had a good turn-out...... Sunday was no rain, but a little windy and again faithful people came out. So the weekend wasn't a total bust in that respect! Unfortunately we were unable to do any hayrides because we would have gotten stuck thanks to all the rain we had. Sunday we were able to do a couple egg gathering tours for those brave enough to endure the mud in some areas.

LOTS of new people this past weekend! And we sold a TON of hamburgers on Sunday which I was thrilled to see.

We did some new things - the girls were giving away free tattoos, we had a farm scavenger hunt (big hit - even BEFORE they found out about the prize give-away!), and we had a pig and cow mascot show up! Tons of fun.

Now - we start planning for the Halloween event! Fingers crossed for good weather so the kids can trick-or-treat around the farm.

Ok - this is one of the busiest weeks we have during the year so I am sending this out a little early for everyone.

First off  - this Saturday and Sunday we are open from 10-4 BOTH DAYS!  We will be serving lunch (burger patties from our very own Black Angus steers!) and so much more.  Come out with the kids, participate in a scavenger hunt, gather your own eggs to take home, pick your own pumpkin, and take a free hay ride!  It's sure to be a blast and we are really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Some news:

1/4 & 1/2 steers - guys you are running out of time.... especially with this weekend coming up we are expecting to sell out.  This isn't something to put off any longer if you are interested so please get your order in BEFORE the weekend if you want to guarantee your spot.  http://www.chicamarun.com/beef.html

Next on the list - TURKEYS - yes..... this is the same situation.  Apparently we have been picked up by a couple of magazines as well.  Again, we expect to be selling out soon because of the farm tour weekend and the magazine exposure.  So please place your reservation soon!!  http://www.chicamarun.com/turkey.html

Ok - finally..... we added a new option this week to the meat CSA- BEEF ONLY.   You an now order this option online.  It is $50 retail of BEEF ONLY per pick-up (every 2 weeks) for 20% off.  This is an excellent option to add chicken and eggs to!!  Order soon as we have had a high interest level in this type of option and I'm sure it will fill up fast.  http://www.chicamarun.com/meatcsa.html

We do hope to see everyone this coming weekend!!  And let's all keep our fingers crossed for good weather!!!

Best wishes,

The Sacco Family
www.chicamarun.com

Ok - for our anniversary I bought Joe an electric smoker. Yeah I know - but you try to do all the chores we do and keep a smoker running at the correct temp!

So today, being the good wife I can sometimes be, I am cleaning out the freezer by smoking 3 (yes 3) pork shoulder roasts - YUMMY!!! PULLED PORK FOR DINNER!!!

The recipe I used as a rub:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon cayanne pepper
2 teaspoons ground mustard

I'll let you all know how this turns out!!

UPDATE: The kids LOVED it (a huge decider for me) - each had 2 sandwiches and no complaining!! We ended up going through 1 4 lbs shoulder roast with nothing left over. I was too tired last night so I put the other 2 in the fridge to cool down and I'll try and get them shredded and frozen today. If not - HEY LUNCH!!!

I just think it's cool to see this big guy RUNNING (I'm serious - he was cruisin' for such a big turtle!) down the road this afternoon.

Well our large black pig gave birth on Saturday.....

8 little piggies were born....1 was still born making it 7 little piggies....

Night #1 - 3 little piggies didn't make it or were squished by mom..... now 4 little piggies

Night #2 - the runt didn't make it through the night..... now 3 little piggies....

This one is a learning experience. We aren't using a farrowing crate since they are pasture raised and last time they seemed to do ok without our help.

I THINK the problem is with the straw/hay. I think there is too much in there with them making it difficult to "find mom"......

I really hope these last 3 make it.

To post our newsletter on our blog. Apparently a few people are fans on facebook (very cool BTW).... and they look there and not on the email. I heard you - and so now I will do this :)

I just sent this out this morning:

"Hi everyone!

Chimney sweeps are here - which means colder weather is right around the corner! So it's time to get some of your favorite meats at Chicama Run this Saturday from 1-5. We have been having HUGE success and thank everyone for coming out to the farm to visit. This week, we will be redoing some of our more popular sales and adding a HUGE one on!! Please remember - these sales are available ONLY AT THE FARM! You will NOT get these prices at the farmer's market. All beef, pork and lamb NOT listed is still being offered at 10% retail prices!
Delmonico/Rib-Eye Steaks for $15.50/pound (usually $19.50/pound!) - This is our best selling steak and as a thank you we are discounting it this week!!
Beef Stew Meat for $5.00/pound (usually $6.50/pound)
Beef Kielbasa (has MSG) - $4.00/package (each pack has 4 grillers)
All Loose Sausage - $4.00/pound (usually $5.50/pound) - Breakfast, Sweet Italian or Hot Italian - STOCK UP!!
Pork Sausage Grillers - $5.00/pound (usually $6.50/pound) - Sweet or Hot Italian
ALL BEEF & PORK ROASTS - 20% OFF!!! Fire up the crock pot this week!!!
Now - on to other hot news!! Our chickens have been selling out FAST - be sure to get here early to get the best selection.

Then - we are still taking reservations for steers - HOWEVER - we are SOLD OUT for OCTOBER!! We have about 1-2 steers left in November so you will NOT want to miss out as those will be the last batch we will have for 2009.

This week we will be at Paeonian Springs Grocery and Gourmet on Thursday from 4-7!! I will be bringing meats there even if we don't have orders.

Eggs are golden right now as we are not getting as many as we have in the past. We are only getting about 10 dozen per day. We are HOPING that this increases soon, but as the weather changes we never know what is going to happen. "


So there you go. These are the hot specials for the week....

As far as regular farm stuff that's going on - it's constantly busy right now! It's amazing that it's already fall and we are starting to prepare for the Fall Farm Tour which is in just a couple of weeks!! (October 17-18th).

Gotta run and do the chores for the morning!

Ok we just got back from my in-laws house for Joe's dad's 75th birthday. Gotta go for something like that - even if there isn't a big party. It's been 4 years or so since we've been down there so it was exciting - but a long 7+ hour car trip.

On the way home on I-95 we stopped by this HUGE store "JR's" which we have seen the signs/billboards for years and we just needed to know WHAT it was. It's pretty much a huge "everything" type touristy store.... but neither kid ENJOYED being there for the whole 30 minutes they lasted. They WANTED to leave (even if we were going to BUY them something - neither was interested). Then a few hours later - outside of Richmond, VA we stopped by a "Bass Pro Shop" because I asked for a rest stop and of course every guy knows that "Bass Pro Shop" = "Bathroom Stop"! Well both kids wanted to stay there forever!!! Go figure.... and I wasn't buying them anything!! THOUGH Alexis was looking hard at a pink BB gun ;)

You just know you are more comfortable in the country when your kids are happier at a Bass Pro Shop than a touristy gift shop :)

Ok we are ALMOST done with the 4-H Fair week. We just have to go and get animals and clean up. Both the kids did really well with showing and their animals did better than I thought they would - which is always good.

After 4 years we are still learning how to do the animals that are for showing and this year Jacob got 1st place in his class for bred and owned market lamb and reserve champion for bred and owned market goat.

Gotta run and get animals!!

This week is super busy...

Alexis is in Vacation Bible School and is having a blast...... Jacob is outside helping Joe build the new turkey house......I'm doing paperwork and doing tax stuff...

This is what's exciting though....

A few years ago I applied for the exemption to process poultry.... it was 5,000 birds per year and you couldn't sell to restaurants, cut up the birds etc. THEY CHANGED IT!!! Now I can cut up birds, sell to stores and do all this stuff - I just need a label on my product. No biggie there!! PLUS - not that I see myself doing this - but it's up to 20,000 birds (yep you read that right)

So I am excited about this little tidbit that was shared with me and then verified by VDACS this morning.

Now I get to practice cutting up some birds as well....and since we are going to focus more on poultry - this is a huge bonus for us.

Ok - and we also decided to keep 6 of the breeding ewes (that's sheep talk for girl sheep) and we kept the 1 ram I can go in the pen with and not get hit because he wants to play. They will be for the kids and their market lambs for 4-H more than for the farm sales - but we will probably bring a few back to sell after the fair.

This post is not for the faint of heart... to some of you - you will laugh..... me..... i did the girly jump up and down and said "GROSSSSSSSS" even with no one around - so I had to call Joe and tell him.....



On to my 2 second story.


Sometimes you have to put an animal down for whatever reason. This happens on farms as well believe it or not - and we usually do it ourselves. Today it was a broiler chicken - but I wasn't butchering it - it's head was so pecked at by other birds, you could almost see the skull. So I had to put this little one down - it was only 1-2 pounds live weight while the other ones born the same day are approximately 4-5 pounds already, so you can see right away that something is not right with this bird. I have learned how to humanely kill a bird fast by breaking it's neck right behind the skull at the spinal cord. Good thing I went to that class!! So I tell it I'm sorry and start pulling like I was told (I've done it a couple times before without a hitch so I'm not hesitant or anything).... but the head popped off!!!!! I mean completely OFF!! This is NOT what I was expecting and frankly just EWWWWWW....

Ok - now on with the rest of the day.....

Wow.....what a difference a little help makes.

So here was my morning:

Woke up 6:30 and had coffee and went through emails.
7:30 started washing eggs for deliveries today
8:30 still washing eggs and needed to get started feeding birds etc plus hooking up the trailer to load animals
8:45 help showed up and went and fed all the birds, gathered eggs (pretty much my morning chores)
9:30 everything is done and loaded..... time to go load up the 2 sheep for the butcher
10:15 DONE LOADING ANIMALS AND EVERYTHING!!
10:16 relief at stuff being done and it all went well

Seriously..... just having a set of extra hands made my morning much less stressful. Washing the eggs for delivery today took extra time and I needed it done. Getting the sheep in the trailer wasn't easy (ok the ram was easy enough) but it was worth having an extra hand here that could help.

Now off to take the kids to their lessons and deliver eggs.

It's time to breathe a little. I know that sounds a little strange... but we have decided what we want to focus on. CHICKEN/POULTRY.

We will start getting rid of our sheep (so anticipate having large amounts of mutton soon - I may even do sausage just because we will have so much to work from). I know a lot of people love our lamb - but they are a lot of work and we do need to focus.

Don't worry - we will still be running the hogs and the steers for beef and pork :) Plus we are keeping the goats.

The big deal? It means that over the winter we will have goats and laying hens - that's it. No pigs.... nothing like that. They are hard to keep over the winter (freezing water etc)....

We will still keep the llamas as they can hang with the goats and the ducks. But no more of the stress of 12+ sheep giving birth over the winter. I don't think my heart could take many more losses of the ones that we work so hard to keep.

Do I like sheep? Yep.... the kids will buy their 4-H lambs next year to show so we will have some on our farm. Of course they are super yummy too ;)

This plan will give us more of the winter off though where we can take a deep breath and focus on our family and the house.

So we have a friend's son coming in and helping a few days per week with some odd jobs here and there and it feels odd. Why?

Because for 4 years, it has just been us doing all the work - no help or anything. But now we are trying to go away here and there on short trips. We purchased a travel trailer almost to force us to go away. We need the break as living where you work can get tough - there is ALWAYS something to do, even if you WANT to relax - chores are staring you in the face.

So I sit.....I walked him through the morning chores..... I didn't do the chores - had him do it for me (total wierd feeling)......but it's making me laugh.

Can you say control freak family?? Yep - that's us I think. We need to close our eyes and remember that help is a good thing and can make a family work a little better.

It's hot. Plain and simple - no one wants to move in the heat. No, it's not August heat...... yet.... but this humidity - well my hair is an instant barometer and the frizz factor says "ICK"

We've had a long week already as one of Alexis's show lambs died. Luckily she had one more - but of course it was the one that looked the best. Then 2 of the other lambs died. When rain hits like this - worms come out to play havoc on the animals.

Chickens don't lay as many eggs during the heat either which is a pain as we need eggs!!! No matter how many chickens I have - it's never enough. We've been losing some to foxes and a few hawk attacks.... but the Great Pyrs have been doing at least some work keeping them at bay.

Joe has everything in the garden - and now needs to get the pumpkin patch ready which I think he's doing this week since the house is quiet.

Off to do household chores - apparently laundry would be a good thing to do :)

Yes I am! Totally addicted! I told Joe I'm dreaming of running through strawberry fields naked - that's how bad it is.....of course I have my new red crocs on so I don't step on anything.... yes I am a true red neck at this point in my life.

These were picked by the kids Sunday the 24th. We think they are the "ever-bearing" variety which is smaller (super sweet) but they produce all year. These aren't the type that "pick your own" places use because they are smaller and most people want HUGE berries. But dang these are yummy!

Sorry - we don't have enough right now to share - wish I did. Maybe next year?

Boy did we have fun this past weekend! I think we are still recovering, but it was a lot of fun.

We have no idea how many people came through this time - but over 70 DOZEN eggs were gathered by kids and adults alike!

I think I have my voice back after talking so much to everyone, but it was worth it. Every year we do this and it's always great to see so many people come out to visit and to talk about and see what we do.

I love books.... Amazon.com is my addiction and the UPS guy knows it! So I ordered the books I needed/wanted for the kids and their Ambleside Online year which we will hopefully be starting soon as I need to get everything in order (which requires the books which will be here Monday)

Now of course - a lot of the books are available online for free thanks to them being out of copyright.... but I NEED to hold a book in my hand. I would love to have a way for the kids to take their books with them like on a PDA or a laptop (we'll get there - they both are saving up for one) but for now I want the shiny books.

I can't wait to read some of these books - they look so cool!!! But we'll be taking it slow (which is why I need the books) and I think I'm going to have the kids do more reading aloud to me - maybe even have Jacob read to Alexis and Alexis read to Jacob (but we'll see how they do).

The first book I want to start is "Grammarland" which is available free online in a PDF format - and I even have that on my computer - but with the pictures it has in the book I really just wanted to see it.

Then I still need to get a few more books - like one of Saints that Yesterday's Classics has (what an awesome company BTW.... and their books are available at Amazon)....

But then - I think my favorite books are the Burgess Animal Books. What a GREAT way to learn about animals.... the other day Alexis and I were listening to the Burgess Book of Animals and we learned about the "evil" brown rat/Norway rat. Alexis was horrified to learn that these are the types of rats we have around here and then angry that some people brought these things over on ships :)

So off to learn more....... and wallow in some books......

I have been thinking about this the past couple of days.... ok .... people were asking me why I request a $15 minimum on credit cards and realized that most people (including myself before I had a business) did not realize the amount small businesses CAN be charged just for the convenience of accepting credit cards.

Now - this isn't a complaint panel.... I just want people to understand some of the costs in general with running a business - because I found it fascinating once I was taught.

So we'll use eggs as an example which I sell for $4.00 per dozen.

Now - I pay sales tax on the $4.00 - 2.5% so $0.10 goes to Virginia and Loudoun County
3% goes to the farmer's market association as a fee so we can help pay for advertising etc so $0.12
Then if someone charges (we'll say with Mastercard, Visa or Discover) I am charged 3.25% + .35 PER TRANSACTION - so that's another $0.43 (and if you use American Express it's up to 3.75% + 0.35 making it $0.49)

I'm not going to including egg cartons, cost of washing, running the commercial fridge etc. as that can get up higher - I'm just focusing on the additional FEES just to sell 1 dozen eggs.

So $0.65 is just wrapped up in fees for selling 1 dozen eggs at the farmer's market if someone charges it bringing the amount I bring home $3.35 per dozen (again not including chicken feed or anything else additional - but I'll tell you it's less than $3 per dozen easily - and I don't charge Joe for working here... I'm expensive enough to keep as a wife!)

Now if we sell 100 dozen (this past weekend was 128!!!) those fees can add up quickly!

Of course every business and every merchant account (the thing that allows us to accept credit cards) is different. But we are living in a plastic world plain and simple. People - including myself - don't carry cash nearly as often as they used to. Personally I can't even go "get cash" from an ATM because I have no idea what my 'pin number' is and really don't care to know because I am terrible about balancing my own checkbook.

So I hope this helps some people understand WHY the cost of things can change as our output for stuff changes all the time.

Finally with all this rain we get a break! So today I get to butcher the remaining 8 chickens that we have ready to go. Yes - we lost a lot. But I anticipate this being the last "loosing" group because Joe finished my chicken tractor and so far 0 losses.

So with me doing this - Joe has gotten most of the gardens ready and is starting to plant some stuff today. Even tomatoes! He grew a variety which will give us tomatoes mid-June which is super exciting for us as we don't have a green house to grow tomatoes but we (and everyone else I think) want tomatoes EARLY!!

Off to work :)

Well this past month overwhelmed has seemed to the word of the day - everyday. I had surgery as many of you know - and because of that for the past 6 weeks I haven't been able to lift anything which on a farm isn't easy.

We've gotten through it pretty well (though Joe is totally sick of chickens and eggs at the moment) and are looking forward.

The question recently arose of "why we moved here." Understand - we owned a computer store for 12 years - having our own business isn't anything new to us. But, this work is a lot harder as it is constant, we can't really just LEAVE it.

So I believe our garden will be a little smaller this year as we can't really compete with a lot of the "big boys" out there. I'd love to scale back - but I'm just not sure what we will do or how we will do it. Our customers (love you all) want more and as always on a consistant basis. Ok - eggs we can handle - but can we do the meat? We aren't sure to be honest with you. But we plan on keeping it up. We'll see what we will do and how far we get.

Overall though we have to remember WHY we moved here. It wasn't to start a business - it was for our family. And then the question arises - are we living the way we wanted to when we moved here? And I honestly can't answer that right now....... get back to me in February when I get a break again.....

What a beautiful day to get stuff done! This is great since we are opening up the farm tomorrow for the first of the "season." So much needs to be done...

As many know I had abdominal surgery a few weeks ago and I thank everyone for their well wishes! Poor Joe has had to deal with me getting grumpy from sitting around and being frustrated to dealing with 2 kids who are done with school (which thank goodness they start again on Monday!) and with rainy weather were stuck inside.

So I have about 2-3 more weeks of not lifting anything which is awful. Gotta say it sounds great to sit and relax for 2 weeks - but it gets very boring! Then no lifting!! Whew - on a farm no lifting is a serious hardship. It's very frustrating as well. I will sit and look at something that NEEDS to be moved (like off my kitchen counter) and I need to wait for someone else to get it.... UGH!!

Well with this wonderful weather comes some cool things.... so far 2 of the Nigerian Goats have given birth - 2 more to go. 2 were "ooops" babies which means the sneaky goat got in with our Boer buck and he got her preg. Good thing it wasn't one of the registered girls - then I'd be upset!

Well off to spend some time outside!

So I'm into bread at the moment. What's better than the smell of fresh bread in the house? I'm not a huge bread EATER - but my new recipes are changing my mind. They aren't sweet - just yummy! I'm working on making a superior sourdough artisan bread and today a whole wheat bread.

We'll see - but chances are you all will see some of my new breads for sale if I can get the recipe "just right."

It's always exciting and busy starting this time of year - for some reason the weather kicks us into high gear. It's like all of a sudden - WOOSH - we need to do stuff. Of course the goal of the winter was to get all this done - but we enjoyed the winter huddled in the house doing house-hold "stuff" that would never get done in the spring.

The biggest thing people get on us about is ordering beef. We love you all doing this - and it's always a work in progress what the BEST way to do it is. I think this year we are doing well with how we are doing it. The difference is that I am personally going over cut sheets with people. So it will add the personal touch to it and also I can walk everyone through what is sometimes an overwhelming process. Of course I am still lost sometimes at what I want and I have YET to find a cut sheet from any butcher I actually like so I work it out myself :)

Of course people are used to our stuff selling out - so orders are already coming in - within hours of posting that it was available we had or first 1/2 steer sold. EXCITING!!!

A customer emailed me this morning and I actually read the entire story. It makes me angry - especially since I have a lot of people confront me with the cost of our food (especially eggs lately). Yes - it's higher - but do you know who and what is going on at the farm your eggs are from?

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-the-price-of-tomatoes?currentPage=1

I'd love some comments on this article and opinions. Either way.

Who can resist such cute furballs?? Now understand.... I sent Jacob and Alexis out to take pictures and told them I needed to know which are girls and which are boys..... you get the idea from the pictures :)

This guy is a little runt - but still adorable!!

This guy is HUGE!

Last night I placed our beloved baby lamb Panda in the barn with Pug. I actually had to go and find her because she had holed up under our deck to stay out of the wind.

This morning I went out to the barn to feed everyone and noticed Pug (our previous house goat) but no Panda. I figured she was just being smart by staying inside the barn.

I looked in the stall and she was just laying there - dead. I don't know WHY she died as she was fine last night when I watched her curl up next to Pug...

So today is a very sad day - but at the same time - we still have stuff to do. Personally I think the kids are taking it better than me.....time to go.....

What a cool thing Facebook is becoming for us. As I learn more about it we are learning how to create a page and share information and so much more.

So if you are on Facebook - take a look and search for me: Dana Sacco and I'll be happy to be your friend! Plus you can now become a fan of us :) That's kinda cool.

Yep - needed something to do in the middle of doing taxes because looking at all those numbers can get a little nerve wracking!

Well it's been a tiring and busy month. I'm ready to take February off from the farmers market just for a breather. We've had 21 baby lambs born so far - 12 are still alive - 9 have died. A couple were still-born and some died from the cold. Honestly, we are happy that we are above last season where over 50% of our lambs died from the cold and problems we didn't know how to fix.

This season - though tired and honestly I'm worn-out from lambing with problems - we couldn't fix them all. Some deaths were just odd.... fine in the morning - afternoon rounds dead or near-dead. We had heat lamps going and all sorts of things - heck even had a bunch in the house trying to get them warm and some still died. It takes a serious toll on you when a helpless animal dies in your care even though you've been up all night.

But then you go see your success-cases that have returned to the barn even though you still have to bottle feed them - but they are happy to see you and they are doing so well. Other ones you know were unsteady are bouncing and jumping and it's hard not to laugh.

We still have 2 ewes due now - so hopefully with the 50 degree weather they will decide it's a good day to give birth.

Then we move into March for the next "season" where only about 4 are due. 2 goats are due to kid soon - maybe in February - but that's ok. I can deal with 2. Oh and our great pyr girl (Corona) is due in February - so that's exciting.

So - my revelation of the day....... you know you are a country girl when you are gathering eggs and a little field mouse peeks his head out right next to your hand and you don't even jump you just look at the chicken standing next to it and tell it to eat the dang mouse as if it will understand you!

Yes - I know..... but it's funny how it never occurs to us how it affects the stuff we eat.

Example - Joe dispensed water yesterday every couple of hours to the chickens because the pumps were frozen therefore no automatic waters out there. If the chickens don't drink they don't eat... if they don't eat..... they don't lay eggs.

Same thing with the ducks - who by the way are all trying to "swim" in the 1/4" of snow we got the other day - they need a TON of water per day to lay eggs. So even if the Indian Runner ducks CAN lay 365 eggs per year - they usually won't because of other issues when they are on my farm.

Today - I dispensed the water and my hands hurt for it. They are dry and cracked from just getting wet and then being outside. Joe had the colder of the 2 days but still - I can whine a little about it.

So far so good though - no sheeyp have given birth during these couple of days which I was really scared about. We have heat lamps in the barn and the entire thing open for them to come inside. Granted they don't seem to feel the cold like we do but still - at least it gets them inside and out of the cold wind.

Can't wait for tomorrow - it's a heat wave of 41 degrees!!

I was just outside looking at all the ewes to see who is ready to give birth..... about 10 should within the next 2 weeks - and at least 5 this week by the looks of it.

Came into the barn - and 2 new baby goats (both girls)..... born this afternoon - making the total 7 baby goats so far - with 1 still in the house :) Still 2 girls to give birth but I expect them to be a little later - but by the end of Febraury