Yesterday was our first real work-outside-til-the-sun-goes-down day of the year. The weather was perfectly suited to our labors, sunny, but not too warm, and with a light breeze. I took so many pictures with my phone, and didn't want to inundate Instagram, so I thought it would be fun to share them with you here.
We started the day off with a big breakfast: our favorite buttermilk pancakes (recipe from Cook's Illustrated) topped with our own maple syrup (!) and apricot vanilla jam from a wonderful local company, Maya's Jams.
The first chore of the day was to take care of the girls. We brought them hay & water and then brushed them. Brushing has a dual purpose: it cleans them and gets them familiar with our touch for when milking begins next year.
I never really thought about the origin of "cow lick" before, but it sure makes sense to me now.
Even our youngest got in on the action.
My next chore was weeding. I started with the rhubarb bed and was so excited to see the red stalks and unfurling leaves. I cannot wait to make pie with these babies!
Seeing these wee spears pushing up out of the asparagus bed was a most welcome surprise. This big bed got weeded and topped with fresh compost.
The weeds were given to the teenagers, the 2 cockerels and 2 pullets from our last hatch, that have been living in the hay barn since their move three weeks ago.
Dave had originally built their current home to be used as a mobile coop, but retrofitted it to be used as a brooder - complete with a nesting box (far right), ramp, and roosts.
At the time (four years ago!), I thought it was also perfect as a toddler cage, er, I mean playpen.
Dave bought a new "manual front end loader" yesterday. I have never seen anyone so happy about a wheelbarrow.
When he weeded and mulched the mulberry tree he discovered that a critter had eaten the bark off of of the base of the trunk over the winter.
He said it was nearly girdled (term for when the bark is completely removed around the circumference of a branch or trunk). We got lucky, because if this happens, everything above the line dies - in this case, the whole tree would have been a goner.
The little boys had chores, too. They were tasked with picking up the sticks that fell throughout the yard over the winter. Some were bigger than others.
When it was quitting time at the end of the day Dave noticed that I was a real red...well, you know.