Spring is almost here. The grass is waking up from its long winter nap, the daffodils are blooming, and the sun is sharing its light a little longer. Frances Mayes once said, "Happiness? The color of it must be spring green." I quite agree. I have been so captured by the slow transition our farm has been making from a dull brown to a bright and beautiful green. The sight of green pastures and budding flowers makes my soul feel warm again. The winter blues are finally melting away and are being replaced with warmth of the spring sunshine.
Spring on the farm is so fun and so busy! We finally get to work on the projects we spent all winter planning and preparing for. We even get to welcome new life to the farm! Spring is just beautiful. The first big event of our spring is kidding season. We have 4 goat mama's due this April and we are so excited to welcome their kids to the farm. Although they won't be able to stay long-term we know these goats will make a great addition to someone's farm.
Before kidding season I will be working on my garden. Last year was my first solo garden and it went ok. We had an abundance of cucumbers and squash, which was awesome! But a few of the plants had very minimal harvests and some gave us nothing at all. So I took that information and adjusted our garden plans for this year. I will change how and where I plant a few of the low producers in hopes that we get a better yield. I may even try a bean teepee this year.
After kidding season we get a little break before Mama Madeline is due with her calf. If I am honest, we are both nervous about how she will do. Last Spring she gave birth to Tiergan and although she did great, we both can tell that his size affected her. This time around we bred her to a bull that hopefully will give us a lower birth weight calf.
If all that didn't seem like a busy enough Spring, we will also be training Trexy to be our milk cow! Jordan has almost completed the milk stanchion and once Luna hits weaning age, we will start our training. We have already done a few things to get her ready and we have successfully hand milked her while she is munching on hay but only for a short period. I anticipate she will give us a little grief at the beginning but as long as Trexy has food in front of her, she doesn't seem to mind being milked.
In the midst of all the farm fun this spring we will also be waiting on our IVF round 2 results. My second egg retrieval procedure was done earlier this week and so far our results seem promising. We won't have an embryo count until mid next week and then it's another 4-6 weeks for the genetic testing results to come back. Although the waiting is hard, we trust that God is working.
What are you most excited about this Spring?
How can I pray for you?