the grass is growing!

What did we do today? A little of everything. We irrigated the onions & peas, carrying pipes in from other fields. We took out the 2 riding lawn mowers & got them ready for the season... Nick made a run to the store for oil, filters, & parts. I planted more lettuce & onions in the greenhouse, and even some zinnias for the flower garden. We worked on the transplanter a little, tightening bolts. We covered up the rows we seeded yesterday with Reemay to prevent flea beetles. I sharpened the blades for the mowers with the hand grinder-- those rocks really do a number on them... Dave warned us to try not to run over rocks with the mower. Oh, rocks.

After work, Nick took the mower out for a joyride around the farm. It was a wonderfully pleasant evening. I cleaned out a room in the barn for my sheep to live at night. I'll have to put them in there every night so that the coyotes aren't tempted. And then bring them out in the morning to a fresh piece of grass! A few more things to get in order, then I'm ready for them to arrive!

So, by the way, I've decided against raising meat lambs this year. I basically chickened out. Thinking about how cute those little ones are, and how I'll be spending a lot of time with them over the summer, I figured it would be really traumatic to send them to the slaughterhouse in the fall. I don't have anything against raising & eating meat, I just am not sure that's my main goal in this sheep project.

So I'm probably going to get a few full-grown ewes (mamas) from this woman, pasture them on the lawn & cover crops here, then give them back to her when I leave in the fall, when it's time for them to live in a barn for the winter. That way she will be sort of a mentor, peripherally involved, and I am free to name them & know they will live nice long lives. I can't wait for them to get here!