New News...We now have finished the birthing of this year's kids. We have a 50/50 mixture this year. 8 were born, 4 survived. 2 are bucks and 2 are does.

One of the stillborn was stuck with the head backwards over the shoulders. It took us about 45 minutes to correct the problem, but Mom is doing okay. Really bruised, but alive and eating well. She was so traumatized by the ordeal, that she didn't even produce milk. We are going to sell off a lot of our herd this year so we can concentrate on building a cabin for ourselves. I still have one hog to butcher, one to sell, and one for bartering for whatever I need. No lambs this year, as my ram died last fall before he did any breeding. We are going to hatch Maran chicks this year. My friend Gail is already selling them at $5. each. These are really not fancy chickens, they look like barred rock, but they lay a chocolate colored egg. With the blues and greens, slightly lavender eggs from the Aracuanas, and the chocolate eggs from the marans, the light brown eggs from the buff orpingtons and the light cream colored eggs from the houdans...we have Easter eggs without coloring. Its such fun to watch a customers face when they open the egg carton to check the eggs and they see all the different colors. Really starts a conversation. Then of course, others have to come and see as well, then you have more customers. It works well for us here in Moravia.

Kathy