Snippets from Hill Top Farm: Catch up post Jan

Liam patrolling the new fence

Well, now that I've slacked off all year, I've decided to write a month by month review. I'm sure that it will be a good memory exercise and I have my handy calendar here beside me!

January

Liam practicing 'duck herding'

We weren't able to get the does bred in the fall, partially because of the lingering hot weather. Also, the buck we were planning to use died. So, I found a nice Nubian buck in Chico and got Daisy bred on January 3rd. The rest of the month was uneventful - the weather was pretty mild and we go over three inches of rain late in the month.

The runner ducks still hadn't visited our pond (which filled in the fall after going completely dry last summer), so we decided to try to encourage them. With lots of patience and grain, they enjoyed their first swim in the pond!

February
We decided to try an extended lactation experiment with Lacey. She is an Alpine with excellent production and I thought this year would be a perfect opportunity to try it. She is now in her 11th month in milk and is still producing a solid 6 lbs a day. I only milk once a day and supplement her free forage diet with about 1 1/2 lbs of alfalfa pellets/14% horse feed.

March

I've missed green!

The winter has been so mild this year that on March 4th, I saw prairie larkspur blooming and the next day there were mesquite trees coming out on the hilltops! Mesquite trees are notoriously late to come out, so you can usually count on no more frosts once their leaves arrive. This is by far the earliest I've ever seen green on the mesquites.

Full bloom March 30

However, a couple of years ago, I did see a few mesquites in the valleys get caught in a frost and they actually died (back to the ground).

The Lady Banks rose usually blooms after Liam's birthday, about the second week of April and this year it started blooming in March!

Archduke Charles rose

April

Spring is here, complete with roses, wildflowers and swallows. We planted onions, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, Swiss chard, lettuce and all sorts of miscellaneous seeds in the garden.

Our red sexlink pullets

We bought eight Sexlink pullets from TSC because we were so impressed with the beautiful dark brown eggs that my parents get from their hens. We added two Americanas from H Brand to the group a week later. We can't wait to move them outside to the chicken tractor!

Our big project this year was to add a pergola over the patio on the East side of our house. The combination of brick walls with concrete patio served as a very efficient oven during at least six months of the year. The temperature on that side of the house (in the shade) was often 120F+. We considered adding a metal roof, but Jason preferred the pergola and it proved to be cheaper, as well. Also, it turned out to be considerably more beautiful than metal!