More signs of spring

Farmer J's lettuce is growing 

The shop vac is sucking up all sorts of Japanese Beetles! 

The plastic is off the windows! Ahhhhh, fresh air!

Farmer J is buying seeds for his garden!

Our Flock (in pictures)

Beatrix! Mama to Lily and Jane! 

Lamb formula! I should've bought the smaller bag!

JJ figured out which bottle and nipple went together! Oh what a child learns from country life! 

What Lily and Jane prefer... Over the lamb formula! Hay and alfalfa! 

Aoife in the sunlight! She is a great mama   (And Aunt)! 

The lambs are all drawn to Aoife... And her udder! 

Lily getting some milk from her Aunt Aoife!

Jane is wondering when it will be her turn!

Aoife smelled Lily and knew it wasn't her own but didn't seem to care.

Jane in the warm spring sunshine!

Baby girl Una! Too sweet! Two days old!

Aoife and her twins ! 

Baby boy! 

A beautiful day to live in the country...

Today was a dream realized...watching my children play with baby lambs while Farmer J and I watched... all of us basking in the sun and warm weather! Thank goodness SPRING has arrived!

We let Aoife and her twin babies out of the barn today.  Aoife was getting "barn fever" and it was warm enough to let her little ones get used to their new surroundings.  We kept the "bully" goats on the other side of the pasture-- as they are still too rough for the days old lambs.  But don't worry- they are getting plenty of love too!

It is so fun to have a "flock" of sheep.  Two mamas and four lambs! Lily and Jane are growing well (and quickly.)  Their wool is already starting to lighten up.  They are getting faster (and harder to catch).  They cannot stand to be apart from each other.  Lily and Jane will separate from Beatrix (their mama) but never from each other!  The older lambs are drinking water and eating hay/alfalfa. We think Beatrix's milk has dried up.  We tried to give them "lamb formula" via a "lamb size nipple" and bottle (gotta love having a farm supply store in town) but they didn't think this was a good idea! Not surprisingly, when we let all the sheep out together in the pasture-- the older lambs decided Aoife's milk was pretty darn good!  And Aoife would let them nurse.  We will keep them separate most of the time (to ensure Aoife's babies get a good start on life) but I'm sure Lily and Jane will get a few slurps of mama milk here and there.

Aoife's twins!

Mama and twins doing great! They were born around 8:30 this morning! By the time Farmer J told me Aoife was in labor (and we got dressed and to the barn), one lamb was already born! Within minutes, the next lamb was out! The miracle of birth right before our eyes! 

Una (the baby girl) was up on her feet and nursing within minutes! It took the little boy longer to find his legs! By this afternoon, they were both up walking and nursing well! Aoife is a great mama so far; she licked them clean and keeps sniffing them! It's fun to watch! 

More updates and pictures tomorrow! 

Poor Ciaran! We have to keep the "bully" goats away from the lambs or they try and head butt them!

Mama Beatrix with daughters Jane and Lily! Amazing how big a 2 week old lamb looks next to a day old lamb!

Aoife had twins!

Pictures to come later but this morning Aoife had healthy, twins! One girl named Una (means "lamb" in Irish) and one boy. 

We missed the birth of Una but got to see the baby boy enter this world! 

Mama and babies doing great!

A full egg basket once again

Lily and Jane: 12 days old

Quess which ewe is still pregnant? Poor Aoife! 

Dinner time at sunset! 

Me and Jane! She is all legs! 

Jane tolerated this hug! I love her soft face! Beatrix could care less that I had her baby girl- she was busy eating !

Me and Lily! She is still smaller than Jane but growing well! Farmer J has spotted her with many mama milk mustaches!

Happy Spring

Jane and Lily enjoy the spring weather and getting some fresh air!

This is our country version of a garbage disposal! The chickens are back to free ranging and quickly recalled where we leave out our chicken friendly food scraps! 

James is indeed a boy!

James is a confirmed male cat! Furry boy parts were seen yesterday! The above pictures show James doing our country version of "FaceTime". When James wants to be fed, or is lonely, or wants to scare us to death at night, he jumps on the screen on the outside of the window!

Happy Monday!

Do you have bloat treatment on your kitchen counter? Probably not! This is what we would have to give the goats if they ever got into our garbage or something! Goats will literally eat until they blow up! 

I went to put on Pickle's hat and this is what I found! I've found eggs in coat pockets but never a hat before. 

Jane and Lily: 3 days old!

Farmer J was all ready for the lambs to be born!  He even put together this birthing bucket.  He gave me instructions on how I could be a sheep doula!  Luckily, Beatrix (being the stellar mama she is) gave birth to her baby girls all on her own!  I'm sure Aoife and the goats were cheering her on!  

Lily- hours old!

Lily again- on her birthday: 03/11/14.  I LOVE this picture... it's my new wallpaper on my phone!  Sorry Pickle and JJ, you are cute... but you've been dumped off my screensaver... just for a bit! 

Mama Beatrix and Jane! Jane is taller and weighs more than Lily... but Jane is much more shy! 

They haven't yet grown into their skin (or wool, for that matter).  You can see how much smaller Lily is than Jane, in this picture! 

Two days before the babies were born... my brother came over to help Farmer J trim the sheep and goat's hooves.  It went really well!  Thank you B for helping!  

Here is Beatrix getting her pedicure before her upcoming labor and birthing process (2 days later)! 

All mamas like to have pretty toes for delivery, right?! Check out how big she is! 

Here is Aoife (pronounced "ee-fa")! She is pregnant as well.  Farmer J thinks she will have her babies in 1-2 more weeks!  She is a much bigger ewe than Beatrix... so it's hard to say if she is carrying twins as well!  

Ciaran tolerated having his nails trimmed.  He is a lover though and really appreciated

all the extra attention and ear scratches.  

It's a dirty job... but Famer J is up for the task! He trims the animal's hooves and I trim the human boy

nails!  Who has the easier job? 

A well deserved snack afterwards!!! 

And where were the boys during all of this... swinging on their new swing in the barn (and making forts out of the straw, hay and alfalfa bales! ) Thank you Mima and Papa for the swing!  The boys LOVE it! And I love that they can get out all their boy energy outside... even in the winter! 

Baby girl twins born today!!!!!

Congratulations Beatrix on the safe arrival of your twin baby girls!  Mama and baby lambs doing great! Beatrix gave birth to the beautiful baby girls without any need for human intervention!  When we left for work this morning, there was one very pregnant ewe; when Farmer J got home (around lunchtime)... there was one ewe and two babies!

The littlest lamb has been named Lily (by Pickle).  I named the other baby girl (with the white spot on her head), Jane (after Jane Austen- my favorite author!)

Welcome to this crazy, wild world and to our farm family, Lily and Jane!

Mama Beatrix and Jane

Lily (on the left) and Jane

How amazing that my 100th post is the arrival of Lily and Jane! 

Thank you to all my faithful followers of The Wary Farm Wife blog!