As spring is finally starting to show its face, our family takes any chance we get to be outside. We had an extremely nice day in February, and naturally, my little princess farm girl Lucy, wanted to have a tea party in the barn. Now, I don't know if you realize what farm life is like in the winter, but it is nothing fancy or beautiful. Mud, ice, and frozen poop are everywhere. But leave it to my kids to help us see the beautiful in a regular winter day.
We spent the morning working in the barn and around lunch time Lucy and I went inside to pack baskets of cheese, crackers, cucumber sandwiches and hot tea. We had charming lunch surrounded by goats, horses, chickens, kittens and pigs. It's so special to cherish these moments of excitement for the warm season ahead.
Springtime on the farm is nothing short of chaotic. The projects are endless. This spring on the Lewis Farm, we will be making some exciting changes. One of the changes will be relocating our laying hens. Currently they are right next to our house in a cozy chicken coop that Robert built for them 5 years ago. We have expanded our flock in the past five years, and continue to do so with baby chicks in the barn right now! The chickens need more room. Some of them are free-loaders in the barn and we are beyond done with their poop. It is everywhere. So, we are moving our entire flock to the "woods" we have on our property. It is farther away from our house, which is a little concerning for predators (there might be a livestock dog in our future), but there is so much room for them to naturally forage, run around, take sand baths, and lay their gorgeous and delicious eggs. It will also be a huge help with the tick population on the farm (a win-win for all)! We are going to try and build the coop in the woods solely out of free pallets we've been collecting all winter. Our one problem is, the snow. There is no way we can get back there to build a structure until Minnesota starts to show favor to the farmers and gardeners of the state (LOL). Clearly we can't change (or predict) the weather, so until then we will cherish these warm-ish days with tea parties and cucumber sandwiches in the barn.
The excitement will continue to build for Spring. I have a feeling it's going to go by in a flash.
Happy Spring everyone!
-Sydney