4/25/10

Greening Up & Growing Up

The earlier than usual spring continues with 
the trees leafing out
and green poking through dry leaf litter.
Soon the deer trails will be overgrown again.
Marsh marigolds are blooming in wet areas of the woods.
The ubiquitous wild raspberry bushes are leafing out
delicate little flowers are popping up
and ferns are starting to unfurl.
The baby goats are growing, too.
We were a bit concerned about Dodger's little girl at first, but with Barb's growing veterinary skills and willingness to wield a Bo-Se syringe
Dancer is thriving
and displays a healthy appetite.
She and her brother have inherited their mother's tendency to get into trouble at every opportunity.
Here they sample a new bale of hay to make sure it's primo.
Their cousins across the barn are finally outgrowing
their fondness for piling on top of  Mom
although Luna still occasionally plucks hairs from poor Alba's head.
Rosa and Loki chat through the fence.
The popcorns are a blur of activity in the barn
and enjoy the opportunity to really unwind
on their daily romps outside.
They love to gallop about

and jump straight up into the air

before finally settling down for some serious grazing 
on the big salad bowl that's coming up all over.

Several times each day they make the rounds
stopping to chew on the hammock

and climb atop the compost piles.

The kids get along well together

except when it's time to fight for possession of the lawn chairs.

Their elders, alas, are not so well behaved;

Dodger and Dream always get right into head-butting until they're put back into their pens. 

Majority displays a great deal of interest in his progeny
and then gets back to scratching his head against anything that stays still.

On a visit to friend Kirsten

Barb checks out the babies Majority had with Pan.

With pairs of ducks and geese on the pond

we're hoping for some more babies, too -- the kind that don't require us to provide food, housing or veterinary care.