Out to Pasture: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Modest May at MeadowWild didst start out with some unusual warmth.

We broke records on May 6, reaching 91 degrees – the hottest historical temp for that day (which averages 59). And it was the earliest ever we have reached 90. Unusually enough, Minnesota was the warmest spot in the country.

But then a week later we were back to normal, dipping below freezing for several nights, with ice forming again in the water buckets. As this post is being assembled, it’s a rainy cold day (lower 40s) and the furnace is running.

Despite the chill, marsh marigolds are proliferating in the neighborhood's sunny and wet spots

but are just barely coming out in our woods.

Spring is the one time of year the Farmers can check out the property boundaries and walk in the woods

before giant ferns and hostile critters make exploring difficult.

Fern heads were just starting to emerge on May 13

and the walking easy

for a survey of delicate wild flowers

and a journey to the back pond.

View of the estate from the south boundary.

Travelers from an unusual direction caught the attention of the goats.

Steve has biked the Munger Trail several times

encountering one closed section that got some users upset.

The MeadowWild orchard is abloom

the apple trees filled with flowers.

Even the gnarly old cherry tree

perked up this spring

and the battered veteran apple tree in back

has blossoms on a few remaining branches.

The "babies" are growing by leaps and bounds

and learning bad habits from their moms -- such as standing in the feed dishes.

The oldest boys, Penumbra and Sovereign, are the first weanies -- separated from their weary moms in a buckling suite of their own.

Friend Hilary came for his annual spring visit and snapped some photos of the mighty Mojo, who is still a growing boy himself.

The biggest spring cleaning challenge at MeadowWild

is clearing out a winter's worth of bedding hay. After the Farmers took down all of the pens

Laveau Excavating arrived

and made short work of the mess

transporting it to the growing compost pile

under the watchful eye of the goats, who volunteered lots of helpful suggestions.

The clean barn was then limed, additional sand was added,

and the pens reassembled

for the approval of the finicky inhabitants.

A mountain of compost will now cook in the summer heat.

Change was even more radical in the MeadowWild kitchen.

Barb was never fond of the dark French provincial cabinets

So High-Mark Construction ripped them out, moved the stove

and cut a section in the south wall to open up the space a bit.

The Farmers had one day to do a little painting

before Justin and Chad installed the new cabinets, counters and lighting.

Dustin isn't so sure he likes the new kitchen

so he retreats to a favorite fleece pad in an east window

and dreams of less discombobulating times.

But according to Aristotelian physics, all things are constantly changing in the sublunary sphere.

and at MeadowWild it's time for some major life transitions.

Bechamel (Becky) and Allemande (Mandy) were the first to graduate, moving on to a commercial dairy farm.

On the day they left, mom Cheeky shared some sage advice:

And then on Memorial Day, MeadowWild bade farewell to

Sovereign and Penumbra

Kalu Kudu (KD)

her mom Korma

and Xiu, all of whom graduated to farms in Michigan.
Korma, KD and Sovereign are now enjoying life with Heidi at Summer Solstice Farms, while Xiu and Penumbra (renamed Drake) have a loving and experienced new goatmom at Kirsten Tardiff's farm, where Eclipse will join them later this year after she is bred and settled.