April Already?!

Can't believe it is April already!  Where does the time go??

The farm is settling down for the winter, over half our lambs have gone off on the truck now, as have our big steers and we can concentrate on pampering our ewes.
We've got a gorgeous new Suffolk ram "Boy" he was straight into work with our current ram "Neil" Hes only a 2 tooth so we look forward to having him for many years to come.
In an happy turn of events we have been offered another 40 acres to manage in the area, so are looking forward to getting stuck in there, starting out with another flock of 30 ewe lambs, very exciting!

 The strawberry patch!  I actually weeded this out today and let the chickens have a little scratch around, then recovered it with mesh and fed with seaweed tea, so is looking a bit better than this now!

 The front garden, cleared out of all the tired old petunias, I need to get in and de-head the lavender next, looking forward to all the polyanthus flowering this spring

 New growth of Artichoke coming through,  there is just the one old plant left on the end that didn't sprout out new growth??   May have to pull out old plant and separate one of the other Artichoke to replace it

 The Passionfruit had a nice feed of seaweed tea today, hopefully we may get a few fruit off it next year

 The raised bed planted out with new Beetroot, Brussel Sprout, assorted Cauliflower and about a million Leek

 The Farmers hot red Chillies!

The big boys before they were off on the truck to their new home

The chickens are growing fast and free ranging for a good 3 hours a day now, they are behaving themselves very well in the garden, as long as we have the vegies well netted off!

We did a tour at "Heritage Poultry" which we are very lucky to have just down the road.  It was facinating!  Even The Farmer thoroughly enjoyed it!  We learned everything we were hoping to learn about natural wormers, Diatomaceous Earth, sprouting grains, the deep litter system, feeding, breeding, diseases, culling and so much more.  I left with pages of notes and saw some absolutely stunning birds.  It was well worth it.
We brought some "Stockmans Friend" with is a natural tonic for animals, with ACV, Honey, Garlic and Seaweed which we gave to the chooks as soon as we got home.  And followed up with a bowl of yogurt with their breakfast this morning.  At first they looked at me like I was crazy when I gave it to them but after eating a little bit off my fingers they were soon all into it and loved it!
Also brought some whole wheat and barley which we are currently sprouting for them, can't wait to see how they react.
We'll be preparing the Chicken house for winter shortly, covering the run with a roof so it stays dry and getting out deep litter system started in the house,  got to make sure the girls are warm and dry!

In other news it turns out The Huntaway is very allergic to Bees/Wasps.  I was sitting with her having my lunch about a week ago and I noticed she had a few bumps coming up on her legs, nek minnit  - she face had swollen up, eye, ears, and she had come up in lumps all over her body.  I immediatly threw her in the car and screamed off to the vet.  After a hefty shot of anti-inflamitery steroids she began to deflate. but boy! It was scary.  Luckily she didn't have any respiratory distress, but she now has steroid pills I have to take with The Huntaway where ever we may be, in case she is stung again.  Sadly The Vet says this is a condition with will worsen as she gets older.   The Farmer and I will have to be on our toes...