Two nights ago our chicks arrived and they have settled happily into the barn. As soon as their feathers grow in a bit more and the weather gets warm enough they’ll be able to start foraging outside in the grass for some yummy worms and grubs. And in a couple of months, we’ll be enjoying some tasty roast chicken. Before we grew our own chickens, we had no idea how much better they taste when they can graze outside, as opposed to those that are barn-raised. And it’s fun to watch their antics when they find a nice juicy bug! The ground is quickly drying out and we have begun to start no-till seeding at the fields where we’re planting wheat. No-till seeding is a method of cultivation which requires less machine work than conventional seeding, saves fuel and allows us to get the crop into the ground sooner. That’s important in a place like Metchosin where we don’t have irrigation on most of our fields and almost no rainfall in the summer. We hope to give our wheat a good start by seeding early, and get it to a height that will withstand the summer drought. In less than a week our yearlings will start to lamb, so expect to see more lambs dotting the fields soon. Yearlings are sheep that were lambs themselves last year and they can be a handful to lamb out. Many of them have no idea of what that aggressive, wet little beast is that’s nudging at their udder, or what they are supposed to do with it. It often takes some help from us (and a sturdy lambing pen) for the new moms to decide that they like their lambs after all. Some sleepless nights ahead….