You can row the cotton

You can row the cotton, the old timers would say. Looking out on the long rows you can see the stand of cotton. Plants are really growing in the warm nights. These cotton plants were up in about a week, a plant will be healthy and more productive if it is not stressed trying to get out of the ground. We normally no-till the cotton ground, but after all the hard rains we had over the fall and winter, the ground was compacted and had to be plowed before being planted. After planting we had 2.2" of rain that sat the soil back down like concrete, so we ran a rotary hoe across the top of the rows to break the crust. Cotton is a finicky plant.

Gypsey

Gypsey is sleeping in front of her best friend Ruby. Gypsey lost her kid, it had some birth defects and didn't make it, she cried all day and went back and forth to the place she gave birth, she was a first time kidder and doesn't understand. I kept her in the barn with Ruby and the other mama does for a few weeks and decided it was time to turn her out to pasture with another herd. Every now I then I catch her looking into the barn, so I let her in to see that her baby is not there. She stays for awhile to visit  Ruby, then she's ready to go back out to graze the sweet grass. She can try again next year.

Sweet smells

Today was the first day of the sweet smells of spring. Wild roses, honey suckle, fescue, white,crimson, and purple clovers, privet, sweet peas, everything blooming and smelling like perfume, only I hate the smell of bottled perfume, so fake, compared to the real thing. Grass and every plant is growing now that the nights are warm, I can tell a big difference in the last week, you can almost see them growing. The air is still fresh, not so humid, yet. The mysterious vine in an earlier post has been identified by Alice as crossvine. The Market bulletin has an article on the vine, it is a Georgia native. Spun a few skeins of the lime green-blue Sunshine roving, very nice, I don't usually spin a two ply, mostly thick singles.  Should make great sock or sweater yarn.

Marathon

Cinco de Mayo was a marathon day, started washing windows and screens on the house at first light, got 4 dye pots going, took care of all the 2 and 4 legged animals, then carded 3 different rovings. The lime green is Sunshine, the gray-brown is her triplet sister Midnight. Spun and plied the third roving, a brown BFL, from Midnight's son, Cocoa, with a little peach Cormo lamb for highlights,  from Jewell's daughter. These three are my favorite wools for knitting scarves, they spin up fast and knit easily on big needles, and are soft enough to wrap around your neck. I have to have these days to feel like I am accomplishing something, most days will come and go, but sometimes I can still get-r-done.

Foggy Morning

Complete fog when I woke this morning, but it soon burned off and got warm. I was ready for the 2" of rain we got, better get it while we can, really helps the grass grow in the pastures. Curlie's buck kid is eating hay this morning and screaming when he gets his shot of antibiotic, goat kids are dramatic about everything. When they are quiet you know something is wrong.

Dinner's ready for Blaze's kids

Blaze's kids are doing well, but one of the other kids has a fever, mostly resting, not normal for a kid goat, no other symptoms, yet. Started him on a different antibiotic today, and he seems better, the fever broke. Spent a lot of my time just watching him for any changes. A seasoned shepherd will spot a problem with a lamb or kid just by knowing what their normal habits are, and everyone is different. That little something off, or not eating and playing, or separated from the herd, slow to come in and out from the pasture, usually means they need to be checked out. Much time is spent giving the best treatment possible for a full recovery. I'm off to the barn for my final check of the day.

Does on summer pasture

Spent several days last week deciding which does to move to summer pasture, brought some back home and took more back to the pasture. Out of sight and out of mind does not apply to me. I like to see all my animals and listen up for anyone in trouble. These does have head high grass to graze that should last all summer. I just worry about their safety. They have a guard dog, Dollie, and electric fencing. All they need is cool water and fresh mineral to go with the salad bar. They will have the sweet music of field larks to listen to, this pasture is a song bird sanctuary. I never mow it and they only have one predator, a hawk.