Growing Things

 

There are things growing all over the place at the farm! When we were home back in late January for a weekend, I had discovered the emergence of some buds.

This past week, they were making appearances all over the place.

And the daffodils are blooming. I love daffodils. Who can help but love those first bright rays of brilliant yellow after weeks of brown (or in some cases, white) on all surfaces?

While Malcolm was working on clearing the hedge out of the fence lines last week, I did some clearing of my own. Someone planted a lot of English Ivy around the house and it's lovely...

....but English Ivy is kind of like Privet Hedge, in that it knows no boundaries. And I wondered what it might be smothering. So I started ripping it out of a flowerbed last week, and made all sorts of discoveries. It was keeping so many treasures captive beneath it's weighty vines!

There were dozens of bulbs trying to come up through it, as well as several shrubs, and though this Lenten Rose was able to grow and bloom through the ivy, I'm sure it will by happier now that it doesn't have to compete for space.

There are other things growing around here too.

Fancy is at 8 months now, and her baby belly is making itself more noticeable.

It is sometimes lopsided, which makes me laugh. It's probably just the way she stands sometimes, but I like to think it's the baby laying on one side or the other. Let me pretend.

I think her official due date is June 13. That is 330 days from her last breeding. But according to her breeding records, her last two foals went around 345 days, so it could be later. It's going to make guessing how to be off work a little hard, with such a broad window, but I'm determined to be there for this one!
We're considering working clear through the next two months with no break at all, and then possibly taking off nearly all of June, maybe coming home a week into June and staying through July 4th or so. It shouldn't be a problem, especially since we no longer need to take off several weeks for haying like we've done the past two years. We'll just take off several weeks and use them to play on the farm and wait for Fancy's baby. I can't wait!!!

Boy or Girl? Her last two were colts, but this is a different stallion. I've only had one foal from him, and that was Gemma. It will be interesting to see what we get this year, and I'm in touch with Dawn's new owner, and looking forward to hearing from her when Dawn foals in early June. It's going to be so hard here in a few weeks when everyone else starts having foals on the ground and I'll still have weeks to wait!

Even without a foal around, we still have a baby on the farm.

I think he will always be the baby. I think he thinks so too.

He still comes running to meet me at the gate, and he's still impossible to photograph unless there's a fence between us. It's because he insists on being right next to me if I'm on his side of the fence. I used to think I was special to him, but recently I heard from a couple of neighbors who were going on and on about what an "incredibly friendly horse that black one is" and I soon realized Sky has been kissing up to everyone on the street. I felt a little bit betrayed. I wanted to be his special someone.
I know he doesn't turn down anyone with a cookie and from what I hear, several neighbors are passing them out to my little herd.

I've been on the phone a lot over the past week or so, and I think we've narrowed the search down for a trainer, as well as a new romantic prospect for Fancy.

So we're back on the road for a couple weeks, and then we go home for a break toward the end of the month.
Our plans are to enjoy the hopefully fine Spring weather, do some work around the farm, drop Sky and Ringo off at boarding school, and go meet Fancy's prospective suiter and his owners.

Hope the coming days go by quickly. I'm looking forward to being home again! So much I want to be doing, and sitting in the truck is not one of them right now! I'll have to content myself with day dreaming until we get there.