Spring is Springing

Finally I've had a chance to take some photos and sit down to write a post here! All before spring slips away. Thank goodness. I've been trying to find time but life has been busy. This blog has always been a document of the life on our farm and although it is all repetitious year after year, I still find the changing seasons something worth sharing with all of you. So today - lots of pretty pictures of what it looks like here at Leyden Glen Farm in western Massachusetts on a gorgeous spring day. I hope you enjoy them. 

It's been a lovely spring this year. In fact one of the loveliest springs in memory. Often it goes from winter to summer in a matter of days with high temps in the 80's and 90s. Not this year. There have been plenty of days in the 50's and 60's. I'm not a fan of extreme heat so I have been enjoying the days. We've had just the right amount of rain and the drought which we experienced last year seems to have subsided. It's still too chilly to have the windows open.

We have been moving sheep out of the barns to pastures near and far. Lots of picking up and moving fence for The Farmer, loading sheep into the trailer and moving them out. Most of the lambs have been weaned - except for the little ones who were born late to yearling ewes. They are growing big. Haying will start next week. Another farm season beginning. It all seems to go so fast. Probably because we are busy. Summer farmer's markets have begun. It's nice to see customers who we haven't seen since last November and to hear how their winters have gone. 

The spring colors have been electric. There is still a lot of chartreuse because the leaves aren't fully out yet. The orchard started blooming this week and today I finally got a chance to take a nice walk in it. You can smell the blooms and it is intoxicating. 

I checked the little pond and the tadpoles have hatched. They skittered under the mud when I walked too close. 

The sheep are happy the leaves are coming out so there is a bit of shade for them. It's nice to have animals back outside our farmhouse and to listen to them baaaaahing to each other. (In the winter the sheep live about five miles from our house in barns we built many years ago before we bought this farmhouse.)

The birds have been singing every morning and all day long. A robin has made its next on one of the pilasters on the pergola just outside my studio. Every time I walk outside, she flits away. I hope she hatches some little ones. 

We're in the waning days of Julia's days at the local regional high school. She will be graduating in a few weeks. I can't believe how fast it all has gone. Today we had a meeting with her support team at school to update her IEP so that it will go with her wherever she goes until she is 22. Next week we are going to the local community college to check it out and meet some folks. New adventures for her and her Mom and Dad. 

I've been working on some ceramics and some embroidery. I'll share that work in a couple days. This week is the first Brimfield Flea Market of the season so I'll be heading there tomorrow to look around. 

I hope your spring is going well.