Summer/Fall/Winter

 A bunch of out-of-order photos spanning many months!

The barnyard in early winter.

 Inside the "creep", an area that is for lambs only. The ewes are blocked at the entrance and thus the lambs get exclusive grain privileges. I converted the chicken tractor into a permanent chicken house for the summer by blocking it up on 6"x6"'s and attached a laying box on the side that is accessible from the outside (not shown). The chicken shelter converts to a creep for the winter by simply pulling out the chickens' roosting poles and removing the door. I continue to use the long, wheeled feeder for the lambs as it's an easy way to get the grain inside without crawling in myself.

Ella and I planted three rows of garlic in an 18" wide bed the entire length of the garden. We're hoping for garlic independence next year as, if it all grows well, we've got enough for eating in 2014/15 and seeding the 2015 crop. This was done around Hallowe'en, hence the cat hat.

When feeding the livestock I often place Ella in the feeder as a safe spot away from bounding animals and without risk of sitting in turds. She's pictured here with her best-lamb Jerry. He actually came up to her to touch noses when she called his name.

Ella helping me spread a fresh layer of straw in the newly converted chicken house/creep.

You can see the laying boxes for the hens on the left side of the hen house here. This simple structure works really well year-round.

Having fun with Julio. A friend from work posted a photo of his dog wearing a postie hat so I did the same.

Lambs waiting impatiently for their grain.

I read somewhere that you could use a tire as an entrance for a lamb creep so I thought I'd try it. It didn't really work. You can see that Juno got in just fine but Jasmine was stuck. It was much like a Winnie-the-Pooh story here for a bit.

We let the chickens onto the garden at the end of season. They enjoyed scratching about for greens and critters.

Visiting with Julio one Saturday morning in the summer when friends were over.

Picking apples off the ground with Ella. These are mostly rotting apples and get composted. We pick them off the ground to prevent wasps and bears from coming around. One day we'll have pigs to feed them to!

Hauling some cedar posts this fall in order to build a fenced in area around the new summer shelter.

Babysitting here means work-party! Here's Ella and her best friend Kikue working hard at securing a new fence post.

The new shelter before getting the second feeder attached. We love to watch the livestock eat.