Where's winter?

          We have had such a mild winter this year. Last fall I thought I was being really smart by not putting the buck in with the does until late. I thought how I would beat all those 20 below zero nights and be snuggled in bed instead of in the barn delivering babies, Mother Nature has made a fool out of me. The coldest night I have seen so far this winter was 8 degrees and that's t-shirt weather. Here I could have had all the kidding done and be drinking fresh milk, but instead I have a bunch of very fat does and store bought milk in the fridge (which I refuse to drink). Oh well, next year will be different I am sure. We are still 4-5 weeks from the does freshening. Tulip, the oldest doe we have will be freshening this year. She hasn't caught for the last two years, so I thought maybe she was retired but she is wider than a house, so I know she is pregnant. She is still my best milker so far. No one can hold a candle to her. All the other animals are doing great. Egg production is down a little bit. I have been getting 15 or 16 a day, as opposed to the 22 or 23 I was getting. Still not too bad though.
          The pepper seeds have been ordered and should be here this week. We will start the peppers inside and then move them to the greenhouse in April. That's how we did it last year and the peppers did so much better. We have been eating our own hot sauce, that we canned, all winter. It is delicious!! I need to finish up the other seed orders and get them sent in. It won't be long and we will here our spring peepers singing. Even though we had a mild winter, I still can't wait for spring to get here.
          The spinning is going well. I continue to get better at it. I don't have any wool to spin, so I have had to teach myself to spin our mohair. It is slippery, compared to wool, so it is a little more challenging. I finished my first skein a couple days ago and I am knitting a hat with it. It is a wonderful feeling to be working with yarn that was raised here on our farm.  I love the fact that I was there when Tim sheared the goat, I gathered the dirty fleece from the barn floor, washed it, dried it, carded it and spun it into yarn. It is such an incredible feeling. I feel so blessed that the Lord has allowed us to do this. Now that I have been knitting with the natural fibers, I can hardly make myelf work with the man made yarn. It is hard to explain but I feel like it has no life in it. I guess that sounds crazy, but that is the best way I can put it into words.
          Well, better go. I have so much work to do today. I hope you are feeling blessed in your neck of the woods. Talk to you later...