Notes from Windward: #68

The Morning Walk-about

Thought you might be interested in a some pics of what we see on our morning walk-abouts. The folks dealing with the sheep and goats start feeding and milking them by 8:15, and by nine we're ready to head out. Meetings are the bane of communities since they can soak up huge amounts of time--going together for a walk in the morning enables us to combine good exercise with a chance for people to share what they're thinking, and make arrangement for any assistance needed on the various projects we're working on.

**Opalyn taking some of Jewel's milk for the kitchen**

Jewel's a prolific milker, and right after she gave birth, there was more milk than her two girls could handle, so we started milking out the extra and using that in the kitchen. Now that the kids are getting older, their capacity to consume milk has grown to where we'll be holding back on taking milk until her kids start to get used to eating solid food. For now Becca is the more aggressive feeder, so the mornig check is a good time to make sure that Alison gets a full belly too.

**Alison getting a chance to nurse while Jewel's on the stand**

The actual route of the morning walk-about varies considerably--usually we head out by the mailbox and south down the county road before cutting west parallel with our southerns boundry. Then we head north and into our woods, sometimes extending our walk to check for signs of wild life around the pond at the end of Windward Lane.

**Opalyn and Annie check for tracks near the water**

Now that almost all the snow is gone (noting that yestday's wind brought with it a few flecks of snow just to remind us that it's still too early to plant), we're able to head off on some of the more woody paths for a chance of scenery.

Notes From Windward - Index - Vol. 68