Spring Comes Early

Spring doesn't technically arrive until next week, but we've been reveling in several straight days of unseasonably warm weather. And when I say warm, I mean warm: highs in the seventies every day since Wednesday, and it's supposed to continue well into next week.

For those of us who brace for typically frigid Michigan winters, this balmy streak has been a wonderful gift. We even fired up the grill this evening, and enjoyed a dinner of lamb steaks (with potatoes from last year's garden, and some cabbage to celebrate St. Patrick's Day).

Speaking of lambs, they decided to come a little early this year as well. Enigma surprised us this evening with twins, a male and a female:

March 17th ties a record for our earliest lambing ever; it's only happened on our farm once before.

Enigma was a triplet, and one of the first lambs ever born to us. She was the product of Dot (the flock matriarch who passed away on Good Friday last year) and a magnificent ram. She's our second-oldest ewe (and, come to think of it, our second-oldest animal of any type), so we're not sure how many more lambs she'll produce. She tends to do an outstanding job of mothering, and hopefully her female will grow up to be a replacement breeder.

I love Spring!