Warning: Cuteness Ahead!

Lena Mae gets up close with momma and the new piglets.

Yesterday around dawn the latest cuties arrived on the Farm.  One of our "new mommas," a beautiful tan-red sow in our pig herd, gave birth to 9 adorable piglets!  They are red like their momma, and most have black freckles.  They were up and taking their first steps within hours after birth, and momma was attentive and active shortly after delivery.  These are all good signs!

Check out the pics below. 

Momma and piglets resting in the sun.

Those piglets are active! 
(Look at that healthy curly tail on the little guy in the front!)

The piglets are already learning to follow momma wherever she goes.

For the love of all things cute and adorable, I remain,
Delana (for Your Farmers @ Miller's)

Introducing the In-Pasture Brooder

Amber, Baby Grif and Lena Mae testing out the In-Pasture Brooder.
(Peeps are still in their transport boxes in the foreground.)

Lew, our resident tinkerer/inventor, is always dreaming up new contraptions for use on the farm.  In the past few weeks, he has been working diligently to tweak the design of our poultry shelters for use in the pastures.  (The main goal: to protect our "girls" from predators while still giving them the pasture-roaming freedom they so enjoy.)  His latest invention is an in-pasture brooder, a floored pasture-based shelter complete with heat lamps which will be the "first-stop" home for all the new poultry on the Farm.  During the approximately 2-week brooding period, young peeps (several days old) must be kept in a warm, well-ventilated shelter as their fluffy down is slowly converted into more insulating feathers.  After the chicks are sporting a full complement of feathers, they are moved officially onto pasture.

Yesterday, Lew, Amber (and, of course, Lena Mae and Baby Grif) transported our first In-Pasture Brooder to its new home and set up the latest batch of peeps in their new digs.  Check out the photos below.



Baby Grif rides in apple-crate style!

Amber makes sure each of the 130 peeps is given an initial "drink" to quench any thirst
they may have built up during transport.  Each peep gets special care.

Baby Grif supervising Brooder operations.

Lena Mae supervises from her perch on "Papa's tractor."

We'll be updating you soon about opportunities you will have to come visit the Farm and check out our poultry and pigs and trees and things.  

Grateful for new inventions and lively peeps, I remain,
Delana (for Your Farmers @ Miller's)

Orchards in Bloom

The last week has left many of us in Northeast PA wondering if the sun still knows how to shine for more than 2 hours at a time!  In case the continuation of April showers has left you despairing over May flowers, check out the pictures below of our orchards in bloom.  We took these pictures last week when our region got three or four blessedly sunny days in a row.  Those few days were all our apple trees needed to burst forth in Springtime blossom-laden splendor!

Now we are praying that the evening temperatures stay above frost-territory until Fall! 

With a happy heart and eyes on our blooming orchards, I remain,
Delana (for Your Farmers @ Miller's)