Meet Lance and Freckles

Want you to meet Lance.  He is  the little peep that was under his surrogate mother's wing in a photo posted back in the spirng.  He is now all grown up and has such incredible plummage.   I guess you can tell, he is a rooster.  He is bigger than any other chicken on the farm but came from the smallest parents. We thought he was a she until he crowed last week, dead give away, girls do not do that.   I guess it is the "free-range" living and cracked corn.

My husband loves to propogate the Camellia japonica.  They start blooming this time of year in the southeastern USA and California. Among the first to bloom is the variegated one in the photo.  It is called Governor Mouton (past governor of Alabama).  It is lovely.  I like to cut them and float in a crystal bowl.  They are rather fragile and do not last but a day or so.  We must have 60 different varieties here on this farm and at the office.  Will share with you as they bloom.

One of our natural beauties on the farm is a suri alpaca named Freckles.  She is medium rose gray with white spots . Her fiber makes up into silky heather gray and should make a lovely shawl.  Hope to have this done sometime this year.  Freckles is being bred to CPharoh, a true black suri and is for sale.  If you would like to add her to your alpaca breeding program, give me a response.

Mother Nature is incredible.  Many times we try to interject ourselves into the management of a species when the mama can do a much better job if we will just get out of the way.  Such is the case with a new cria.  Try as I may, I had very little success with getting him to my benchmarks. When I gave him back to his mama, she went to the far end of the pasture, nursed him and he is still standing. 

Sometimes "love" kills....

Today I just saw another ultrasound of my grandson who is due in April. 
As his dad says, " if he looks like his mama, he is probably a hotty".....

(I have no clue what that means.)

Have a great weekend; it is gorgeous here in Georgia..