{"id":4832,"date":"2022-03-01T12:13:35","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/?p=4832"},"modified":"2022-03-01T12:13:35","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:13:35","slug":"photo-update-february-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/?p=4832","title":{"rendered":"Photo Update – February 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month had it all… signs of spring, snow, cool skies, a rainbow, walks in the woods, fiber processing and preparation and, of course, puppies, chickens, sheep, alpacas and bunnies. What more could a girl ask for? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m so grateful for this life we’ve built… this home, this homestead, all of our animals (even when they pee and poop in the house!) and this community. Spring is coming…. that means lots of time in the garden, pretty flowers, yummy veggies, farm stand activity! It also means rain and soggy ground and sometimes surprise snow. I’m here for it! Bring it on!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs of spring<\/strong>. Lots of buds on trees and early spring flowers starting to make their way through the ground… even through the snow! It’s always so hopeful to see the plum trees starting to bloom, the daffodils poking up from the ground and those tiny little daisy-like flowers that grow in the grass. The lilacs trees are starting, too. I’ve also noticed the birds starting to check out the many birdhouses on the property (thank you, Wayne Wendell!) to see if they would make a good home. (Spoiler alert… they make GREAT homes!!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Surprise Snow<\/strong>. We had several days of surprise snow last week. First, we weren’t going to get any, then we were going to get a dusting… and overnight we got between one and two inches TWICE!! Very unusual for here… we usually know that there’s a possibility… the accumulation amount is always a question but we usually know to expect it, and this time it was a surprise! We got lots of snow and below freezing temperatures this time last year, too… I’ll have to remember that late February is not too late for snow. I’m glad I didn’t get too busy in the garden last week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phoenix hadn’t decided how he feels about the snow at this point… in the end, he decided he wasn’t a fan!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Theodosia was killed by an eagle yesterday, so I’m happy I have this picture of her. \ud83d\ude41<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chicken feets!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Moose was not quite ready to go inside yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Braden was working with Cotter on some training.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Awww pups and the boy in the snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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These two crack us up! Always chasing and wrestling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Walks in the Woods<\/strong>. We have about four acres of woods on our property, too, some of which we haven’t even explored. Last year, Carson worked hard to make trails through the western part of it, and I’ve been walking the dogs through the trails… small dogs and big dogs separately for now. They all need some leash work… most of their outside time is off leash and playing freely, but it would also be nice to be able to take them on walks elsewhere sometimes. Or at least not be embarrassed when I take them to the vet! Anyway, back to the woods… I love the way the trees look with the sun shining through them, and how small I feel when I look up to the tops of the trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I got the kids to help me walk the pups (all of them) one day! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I love the way cedar branches look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cotter and Moose being such good good boys!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The alpacas are trying to figure out what I’m doing coming out of the woods. Hi Girls!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lots of fiber prep and dryer ball making. <\/strong>I have been kicking the fiber processing into high gear around here and building up inventory. In addition to the farm stand, and sales online on facebook and our own online store (here<\/a>) , I have dryer balls, Great Balls and bird nesting balls at a sweet little store in Granite Falls, Washington called Rustic Redemption. Definitely check it out if you’re in the area. You can also find the store on Facebook (here<\/a>). She hosts a Facebook Live Sale every Wednesday at 7 pm PST. It’s always a fun time! We’ve also decided that we’re going to have our products at a couple of markets in the the area this spring and summer. All of this to say, I need to get the inventory built up, so I’ve been busy washing, drying, carding, and making!! Good thing I have all this “help!!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alpaca fiber drying on the rack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More drying fiber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I sit on the floor to make the dryer balls and I usually have “help” in the form of animals snuggling all around me. This is the cat and the puppy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Here’s Chesney and Mare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I’m practicing drop spindle, too… this yarn matches Mare! \ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Exactly two ounces!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finished products… photo shoot time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Don’t worry… there’s a-whole-nother bin of fiber to work on!! \ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful skies and scenery, a rainbow, and animals.<\/strong> Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All the pups in one shot! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sheep weren’t pleased that I was a little bit later than usual letting them out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Helpful” in the kitchen, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The little dogs like to snuggle with Shaleigh in her bed before I tuck her in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Zoe loving her Christmas Tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our peekaboo view of Mt. Baker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Phoebe posing so nicely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Thank you, Girls!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I love to capture the alpacas mid-chew!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So fast!!!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Don’t you think Zoe looks like a valley girl here saying: “Whateverrrrr!!!”?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and if you’d like to be added to our mailing list so you don’t miss a post, please send me an email at stevenshomestead@hotmail.com. I promise there will be no spam, just Stevens Homestead updates!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Signs of spring, snow, farm animals, fiber preparation and family. Please enjoy this latest photo update of happenings on our homestead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[7,55,8,12,17,18,21,22,23,34,39,40,42,45,47,48,49,53],"tags":[61,63,98,99,110,111,122,149,192,199,200,204,213,218,220,221,223,238,246],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/img_20220214_1700094943776442656760866-scaled-1.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenshomestead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}