Quail~

 Last summer I bought about 20 Coturnix Quail. They live in our aviary with the doves and pigeons. The quail occupy and lay their eggs under pine & fir boughs on the floor of the aviary .

Quail eggs are extremely nutritious. "Quail eggs are incredibly nutritious , and even more nutritious than a full-size chicken egg !  Quail eggs are higher in iron,folate, and B12." ( Quoted from article written about quail in the Spring 2019 'Backyard Poultry' by Amy Fewell .)

My husband has been making tasty treats with my quail eggs. In a week or so I will try to incubate the eggs to produce a new generation of quail for our home because quail have a very short lifespan of about 2 years and my quail are almost a year old.

 This is a picture of our aviary taken in February. We had snow until this month. We still have snow in our woods and some of the lower hills. Our aviary is in our front yard and we can view it from our windows and the front porch.

The quail share their side of the aviary with my white ring-neck doves and 1 Frillback pigeon. The other side of the aviary houses 2 pairs of Frillback pigeons and 1 pair of King pigeons.

Easter Blessings

 We celebrated Easter on Palm Sunday this year. Our sons and their families are celebrating with their other grandparents on Easter but thankfully they were able to be with us last Sunday. Easter is our Christian celebration of the resurrection of our Lord & Savior, and truly is celebrated by us with thanksgiving and praise all year long.

 Our home is very small , but the size does not limit us to sharing meals with those we love and care about. We just bring out the portable buffet table and set it up in the living room.

 I set the table with the china my Aunt Ruby and cousin Christine gave me. It was Aunt Ruby's china for many years. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2017.Ruby's daughter Christine threw an amazing party for her mother, and Aunt Ruby had all her "faculties" and was able to visit with her many loved ones and friends. ( Aunt Ruby has since passed on into eternity and I remember her as a very special blessing in my life.)

 The china pattern is Spode's "Rosebud Chintz" from Copeland, England . I have the teapot and gravy boat too !

 There were only 5 grandkids here for this year's Easter egg hunt.My husband hid the eggs all over our front pasture. I suspect the older children in this picture won't be hunting for Easter eggs much longer, but the youngest little guy in the picture, our youngest grandchild, has a blast hunting for Easter eggs. ( When did our grandchildren grow up so fast ?)

 Easter Eggs !

"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die."  Jesus ~ John 11 :25, 26

It's That time of Year Again ... Lambing Time !

 Our oldest grandson was here visiting us over his spring vacation. I can't believe our very first grandchild is old enough to drive himself here over the mountains and far away from his home to visit us and help us out, but he is, and he did. He has helped us install the fencing around our pastures amongst other labor intensive work projects at our new home. Here he is holding newborn twin lambs.

 A new lamb learning to nurse. ~This is Miriel, one of my Jacob Sheep ewes. She also gave birth to twins , both ram lambs ( boys). Thus far I have been very busy with lambing time, and also incubating and raising my new laying flock and also raising 100 fryer / broiler chicks for our freezer. Until mid-June I am going to be one busy lady tending new lambs, chicks, and hopefully my geese and ducks are successful at hatching out their own eggs. We'll see. Spring has definitely sprung and the snow has almost melted around Laughing Dove Farm.

Thus far I have 11 new sets of twins and a set of triplets. I have 5 more ewes left to have their lambs and I am very thankful God has allowed all of my lambs to be born healthy and they're thriving. God is so good to me , beyond anything I deserve. Praise Him !