Winter tales -- more new arrivals and other news

Well, its been nearly 3 months since the last post, and as usual, there is loads of news to catch up on.  A new baby in the house has meant a re-arranging of priorities, and the blog has fallen by the wayside a bit, but we seem to be settling in to a routine now, so from now on i will try and get back to the weekly postings! For now, the main news in three handy headlines...

1. More New Arrivals
First of all the news, we have lots more "new arrivals" to welcome to the bigoloni project...

This is Heidi, our new shepherd puppy.  She joined us a month after Ernesto was born, at only 4 weeks old -- so she is more or less the exact same age as 'Nesto!  She's going to learn how to herd our goats when they arrive (they are born now...just need time to be weaned and we should have them by easter!).  But only after she learns how to poop outside...first things first!!  Her momma is an mix australian and german shepherd, and her poppa is australian -- so she's mostly an australian that likes to put some wurst on the barbie every now and then.  She is fitting in nicely with the family, and much loved by all, especially her new best friend...



This is Solus.  She came all the way from Canada and brought her human with her for a grand adventure in italy.  Her human, Stephanie, is helping her take care of our huge brood of mini-humans!  Stephanie is my cousin from Ottawa, and she has come to learn Italian, have an adventure, and help us out with all the craziness in a big family, and I don't know what we'd do without her!!  Its really awesome having her here, for the adult conversation as well as all the help!!

 Also on the new arrivals slot, we have four new geese, two mated pairs, from Angelo.  We are getting loads of goose eggs, and if the damned snow and cold ever ends, we will pop some under a broody hen and get new geese come spring.  Oh!  And speaking of broody hen...just as 'Nesto was being born, we had a surprise hatching of chicks!  Ciuffetta had collected and sat on her own eggs without us even noticing, in all the hubub around 'nesto.  We noticed she was sitting, but didn't think it had been nearly so long and kept planning on taking the eggs away (its too cold for chicks!)...until one morning there's a "cheap cheap cheap" coming from the broody pen.  Surprise!  More Babies!!    And Ciuffetta is such a great momma, the chicks had no problem with the cold and are thriving!

2. Winter on the farm

And in other news, it has been snowing snowing snowing here (Stephanie reckons she is in danger of being deported for illegally importing a Canadian winter...) which is fun when you have a sled...the kids have been enjoying it, the chickens not so much.  Nor the car.  Nor the drivers of the car. 

 Winter work is all the maintenance and care taking, and Gab has been building fences, spreading manure, pruning fruit trees, clearing wood and brambles.  The big job of the winter so far has been building the stable -- with the help of his brother Davide, and his own two hands (and a power tool or two) he's built a wee temporary stable to house the goats when they come this spring.   

3. Troubles in Fratta

I will preface this news item with some adorable pictures of Nesto -- he started smiling right on time at 5 weeks, and starting laughing out loud super early, at 2 months.  He starting rolling half way (from his tummy onto his back) last week, so all progress on the baby front is perfect...

So perhaps that light news sweetens the bitter to come...the house plans were completely utterly and totally rejected by the park authority.   The situation should be resolvable, though, and I will come back with updates when I can!