April 11th

Hi All!

I hope you are all having a great week!  Sorry for the late post...this week got away from me!  

A bit of housekeeping. There will be no co-op April 25th as I will be out of town at a conference. Currently our last day of co-op is scheduled for May 9th. That might change to May 2nd, but it depends on the weather...I will stop hosting when the kiddos regularly begin complaining about the heat.  I will let you all know for sure. 

We started the week with an unexpected blessing...baby ducks. Mama Brown Duck was eggs-tra sneaky and hid her nest in an egg-cellent hiding spot! We ended up with a few baby ducks, but sadly, we are finding that when they hatch naturally, we usually end up losing some a few days in. We don't usually lose any ducks when we incubate them, so we aren't sure what is happening (yet), but, of the ducklings that hatched, only one survived. So of course I'm going to have to keep her! 

I also finally got a wish I've been wanting for a while... an electric fence in the pasture!  I've been asking for a temporary fence near the goat barn to see if we can keep the horses in the pasture without them stealing the goat food/chasing the baby goats. Previously I had to just wait for my baby goats to grow up a bit and then be okay with the horses stealing food before letting the horses out in the pasture (meaning no horse time 4 months out of the year).  I wanted a temporary fence that allowed the goats to wander the entire pasture but kept the horses away from the barn. No one thought my idea would work, but my husband finally let me try it and Mr. D. made me this fence.  It works great!  And now the emus can come out to the pasture as well (they also chase the baby goats)!  But that also means we need to be EXTREMELY careful when we enter the pasture with little children because the fence is electrified for the immediate future while we train the animals where they can and cannot go. 

Now for this week's activities...

From 10ish-Noon(ish) we will break into group activities:

Group A-- Ages 5-8

You will be doing Project this week.  

Materials Needed: 

A water bottle to drink out of (if you think you may get thirsty)

Sunscreen...if you so desire. 

Clothes/shoes that you don't mind getting dirty.

Parents, if your little ones tend to wander, please stay close by. You are responsible for taking your child to the restroom or providing them with water if they get thirsty. Try to remind them that this is a group activity, and they should try to stick with their group as much as possible. That will really help keep things flowing smoothly for everyone. 💗

Group B--Ages 9-12

You will be doing the P.E. this week. I was told by my son that you guys will be playing kickball this week...because that's all I hear from you Group B'ers... kickball, kickball, kickball.  Lucky for you, Mr. D. likes kickball too!

Materials Needed: 

• Athletic shoes of some sort
• A water bottle--if you think you'll want something to drink
• Sunscreen, if you so desire.
• A great attitude!  (That is mandatory!)

Group C--Ages 13-18

You will be doing Gardening this week. Come grow something pretty! 

Materials Needed: 

• Sunscreen and Water Bottles...if you so desire. 
• And clothes/shoes that you don't mind getting dirty.
• Garden gloves if you think you want them.

Those teenagers that do not feel like participating in Gardening are welcome to volunteer with Group A. Please NOTE: you WILL be put to work if you volunteer in that capacity! 

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Picnic Lunch

Everyone is welcome to stay and have a picnic lunch in the backyard area. You are responsible for bringing your own lunch. Please do not feed any animals with that lunch and please make sure all garbage is disposed of in the dumpster or garbage can.