Starting about a month ago, we began pruning the blueberry bushes again. (The key to pruning in February, as you can see, is bundling up very warmly, until no one can tell who you are because of all the clothes). Right now, we are mostly cutting off the black, “burnt” ends through which disease can enter the plant. We’re aiming to be done by the end of March…and there are only 13 rows left to go. 
On a side note, last week, we unfortunately had to have someone come out and cut down several of our lovely trees which stood close to the blueberry patch. The birds didn’t much care last year how much we scared them, as long as all they had to do was fly right back into the safety of those sheltering trees…and then quickly swoop back down to eat more berries a few minutes later. So the guys have a lot of wood to start sawing…
Now for an update on Emmy, the only bottle-lamb which I kept for the flock. That is her below with me. She still likes to nurse from Jenny, which we are going to have to put a stop to very soon since she is almost eight months old.
And here is Daddy on Jenny, and me and Napoleon (Jessie’s colt). We have separated each young donkey from its mother, so there has been somewhat of a ruckus lately. Jenny positively refused to go more than a few steps when I tried riding her previous to this picture being taken, so Daddy decided to take the situation in hand. She did a little better for him, but not much. No amount of forceful tactics will induce her to go where she does not want to go. (It takes corn).
They had remodeled the barn with so many improvements, it is like a new place! They were so kind as to think of everything I would need this coming lambing season to make things easier, such as this whole row of sturdy lambing pens with easily-opening gates in the front. Besides this, they made (on the far left, barely visible) a perfect spot where I can feed bottle lambs and have creep feed available. And that’s not all…they patched the roof and the cement floor, put in new gates so we don’t have to crawl over fences to get from place to place in the barn, designed a varmint-proof lid for the grain, and more. Oh yes, and repaired the feeding troughs! THANK YOU, Daddy and Grant!!!!!
The other latest project was begun just after Abriana and I came home. Grant and Daddy plowed up several new rows in our south field in which to put new blueberry plants at some point in the future. Daddy has already put sulfur on the rows in order to begin making the soil acidic enough for blueberries.
With the tour over, we went back to our campground. We enjoyed a swim in Lake Michigan (just two miles or so from DeGrandchamp farms) and a climb on the sand dunes before we camped out for the night in our trusty tent. Abriana and I are grateful to have air mattresses to sleep on like our parents, but Grant always has to rough it with a roll-out pad and a sleeping bag. 
After our fill of wandering about downtown South Haven, we drove to a lovely park to have lunch, where we spread our picnic on a table overlooking the harbor. When we had eaten, some member of the family made the incredible discovery that blueberry plants were growing right there in the middle of the park! And they had BERRIES on them! (We then proceeded to act in such a manner that you would have thought we had never seen a blueberry growing fresh on a bush. It must be because of the unforseen termination of our crop by the obnoxious robins.)
It was fun to walk down to the lighthouse with the gorgeous lake on either side.
Returning again to our home base, we changed into clothes suitable for encoutering the water, and traipsed down to the beach, making sure to bring the camera along since we had not the day before. The water was very chilly, but Grant (who is never deterred by the temperature of water) went right in, and I followed with Abriana. The day before, Abriana had distinguished herself by being the first to immerse herself, and then even swam underwater several times.
Climbing on the sand dunes was also a treat, and so was flying down them after reaching the heights. The view was amazing, as you can see. What a wonderful God who made all these things for us to enjoy!
