Yesterday was both the Spring equinox and the one of the first days that has truly felt like Spring.  We marked the day with that time honored tradition - spring cleaning.

We borrowed a dump trailer, recruited our teenaged nephew and got to work. 

Although cleaning is never a favorite activity; work did pay off.  After a few hours we had made significant progress in the shed and barnyard. 

The purpose of the clean up was two fold.  We  are beginning to prepare the space to install the walk-in freezer and we're getting ready for our Pastured Poultry Workshop on April 9. 

Hopefully, many more sunny, warm days will be coming soon!

We had a nerve wracking week at the end of February/beginning or March, but the good news is we got a great story out of it! 
 
We submitted a grant proposal to the Frontera Foundation at the end of January.  The grant was written to help pay for some large capital investments we're planning to undertake this spring, including a walk-in freezer, price computing scale, a bar code scanner, and inventory control software.  We could get by without some of those things, but as we expand the number of meat share holders all will be really helpful, and the most costly -the freezer- is an absolute must!
 
So, on February 28 (the day that the awards were due to be announced)  we hadn't received any notification.  Around 4:30 Jody called the foundation and was told that the Board was meeting that night to finalize their decision on four farms.  "OK"' we thought, "we're still in the running".
 
The following day we checked e-mail compulsively and finally decided to call again.  I learned that the board had made its decisions, but notification was via postal mail, and no, the young man I was speaking to couldn't give us a hint.
 
So, we steeled ourselves to wait until Monday - nothing!  Tuesday came and STILL no word, yes or no!  What was going on?  Jody spoke to someone and he was going to look into it.
 
On Wednesday, Jody called again and spoke to Jen Fite and learned... they hadn't received our grant submission!  Although I copied myself when I sent the e-mail and that was delivered and there had been no failure notice, for some reason it hadn't gone through to them.  Jen had Jody resend the e-mail directly to her while they were on the phone.  She got it that time, and told Jody that she would forward it to the board right away.
 
Jody called me to tell me the news, he was feeling pretty positive but I was gloomy.  I felt totally responsible, since I was the one to say that since they accepted email submissions we should send it that route.  AARRRG!
 
Finally, Thursday morning, a full week after we expected to learn the decision.  Jen called at 9 a.m. with the news.
 
Our proposal was funded, overnight, in full!  The board members made their decision and sent Jen an email that not only granted full funding, but commended our proposal as one of the most "thoroughly thought out and complete applications" they had received and suggested that they should "consider it a model for future application"!
 
Needless to say, we are thrilled and relieved!  The next month will be pleastly busy with shopping and setting up our new equiptment.