Welcoming Families w/ Special Needs

This morning a Facebook friend mentioned it was "Special Education week, and this is in honor... of all the kids who need a little extra help & understanding".
At Falkenbury Farm we welcome families w/ special needs. They find the private 3 bedroom guest house works wonderful for them. Many show their children our website before arriving to make the transition of being away from home easier for them and they have an idea of what to expect. They find that the house vs. a hotel allows them an easier way to relax and do their own thing. Always a good time for us as well as the families! We are lucky to meet so many wonderful people.
If you are a family of a special needs child and would like to visit, give me a call and we can discuss any specific things you may like to know about our farm or guest house.
I am happy to say making the house downstairs handicap accessible is one of my goals. Unfortunately we do not have a ramp to enter the house yet. If anyone knows of any possible funding that may be available for such a project PLEASE get in touch.
Let's hope this week helps shine some light on these great children and their families.

Guests Leaving

We said good-bye to some great people this morning. They helped with chores last night and again this morning. One of the children overcame their fear of cows quite quickly with Heidi's help last night. The baby goats were a hit as usual too. And I think they wanted to fill their pockets with cute baby bunnies before they left.
We sent them to the Wheel Inn for dinner last night. That's the place to eat in Benson. It's right in the village and has something for everyone and their dessert..........the best!
The sun is out this morning. The goats went outside. They're on their daily hike up the mountain (hill).

The first kid of the season at a couple hours old.

We are now up to 14. We had twin does born this morning and have several more on the way but they're not coming for a while yet.

Today's mother is named Belle. I think she's going to name the twins Liberty and _______??

They're keeping us busy.

0ºF

It is 0ºF this morning. Pretty chilly.Our youngest and I went snowshoeing yesterday. We hiked for over an hour. I was wishing we brought a sled with us so we could slide most of the way home. You should've seen all of the animal and bird tracks we saw! Wow! We know where some of the deer are hanging out now. I was neat to see all the different tracks. We need to find a book or chart to figure out what more of them were. I know there is one around here somewhere.

We picked up another jeep yesterday. It's a CJ7. It has a nice hole blown thru the side of the motor though. We have a lead on a new one (used). Now we have 2 and still don't have one to drive around.

-22ºF this a.m.

Too cold! It was 22 degrees below zero and no school delay. Borderline crazy, especially since the bus was 45 minutes late!
It is so cold we let the goats stay in this morning. I think they are healthier when they go outside every day but this is ridiculous. Maybe around lunch time I'll let them out for a bit?
The boys start exams at the high school today. They'll be done at noon. One will go to work, the other will be home on the bus. He gets dropped off almost a mile from home so I should go pick him up so he doesn't freeze.
A family is coming later today for the weekend in the guest house. I would love to write about our guests on this blog because they very often are quite interesting but I guess that wouldn't be right. We've had people from many different parts of the US and world and it is extremely fascinating to meet them and have the kids learn things about their ways of life. It is very enriching.

Another snow day!

Snow, sleet, freezing rain here in Vermont today. Kids just left to go up to their fort. Their fort is awesome! It's a tree fort. It's up in the woods. They brought their sleds and their calves. Yes, calves. They have a special corral for them up there. They made it themselves. They bring hay and the calves are happy all day. I wish my son's snowmobile wasn't in the shop. I don't like to go out alone. The roads haven't been touched by the road crew yet. That's the best riding.

Skating anyone?

I heard the ice is thick enough to skate. If only it wasn't so darn cold........yeah, I know, then the ice wouldn't be thick enough. But geezum crow yesterday it didn't get above 10ºF! And we're going to go outside and play?! I guess we'll have to find some wood for a fire. And you know what that means.......Marshmallows!!

Fog is stealing our snow

It was 37ºF at about 6:30 this a.m. It is supposed to get near 60 today!
We finally get some decent snow and now, between the rain and temps, it's going fast.
The girls have some great luge runs up at their fort. They shoveled paths when the snow was deep and packed the sides. They are pretty clever. Then of course the rain iced them so they are F-A-S-T too.

Winter has arrived!

The girls have had their sleds out already today........yes, it's the first SNOW DAY of the season!!!
Joe has his snowmobile for sale so he's out there running it and fine tuning it. A few guys are supposed to come to see it later today.
We're covered with snow! Now it's raining and about 24º so the roads are a sheet of ice and the snow is crusty. Hopefully it will be good for runner sleds later this afternoon!
The goats were hesitant about going out in the white stuff. The cows were wild like young calves, kicking up their heels when we let them out. They'll probably be let in early this afternoon since they aren't going to find too much to munch on out in the pasture.
No reservations for the guest house until the 17th so you can come on up!

Rain and crazy temps

Two days ago it didn't get out if the teens. Actually I don't think it got above 10º! Last night it was about 47º at 10pm. And now it is about 32º at 3:30 in the afternoon and it's been raining all day so we are in for a frozen mess. Girls called to say after school activities have been cancelled.
The goats are still outside. Since it was so warm this a.m., we let them out. It is breeding season, so 150 days from now we should have baby goats coming out of our ears! That is when you really want to visit even though it will be mud season. They are the cutest little things ever!