We now have three future milking cows living in the mahogany plantation with our sheep.  With our 2010 Gift Catalog that we had up during the holiday season, people seemed quite excited about our dairy project.   So, with the funds that came in for the dairy we decided it was time to add cows to our land.  Thanks to all who gave towards our dairy project!

For significantly less than the price of a full-grown, good milker, we were able to purchase three cows that are a year-and-a-half old.  They will be ready for milking in about another year.  Since we’re not ready for gallons of milk every day at this point, we figured this would be the most cost effective way to go. 

One interesting thing we’ve just learned is that cows supposedly make good shepherds.  They are supposed to have a calming effect on a flock of sheep.  Right now the sheep that we have are a bit wild and unused to being around people.  They are quite literally very jumpy (who ever thought counting sheep jumping over a fence could be literal?).

The cows had their wild and crazy time too though, as our guys worked to get them to the mahogany field.

Now when you sit in our kitchen there is a new sound from outside.  Along with the river's constant gurgle and the crickets and cicadas racket, we've now added the bleating of sheep from up on the mountain behind our house. 

We've purchased sheep from a few different places and we're now up to 16 and expecting some more lambs soon.  Most of these are hair sheep (with hair like a goat), a breed which is much better suited to our climate than the woolly ones.  We want sheep for their meat and for the free lawn care service in our mahogany plantation. 

We want to share the news that we're about to start computer classes with our new mobile computer lab (otherwise known as COWs: computers on wheels).  The kids in our area are very excited to start learning about computers and this is a great way to give them a head-start if they choose to study beyond the 6th grade.

In the next couple of weeks we will be expanding our Library Program to include computer classes and music lessons.  We'll offer these extra classes to the most faithful Library attenders first and go from there.  Once the school year starts in February we will be doing computer classes at the elementary school here in Urraco.