Our granddaughter Trinity came for her first visit yesterday. Of course, no visit to a farm is complete without seeing the animals.

Sarah, my daughter and her mother, had not been home in some time, so her first question was, where’s Beauty? I told her we would go out to the barn in a moment. It was raining so hard today that all of the animals were in the barn. The ground in the pasture gets so soft that Beauty often falls if we let her out after a hard rain, so it is best to keep her in. Goats get pneumonia pretty easily so we keep them in when it is raining as well so they stay dry.

Trinity got lots of hugs and kisses from grandma first, while mom took lots of photos of the first visit. Then we began the journey to the barn. Getting to the barn meant going through the greenhouse. The Thanksgiving cactus was in full bloom and those fuschia colored blooms attracted Trinity’s attention immediately. Being curious, as all babies are, I held her up so she could touch the flowers. Hmmm, I do wonder if we have a budding botantist on our hands?

Then we proceeded on to the barn. Sarah, of course, went to visit Beauty first. She was amazed at how much weight Beauty has gained since the last time she saw her. I took this photo with my smart phone three days ago when Beauty was in the pasture. She has a fairly thick winter coat on as you can see.

I took Trinity in to see the goats first. The baby goats were curious about Trinity. They cautiously came forward, sniffing her. Faith, the baby goat above, looked at her mama Darla as if to say “I have never seen a tiny person like this before. Is it ok mama?” LOL!

Darla, being a cautious mama goat, stretched out her long neck to check Trinity out before gently naying to her babies that they could go up to her and get pets.

The other mama goats, Sugar, Spice and Tulip were not so interested in Trinity. They preferred to stand back and take the situation in as if they did not know what to make of it. Nutmeg, the ever curious baby goat, who loves to nibble on everyone was quite interested in Trinity. While he was checking her out, he reached up to her face and gave her a quick kiss. It was so cute.

The next stop was the sheep stall. Johnny and Pearl did not know what to think. Their fleece this time of year is full of lanolin and Trinity did not seem as interested in them as she did the goats. As you can see, Johnny above, wanted to stand back and look at her while Trinity wanted to look for her mommy.

The last stop in the barn was a visit to Leonardo, our angora buck. He had been jumping up on the side of his stall the entire time looking to see what was going on. We did not go inside the stall this time because he is in rut this time of year. Trinity was interested in him and he allowed her to give him a pet. He is such a gentle boy most of the time, but can get pushy this time of year so being on the outside of the stall was in everyone’s best interest.

From there we came back inside so momma could clean Trinity up. She spent some time playing with Blueberry Muffin, a doll my Grandma King crocheted many years ago when I was a child. It is nice to know that hand made toys, made with love and care, can last three generations of children and still be in great shape.

Trinity seemed to love being here today. Could this be the start of another generation of women homesteaders in our family?