Our new "Barn"

"Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud". 

~Maya Angelou

We understood the dire need for a shelter for the newborn lambs,
so we decided to purchase a coverall tarp structure,
 from a local neighbor,
 to provide the shelter for the animals.

We had asked a few people to come and help us set it up,
little did we know that our good neighbors;
 Martien and Roeby had rallied the community.

We had an overwhelming response with over 24 people coming to our ranch to set up this coverall.
It was incredibly heartening to see all the help arriving and giving so freely of their time and energy to help us out.

The community rallied and we are beyond grateful.

I was a touch concerned as to how to feed everyone, as I had not counted on such a large crowd.
But, even that was taken care of!

The fancy lambing jugs were loaned to us by Twilight Hutterite Colony.
The large group set about building up the coverall, while others completed other jobs;
our future water pumphouse and electrical shed,
 was insulated and completed by some of the work crew.
Other people, helped out with vaccinating lambs, feeding bottle babies,
feeding the ewes and lambs and getting more hay bales.

The work started at 10am and by 5pm,
 we had the first ewes and lambs in the barn.

Almost two weeks after the fire, the barn is still smoldering,
occasionally a small flare up starts.

We have a staw bale maternity pen,
another straw bale pen for the older ewes and lambs.
We have the coverall up,
 for the immediate care and protection of the fresh lambs,
and  a small shed ready for the water and power.
We have the waterlines dug up and a new power line installed.
We hope by the end of this week, we will have power and water restored for the animals.

We are hauling water with a water tank from town to our stock daily.
So, things are slowly moving forward.
As time moves on, we are not reeling as much,
 and are now primarily focused on this lambing time.

We have had meals delivered to us, cards from far and wide, donations, phone calls, emails and so many kinds words spoken to us.
For a (somewhat) hermit like me,
this is both heartening and totally unexpected.

Here is an impression of the day:

Thank you,
 for being our rainbow!