Well, it seems that Dixie still views the lambs as being potential playmates.  We've discovered her chasing them and even mouthing their back ends.  Of course since the ewes are so skittish they run right away, which makes the lambs run, which encourages Dixie.  None of them will turn around and tell her off - if they would, she would back off.  When she tries to engage the alpacas, if they are not in the mood to play they either spit at her or kick at her and she backs right off.
But the lambs run.  So we've had to go back to tying her up when we are not with her.  She stays under the lean-to and since the hay feeder is under there also, the rest of the animals hang out there.
When we are working around the barn or the pasture she is free to run and we can correct her if she gets too physical with the sheep. Otherwise she has to hang out quietly and let them come to her.
We are anxious not to rush the training so that she doesn't develop bad habits.  But she is a loveable, awesome dog, who is going to be a great part of the barn!

Of the 6 chicks we hatched this year, 5 survived.  Of those 5, 4 were boys. When we got our new layers, 1 was also a boy.  So, 5 new roosters on top of our existing 3 was too much.  And as they have grown, they have started to try to figure out their place in the hierarchy....  The Barr Rock rooster has been living with the main flock and has started to mate with the hens.  3 roosters have been living with Amelia - all of them unusual and interesting too look at.  And Little Man has been living with his parents, but it's only a matter of time until he wonders if he's stronger than his dad.
So we took the Barr Rock, Little Man, and 2 of Amelia's boys to the sale today.  It's a weekly auction in Hagersville which is fairly close to us.  There is always a variety of poultry on hand and it's always busy.  Since all of our gents are "unusual", they will be bought as breeding stock almost certainly.   It gives them a chance to go to a flock of their own and have their own hens, as opposed to living under the shadow of older, more experienced roosters.  
It was sad to leave them there - I felt uncomfortably maternal about them and pretty guilty about giving them up.  But really, it's the only way to have a successful and calm flock - there can't be hoards of roosters running around.  So I hope that they went to good homes where there are lonely hens waiting for handsome roosters to come visiting!
We kept the handsome fellow that is pictured - he is the "mohawk" rooster, a frizzled cochin / polish cross.  He is an exceptionally unusual rooster and should sire some amazing chicks down the road!

The weather this year was AMAZING for tomatoes.  Our crop was terrific.  I had grown tomatillos as well this year, so this year is salsa canning year. Salsa verde, Bruschetta salsa, yellow pepper salsa!  We also canned whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.  But since we were so busy we didn't can any fruit this year (just froze it all!)
Canning is really experiencing a resurgence of interest.  Happily, that has meant new cookbooks being published that have great and easy recipes that definitely aren't "your grandmother's chile" recipes.  It makes it so fun to experiment and so easy to make interesting things.
I am a big believer in food preservation of all types - not just because "bad times" might come, but because it makes it possible to eat healthy things with a minimum of time or fuss.  
I also freeze a lot - fruit for smoothies, veggies and such.  But canning is a good skill because it takes no energy to store the food once you've made it.  
Plus the best thing is to go to the pantry and see the cans lined up - it really does invoke a sense of self-sufficiency and competence.  I guess I remember my grandmother's shelf lined with jars, filled with stuff she had put down.  She actually did make chile sauce.  Maybe I will make a batch after all!

Dixie has been doing great!  We've started to let her be amongst the animals through the day while they are in the paddock.  We don't let them out into the pasture without supervision - we're both afraid she might jump the fence or crawl under a gate looking for us (which is something she has done already).
She like to lie up against one of the people gates, which is a good vantage point of the whole paddock.
The other fantastic habit of this girl is that she poos ON THE MANURE PILE!  She goes up to the top and goes to the bathroom there if she hasn't gotten out to the pasture yet.  It's amazing.  There is NO dog poo in the paddock to clean up. She is the best counterpart to the alpaca herd as they all poo in one pile.
She likes to scout out the perimeter and then lie in the sun - as long as she is with the animals she is happy.  She'll cry a bit if she misses us, but generally she only kicks up a fuss if she's tied outside and all the other animals go up into the barn.
So far this is working out so well.

Every year at our local fair, Michele volunteers to hatch the chicks for the educational "Old MacDonald's Farm" tent. This year was a disaster - we had a 4-hour power outage on the labour day weekend (some idiot drinking and driving smashed into a hydro pole causing a massive power outage) and then 1 week away from the fair, the thermostat on the incubator itself had a malfunction and the incubator got 2 degrees too hot.  The growing chicks could probably have coped with the power outage (they generate their own heat in the egg and so couldn't have gotten too cold right away) but the heat apparently is something growing chicks can't live through.  
As a result, none hatched.  Zero out of 200.  It was devastating.  
While the school kids were at their educational tour on Friday, we just put some day-old chicks into the incubator so it appeared as if they were hatching.  The hatching is a fundamental part of the "chicken life cycle" demonstration, and a part that all the kids enjoy.  
We had also brought Hudson, Beatrice and Little Man, so that the kids could also see some full grown (even if they are Bantams) and beautiful chickens!
On Thursday, the organizer for the educational day called to ask if I could lead the Sheep workshop - the gal that usually does that station got kicked by her horse and so couldn't make it.  I took in a fleece from the spring shearing, and had some other props to make the connection between the ewes and wool.  I was super nervous to begin, but once the classes start moving through (and there were 16 or so all day) all that nervousness goes away because you are just RUNNING.  The kids are noisy and excited and curious.  The odd trouble maker wanted to harass the animals, but overall they just wanted to touch the sheep and feed them!
We had 3 young ewes from a local sheep farmer (we didn't bring our own) that were actually quite friendly and sweet. One of them LOVED being pet so the kids got really lucky with her - she would just stand and take as much affection that they wanted to give out.
For the rest of the weekend, we worked at Michele's booth for the kennel, or we were back at Old MacDonald's Farm letting people hold the chicks - even adults love holding chicks!  It was an awesome weekend, just playing with chickens!

Dixie will NOT be confined. 
We've tried following Val's directions concerning how to help Dixie bond with her new animals.  But she is an escape artist in the tradition of Houdini. 
First we just gated her in to a stall using a metal gate.  She climbed over the gate.
Then we tied a wooden gate above the metal one.  She pushed the top gate out enough to climb through.  We chained it to the stall uprights, she turned her attention to the dividing walls that create the stalls, pushing the slats apart enough to climb through.  We wedged those together, she ate through the gate slats.  
Figuring that she was not interested in being confined, but afraid to let her run free with the lambs, we tied her outside with a long horse lead (above).  She ate through that also.  Finally, we used aircraft cable (wrapped in rubber hose) and attached it to a corner of the run-in shelter.  She spends her days there when we are not able to supervise her being loose amongst the animals.  At night, she goes into her stall that has been reinforced with wood, screws and chain.
She is much much happier now that she isn't confined to the barn.
We realized it made sense - all the other animals that she was supposed to be bonding with would only be in the barn intermittently and she would spend the bulk of her day alone.  Now she is with them, and seems a lot happier.
We let her off leash for lengths of time so she get accustomed to hanging out quietly with her "pack".  We have also been walking her every morning along the perimeter of the fields so that she learns what her territory is.  During these walks, she has gradually started to be off leash and she has learned recall.
Overall she is an awesome dog - loving and happy and smart.  She hasn't bothered the clients of the kennel, and even the pet dogs here don't seem to cause her stress.  She is also really good with kids.  We think we've gotten really lucky with our new weapon against coyotes.

When we bought the alpaca herd, on a few of the animals were registered.  We wanted to register the rest of them, which involves proving their parentage.  Once they have been DNA tested and the parentage of the animals are confirmed, the animals can be registered with the Canadian Llama and Alpaca Association.
I had sent away for the DNA testing kit and also for microchips.  The DNA collection seemed straight forward enough - pull some hairs that included the follicle.  The microchipping seemed the most daunting.   But it turned out to be quite the challenge!  Michele has a ton of experience with microchipping after her years with animal control.  She took care of microchipping and hair pulling, and I was responsible for keeping the animals steady. 
Catching them to begin with was a challenge.  Then I would hold the body steady, and Michele's son would hold the head steady.  She'd microchip the ear (we chose that because we weren't certain that they hadn't been microchipped in the past, and the "regulation" position is under the tail) and then pull tufts of hair.  It sounds straightforward.  But not one of those alpacas wanted to submit to our efforts without a fight.  The males were the worst!  At one point I thought Patrick had broken my jaw after he reared up unexpectedly.
We were all sweating and swearing and concentrating, but after an hour and change we were done.
I found the DNA portion the most stressful - I was concerned that we wouldn't gather a suitable sample.   You pull up to 30 hairs (we did waaayyy more than 30) and run tape across the middle so that the follicle end is exposed.  Then you put the samples in an envelope and label it with the microchip number.  Send it off, and in a couple of weeks find out if everything you believe about your animals is true! 
At the end of it, I can only say that I'm grateful to have a partner that is as experienced as Michele - and I pity anyone who does this as a novice!  In the future, doing all of this for the crias we'll have will be much easier!