Greetings and Happy New Year from Hidden Springs Farms,

   The holidays were wonderful at Hidden Springs.  Family, Friends, good food, laughter....it was just what we wanted.  The entire family was over and we all had a great time.  We hope you and your family enjoyed the holidays as much as we did.

    The cold and wet weather has settled in and winter is here.  That doesn't stop the farm chores, but we sure do bundle-up before heading out.  Everyone has their furry winter coats on.  The horses are wooly, the boer goats fluffy, and the Angoras; well the Angoras are the lucky ones with each one wearing his or her Angora sweater.  Emma, our Anatolian shepherd got a special gift earlier this fall.  Her orange vest!  We were worried about the possibility of her being mistaken for a deer during hunting season since she loves to walk through the woods.  So, we decided to invest in a reflective vest for her.  She looked great until she lost the vest!  I suppose dogs don't really like wearing clothes!

  We are announcing today a special contest.  All of our Angoras have names except two wethers.  We have Megan & Black Betty, Sampson, our buck, and Toughie, Fuzzy, Louis, and Baby, the wethers.  The two pictured below NEED NAMES!  So, submit your names to us at info@hiddenspringsfarms.com  by January 15th, 2009.  We will pick a winner from all submissions and announce it in our next news letter.  The winner will received a special gift basket of our wonderful herb products.  We will contact the winner and arrive to ship it directly to you.  So, here are the two boys that still need names. (The first picture has Toughie in the background)

   We look forward to hearing your suggestions!

    The herb garden is on its winter rest.  We've had a few really nice days and that gets me ready to start planting but I know it is far too early.  So, I spend me free time going through seed catalogs, planning my garden's layout for 2009, and dreaming of green plants and fabulous veggies.  We will be conducting a workshop on "Beginning Herb Gardens" in April through the Willow Oaks Learning Center in Springfield, TN.  We will give more details as we get closer to the date. It is sure to be a great time for everyone attending!

    Again, Happy New Year!  We hope it is a great one for you!

The Staff at Hidden Springs Farms