I Arrive At The Farm

The dogs and I arrived at the farm shortly after lunch time. It was a Monday, so the tenants were at work and I had the whole place to myself. I fed and watered the dogs, then let them out into their fenced yard to enjoy the beautiful weather while I explored. I found that the lawn was mowed, the gardens were weeded and everything was immaculate. The patch of Phlox I'd planted in the middle of the yard where a guy-wire was fastened was growing nicely:

The south side of the house looked just fine with its new siding and with the big old rotten Maples taken down. The historic Cedar still grows alongside the main entrance:

My tenants had even weeded the garden abutting the barn's milk room and spared the old Asiatic Lilies which had battled the weeds for the last few decades:

The ferns and Lilies-Of-The-Valley I'd planted were growing nicely in the shade of some smaller Maples:

On the north end of the house, one can see clearly the addition which is my apartment. The tenants had disassembled the old waterfall and turned it into a rock garden, sparing the old Bleeding Heart plant which grew there:

This is the view from the road as you would see my farm as you passed by. I've still got some plumbing problems in the house to take care of, but overall, the old homestead is looking good. This is intended to be my retirement home where I'll raise most of my own food. There's some rough winters in that part of the country, but the summers are like the Garden of Eden:

This is view from the small dirt road which bisects my property as many truck drivers saw it that day. The peaceful calm was frequently interrupted by large dump trucks roaring down that dirt road. I noticed that they were filled to the very top with chopped hay to become haylage. This is, after all, prime hay country. My own modest hay fields don't get cut until towards the end of the season:

The friendly view from the mailbox:

The apple and pear trees:

Do you remember the patch of mystery plants last year which I said looked like Blackberries or Raspberries but had neither thorns nor fruit? Well, this year that patch is loaded with berries, though they are still green and not yet identifiable:

And the hay field is looking good. I plan to pasture Red Poll Cattle there some day, alternating fields between pasture and haying:

And one final shot of the farm taken from the edge of the southern hay field. It's a friendly, welcoming, scenic, old fashioned kind of place. Just what I'd been hoping for: