Summertime On The Farm

I'm sure not looking forward to winter, but summer has been delightful. The chickens spent every day exploring the property, eating bugs and greens:

If the weather is hot or rainy, the chickens prefer to forage beneath the apple trees:

An Amish farmer down the road recently had a barn raising. I wasn't going to take a picture because I've heard that Amish people don't like to be photographed, but when I passed by the second time, a whole line of cars was there snapping pictures and I figured that I might as well. All the people were too far away to be identifiable anyway:

One day, I entered the pigeons' room and found the baby floating, lifeless, in a bucket of water. I pulled out the body and then it twitched. So I ran it inside the house and began using a blow dryer on it:

It looked almost dead, but the blow dryer did the trick and today that bird has grown so big that I can't even identify which pigeon is which anymore:

One of the adult fantail pigeons has continued to make short trips to the outdoors:

The aptly named Butter-And-Eggs began blooming all over the yard:

A look inside the room which houses both the fantail pigeons and the baby chicks, now at least half grown:

Apples and pears will be scarce this year and those which are on the trees are very small and turning red much too early. Well, never mind. With their early color, these pears made a nice frame for a photo of the resting cows:

Most of my apple trees have few or no apples this year, quite a contrast to last year's abundant crop. Many of the apples which did form dropped to ground while still tiny and those which remain are, like the pears, small and turning red prematurely. It was a very rough winter and that may have caused the difference:

The morning after the calf was born, I went out at 4:30 to check on her. I found her sleeping next to her mom. Comforted that everything was OK, I turned back toward the house and beheld this welcoming scene, the house all lit up and beckoning me home:

The Tall Garden Phlox have been blooming profusely but are slowing down and will soon be done. Nonetheless, they made a nice centerpiece for a photo of the foraging chickens: