Farm Update For May

I'll begin with a roadside scene which I found attractive. This was just up the road from my house, a typical springtime brook and fallen tree, everything blessedly free of snow:

The Bearded Iris outside my door have been struggling to emerge. I say "struggling," because the chickens routinely eat the tender tips off the leaves:

The Siberian Iris seems not to be as tasty as its relative:

The Lamium, which I transplanted from beneath the Lilac, is emerging from its winter nap and looking good:

The chickens, outdoors again after the fox scare, spend their days looking for tasty treats in the lawn. Also, notice the cattle in the background, collected around their hay bale feeder:

I scooped up several tractor bucket loads of composted manure and drove it over to the Iris bed next to the house, using it as mulch. I also buried a hen there which had drowned in the stock tank. Now she's fertilizing the Iris:

Everything looked healthy and happy when I was done. Of course the chickens could not leave it that way and immediately began scratching through the mulch, making a mess:

A neighbor reported having seen the fox again on the dirt road beside my property. Even worse, she'd also seen two den holes in the bank below my cow pasture. I drove down to see for myself. But I have continued to let the chickens out every day and will continue to do so unless the fox begins hunting them again. Hopefully, it will move away or get killed:

Another neighbor struck a deal with me where he'd spread half my composted cow manure on my field and half on his own. I loaded his manure spreader with my tractor and he hauled the spreader to my north field with his own tractor:

It was a marvelous thing to watch and I was much impressed. Whoever invented the manure spreader was a genius:

The Daffodils in the side yard were the first flowers of springtime:

And each morning, I let the chickens out for the day. I never tire of watching them strut and waddle their way down the plank, cautious yet anxious to be outdoors for the day: