Around The Farm

My eight remaining Barred Rock bantam hens are doing well and have not been attacked by foxes in several months:

The new "Easter Egger" bantams are doing spectacularly although, sadly, only five of eighteen were hens:

I lost two fantail pigeons over the summer and there were no babies until autumn. Now there are two babies, growing up and about to replace the two I lost. This gives me a total of 20 pigeons:

The Red Poll cattle produced three heifer calves, one of which died. Remy and Blue, the two new miniature horses, are vaccinated, gelded and ready for winter:

It's been a lean year for apples, but that has worked to my advantage as there have so few windfalls to pick up. Most of them go to the cattle, who are already too fat. The chickens are eating a lot of apples but I taste no difference in their eggs. I once had hens eating lots of Catnip and their eggs took on a wonderful flavor:

Most days for a month or more I was able to give about 3/4 bucket of apples to the cows and horses:

The wild Bouncing Bet bloomed white beneath the roses all summer long. They continued to bloom into the autumn, but their petals took on a pinkish color:

The Rugosa roses produced a fall crop of flowers and rose hips:

The little Easter Eggers finally got bold enough to venture out onto the lawn and search for bugs, seeds and other treats around the bushes. With their variegated colors, they were a beautiful sight:

It's a shame that most of them will have to become dinner, but I won't think so when I'm eating them:

The sparse apple crop produced mostly small, deformed fruit. Then one day, I found this beauty and saved it for my own consumption. It was delicious:

And that inspired me to begin keeping some of the nicer looking apples for my own afternoon snacks. I have a lot of varieties and never know quite what they'll taste like until I take a bite: