October Dreaming

Despite our extremely wet summer, we had a nearly month long drought leading to autumn. Alas, that means disappointing tree colors - or at least that's how it has looked so far:

Nonetheless, the cows and horses present a wondrous picture of pastoral beauty which I find rewarding and satisfying:

The animals like autumn because the food is still abundant but the flies are mostly gone. They are a happy herd now:

The little bantam hens also seem happy, though their egg production is tapering off dramatically:

The fantail pigeons who nested on the floor near the door hatched one baby:

Everything looked as if it was going well, but about a week later I found the baby had died and the parents had abandoned the nest:

I haven't let the pigeons out much this year, but one day I let them out and they sure enjoyed it:

I found this Orange Hawkweed growing beneath the apple trees. It was quite beautiful. It also had more orange and less yellow than it appears in the photo:

The view from out in the south field, looking back toward the barn, the house and my 88 bales of expensive but necessary hay:

Something began tunneling into the insulation beneath the milk house roof, apparently entering through the eaves. It seems unlikely to be a bird at this time of year although I've never seen whatever kind of animal it is. I should board it up better, but don't want to trap some animal inside there. I haven't solved the problem yet:

My Phlox almost all died last winter but this autumn, these Asiatic Dayflowers took their place. I used to see these all the time in the city, but they are new to the farm: