The Beauty Of Summer

It seems bold of me to type the word "summer," for it has seemed that spring would never end and we'd move right into autumn and winter again. We had to heat our houses at night right through most of June, but at last I can safely say it is summer now. The baby fantail pigeon is doing extraordinarily well:

 And most of the adults are nesting or quibbling over prime mates or nesting sites:

 The bantam hens have reduced their egg laying to a just a few per day:

 And they seem comfortable and happy with their lives:

The offspring of the old fashioned rose began to flower:

 And the damn Canada Thistles and Bull Thistles crowded the fence line:

 I took a weed-whacker to them and things began to look better:

 With longer days, I began going out to do the chores at earlier times, with exquisite sights such as this dawn sky being my reward:

I planted Iris several years ago and this giant purple one began to flower. It is huge!

 Baby apricots (I think - it's hard to remember which tree is which), the first time I've had fruit since I planted the tree:

 And baby plums on the always productive tree. The nonproductive tree looks to be carrying on its nonproductive tradition:

 I planted a hardy Blue Moon Wisteria 3 or 4 years ago, but it never grew an inch. This year it appeared to have died, and even when it produced leaves, I held no hope for it. Then suddenly it began to send up vines as if it was finally going to thrive. Well, better late than never:

Around The Farm In Late Summer

I had far fewer apples than usual this year, but a few hardy trees are producing them anyway:

The plum tree was loaded with fruit but it appeared as if my straightening of the tree set back the ripening. I don't mind, as I only eat a few anyway:

  I do, however, certainly mind the regrowth of the Burdock and Thistles in my fields. I spent an afternoon once again weed-whacking them. The thicker stems had to be cut with lopping shears:

 The fantail pigeons have had several afternoon community baths. It's fun to watch them as they appear to be giddy with joy, splashing and playing like happy children:

 I cut down the remaining Blue Sea Holly flower stems. There are no flowers left in my little rock garden, though maybe something will rebloom in autumn:

 One day the pink Rose Mallows began to open. They are spectacular:

 More opened the next day. The red flowers always open later, so they are yet to come:

 I got onto a Sunflower kick and found a website which offered seeds of many varieties. I prepared a sunflower garden alongside the dogs' fence and adjacent to the Day Lily garden. I ordered four varieties of seeds, which I'll show in the pictures below. The website, if you are interested, is here:

 I ordered Cherry Rose seeds, the fastest to bloom:

 And Little Becka, a dwarf plant with 5" flowers:

 Red Wave, a short variety with short, branching stems and plenty of big, red flowers:

 I also ordered Pastiche, a variety of multi-colored flowers on branching stems. I put so much compost in the sandy soil that I expect to have a sunflower bumper crop next year:

Summer Around The Farm

Our recent heat wave stopped the grass from growing and, in many places, it turned brown and brittle. Walking over it shattered it and sounded crunchy. I was truly worried, though it was nice to not have to mow the lawn:

 But the little rock garden produced flowers abundantly. Yellow and orange Asiatic Lilies competed with the Blue Sea Holly:

 A black striped Garter Snake of rather impressive length (about 30") began living somewhere around my biggest lilac bush. I previously had a smaller, melanistic Garter Snake living near the barn and I reckon they are likely related. Looking at this photo now, I wonder if this is the same snake, just moved to a slightly new location:

 The two baby fantail pigeons are doing quite well:

 The baby pears are also doing quite well:

 They're getting big now and I am amazed at how many there are:

One morning before it got too hot, I took pruners and weed-whacker out into the pasture and began taking down the Burdock along the fence:

 I did not cut the White Sweet Clover, which I was happy to have growing:

 But I made a special effort to take down all the Bull Thistles I could find. They were not along the fence line but scattered around both fields:

 And the Canada Thistles. They were smaller and easier to miss, but just as prickly and invasive:

 Some places are filling up with Lady's-Thumb Smartweed. I didn't try to fight that. The animals don't eat it at first, but if they get hungry they will eat it:

 Near the house, at the base of the Rugosa Roses, the wild Bouncing Bet (in the Pink family) is blooming as it does every year. Now that's a "weed" I can truly appreciate!:

September On The Farm

It has been a busy month for the fantail pigeons. The birds who haven't been able to hatch eggs or raise babies for a long time suddenly began doing both. I'd like to credit my new cake pan nests, but I suspect there were other factors as well. Anyway, here are two babies at one day old. Mama needed to be nudged aside:

 Day two:

 Day four:

 Day seven, when the parent was actively feeding the two babies:

 I discovered another nest with a baby in an advanced stage which I hadn't previously noticed. There were several other nests in progress as well. Sadly, not all the babies lived - but most of them did:

 My little bantam hens have had less excitement, though you'd think otherwise if you heard them all clucking and squawking at once. I used to think that meant someone had just laid an egg, but when I checked, there was no new egg. Heaven only knows what they squawk about:

 Their coop has a clean floor and they get their food and water topped off each evening. Their life may be unexciting, but it's safe and comfortable:

 Blue, Remy and Rosella lined up for a photograph when I walked out into the south field. With the bull gone, it is safe for me to walk out there whenever I feel so inclined:

 Lady-Thumb Smartweed is the plant which produces the pink and white flowers. I was perplexed at the tiny, daisy-like flowers but decided that they were Galinsoga parviflora, sometimes called Gallant Soldier. I furthermore decided that the flowers I previously identified as Galinsoga quadriratiata were too big and must remain unidentified, at least until next year:

 My Rose Mallows put on a big show this year, and the Tree Hydrangea did also. They made quite a handsome display:

 I tried hard to kill all the thistles in my pastures, but this one got missed. I decided that it was Bull Thistle even though it was smaller than usual:

 Autumn is harvest time, and when I stopped at these wild grapes I smiled, remembering how mouth puckeringly bitter they were in years past. But I tried them anyway and discovered that these were not bad at all, perhaps because they were riper than what I'd previously tasted:

High Flats State Forest - Part 1

I'd been so impressed with our recent hike in Whiskey Flats State Forest that one morning I decided to take the dogs to High Flats State Forest, not too far away. It was very wild and nothing was marked, but I found an all purpose trail and we started walking:

Unlike the pine covered Whiskey Flats, High Flats was mostly hardwood forest. It was lush and green and damp:

I was just thinking we wouldn't see any wildflowers at all when I came upon these Heal-All flowers. They appeared in nearly every spot on the trail where the sun could get through:

There was Fan Club Moss galore:

And brilliantly colored yellow mushrooms:

We broke out of the woods and into a meadow:

The dogs thought that was great fun, and Jack ran full speed, back and forth:

Abutting the meadow was a marsh, probably a former beaver pond although I never saw a dam:

I did however see the creek which was the overflow for the marsh. It ran from under the trail and out through the forest, gurgling and bubbling:

The dogs drank from the creek and then we continued on our way:

We came to some private land and turned around, taking a side trail. According to the state map, we should be heading for Close Pond. Alas, I discovered that we'd passed Close Pond on our way in and the state map bore little resemblance to reality:

Fergus and Jack trotted along:

In another open spot, I saw Bull Thistles in full bloom, making me glad I'd cut down the ones in my fields before they blossomed:

This one confused me, but I finally decided it was regular Spotted Knapweed - just very healthy, lovely specimens:

There was more Wild Ginger than I've ever seen anywhere, but since it blooms in April, I still haven't seen their odd flowers. One of these days I'll be in the right place at the right time. But we were just getting started on our adventure, and there was much more to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: