It's A Girl!

Scarlett went one and a half days past her due date, then calved during the night. I went out early in the morning, while the grass was wet with dew and the rosy light of dawn made photography difficult, and found Scarlett and her brand new baby girl:

 Winston and Rosella, his mom, came over to see what the excitement was about:

 And then all of them began to move to a sunnier spot:

 Also, Scarlett was uncomfortable with me getting so close to her new baby:

On the second day, I found them on the other side of the field. The baby was already running and jumping:

 And again on the second day, Scarlett took her baby and walked away from me. I named the little heifer Ruby:

 Scarlett has a couple of extra big teats, but her calves grow so quickly that they soon are able to drink from all four teats:

 Scarlett is my only cow who hides her babies in the manner of deer, and I've spent many hours trying to find her babies because she's hidden them in the grass. But on the next day, a neighbor called to tell me that the baby was with the herd. When I got out there, I found them next to the horses' corral:

 I walked around to get closer and found little Ruby already tasting grass and learning about electric fence. Blue stood inside his corral and watched the activity (Remy ignored us all):

 With her baby three days old, Scarlett decided I was OK to get close, so I moved in to take more pictures:

 Little Ruby followed all the cows, not just her mother, and kept her eye on me:

 And then she walked behind a tall thistle plant. I snapped one last photo and then went back inside the house:

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:

An Autumn Walk Around The Farm - Part 1

Most of the pretty autumn leaves had fallen, but one chilly, windy day I walked outside to look around and decided that there was still an abundance of autumn beauty everywhere I looked. I began in front of my house, looking past my mailbox and across the county road to the corn field and pasture belonging to neighbors:

My Bridalveil Spirea was turning bright red:

The pink Rose Mallows had two blossoms which had begun to unfurl until a nighttime freeze hit them. They won't open any farther now:

The super hardy Morden Sunrise rose, however, was still blooming. It was beautiful but alas, this was the best photo I could manage to get:

A witch, ghost and devil now hang above my front door, moving constantly with the wind:

The peony leaves were turning red:

In the apple grove, windfall fruit was thick and difficult to walk across:

Some fruit still clung to the branches, and it was exceptionally lovely:

I walked out into the south field to check on the horses' muzzles. To my surprise, they were fine and I didn't need to put them back on - so I just took some photos:

I looked back toward the gravel road, a wonderful autumn scene:


The Canada Thistle managed to spring back twice after I cut it down, some of it still blooming and producing seed for more &#$%# thistles next year:

The view from the south field back toward the barn and house. I still had more walking to do, though, and will post Part 2 tomorrow:

October On The Farm

The Red Poll ladies must still be eating well because they are spending more time than usual lounging around and chewing their cuds. I guess there is still plenty of grass:

 Remy, imp that he is, has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle enough to ingest big globs of Pennsylvania Smartweed:

 Blue too has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle, though he is NOT eating the Canada Thistle in the photo. He just happened to be standing next to it and I thought it would make a nice photo:

 The hens are doing well, and probably hoping for another chance to go outside and scratch around the yard:

 The little horses spend each night inside the barn. Each morning I put their muzzles back on and let them out to join their friends, the cows. They run across the field, anxious to be part of the herd again:

 Scarlett and Blue looked happy to be grazing together:

 As the leaves first began to change colors, I snapped this photo of the scene across the road. This is the view I get from my upstairs bathroom window, and it's both pleasant and calming:

 The same neighbor's barn as in the above photo, this is a typical sunset in the western sky:

 And just down the road from me, a farm family's Halloween display:

 A bit farther down the road, the Fort Jackson Cemetery was beginning to look like Halloween also:

 Many of the town's pioneers are buried here, and I wonder if their ghosts come out at Halloween:

Also on my road is this Amish schoolhouse. One day I saw children outside playing, but Amish are loathe to have their pictures taken. I only photograph their buildings when no people are present:

Flowers Galore, Flowers Everywhere!

Just when I thought the flower season was about over, the pink Rose Mallows burst into full, gigantic bloom:

And then, about five days later, the red Rose Mallows began to bloom also:

They are planted up on a rise and next to the county road, where they draw a lot of attention by passersby:

And right next to the Rose Mallows are the two new Morden Roses. This one is Morden Sunrise:

And this one is Morden Blush:

Wildflowers bloomed too, including these Common Mallows at the south end of the barn:

And Lady's-Thumb Smartweed, also at the south end of the barn:

All other Day Lilies seem to have quit blooming, but these wild type are mixed in with my Peonies and are blooming with astoundingly vivid colors:

Not all flowers, however, are welcome. In spite of having been cut down twice, Many Canada Thistles are flowering in the pasture and along the fence line:

I was working on the electric fence and kept seeing these odd wildflowers. They were minuscule flowers with long "fingers" at the top of the plant:

I got a closeup of the flowers and buds to help me identify them when I got back to the house. At first I gave up, finding nothing like them, but then changed my mind and restored them from my Trash file to an active photo file. I finally identified them as Willow-Herb:


Unfortunately, I could tell which species - until I realized the obvious by looking at the bottom leaves. These were Purple-Leaved Willow Herb, a plant I'd never noticed before: