Autumn On The Farm

The bantam hens are safe and warm in their room inside the barn:

And yet they still climb up on the ramp to the door which they used to use to get outdoors. I can't let them out, though, because of the bold, ravenous foxes we have here:

The white fantail pigeons used to have free access to the outdoors during the day but never used it. Now that it's turned colder, I just keep the window closed - but I haven't yet braced it against the winter winds:

One day I heard peeping and followed the sound to this mother and two new babies:


I braced myself for their death, knowing they wouldn't live in this cold, but so far they have done well and are growing rapidly:

Blue and Remy were released from wearing their grazing muzzles and I began putting out hay bales. Alas, I have fewer bales than last year and had to begin feeding them out three weeks earlier:

My sun-activated tchotchkes used to sit on a windowsill but that didn't work with cats in the house. Then one day I saw this shelf unit on a lawn with a "free" sign. I put it next to the window and so far, the cats have left it alone:

Yes, we've had several overnight snows (and many frosts), but for a long time, everything melted and the grass stayed green. The last two nights, however, have changed all that as we had both snow and extreme cold:

My Christmas Cactus (really a Thanksgiving Cactus) burst into bloom early this year and seemed to be a very happy plant:

It's always a beauty:

They began harvesting kernel corn in the field across the road, so I took this photo from my upstairs bathroom window:

Snapshots From Around The Farm

It's been a cold but peaceful February, with the horses and cows calmly sharing the bale feeder:

Remy likes to dig in the snow, which leaves him with a white nose:

The cows enjoy the wasted hay, using it as bedding, and I have found a scene like this the perfect opportunity to spray fungicide on Gracie's two bald spots. I can often get them sprayed faster than she can stand up. If she's already standing when I go out, she knows what I'm up to and skedaddles:

Remy seems to feel some real affection for the cows, though I think they merely tolerate him:

Blue doesn't seem to feel the same affection for the bovines which Remy does. Notice Rocket and Scarlett behind him, with Scarlett giving me the stink-eye. She's very protective of her baby:

The compost pile behind this collection of animals grows each time I clean the barn. Of course it will shrink as it composts. If you look closely, you can see the small, dark pile which is all that's left of the previous year's compost:

The 27 fantail pigeons are lively and I expect they will reproduce this year:


They are friendly to me and unafraid:

Many of them are already paired up, though some apparently are not:

These three Easter Egger bantam hens add a bit of color to the mostly Barred Rock bantam flock:

It's a shame I can't let them out anymore, but the foxes kill them so fast that I've given up:

My Christmas Cactus has been blooming, on and off, since Thanksgiving. Apparently it is a very happy plant:

Around The Farm - Part 1

The first two months of winter weather were blessedly mild, but that doesn't mean that everything went smoothly. For instance, there was the day I detached the tractor bucket and replaced it with the bale spear. When I attempted to reverse the process, I accidentally pushed the bucket too far and knocked the bush hog off its wheeled dolly. It was too heavy to lift, so I had to put the bucket back on the tractor, take it outdoors and set it on the ground. When all that was done, I reattached the bale spear and ever so carefully used it to lift the bush hog. I got off the tractor and positioned the dolly back underneath it:

And on the same day as the bush hog incident, opening the heavy barn door pushed several sections of the roller track apart. A catastrophe was imminent and I could never have lifted the barn door back into place. But I carefully climbed up on the tractor bucket and used a sledge hammer to tap the track back into place. Another disaster averted, at least for the time being:

And then there's the cow manure and frozen urine left by the cows every cold night when they sleep inside the barn. This truly doesn't capture the horror of it on the worst mornings, but you get the idea:

Poopsicles everywhere!

And then one day, winter truly arrived, albeit belatedly:

The apple trees probably needed a good dose of winter. They seem to thrive in this climate. If so, they got their wish with a goodly dose of below zero temperatures, high winds, blowing snow and freezing rain:

Indoors, however, my fall blooming cactus was so warm and happy that it began blooming again. I guess it's a multi-season cactus:

For the first and only time this season, my neighbor had to put the snow plow on his truck. I am blessed with the best neighbors in the world and he came over and plowed my driveway:

I declared a truce with the local Red Squirrels and decided to make friends with my home squirrel instead:

I don't know if it's a male or female, but it's not very afraid of me - or of the Chickadees who share its taste for sunflower seeds:

One last look. Notice the icicle covered lilac in the background:

November Farm Wrap-Up

We had a lot of pleasant weather for the first half of November, and the chickens enjoyed every nice day by scouring the yard for anything edible:

I collected windfall apples in five gallon buckets and stored them in the barn to feed the cattle - one bucket every afternoon. Alas, the mice discovered them and began helping themselves during the night. I had to put out D-Con:

I took down the cornstalks, which I'd used as Halloween decorations in October, and fed them to the cattle. The two pumpkins had already been hollowed out by wildlife:

The Wild Cucumbers set their seed in November and the pods turned brown:

The temperatures began to drop and the winds began to blow in the middle of November. My little chickens only went out in the nicer weather, staying indoors when it was too cold and windy:

Canada Geese flew overhead, honking loudly, both day and night. They often landed in fields. Alas, I only saw two small flocks of Snow Geese this year and was unable to get any photos either time:

The fantail pigeons enjoyed going outdoors on the days with nice weather. They had two babies, though, so I kept their window closed whenever it was too chilly:

The Rugosa Roses turned golden, which made a lovely match with the bright red rose hips:

Upstairs in my bedroom, my Christmas Cactus bloomed early. I guess it's really a Thanksgiving Cactus:

Fearful of a power outage during the ravages of winter, I purchased a generator and my friend, Rick, drove up from central New York to hook it up. We built a little shed to protect it from the weather:

It's a powerful Generac 8000 Watt generator:

Inside the house, Rick installed a transfer switch to control the electrical flow when the generator is running. Of course we all are hoping there won't be any power outages this winter, but if there is, I plan to live through it:

Around The Farm, But Mostly Chickens And Pigeons

I was up to eight fantail pigeons but recently added four more for a total of twelve. I added six more shelves for nesting but really need to add more. The pigeons' room isn't pretty, but it's large and I try to keep it clean. That extension cord is for plugging in the water heater:

The pigeons are all locked in for the winter now, but these photos were taken while they still had free access to the outdoors:

They seemed to be having a good time scratching in the dirt and flying up to the milk house roof:

 And I several times caught six of them out at once (the sixth is up on the roof):

I would open their window every morning and they would fly out to their perch to greet the day. Now that their window is sealed up against the cold winds for the winter, I sometimes see them on the windowsills, looking out and wishing they had their freedom again. Alas, they'll have to wait until springtime:

It took a long time for the pigeons to come outside and even longer for them to begin using their perch, but they did learn to enjoy their freedom:

 Fantail pigeons are not built for flying, but they learned to make it to the milk house roof:

And from there to the roof of the main barn:

I am amazed that my two roosters are not fighting. I hope it lasts through the winter. One morning, I turned on their light and discovered the two roosters roosting side by side. Maybe it's something in the water:

The chickens continued to be allowed outdoors longer than the pigeons did, but on really cold days, only the youngest five usually went out anyway:

I pulled in the driveway one day and found both pigeons and chickens, scratching in the lawn. It was a sight which I enjoyed seeing and am looking forward to seeing again in the spring:

 My Christmas Cactus bloomed early but was a welcome addition to my bedroom, where I keep all plants so the cats won't eat them and knock them over: