Around The Farm

The little horses and big cows continue to eat hay and lazily wait for springtime to arrive:

The white fantail pigeons are all excited and starting to build nests:

One female had a nest on the floor last year and repeatedly laid eggs which never hatched. She either had no mate or had a mate who didn't help her with the nest. This year she's built a new nest and I've seen a male with her a few times. Alas, they both leave the nest so often that there's probably not much hope for any eggs hatching:

The hens would love to go outside when the snow melts, and I might even let them have a few excursions out into the big world when the weather improves:

But they're safe from foxes inside right now and once I have new plants in the ground, the plants will need to be safe from the chickens. The hens will be indoors again once I've planted:

Two little hens are laying eggs every other day now and I can't even keep up with eating them. I'll soon be hard boiling them for the dogs again:

This is another item on my wall, antlers from a Black-tailed deer, a gift from my Oregon relatives when I was a boy:

The chainsaw bear was a gift from my sister, and sits atop an old milk can which came with the farm:

The welded steel bird was another gift from my sister. The painting is on boards and represents an old style:

The painting is an imitation of a painting from the 1800s and this explanation is glued to the back of it. Even the imitation is getting old now, and the explanation is becoming difficult to read. This painting was a gift from a woman I knew when I first moved to the northeast many decades ago:

I was coming home from the feed store and almost to my driveway (that's my north field up on the hill behind the trees), when a big flock of turkeys was trying to cross the road. I stopped to watch and take a photo, but then they stopped also, and began to retreat:

But they are big and bold, so changed their minds and soared above my car in a display of real flying power. These birds were at home in the air and not at all like domestic turkeys:

Around The Farm In June

There's lots of folks around here saying that we jumped directly from winter into summer. Indeed, most spring flowers bloomed halfheartedly and briefly - and then it became hot outside. My little bantams got into the habit of going outdoors at 9:00 every morning and going back in about 7:00 in the evening:

The rest of their day is spent pecking and scratching, looking for food:

The old fashioned Iris around the house bloomed in purple:

And in yellow:

I used my new sprayer, attached to the back of the tractor, to spray the weeds along the fence line which short out the fence. I steered with my left hand and held the sprayer nozzle with my right hand:

I stopped the tractor in the above photo because I'd seen masses of blue flowers along the fence line. They looked a bit like Forget-Me-Nots to me, but bigger and bolder:

So I looked them up when I got back into the house and decided that they were Birds-Eye Speedwell, an introduced species but an awfully pretty one:

A deer carcass along the county road drew both flies and vultures for several days. Only one vulture was brave enough to stay there while I snapped a photo. Several days later, I saw a mature Bald Eagle flying up into the trees from somewhere near the carcass. Was it eating there? I suspect that it was:

I put hinges on a window so the pigeons could get outside and enjoy the outdoors. To make it easier for them, I put a broad sill plate down for them to stand on and a raised tree limb for a perch. Did they use it? No, they did not. They refused to go near the open window or set foot on the sill plate. Yet I kept opening the window every morning, hoping they'd get brave and give it a try:

The window was raised and held open by means of a rope:

I built some shelves for the pigeons and, since they seemed so incompetent at nest building, nailed some kitchen stove plates to the shelves to help them get started:

Here's 30 seconds of fantail pigeon activity. Nothing special happens, they just go about their business:

Part 1 - Snell, Brigham Hill And Taylor Roads

The severity of the winter weather eased off a bit, and I decided it would be a good day for a driving tour of some local road. I headed out toward Route 11B, only to be stopped by this small herd of deer. They weren't afraid of me until I aimed a camera at them. Then they fled toward the trees:

I drove east on Route 11B to Snell Road and turned left, where I encountered this snowy field filled with hay bales and farm equipment:

There was a hay rake, parked in the snow and waiting for next year's hay season:

Trailer, hay wagon and other equipment:

I continued on Snell Road through the woods, passing this travel trailer, parked back in the trees. I guessed that it was someone's deer camp:

I arrived at this lovely home and a sign which said the road, from that point on, was a seasonal road and not maintained in the winter. In other words, Snell Road had only one house on it. So I returned to Route 11B in search of another road to investigate:

Snell Road had been in the town of Dickinson, and I next turned onto Brigham Hill Road in the town of Moira (pronounced moe-EYE-ra):

Brigham Hill Road was classic farm country, as rural as could be:

There were woods and hay fields:

And more farm equipment parked out in a snowy field, just waiting for next year's rush to get the hay in:

I passed this old out building which apparently had not been used in many years. But there was lots more to see, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Part 2 - Beebe Road In Hopkinton, New York

It was snowing rather hard and I was taking a driving tour of an extremely rural road. This farm house looked comfortable behind the big old maple and smaller pines:

There were empty fields, apparently hay fields which had not been cut recently:

And old vehicles parked along a farm fence:

A home behind two stone pillars with a snow blower out front:

An especially nice old home with a stone chimney:

This lovely old barn and silo really caught my eye and I wondered what FGF Feeds had been (or perhaps still was). But I guess I'll never know:

A car passed me while I was stopped to take pictures. A little farther down the road, a woman got out with her dog to take it for a walk in those lovely (but cold) surroundings. I stopped and asked if I could take her picture and she agreed. Perhaps she was just too cold to argue:

This home or camp was so far off the road that I had to use the zoom lens:

And the zoom lens was needed here also:

On my way home, I saw flocks of what appeared to be white birds flying past my windshield and landing in  the corn stubble. Of course they were beautiful Snow Buntings. I was especially happy to have the zoom lens here:

I continued on my way but stopped once more for this very dark colored doe in yet another corn field. She wasn't shy at all. She picked her head up to look, decided I was no threat and continued eating. This was the end of my driving tour. There are very many rural roads which I haven't even seen yet, so I hope to tour more of them in the future:

Hot Summer Days Around The Farm

My first full time summer on the farm has been filled with alternating periods of great work and great idleness. But always there has also been great beauty such as the yellow Asiatic Lilies just outside my door:

And soon after the yellow lilies had dropped their petals (notice them on the ground in this photo), my one and only orange lily burst into bloom:

I shut off the riding mower long enough to enjoy the summery treats of wild blackberries:

The Rugosa Roses bloomed off and on, pretty much all summer long:

And wild Butter-And-Eggs blossomed amidst the roses:

I bought a Tree Hydrangea, courtesy of a gift card from a friend, and planted it out in front of the house:

This photo isn't very good, but it represents a pleasant memory for me. I was on the riding mower and pulled out onto the dirt road to make a turn. I thought I saw a small pack of dogs trotting up the road toward me, but soon realized it was a doe and her two fawns. I held still and they kept coming, not veering off into the brush until they were very close to me:

A heavy crop of Choke Cherries at my fence line near the far end of the south hay field:

The view of my barn (the house is hidden behind the apple trees) from the south hay field - and just look at that sky!:

And a volunteer Snapdragon, no doubt a descendant of plants cultivated many years ago by the previous owners, took root and blossomed magnificently at the edge of my steps:

I spent a lot of time this summer brush hogging and clearing brush. But I dropped the brush hog in the yard when it came time to spray around the fence line:

That's the homemade sprayer parked out in the barn yard. I pretty much spent the summer working to get my expensive new fence to work. The cattle should be here in early autumn: