Full Summer On The Farm

I already had 200 small square bales in the hayloft, but then the big round bales I'd ordered began to arrive - 80 of them, 28 at a time. I unloaded them with the tractor and bale spear:

They will feed the herd for 6 months of winter. Paying for them was difficult, though, and I now have trouble seeing the horses from the house because the bales block my view:

The dwarf Red Delicious apple is producing fruit nicely, though they're still only babies now:

I found a dead mole in the north field. It looked like a Star-Nose mole but didn't have the star nose. I looked it up and discovered that it was a Hairy-tailed Mole (Parascalops breweri):

I flipped it over on its back and could see its bare nose (without a star) and its tale, which gave it the name, Hairy-tailed Mole:

Two big sections of apple tree had died over the winter, so I used the chainsaw to cut them off:

Then I used logging chains to drag them behind the tractor, across the gravel road and hay field, into the woods:

The Magic Carpet Spirea did well over the winter and began to bloom:

They are pretty flower clusters but apparently this variety doesn't get as big or bloom as heavily as the Bridalveil Spirea:

The tall Cedar tree near the county road needed to go, so I scored its trunk with the chainsaw and then pushed it over with the tractor, thereby avoiding the electric wires overhead:

I used the logging chains to tow this tree into the woods, just as I had the apple tree sections:

I left the trunk sticking up. I've learned that I can't cut them low enough to mow over, and then the grass grows up around it so I can't even see where it is:

Around The Farm - Part 2

The Daffodils in my lawn have outdone themselves this year. The first to bloom were the white and yellow variety:

Then the pure yellow variety:

Then the yellow ones with the orange center. All three varieties were then blooming together, putting on quite a display:

My internet went out and we had a warm sunny day. So, while waiting for a repairman, I tackled another big project:

I had an old stump in my lawn, four or five feet in diameter and covered with wild, thorny shrubs and grape vines. It had been too solid for me to remove with the tractor a few years ago, but I decided to try again:

Most of the giant stump broke into pieces, some of them nearly as big as the tractor bucket. I drove all the wood and brush across the north field and into the woods, where I dumped them on a brush pile:

Furthermore, as you may have noticed in the preceding photos, there was a cedar tree growing there which blocked much of the sun for the flowers I was planting. Cutting it down was problematic as it would have hit the power lines, but just then my sheep farmer neighbors stopped by with a better idea. He used my tractor to push it over, snapping the trunk. I then dragged the entire tree behind the tractor (using a logging chain) across the north field and into the woods:

I cut the cedar stump lower and then used the tractor to smooth off the ground. I filled the bucket with more brush and the cedar stump, then made one final trip to the brush pile:

But I wasn't done yet. I then used the tractor bucket to back-drag the gravel which road crews had pushed up onto my lawn. I moved it back out onto the road so I could safely mow. The grass was growing rapidly already:

And then I added more garden bed along the dogs' fence. I now have about 35 feet of garden bed, 4 feet wide and filled with 2 year old compost, in which to plant all the flowers I've purchased for this year. I also intend to plant where the old stump and cedar tree were removed:

And speaking of new plants, I have been hardening off the baby roses and Begonias by carrying them outside on nice days so they will get used to the sun, wind and temperature fluctuations. Then I bring them back indoors to where the seed trays are:

Around The Farm As Spring Has Sprung

Our weather had been swinging wildly between blizzards, rainstorms, thaws and high winds. We could have all four in a day, but the Red Poll girls just keep calmly eating their hay:

The snow and ice on the pasture began to disappear, making it (I hope) safe for the cows to walk out there:

But mostly the girls snoozed on the waste hay by the east side of the barn:

The pigeons' room badly needs cleaning, and I'll have to get to it soon. Nonetheless, the pigeons are healthy, happy and nesting:

The hens get more ventilation and mostly confine their poop to that corner under the roosts:

This is how the hens get ventilation - I can open the windows and the trap door. The pigeons' room window will open, but not easily and I don't want to remove the insulation around it too early:

Blue and Remy, like the cows, are now eating nothing but hay, and they seem to be thriving:

And they have their own personal pet, a Cottontail rabbit who has come to live in the barn:

He or she is not too afraid of me, allowing me to get this photo:

I thought I was just making a joke about the horses considering their rabbit to be a pet, but one day I entered the barn and found Blue lying down in the hay, face to face with his bunny. Alas, I didn't get my camera out fast enough to get the rabbit in the photo:

And speaking of wildlife, I was just pulling into my driveway one day when I saw this Ruffed Grouse right near me, on the lawn by a cedar tree. I stopped the car, rolled down the window and managed to get this picture as it took off for the woods across the road:

A Snowy Farm - Part 2

I was taking a walk around the farm house and barn, snapping photos of the wintry beauty (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). These were seed pods on the huge lilac bush in front of the house:

 And just across the driveway from the lilac was this Eastern White Cedar:

 Another view of the Eastern White Cedar, a tree which seems almost magical to me:

I walked out into the road for a view of the farm house and lilac bush:

 And I had to tromp through knee-high snow to photograph the Mock Orange bush. It's hard to imagine that this will be covered in beautiful white flowers in the spring:

The dogs were wishing they could come with me, but they had to wait in their fenced yard:

 I again trudged through deep snow to get a closeup of these apple branches:

 I had plowing to do, so I put the bucket on the tractor and began moving snow. When I noticed the snowy cattails along the gravel road, I drove to them and climbed down for a closer view. Alas, the snow disguised the deep drainage ditch beside the road and my right foot suddenly sank through the snow and ice, landing in the cold water beneath it all. The ice surrounded and trapped my leg, requiring quite a bit of struggling to extricate myself:

My foot was now soaked and cold, but I photographed this snowy Red Pine before I went back indoors:

And on the way back to the house, I photographed my own cattle on the east side of the barn. I put their bale feeder there in cold weather so the barn will break the chilly west winds:

I parked the tractor inside the barn, but first I snapped one last picture, showing the piles of snow I'd moved with the tractor:

Redwater Brook Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were hiking the Redwater Brook Trail in Brasher State Forest (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), but were currently off the trail and exploring the woods:

I came to these colorful Turkey Tail fungi on a fallen limb:

And then we rejoined the trail. It was easy walking, except for a few icy places:

Clover and Daphne, apparently thinking they were mighty Timber Wolves, wanted to go explore off the trail, but I made sure they stayed close by and always in sight:

And I followed them a few times when it appeared they'd found something interesting:

For two little foo-foo dogs, they sure have adventurous spirits:

Clover, showing off her Timber Wolf stance atop the roots of a fallen tree:

But mostly we just walked along the trail. The last time we were here, it was autumn and the golden leaves were falling everywhere I looked. I tried to get a video of the showering leaves, but it didn't turn out good enough to use:

We left the trail again when I spotted a grove of White Cedars, a favorite tree of mine:

And there was more color on the forest floor, this time a mix of moss and lichens (and frost):

And an old stump, now supporting even more moss and lichens. I saw evidence that Red Oak was once dominant here, before the Cedars took over:

There is something magical about White Cedars, and a grove them is a wondrous place to be. But we still had more to see on the Redwater Brook Trail, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow: