Flowers And Birds

The Snowball Bushes which were given to me by a friend, now deceased, were blooming up a storm this year. That's the neighbors' barn across the county road:

And they were incredibly beautiful, a fitting memorial to a beloved friend:

And the old fashioned yellow Iris, always later than the purple, began to bloom. These plants were on the old farm when I bought it, though I've moved them around and added compost to their soil:

The little bantam hens seem content and comfortable:

And their egg production is low this season, a blessing for me because I can't use them all, and not many people want small bantam eggs:

The Bridalveil Spirea in front of the house began blooming:

These too were part of the farm when I bought it, but were overgrown and not blooming heavily. I cut them back almost to the ground one year and, though it took several years, they rebounded in dramatic style:

This is the front of the old farm house, showing two of the Spirea and one Snowball bush. The funny looking ladder thing on the left is for the Mandarin Honeysuckle to climb on and the big bush on the right is a small part of the giant Lilac bush at the edge of the driveway:

The fantail pigeons are doing well although the one female who tried to make a nest on a narrow shelf below other nesting pairs still shows the poop stains she received for her poor choice of location. She's now nesting on the floor beneath a table, where she is mostly safe from the poop-storms:

And these couples made nests in cubbyhole near where I keep the egg cartons:

I've had three dead babies this year, but this one is doing well. I caught a parent feeding it one day:

They both became self-conscious at being photographed and stopped their feeding, turning their eyes on me:

June In The North Country

The fantail pigeons have not successfully raised any babies yet, but they are happy and healthy - and plentiful enough that I don't really need any more birds:

 They do, however, keep going through the motions of courtship, nest building, egg laying, etc:

 The lady on the right with the demure look on her face has a particularly nice nest, but nothing yet has come of it:

 The chickens are old enough that their egg laying is much reduced. In all honesty, that's a blessing for me. I simply can't use any more eggs than I'm getting:

Their eggs are pretty though, mostly green, pink or off-white:

 The lilacs began to fade so I took one last photo before those flowers became just a memory:

 The last and perhaps most spectacular bloomer was the Prairie Rose flowering crab. It was in full flower when everything else had quit for the year:

 And I couldn't resist one more close-up of this, its most floriferous year:

Our weather finally turned warm and sunny, so my neighbor came to begin cutting hay. He'd barely begun when he had to return to the gate to replace a broken shear pin. A few hours later, he went over a stump and had to replace a knife. This may look scenic and peaceful, but it's work which is not for the faint of heart:

 The field had already(!) grown to two feet high or more, and was so dense that cutting it was slow:

 But it was a beautiful day in a beautiful location. Life is good:

 And this hay looked like it will be spectacular:

Gardening Gone Gonzo

All of my spring planting was finally finished, and the spot where I removed the big stump (well, most of it) has been a great spot to plant things:

 And what did I plant there? Oriental Poppies, Bachelor's Buttons, Yarrow, Chives, New York Asters, Globe Thistle and Gaillardia:

 The big stretch of garden I prepared along the dog fence has also been planted:

 I broke it up into sections to help me keep track of what's there. From left to right are last year's day lilies, this year's day lilies, Begonias/lilies/Peonies, Sunflowers (four varieties) and Armenian Basket Flowers:

The two new Bleeding Heart plants are blooming extravagantly:

 And because they did so well, I also planted Morning Glories there also:

 I had no trellis to use for the Morning Glories, so I put tomato cages there. If they grow more than that - well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it:

 And while planting the Morning Glories, I found a mutant Bedstraw plant with variegated leaves. I find such sports to be fun and interesting:

The two Flowering Crab trees and Golden Delicious apple trees put on a spectacular display, then faded away:

I put branches from the pink Prairie Rose flowering crab and Lilac blossoms in a vase to bring to church. In another vase, I put the common weed, Yellow Rocket. It is also called Winter Cress and is a species of wild Mustard:

 The Lilacs were great this year, but now I'll have to wait another year to see and smell them again:

Busy Around The Farm

It came time to begin planting and I couldn't put it off any longer. I began in the spot where I'd removed the giant stump (well, most of it anyway), adding a bit of compost to get me started:

The Globe Thistles were the biggest seedlings, so I began with them:

Then the tiny Chives. Alas, I had to quit at that point, determined to finish planting the other seedlings as soon as weather permitted:

The fantail pigeons began nesting in earnest after I gave them some hay for their nests:

And one new baby was hatched and seemed to be doing well:

The farm was filled with aroma of lilacs and apple blossoms until one day when a skunk got killed in the road. I left it overnight for the coyotes, but when they didn't want it I picked it up by the tail and tossed it into the brush by the side of the road:

Mowing the lawn beneath the apple trees was like passing through a tunnel of flowers:

And the brand new lilac seemed happy with its new home:

The little rose which was supposed to climb up the old farm sign frame, however, needed more sun. So I got out the chainsaw and lopped off many limbs from apple, pear and cherry trees. Then I hauled them to the brush pile in the woods:

The two Flowering Crabs and the wild seeded Golden Delicious apple tree put on a glorious display:

Here are the red Flowering Crab and the apple tree blossoms:

The Prairie Rose Flowering Crab was taking its time to flower but had an extreme abundance of buds. I knew it would be spectacular when they began to open:

The Agony And The Ectasy

This is the northwest corner of my lawn, with two clumps of Lilacs and two apple trees in bloom. A cedar tree and the neighbors' barn show on the left. Views like this are part of the ecstasy of farm life in the north country:

The pink Prairie Rose flowering crab still had only buds, but it is glorious when in bloom:

The agony would be jobs such as cleaning the barn. The tractor is not good at scooping up the urine soaked, poopy bedding hay, so I have to fork it into the bucket by hand:

Then I have to haul it off to the manure/compost pile:

This year's compost pile is on the left. 2017's compost pile was where that brown spot now is. I've used it all up on plantings:


Last year's compost pile is already being used, and I scooped more of it up to use for planting when I was finished with cleaning the barn:

The red flowering crab buds opened fully and the Golden Delicious apple tree with which it is intertwined bloomed also:

A spectacular display, another one of the ecstasies:

.
And then to my surprise, the newly planted Bleeding Hearts began to bloom:

Hardy, easy to grow, tolerant of shade and beautiful. It's no wonder that generations of gardeners have loved this plant:

I found a Lilac seedling growing by my back door when I moved here, so I dug it up and planted it at the end of the barn. Then I realized that would not be a good place and moved it again the next year. Now it's doing well and blooming nicely:

To my surprise, it is a different color, more blue than any of the other Lilacs on the property: