Around The Farm In September

The days and nights are getting cooler. Autumn is in the air. I stopped by my neighbors' sheep farm to chat, and we were joined by two sheep, a ewe and a lamb, who have become pets and have no need to fear becoming mutton:

I only have five or six pears this year, but they look mighty good:

I walked far out into the field and then turned back and snapped this picture of the farmstead. From left to right: The hay supply, the house, the stock tank, the barn and my neighbor passing by on the gravel road with a wagonload of hay bales:

Autumn brings with it an abundance of crickets, but I haven't seen a closeup of a grasshopper in a long time. I was happy that this one held still long enough for me to get a photo:

The Rose Mallows began to bloom more so I went out to snap a picture of them:

Alas, I didn't see the hornet's nest which had been built just outside my front door (which I seldom use). I only got stung once but then began spraying it until they were all dead:

Wild Hyssop has sprung up in the pasture, just as it did last year:

I brought a sprig of Hyssop indoors for a closer look and got this photo of its tiny flowers:

And Boneset is blooming in the south field. It was once believed to heal broken bones because its leaves (on each side of the stem) were connected, kind of like a broken bone which had healed:

Pennsylvania Smartweed is also abundant in the south field and is just beginning to bloom:

 Lady's-Thumb Smartweed is much prettier than its relative, and it grows all around my back door:

 I knew it was autumn when the first New England Asters bloomed. This was all there was at the time, but more are now beginning to flower:

Lady's-Thumb Smartweed is much prettier than its relative, and it grows all around my back door:

An Autumn Walk Around The Farm - Part 2

I was walking around the farm one chilly, windy autumn day (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and was in the south field. I pointed the camera across the gravel road to a site which once had a house trailer on it. This is the same site where I've previously photographed baby foxes and heritage roses:

We'd had lots of rain and the pasture was growing mushrooms:

The Pennsylvania Smartweed was red and apparently done for the year. It's an annual, but returns in abundance each summer:

The winter hay supply was lined up and ready. I will begin feeding it out any day now:

I had about 7 giant puffballs spring up along the fence line. I don't much like them as I think they're about as tasty as Styrofoam, but the Amish lady down the road asked if she could pick them and I said yes. I saw she'd left one and walked over to see why. It was truly ugly and kind of deformed, so I guessed it scared her away. I think I'd have passed it by also:

The view across the gravel road and north field to the autumn woods beyond:

I walked along the edge of the gravel road and looked back, past the cattails to my barn:

A few Small White Asters were still blooming:

Almost no New England asters were still in bloom, but I found this one plant. Alas, it must have been hit with a hard freeze because its flowers were small and curled up:

We had a lot of Monarch butterflies this year but apparently this one didn't migrate in time to miss the killing freeze:

I began wondering if there were any other flowers hardy enough to still be blooming and indeed, Bouncing Bet was still going strong beneath the towering Rugosa Roses:

I looked up at the top of the Rugosa Roses and they still had a few flowers on them also. Canada Geese were headed south overhead, the leaves were falling, the nights were freezing - but a few hardy plants were still blooming:

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:

Red Poll Ladies, Preparing For Winter

Violet is by far the biggest cow, and she is hard to miss as she grazes near the county road:

 The day was hot and the flies were bothersome when I took this photo, and the cows collected beneath the Box Elder tree for a bit of relief:

 Scarlett's udder is still a bit swollen, even long since her calf was sold. She seems happy and healthy, though, and has been artificially inseminated again:

 Jasmine's hooves are getting long again and I've taken to walking up to her when she's lying down like this and trying to clip off the tip of the longest one. So far it hasn't done any good, but I'll keep trying, at least as long as she'll let me:

 Scarlett, relaxing and chewing her cud:

 Gracie is definitely a full figured gal:

 The recently lush grass is looking shorter and sparser now. It won't be long before I start putting out the hay bales:

 Up on a sandy rise, the cows have created a couple of dust baths. They can stand there and kick dust up onto their bellies to shoo away the flies:

 A blue sky, white clouds, green grass and red cows make for an idyllic scene:

 The herd covers a lot of ground during the course of a day. They don't want to miss any green edibles:

 And the Pennsylvania Smartweed which they rejected all summer long has suddenly become a favorite edible. It happened when the plants bloomed, so my theory is that the flowers sweetened the taste:

 That's Jasmine on the left. I can see on her face that she is engaging with me. The other two, Amy and Gracie, are mostly ignoring me. Jasmine is exceptionally friendly and easily my favorite:

The Beginnings Of Autumn

Even before the hot days became cool days, skeins of Canada Geese were passing overhead. Then one day I noticed that the Pennsylvania Smartweed in the pasture was turning red:

Because Rose Mallow blossoms are all at the top of one stem, I can't cut any without cutting them all and therefore have to wait until the end of the season. I wanted to bring some to church but there were no flowers on the Sunday I planned to do so. The next Sunday, though, there was one red one. I cut it, put it in a vase and filled in around it with flowers from the Tree Hydrangea:

The Rugosa roses put on an end of season display. I may cut them down to about half their height this winter to give them a fresh start in the spring:

I discovered a new wildflower while walking across the south field but couldn't identify it. I sent a photo to a botanist in Saratoga County but she said it was insufficient for an ID and suggested I photograph an entire plant on white paper. I sent her this:

I sent five other photos, including closeups of the tiny flowers. I thought they might be American Pennyroyal, but she said they were Hyssop, an unrelated plant. It was a first for me and I thanked her for her help:

Sunrises are often spectacular this time of year:

I cleaned the barn floor again. I'll be happy when the horses can stay outdoors all night (if they want to, which they usually do):

I was driving the tractor around the pasture, searching for Remy's shucked muzzle when I spotted Christmas colors along the fence line. I had to get off the tractor and cross the fence for a closer look (I'd had the presence of mind to turn off the electricity before I went out). It was Bittersweet Nightshade with autumn berries, a common enough plant and long one of my favorites:

I also found these Wild Cucumber vine fruits in the barnyard while searching for Remy's muzzle. In fact, that's where I found them - just a few feet from the muzzle:

The Morden Sunrise rose produced a flurry of blossoms. I took many photos but none truly showed the beautiful pink and yellow petals. They are truly striking, much more colorful than they look in this photo:

The Mandarin Honeysuckle didn't grow much until the end of the season, but then it began taking off like a rocket. I think it's going to do well over the winter:

The neighbors stopped by with a basket of the most uniformly ripe cherry tomatoes I've ever seen. They were delicious and didn't last long. I sure have good neighbors: