Spring Has Become Summer

The cattle seem peaceful and happy. Both Rocket and Lucky are growing like wildfire. Rocket is sold and I have a deposit on him, but he hasn't yet been picked up:

The apple trees produced hardly any flowers this spring, but they are alive. Alas, the Bush Cherry which had done so well the last few years is completely dead. I now need to remove the frame around it and cut the dead bush down:

I was out in the south field, searching for the horses' muzzles one afternoon, when I saw this patch of Ragged Robin growing around a fence post. I thought it was a photo-worthy scene:

The cherry tree has produced some baby cherries:

And baby plums on the usually productive tree. I saw none on the second plum tree which bloomed for the first time this year:

Baby pears. The pear tree seems to be doing well:


One Sunday morning I collected some yellow and purple Iris, mixed them with Spirea branches and put them in a vase. I took them to church, then back home to sit on my kitchen counter:

Remy had shucked his muzzle and was running away from me when I took this photo. He had no intention of holding still while I put it back on. It was otherwise a pleasant scene:

The south field, filled with Buttercups and Ragged Robin:

And as I searched the fence line for the muzzles the horses had jettisoned, I snapped a picture of these Fleabane and Ragged Robin flowers:

The fence line runs behind an old stone wall, which presented me with a miniature woodland scene:

And Cow Vetch seems to be growing everywhere right now. June is a pleasant month except that there is so much work to do:

Flowers, Horses And Birds

The pasture is lush now, growing faster than the herd can eat it down. With my worry about the horses and founder - and the cows and obesity, I am not doing any rotational grazing. Furthermore, the horses spend each night in the barn, where they can get respite from their muzzles without access to any more green grass than they've already had:

All in all, it's a peaceful, happy herd:

 One of the two Canadian roses I planted, the Morden Blush, produced its first flower. The description called it an "ivory pink," which I'd consider accurate. This flower, however, was tiny. They should be 2-3" when the plant gets bigger:

 These pale yellow Iris began to fill up my rock garden and I was sure I hadn't purchased any of that color. Then I remembered that I'd planted old roots from the ground where the generator shed now stands. Well, they certainly put on a show. Oddly, I had purple Iris on the south side of the house and yellow on the north side:

In the wildflower department - lawns, fields and road edges began to fill up with extravagant blooms such as these Butter-And-Eggs. It won't surprise you to learn that it's related to the Snapdragon:

Roughleaf Dogwood bushes, 6-12 feet tall, burst into bloom all along the roads and edges of forests and fields:

 Ragged Robin bloomed everywhere, especially in pastures, hay fields and road edges. It's really more purple than this, but I couldn't get any photo to show it:

 And of course Buttercups bloomed everywhere. The livestock won't eat them, so they flourish. When we were kids, we used to hold a Buttercup flower beneath our chin. If it reflected yellow, it meant you liked butter. If not, you didn't. That this yearly childhood game had no connection to reality meant nothing. It was a tradition:

 Yellow Rocket or Winter Cress, another common flower of roadsides and fields:

I had a problem with my pigeon and chicken feeders being emptied each day, much of it scattered on the floor around the feeder. It was a mystery which needed solving:

Then one day I stood on my porch and watched while English Sparrows flew through the open mesh of the baby gate in the pigeons' window and the bars in the chickens' door. How was I going to solve that problem?

I got 1/2" hardware cloth and covered both openings so that the sparrows could no longer come and go at will. I'm not yet sure it worked because I just did it and it's possible, in an old barn, there are other ways for them to get in. But I'm sure I at least slowed them down:

Summer Shifts Into High Gear

The little hens seem happy enough in their room inside the barn. They'd like to go outdoors, but only because they don't realize the danger from foxes:

 The fantail pigeons are doing well but their room developed a mouse problem. I set bait trays underneath little baskets. The mice can get in, but the pigeons can't:

 The Bush Cherries are developing underneath the bird mesh. So far, it seems to be keeping the birds out:

 We had a beautiful, orange full moon but it was setting by the time I got my camera out. I took four photos in rapid succession and the rapidly setting moon was lower in each successive picture:

 Birds-Eye Speedwell is blooming all along the fence line in the south field:

 I had to drive the tractor along the fence line, searching for shorts in the electric fence. The big payoff was the stunning beauty in the far southern field, such as this tableau of Buttercups and Ragged Robin in bloom:

 And this miniature wildflower. It baffled me, but I finally decided that it was probably just a small version of Northern Bedstraw:

 And while I was in the far southern field, I stopped at the stone wall which separates the fields and looked back toward the house and barn:

 Closer to the barn, I found these Blue-Eyed Grass flowers. Most years they are quite common so I suspect I'll soon be seeing lots of them. This was the first wildflower my mother taught us to find in our childhood field guide and I still remember it well:

 The Rugosa Roses began blooming in June:

 Alas, a yearly chore is spraying weed killer along the fence lines to prevent the weeds and grasses from growing up and shorting out the fence. I have a 40 gallon sprayer, powered by the tractor, to perform this job. I also have to bush hog along the outside perimeter of the fence every year, but I haven't done that yet:

 One big problem is the proliferation of Thistle plants. They grow - well, like weeds - and are inedible and nightmarish to get rid of. A dose of weed killer, however, turned them into this within 24 hours:

Around The Farm In June

The first half of June was largely cool and rainy, but that has suited many plants just fine and they are growing splendidly. I have four Snowball Bushes growing along the front of my property, a gift from a friend several years ago, a friend who has since died. These bushes have now taken on an added beauty as tributes to my friend:

The early dawns suit me just fine since I get up so early. I go out as soon as it is light enough to see, with the added bonus that I get to experience such extravagant sunrises as this one:

This tiny flower  is common in my lawn and pasture. After much searching through my Field Guide, I've decided that it is Creeping Wood-Sorrel:

I was doing the evening chores when my five dogs began barking their fool heads off and I realized that the neighbor was leading her new pony with one of her boys down the road. I tried to quiet my dogs, but my neighbor walked right up my driveway in an effort to be friendly and to help her pony learn to stay calm amid barking dogs. Abilene, the pony, did just fine with the dogs (she's an old hand at handling children's parties) but was worried about my cattle who were in the field across the road. That's where she was attempting to look when I snapped this photo:

One of my apple trees died several years ago but has begun sending up suckers. I cut the old wood down to where the suckers began and will let the suckers grow. If they form a new tree, fine. If they don't, I've already done most of the removal job:

The first of my Iris plants bloomed in early June:

All along the edges of fields and roadsides, tall bushes burst into flower. They are Roughleaf Dogwood, a relative of the familiar Flowering Dogwood, common to woodlands and lawns:

Close up, one can see the similarity in leaf and flower shapes, though the flowers are tiny and in clusters:

Blue Flag, our wild Iris, began blooming in wet spots along roadsides and in marshy areas:

Ragged Robin also began blooming in fields and along roadsides:

I posted photos of my old fashioned Bridal Veil Spireas before, but they reached their peak beauty recently, so I thought I'd post a picture of them again. They are show-stoppers:

And close up, they are just as nice. They only bloom once each year, but they are so spectacular that the memory of them lingers until the next year:

A Beautiful Time Of Year

It's such a lovely time of the year that it's easy to forget the rigors of winter. The pigeons have been cooing and making nests, but so far there have been no babies. This I take to be a blessing because if all those eggs hatched, I'd be inundated with pigeons. I don't think there is a big market for pigeons:

The Spirea bloomed gloriously but briefly. This was the last photo of it because a rain storm the next day caused the petals to begin turning brown and falling off:

The view from my back porch with the cows in the north field:

A Grackle atop the barn roof. In my college days, when I was a State Park Naturalist in Ohio, I had a baby Grackle named Smitty. He was so tame that he rode on my shoulder in the car and accompanied me on hikes. As you might imagine, the children loved him. One day, when it was almost autumn, a flock of Grackles landed in the hay field next to where my little camping trailer was parked. I never saw Smitty again, but think of him every time I see a Grackle:

The Rugosa Roses began to bloom in June:

And I kept hearing an odd birdsong which I couldn't identify. Then one morning I heard it coming from a wire, high above me. I recognized the bird as a Bobolink and used my zoom lens to take the best photos I could. They are a magnificent bird and now that I know they're here, I am seeing them all over:

Daisy Fleabane bloomed everywhere:

The homestead:

The old fashioned rose I rescued has continued to thrive:

Two other old fashioned roses didn't make it, but this one has been a winner:

I have only one Day Lily, and it is hiding in a clump of Peonies. I don't even notice that it's there except when it sends out yellow flowers (and buds which look like miniature bananas):

Ragged Robin and Buttercups are everywhere. The cows won't eat Buttercups, so they grow boldly and with impunity: