Beauty As We Move Into Autumn

The little garden where I'd removed the giant stump (well, most of it anyway) was slowing down and the Yarrow appeared to be mostly finished blooming for the year:

 There were a few white flowered plants, but I feared they'd drop their seed and increase in number, so I cut off any remaining white flower stalks, leaving the fancier colors, which I prefer:

 The fantail pigeons have finished nesting and all the babies but one appeared to be on their own, no longer requiring their parents to feed them:

 Alas, they began to look kind of shopworn and unhealthy, so I put medication into their water:

The little hens still look plenty healthy, so I haven't given them any medication:

 Their egg laying has dropped to about one small egg per day. Soon it will be no eggs at all:

 Many flowers are still blooming, so I brought three more vases of them to church. This one included Frans Hals Daylilies, Tree Hydrangea and some of the very smallest sunflowers:

 Green sepals from former Rose Mallows, purple (wild) New England Asters, pink Rose Mallows, Tree Hydrangea and two colors of roses (magenta and orange):

All sunflowers, various sizes and colors:

 Far less attractive was the barn floor, soaked with horse urine and manure. I was able to scoop up most of it with the tractor, but had to fork it into the bucket as I got toward the end:

 A giant puffball appeared beneath the bottom wire of the electric fence alongside the gravel road. It grew rapidly. Last time one grew there, the Amish woman from down the road asked for it (many people love to eat them) but so far this year she hasn't asked. I don't find them edible at all. They look like Styrofoam and I found them to be just about as tasty as Styrofoam:

We've had a lot of Monarch butterflies this year. They are flying everywhere but don't generally hold still long enough for me to get a photo. This one landed on the Frans Hals Daylilies, and held still just long enough for me to get a picture:

A Peaceful Time Of Year

Our temperatures have been gradually getting cooler and we've had more rain. The Cliff Swallows and Redwing Blackbirds have disappeared, the Starlings are flocking and the Goldfinches suddenly seem to be everywhere. Blue and Remy continue to spend their days in the corral. I dare not let them out until almost all the green grass is gone lest they get laminitis (founder) again:

But they seem content, and all the extra handling they've gotten has them behaving beautifully:

The cattle are fat and contented, though the flies are a persistent problem:

Little Ruby is growing rapidly but Scarlett, her mom, is still swollen with more milk than the little one can drink. That won't last, though, as Ruby grows and wants more milk:

I planted Armenian Basket Flower seeds this spring but none came up. I waited a long time for them, then bought some half price Red Hot Poker roots to replace them. The four Red Hot Pokers came up, although I worried that they weren't hardy enough to endure our winters. Then one day I said, "Wait a minute - those aren't Red Hot Poker leaves." I looked online and discovered they were Armenian Basket Flower (AKA Giant Yellow Knapweed) leaves after all. Four of them were growing and one now seems to be sending up a flower stalk:

Some neighbors came to collect all my windfall apples (that 55 gallon drum was almost full, as were a number of pails and coolers). They will feed them to their pigs:

Flowers are almost done for the year, but I managed to put together three vases full to bring to church on Sunday. This one included mini-sunflowers, pink Rose Mallows and Tree Hydrangeas:

All sunflowers, but various colors. Someone from church had a death in the family the previous night, so these flowers went to him after the service:

Peony leaves (turning autumn red), various colors of Yarrow, blue Delphinium and Rugosa roses:

These baby fantail pigeons were not siblings, but they had found each other, established a friendship and slept together in a nest. I found it heart warming:

The flock is now so large that I will have to sell some as soon as the babies are all on their own:

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:

Scenes From Around The Farm

Winston and his Aunt Gracie lounged in the shade during a hot day:

 If this seems like an odd pose for Winston, it's because the camera caught him peeing. It does however show the house and barn in the background:

There won't be many apples this year - except for a couple of trees which appear to be loaded with them:

The baby pigeon from a recent post, where I recorded his growth for the first 27 days, lost his mother one night. I found her dead near the nest and her baby was peeping loudly for someone to feed him. His father should still be available, and the baby is still alive, so it looks like he will be fine. That's him in front of the feeder:

 

The front of the house, with lots of flowers: On the left is the Tree Hydrangea, in the middle are the seven baby hardy roses, and on the right are the Rose Mallows, just beginning to bloom:

I saw a Monarch butterfly when I walked out of the house but it took off so fast I didn't even try to get my camera out. When I got to the sunflowers, some of which are now 12 to 14 feet tall, there was a hummingbird enjoying them. I reached for my camera and realized I'd forgotten to put it in my pocket. I went back in the house to get it, but the hummingbird was gone when I arrived back. I then went into the barn to get the lawn mower, and when I came out, there was a brilliantly colored male Goldfinch atop a sunflower, but he too took off before I got a photo. Well, at least I got a photo of the sunflowers and daylilies:


The Frans Hals Daylilies are putting on a real show. I didn't know it when I ordered them, but they are considered to be one of the "Repeat Blooming" varieties:

My neighbor cut the hay in my north field one afternoon, so the next day he was tedding it. Tedding lifts and separates (like a Playtex bra?) the hay to speed up drying:

We had a spell of lovely but cool weather, so he had to come back repeatedly and keep the hay turned over until the sun dried it thoroughly:

The Elderberries began to ripen, but the birds ate them so fast it would have been easy to miss seeing them:

Whenever I drive to Massena, I pass by the "Barney Tree" on the left. It looks like a Tyrannosaur and I get a kick out if each time:

 I planted my Carnival  morning glory seeds in too shady of a spot. They barely grew because of lack of sun, so when one small flower appeared, I figured I'd better get a photo of it. There may not be any more of them:

Cattle, Horses, Flowers

Autumn seems to be in the air some days, and it feels like summer on other days. The Red Polls enjoyed the idyllic weather this day, spreading farther apart than they do when the flies are more pesky:

And they often come to the stock tank as a group to get a drink of water:

The pasture has lots to eat in it, so the red haired ladies have much spare time for snoozing and lounging around:

Winston sniffed the air when I came near. Should I be insulted?

I find a scene like this each morning when I bring the horses out to their corral for the day:

Remy and Blue seem fairly happy in their corral and accustomed with their new routine:

I had to begin spraying both little horses with fly spray each morning before taking them outside. At first, that prevented the bot flies from laying eggs on their legs and sides, but after a few weeks, the bot fly eggs began to appear again. I now have to scrape them off carefully each time I bring them into the barn and also spray them with more fly repellent:

Blue likes to lie down and then bobs his head up and down. I was worried at first that something might be wrong, but apparently it's just something he likes to do:

And both horses love to roll on the ground:

The first Rose Mallow to bloom was this giant pink one. Notice the abundance of buds behind it - and that's only one of many shoots which will be blooming. I think it will be a good year for Rose Mallows:

I began snapping photos of the various colors and color combinations in the Yarrow patch but there were just too many of them. Instead, I put the photos together to make one big picture of SOME of the color varieties. I find these plants amazing: