Springtime On The Farm - Part 3

A dead horse? No, a lazy horse. Remy likes to sleep inside the barn or, in this case, outside the barn on the soft, old hay wasted during the winter:

But most of the time, I can find the cattle and horses in the south field, grazing:

Jasmine has passed her due date so clearly was not pregnant. Nonetheless, she is so sweet and gentle that she's one of my favorites:

I bought these two odd perennials at Walmart and planted them. The roots did not look impressive, so I don't expect much from them. Nonetheless, they'll sure be eye catching if they do grow:

And speaking of growing, my new Tulips have blossomed so fully that the flowers look almost like Peonies. Their red color is so brilliant that the camera seemed unable to capture it:

And they were asking people to take home the leftover Easter Lilies at church. There were so many needing a home that I took two of them. Everyone assures me that they survive our rugged winters, but I'll believe that if and when I see it:

And wild Violets are in bloom everywhere in my lawn and gardens. My mother loved Violets so much that she had a small garden full of them just outside our back door. When we were kids, we used to buy fancy, domesticated varieties for her birthday or for Mother's Day - but it was always the wild violets which thrived and bloomed:

A neighbor told me that there were three baby foxes living in a collapsed shed, just a couple hundred feet down the road from me. He wisely suggested I drive down to see them as the car would be less likely to cause them to run away. I had to drive down multiple times, but I finally got to see two of the babies:

They were about the size of cats and incredibly cute. Now that I've given up on my war against them and committed to keeping my hens indoors, I hold no grudge against foxes:

One kit was shy and hid in the rubble, but the other continued to sit still:

And the curious kit watched me while its sibling peered out from the rubble:

I never saw the third kit, just the bold one in the front and the skittish one in the rubble. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful sight. By the way, they are still killing someone's chickens, for I saw the wing of a Rhode Island Red next to the kit in the foreground:

Springtime On The Farm - Part 1

After all the false starts and relapses back to wintry weather, the violets began to bloom in my lawn:

And the tulips I planted last autumn started to flower:

We had several days of freezing cold and snow, but then it began to warm up again. You can see two cows in the background:

The fantail pigeons stayed warm and comfy inside their large room. They've been nesting and laying eggs, but I've not yet seen any sign of fertile or hatching eggs:

My little bantam hens, however, have been laying nicely - and the neighbors are the recipients:

I was upset that only these few Tulips bloomed, and only one variety, so I looked up the package labels of what I planted last year. To my surprise, these were the only Tulips I'd planted. But there were lots of Iris, Lilies and Fritillaria, all of which are pushing up out of the soil and looking promising. The Magnolia in the center, however, did not live. I will replace it with something more cold hardy:

The pasture has been growing faster and faster. The herd now has so much grass that they won't even come in for grain:

I found these Marsh Marigolds in a wet spot alongside a country road. The ground right by the road was dry, so I got a closeup look:

Right next to them were these slightly different plants, with no white on the petals (they're really sepals), slightly different leaves and some flowers with extra petals. I looked them up when I got home, thinking they might be Lesser Celandine, but apparently not. I concluded that they too were Marsh Marigolds:

The spring flower season is already past in many parts of the country, but up here it's just beginning:

A Day In The Sun

The sun came out, the skies were brilliant blue and the temperatures soared. It was such a pleasant relief after the rigors of winter. I walked out into the pasture and found the cows lounging in the hay they'd wasted:

They were soaking up the sun and chewing their cuds, happy to be alive and comfortable:

It was a friendly scene:

The wind was strong and gusty, but the warm temperatures meant that it felt pleasant. Remy walked under the Box Elder tree with his mane and tail blowing in the wind:

Blue must not have like the heat because he stayed in the shadow of the barn and didn't want to leave:

Inside the barn, the pigeons cooed and built nests:

And the hens roamed all over the yard:


I began picking up the winter's accumulation of dog poop, nearly filling two empty feed bags. There was still more to be picked up, but I got most of it. The grass will be growing soon, especially in the dog yard where it is so very well fertilized:

Then I walked around the yard to see what might be coming up. The tulips I planted last autumn had pushed up through the soil:

And my hardy Magnolia was putting out shoots. Will it bloom the first year? Probably not, but it was fun to imagine it might:

The old Daffodils in the middle of the lawn were coming up and already had buds on them. I'll be mowing around them for a month or more:

The old fashioned Iris by the Cedar tree were up, but the new Iris I planted last autumn hadn't come up yet. Spring has finally come to the north country:

Autumn Activity At The Farm

The baby chicks, pretty much all grown up, began roaming the yard but since 13 out of 18 of them were roosters, I knew things couldn't continue on like that. They were crowing, pooping, fighting and soon to begin bullying the hens:

So I took 12 of the 13 roosters to a Mennonite farm to become miniature roasting chickens. What I had left was one rooster and five hens plus my older Barred Rock bantams:

I picked up twelve little roasters the next day and was shocked at how tiny they were. They looked like long legged pigeons:


Two easily fit in a small roasting pan with potatoes and carrots. I could have fit four, but two at a time was enough. There wasn't much meat on them but they tasted good and made wonderful soup with wide egg noodles:


The cows and horses are fat, shiny and friendly. I began running out of apples in mid October:

I planted some Iris, Fritillaria and Tulips in October for flowers next spring:

The cedar trees on my property produced tiny cones and the old leaves turned a beautiful gold color. Then the old leaves and cones began falling, covering my back porch every day:


I often get glorious sunsets and sunrises but this western sky at dusk was one of the most spectacular. I wish the camera could pick up the mysterious inner glow of such sights. They are breathtaking:

My high school fiftieth class reunion was in October. I couldn't go, but a former classmate and her husband drove out to visit after the reunion was over. We fed apples to the cattle:

And also to the miniature horses:

It's hard to believe we haven't seen each other or spoken (except via Facebook) in fifty years:

My classmate was a former horsewoman and knew just how to win Blue's heart. He's generally shy and standoffish but quickly warmed up to her: