What The Thaw Revealed

After an early, snowy and frigid beginning to winter, we had a surprise thaw, so I went out to see what the snow melt had revealed. This is my Blue Moon Wisteria. It's not much taller than when I planted it, but it's sturdier and has already survived one harsh winter, so I have high hopes for more growth this summer:

 The pear tree produced so much fruit that branches began snapping off and falling to the ground. Even after letting the neighbors take all the pears they wanted, there were still plenty of them on the ground:

 And I could tell that the cottontails had been eating them. I see their tracks each morning when there's snow on the ground and sometimes I see them scurry away when I turn on the back porch light at night:

 There were windfall apples too:

 I thought the Coppertina Ninebark bushes were unchanged by winter's cold - until, that is, I got a closer look. The leaves were dry and dead, despite retaining much of their coppery color:

 The Iris and Asiatic Lilies (and all their little weed friends) were asleep for the winter:

 And, on the other side of the house from the main apple grove, the Golden Delicious tree had dropped fruit. I could see that the rabbits had been eating them also:

 The Variegated Weigela and Magic Carpet Spirea looked dead, but they are hardy enough for me not to worry about them:

 The peonies had lain down for a long winter's nap:

 But the Tree Hydrangea will keep its dried flowers all winter long:

 The Mandarin Honeysuckle is in its first winter here. The last one I planted didn't make it through its first winter, but this one grew much better - and they are reportedly Zone 3 hardy:

 The Red Hydrangea and hardy Magnolia were dormant, and I could only hope they will survive this winter. This is the Magnolia's third winter here but, as you can see, it hasn't grown very tall in three years:

 My biggest surprise was the Morden roses. When they told me they were super hardy, I guess they weren't kidding. They still looked like they'd bloom again if we got some warmer weather:

 The Rose Mallows were done for the year. I'll cut them down to the ground in the spring:

 But the Rose Mallows had a surprise for me - pods filled with seeds. I tried planting some last year without success, but I saved these seeds and plan to try again in the spring:

 Another surprise, an Eastern White Cedar seedling growing in an ancient tree stump beneath the big clump of Lilacs. Alas, I won't be able to let it grow there because of the Lilacs:

 And speaking of Lilacs, they too had seed pods, not to mention green buds, all ready to burst open in the spring. Our surprise thaw was short lived. It's now fully winter again:

Birds, Flowers, And Livestock

Summer is in full swing now and our weather was idyllic, except during the heat wave (which is now over). The herd is comfortable in the pasture and all seem to get along well. On the day I snapped this photo, Blue lay down (still wearing his muzzle) for a rest and little Lucky walked up to give him a sniff and a closer look:

The hens are living safe, comfortable lives, even though they can't go outside anymore:

The four Easter Egger bantams often hang out together. The lead hen in this photo is Blondie, the little chick who I said was too dumb to make it to adulthood. She proved me wrong, though, and has done quite well:

The Barred Rock bantams are getting kind of old for laying hens, but I have more eggs than I know what to do with anyway, so fewer eggs is a good thing:

The white fantail pigeons are laying plenty of eggs, but so far they've only raised one baby:

The new baby is up and about but getting pecked on the head like all the other baby pigeons before him or her. I even think I saw the parents do the pecking just before feeding it, so I can only observe and wonder:

Pairs still make nests and lay eggs, though they often don't hatch:

Outdoors, the north field has been hayed but the outside of the fence is filled with wildflowers - in this case, mostly Cow Vetch:

And the driveway is filling up with Pineapple Weed, just as it does every year. The aroma is most noticeable when I mow them. Pineapple Weed is related to Chamomile, but the flowers don't have the white "petals:"

 The Magic Carpet Spirea I planted last year is thriving and blooming. The Variegated Weigela behind it was just planted this year and is already blooming:

A close-up of the Spirea blossoms:

Plants And Birds

Wild Blackberries burst into bloom everywhere I was unable to mow - or were they Black Raspberries? I went to the internet for some ID pointers, but found them scarce and difficult to use. Then I found a website which was wonderfully helpful and easy to use. It confirmed that I have Blackberries, not Black Raspberries. I highly recommend this site:

My north field was getting very tall and my neighbor decided it was time for its first cutting:

 It was so thick and heavy that it was slow and difficult to mow:

 This was some seriously tall, thick, lush, heavy hay! As of this writing, the first part of the field has been cut and will be turned over to dry (tedded) today. About 3/4 of the field remains to be cut:

 My Rugosa Roses suffered badly from a fungus last year, along with the apple trees and one of the Ninebark bushes. But this year they continued blooming faithfully:

 So far, I see no fungus except on the one Ninebark which was affected last year:

 The Variegated Weigela was a dead looking stick a few weeks ago. Now it is blooming!

 The white Peonies (and one new red one) are building up to a flowering frenzy:

 And the Snowball bushes are doing extraordinarily well:

 I had no Cliff Swallow nests under the milk room eaves this year - until now. I found two adjacent mud nests, filled with birds. As soon as I snapped this photo, 6 to 8 birds burst from those holes and flew around, scolding me. I hope they keep the biting flies in check. The cows and horses (and I) will be grateful:

 In the lawn and pasture are many of these tiny white flowers, each petal split into two. They are Lesser Stitchwort, a kind of Chickweed. The grass head is Redtop:

 And of course the big, beautiful Red Clover. 'Tis the season:

What's Happening Around The Farm

Remy has been pretty good about keeping his grazing muzzle on. This prevents him from binging on the high-sugar spring grasses which cause a malady called Grass Founder. Blue has been much more resistant to keeping his on, and he sometimes limps slightly on his front hooves. The battle continues:

In other horsey news, the woman down the road stopped by again with her two big work horses:

Her homemade wagon embarrassed her a bit, but I thought it was inventive. Besides, her jumpy horses were a bigger concern, especially when a neighbor's dog ran out barking:

I continued feeding Elvis twice each day, and had to double the amount he was getting:

One purple Iris began the June blooming extravaganza (now I need to get rid of the Thistle behind it before it blooms also):

The Bridal Veil Spirea put on a good show this year:

They are beautiful close-up also:

Last year's Variegated Weigela is doing well and produced some nice flowers this year:

Of course with leaves like this, flowers are not really necessary:

And my Snowball bushes, given to me by a friend shortly before his death, are spectacular this year:

This big, ugly weed almost got pulled last year - but then I noticed that there were two of them, located where I'd planted an odd plant called Blue Sea Holly. This year, it appears that I will get to see some flowers:

The purple Iris began to bloom en masse, and I knew that spring had turned into early summer - with much more to come: