Around The Farm In Winter's Chill

I walked out into the pasture during a snowstorm to tend to the animals, and turned back toward the house and barn to snap this photo:

When I got back inside the house, I hit the "Auto Adjust" button to see how the picture would look - and was surprised by the difference. In my mind, it seems the original was closer to what I actually saw:

Alas, another elderly fantail pigeon died one night. I found her looking as if she'd died in her sleep during the night. I still have 35 birds, so there is no shortage:

Do you remember this poor hen who began molting far too late in the winter?

Our nighttime temperatures were dropping to -9 and she looked miserable without enough feathers to protect her:

So I brought her into the house and put her in a large dog crate, using old feed bags as cage liners:

She's been doing well and growing feathers, but I don't think I'll put her back outside until the temperatures are more moderate. The room she's in is only in the 50s, but even that is far, far warmer than what she'll find back in the chicken coop:

Early in the morning, I photographed Blue, Remy and Jasmine munching hay:

The occasion for the above photo was that I was delivering a new bale to the herd:

Sadly, the hay bales are covered with ice and stuck to each other and to the ground. I had such a hard time getting the last bale out and unwrapped, that I wound up with a big wad of mesh, ice and hay which I had to leave on the ground, where it will wait until a spring thaw before I can separate it and throw the mesh away:

This is the Amish school house, just down the road from me. It didn't appear that anyone was there, despite the parked buggy, when I snapped this picture:

And finally, the fantail pigeons illustrated why it's a bad idea to choose to roost on the bottom shelf:

In The Bleak Midwinter............

The little hens are safe and relatively warm in their own room inside the barn:

The white fantail pigeons have an even bigger room in the barn, but I'm afraid it's beginning to stink. Winter is a bad time to clean it, so I keep adding pine shavings. Nonetheless, the birds look happy and healthy:

A few birds are getting quite old, but mostly they seem quite perky:

And others seem to already be thinking about possible new nest sites:

Inside the house, Caspar and Sammy are best of friends:

Seamus, Bugsy and Daphne prefer the yoga mat by my computer chair so they can keep me company:

We've had a winter of alternating snowstorms and thaws. One morning during a thaw, I snapped this photo of the barn, the house and the neighbors' barn across the road:

But no January thaw lasts very long and soon it is cold and snowy again:

One lone hen is molting much too late. I feared she'd get too cold and die, but she seems to be growing out her new feathers without too much problem:

Jasmine is my friendliest cow, the only one who really welcomes me rubbing her neck beneath her chin:

And life seems to revolve around hay bales - keeping the herd supplied, keeping a count on how many are left and worrying about running out before winter is over:

Blue was picking through the leftover hay after I'd moved the bale feeder and Jasmine had just gotten up from her night's sleep:

Autumn On The Farm

The bantam hens are safe and warm in their room inside the barn:

And yet they still climb up on the ramp to the door which they used to use to get outdoors. I can't let them out, though, because of the bold, ravenous foxes we have here:

The white fantail pigeons used to have free access to the outdoors during the day but never used it. Now that it's turned colder, I just keep the window closed - but I haven't yet braced it against the winter winds:

One day I heard peeping and followed the sound to this mother and two new babies:


I braced myself for their death, knowing they wouldn't live in this cold, but so far they have done well and are growing rapidly:

Blue and Remy were released from wearing their grazing muzzles and I began putting out hay bales. Alas, I have fewer bales than last year and had to begin feeding them out three weeks earlier:

My sun-activated tchotchkes used to sit on a windowsill but that didn't work with cats in the house. Then one day I saw this shelf unit on a lawn with a "free" sign. I put it next to the window and so far, the cats have left it alone:

Yes, we've had several overnight snows (and many frosts), but for a long time, everything melted and the grass stayed green. The last two nights, however, have changed all that as we had both snow and extreme cold:

My Christmas Cactus (really a Thanksgiving Cactus) burst into bloom early this year and seemed to be a very happy plant:

It's always a beauty:

They began harvesting kernel corn in the field across the road, so I took this photo from my upstairs bathroom window:

Around The Farm In July

The white fantail pigeons get all excited when I refill their food and water each night. They crowd around the two feeders and one waterer as if they think I might have put vodka in the water and yummy bird seed in their feeders. Alas, it's always the same old chicken feed and water - but they are happy anyway:

And a number of pairs are nesting nicely:

A few (like this one) use the cake pans I provided for them, some use the shelves, and some insist on nesting on the floor, usually in a place which is inconvenient for me:

The hens all crowd into their favorite nest box to lay their eggs:

Luckily, they all get along well. There's never any fighting:

Orange Asiatic Lilies began to bloom next to the Blue Sea Holly:

Now that I'm keeping the little horses in the barn all night, the floor gets a thick layer of hay and poop in short order. I clean it out with the tractor, then throw down some hay from the loft, above:

I then spread the sweet smelling hay over the floor and close the door just enough to let the horses in, but not the cows:

This wildflower grows outside the barn door each year. My field guide calls them Cheeses but I find that name awkward (plural or not plural, flower or dairy product?) so I found current articles which call them Common Mallow. I'll use that name from now on:

My photo of the flowers wasn't very good, so I got a better one from the internet. You can see they are in the Mallow family:

The mysterious Blue Sea Holly was slowly turning blue and getting bluer each day:

So one Sunday I cut some and put them in a vase with yellow Asiatic Lilies to take to church. Do you see the problem? The Blue Sea Holly turned green when it came into the house. When I took it back out into the sun, it was blue again. Many blue birds, like Indigo Buntings, are not really blue and only look that way when the sunlight reflects off them the right way. Alas, it appears that Blue Sea Holly is the same way:

Summer's Beauty Around The Farm

On days like this, I am reminded how blessed I am to live in such a scenic, friendly place:

The Rugosa Roses put on an impressive show just outside the dogs' yard. That's Seamus inside the fence, watching me:

The bigger Ninebark bloomed nicely this year, though clearly the colorful leaves are the main attraction. The small Ninebark is still struggling:

The old fashioned rose bloomed well also, even though there are plenty of dead branches from last year's fungus infection:

And the Mock Orange was downright spectacular:

The fantail pigeons seem happy and comfortable. Only one baby has lived long enough to leave the nest. That's it at the bottom of the photo. It looks like he or she will make it to maturity:

Several pigeon couples are still tending to their eggs:

Not all the eggs hatch, though, and not all the babies live:

Is this a dead chicken? No, it's Blondie taking a dust bath. Such dust baths are a favorite with chickens and since they can no longer get outside, they tend to such activities indoors:

All eleven hens are doing well and producing eggs, which I hard boil and feed to the dogs:

They have a number of nest boxes but all prefer this one. It is the biggest and highest, which apparently appeals to them:

One Sunday I cut some Iris, Mock Orange and Ninebark flowers to take to church. When I got home again, I put the vase on the kitchen counter where, amazingly, the cats never knocked it over: