In Other News From Around The Farm

I have observed, in the years I've been here, that different bird species tend to appear and disappear at various times of the year. I believe that some species seem abundant when they first arrive in the spring, when they're actively breeding with the males singing, or when the current babies are fledged and moving out on their own. I believe the latter is the case with Barn Swallows, which I hardly see at all until mid to late summer. Then they are lined up on every overhead wire and, I think, teaching their youngsters to live independently. The formerly invisible birds sometimes are lined up on wires twenty deep beginning about early August:

I got my far southern field hayed this year by a neighbor who just purchased the equipment. He mowed and put the grass in windrows, raked it and baled it:

It was miserably hot work and he put in long hours, agreeing to do it for half the hay and also promising to help me get my bales into the barn:

In the end, I got 80 bales and he got 72:


I didn't have to do anything except at the end, when I drove his tractor around the field while he collected the bales, threw them up onto the wagon and then stacked them neatly.  The bigger, more productive north field should be ready for cutting in September:

The wildflower, Bouncing Bet, a member of the Pink family, is once again blooming in my yard:

And right next to the Bouncing Bet, the Rugosa Roses are still putting on quite a show:

The fantail pigeons seem healthy and happy:

Who, me?

They are paired up, nesting and laying eggs, though so far not a single egg has hatched:

I believe they are too inbred to produce much anymore. This may be a blessing because I really don't need any more pigeons. I do worry about our marauding foxes getting into the pigeon coop, but so far it hasn't happened:

I found this wildflower blooming in the south field, took a photo and looked it up when I got back to the house. It turned out to be Square-Stemmed Monkey-flower, a member of the Snapdragon family:

A Busy Summer, Part 2

I supposed these barn swallows were nesting in my barn, but I'd never seen their nests. They sat on the wire and chatted with each other. When I first bought the farm, it looked to me as if no barn swallows lived here, but I've seen more and more each year until this year we had a bumper crop:

And the baby chicks are growing. In this picture they are about a week older than the photos in yesterday's post:

This will show them a little better:

They were growing wing feathers:

A little Chickie two-step:

I had three lamps in their coop for warmth and didn't take them out until the chicks had more feathers. The lean-to was there so they'd have a place to huddle under the lamps when it was cold or they were afraid. The ramp to the right would some day lead them to the outdoors:

I continued working on the fence line right through the summer. Each wire had strategically placed tighteners to control the tension in the lines:

You can see here the work I've done. The trees and brush had to be cleared on the outside of the fence. Then I had to brush hog a broad swath on both sides of the fence. I sprayed the weeds directly below the fence wires twice with weedkiller. Then I mowed as much as I could under the wires with a riding mower. Finally, I took a weed-whacker to the whole fence line. To say it has been a lot of work would be an understatement:

Here's another section of finished fence line:

This section hadn't been finished yet. I was clearing the brush with a chain saw and pruner. Then I'd hit it with a weed-whacker. This was a slow, dirty and exhausting job:

The weather on this day was perfect - until a rainstorm blew in. But I was happy for an excuse to call it a day:

I had to stand on the seat of the tractor and cut overhanging apple limbs. One limb swung around and hit me in the eye with an apple. I was sore for awhile but got no black eye. When I was done, it looked like it had been raining apples: