It Is Spring Indeed

We had a week of rain, which saturated the ground so thoroughly that I had to pump out my basement eight times. Then came a night with tornado warnings, heavy rain, hail and high winds. The next morning I found the trash bins tipped over. That would not have been surprising except that they were lashed down and one was full of heavy bags:

 Then I noticed that the heavy, 100 gallon stock tank had been blown halfway across the north field. It had been empty, but stored upside down in a spot where high winds had never moved it before:

 A trim board from the barn roof had blown off. I worried about Amy, who I thought had been giving birth during the night. It turned out that she hadn't, so the calf watch continued into the next day:

 Last year I planted 12 Globe Thistles, but couldn't tell them from Dandelions, so I left them unweeded until spring. This year, upon examination, I had only one Globe Thistle plant - but it looked healthy and robust so I pulled out the Dandelions all around it:

 I planted the two Morden roses in the place where the Globe Thistles had not grown:

 And then I put some small fencing around the one Globe Thistle and two roses so I wouldn't accidentally mow over them:

 Inside the barn, the fantail pigeons and bantam hens were getting pretty stinky, but I needed to wait until the ground dried out a bit before I cleaned their rooms. I made it a point to keep their windows open as much as possible, though:

 The bi-colored Daffodils began to bloom, though the solid yellow ones were still in the bud stage:

 The Peonies began to emerge. All the old plants had white flowers, but I planted some colored ones both last year and this year. I don't know if any of the new ones will grow:

 The 20 Day Lilies, however, had doubled in height since I put them in the ground. They looked promising:

 I came to the end of my supply of bird seed and suet cakes, so retired the feeders for the summer. One of my last views through the kitchen window was of a Hairy Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker together on the feeder pole:

 The rock garden was springing to life. Things are growing fast. I still had a few plants which appeared to have perished during the winter, but most are doing well:

More Snow In March

Just when it looked like we were going to get an early spring, three nor'easters in a row hit us. The third was the worst, dropping two feet of heavy, wet snow which quickly froze into two feet of hard, crusty snow:

 The cattle and horses continued to thrive in it  although they didn't much want to walk anywhere. I finally used the tractor bucket to clear paths for them to make walking easier:

 The bird feeders became more popular when all the natural food was covered with snow and ice. The suet feeder regularly draws large Hairy Woodpeckers with their long bills:

 And the smaller, sparrow-sized Downy Woodpeckers with their short bills. The big Hairy Woodpeckers are the bosses, but the Downy Woodpeckers know how to dart in for a meal when the bigger bullies fly away:

 The cattle and horses are visible to passersby on the gravel road, just past the cattails and electric fence:

 I grew weary (and crabby) with the snow, but I had to admit that it was pretty:

 There were 40 hay bales left to last the winter. Last year at the same time there were only 20, so I'm hoping to have extra. Actually, I'd rather have none left, but I wouldn't want to run short:

 The addition on the house developed an ice jam again which looked dangerous:

 Not only did it look heavy and lethal if it slid off onto a person or dog, but the icicles were reaching back to touch the windows. I began to worry that the icy mass would break windows when it slid off. There was such deep snow beneath it that I felt sure the dogs would not/could not go there. That was one good thing about the situation:

 Each morning, no matter how cold and snowy it was, I'd call the cattle and horses in for a bit of grain. But I carried some out for those who didn't come in. I wanted to make sure that they all got their minerals and nutrition:

 Red Polls are a hardy, docile breed and mine spent their days eating, then lying down to digest their hay:

 The horses played in the snow and stuck their noses into it, looking for some grass to eat. I sure want spring to get here soon!

Around The Farm

The icicles hanging off the house addition were smaller this year, perhaps because it has been so cold that there have been fewer melts, perhaps because the heat is turned down inside the addition:

 The white fantail pigeons are getting restless, pairing up and choosing nest sites. I have cleaned up the manure buildup since I took this photo. They are pigeons, after all. Imagine what it would be like to be a statue:

 I also cleaned the main floor of the barn, a major job:

 But the biggest job was cleaning the chicken room. I began by letting the little hens outside, the first time since I last cleaned their room:

 They hurried excitedly toward the house:

 They knew there would be spilled seed beneath the bird feeders. They are overjoyed to be outside and it is a shame that our large and ravenous fox population makes it impossible for me to let them out anymore:

 When their room was clean, I used the leaf rake to herd them back inside. They remembered the routine. They're not as dumb as people like to say they are. I did notice, however, that their lack of time outdoors has allowed their toenails to grow overly long. I may have to trim them:

 Newly fallen snow means a morning of examining the tracks to see what wildlife passed through in the night. There was at least one Cottontail rabbit, and perhaps two;

 And a fox comes to visit every night, walking around the barn and then exploring inside:

 Over by the milk room, I saw this and interpreted it as evidence that a Least Weasel had killed something:

 One day I saw Remy and Gracie lying together and nuzzling. They are friends:

F-F-F-F-F-F-F-Frozen F-F-F-F-F-Farm

As I wrote yesterday, our winter has been rugged thus far, both frigid and snowy. The animals seem to handle it well, or at least better than I do:

I snapped this picture through my window one brutally cold day, showing the view outside and across the county road. I didn't want to go out there:

Doing the morning chores, I saw these fox tracks leading from the barn. I've also seen fox tracks inside the barn. I'm not happy about that but haven't been able to stop it. I've tried live traps but they are not fooled by them:

The fantail pigeons are well and protected from the worst of winter:

The same is true for the bantam hens, though their room is smaller and is building up a lot of poop:

One of these two brown Easter Egger bantams is laying a pinkish egg every few days, just right for my needs:


But one day our temperatures dropped to nearly -20 and we received 2 to 3 feet of snow:

I'd intended to stop feeding the birds, but they were obviously so hungry that I relented. The small birds cluster in the nearby Lilac bush and wait for a moment when the bully birds, Cowbirds and Bluejays, are not at the feeders. In this picture are a Chickadee (top right), a Chipping Sparrow (bottom right) and an unknown bird (left), most likely a House Sparrow. I finally got a pair of Cardinals, but they are afraid of the Bluejays so I don't see them often:


The apple grove during the blizzard:

About 30" of snow atop the trash bins:

My car, with snow piled to within about 8" of the door handles. Our last few winters have been relatively mild and I came to expect that. This winter has been a trial, and I often wonder why I'm not sipping a mint julep in Florida somewhere like so many retired people:

January On The Farm

My old camera died during one of the coldest days of the year (at least I hope it was one of the coldest), so I bought a new camera and tried it out through the window near my computer. It was brutally cold outside, through dirty glass, and had both sun and shade. I was pleased with the photo, and it showed my side yard in wintertime:

And speaking of photographing snow (which is difficult sometimes), these are Cottontail Rabbit tracks which I often find outside my door on wintry mornings. I suspect the rabbit(s) is eating sunflower seed which has fallen from the bird feeders. Yes, those are my footprints all around the rabbit's:

And speaking of bird feeders, it hasn't gone well this year. The huge flock of House Sparrows which lives in my barn hayloft was gobbling up all the seed. Then Blue Jays and Cowbirds arrived en masse and chased everything else away, even the House Sparrows. The Chickadees, Cardinals, Chipping Sparrows and Juncos got bullied away from the feeders. And besides, a thick layer of bird poop appeared on my steps and porch. I think I will have to stop feeding the birds when the seed runs out:


Indoors, however, things are calm and peaceful in the chickens' room:

  I have seven Barred Rock Bantams and four Easter Egger Bantams. They are through laying eggs for the season except for one bird who lays a nice, pinkish egg every other day:

The Barred Rocks are getting kind of old to be much good at egg laying, but they still lay in the summertime:

That brown/gold hen on the bottom right is the bird who lays the pinkish egg every other day:

The fantail pigeons are happy and healthy in their own room. Those who are permanently paired stay together through the winter:

I read a study once which said that although pigeons mate for life, they also fool around with their neighbors when they get a chance:


The cattle and horses seem immune to the cold and snow, though I did let the cows into the barn for the coldest nights. They ate all the hay I'd put down, pooped all over everything and then went back outside anyway:

Most days are comfortably mild and the herd is happy:

I noticed that the apple trees had a ring of melted snow around each base. I looked it up and learned that the dark colored tree trunks absorb the sun's energy faster than the white snow, then radiate it outwards: