Summertime Stories

A new Daylily began to bloom among last year's plantings. I checked what I'd ordered and no such color was included. I emailed the supplier to identify it, enthusiastically telling them how happy I was with everything lest they think I was complaining. Alas, they never answered. I was angry until I remembered my own working days, when our tech manager forwarded many customer inquiries to me. I was already feeling overwhelmed with tasks and resented his forwards, so didn't answer many of the emails. That memory helped me to feel less irritation. Nonetheless, I like the Daylily:

 The fantail pigeons are becoming more numerous and more of their nests and attempts at parenting attempts have been successful this year:

 It has been hot, so I put two pans of water in for them to bathe in. Of course I was hoping for photos, but they all ignored the water until I gave up:

 When I went back later, the water was dirty and had feathers in it - but the pigeons all acted like they hadn't noticed any bathing water. "Who, us? We saw no water. Must have been some other birds who bathed." So I got no photos of them splashing and having fun:

Another Daylily began to bloom. This one I had a record of ordering and was called Paradise Pink:

 The wild Bouncing Bet mixed with the Rugosa roses and they both continued blooming extravagantly:

 In front of the house, along the county road, my new, hardy baby roses continued to bloom - and the Tree Hydrangea, a gift from a friend some years ago, outdid itself with blossoms:

And the Sunflowers began to accelerate their blooming. This was a variety called Cherry Rose:

 And a very dark maroon Sunflower, called Red Wave:

 One quiet day I was on my hands and knees, pulling weeds in the new flower garden by the gravel road. The dogs were in their fenced yard and were barking wildly. This is common for them and sometimes spurs me to holler at them. But this time I stayed calm, telling them they were being silly and barking at nothing. But I heard something beside me and looked up, over my shoulder, to see a big, brown llama regarding me with curiosity. A neighbor and I found her owner but she was at the fair, showing goats at the time. So we spent an hour following the llama and trying to put a rope lead around her neck. She finally eluded us and we had to quit. I found out later that the llama had traveled to an Amish farm and jumped over the fence into a pen full of goats (she normally lives with a herd of goats), where she was picked up and trucked back home:

Pigeons, Plums And Plenty

The white fantail pigeons are having a good year. Their numbers are up to 32 now and they all look happy and healthy:

I have two metal pans which I fill with water for them to bathe in:

They splash and play like happy children. It's fun to watch:

One morning I went out to do the chores and caught the morning sun just peeking out over the trees on the eastern horizon. A lone cow grazed in the field below it:

And the plums began to ripen:

They seemed to begin suddenly and all at once:

There are so many that I've invited neighbors to help themselves (and to the pears and apples too):

I've learned that they aren't very sweet until they're totally ripe, but when they reach that point, they're juicy and incredibly sweet. I now wait for them to drop to the ground as a sign that they're ready:

The Rugosa roses are re-blooming, which makes the bees and me happy:

And Wild Cucumber vines are blooming everywhere:

Everyone else's wild Day Lilies bloomed a long time ago, but mine are putting on a great show at this late point in the summer:

My wooden hatchway door became badly rotten and I couldn't afford the time or money to replace it, so I used two rubber mats for cow stalls. I'm hoping this will keep them dry and protected for many years:

Around The Farm In Late Summer

I had far fewer apples than usual this year, but a few hardy trees are producing them anyway:

The plum tree was loaded with fruit but it appeared as if my straightening of the tree set back the ripening. I don't mind, as I only eat a few anyway:

  I do, however, certainly mind the regrowth of the Burdock and Thistles in my fields. I spent an afternoon once again weed-whacking them. The thicker stems had to be cut with lopping shears:

 The fantail pigeons have had several afternoon community baths. It's fun to watch them as they appear to be giddy with joy, splashing and playing like happy children:

 I cut down the remaining Blue Sea Holly flower stems. There are no flowers left in my little rock garden, though maybe something will rebloom in autumn:

 One day the pink Rose Mallows began to open. They are spectacular:

 More opened the next day. The red flowers always open later, so they are yet to come:

 I got onto a Sunflower kick and found a website which offered seeds of many varieties. I prepared a sunflower garden alongside the dogs' fence and adjacent to the Day Lily garden. I ordered four varieties of seeds, which I'll show in the pictures below. The website, if you are interested, is here:

 I ordered Cherry Rose seeds, the fastest to bloom:

 And Little Becka, a dwarf plant with 5" flowers:

 Red Wave, a short variety with short, branching stems and plenty of big, red flowers:

 I also ordered Pastiche, a variety of multi-colored flowers on branching stems. I put so much compost in the sandy soil that I expect to have a sunflower bumper crop next year:

Scenes From Summertime

When she was here visiting, my sister took this photo of the farm from the county road:

 And she stayed after church because they serve a meal each Sunday:

 I showed her the Blue Sea Holly and Asiatic Lilies, both of which were putting on real show at that time:

 We found a few branches on a couple of trees which were producing apples:

 And the plums were growing rapidly:

 I showed her the two nearly fledged baby fantail pigeons:


And then she found several nests with babies which I had not even seen. This one was on the floor:

 And this one was up on a shelf:

 Later, I brought in a pan of water for the pigeons because they love to bathe and play in water. I brought in two pans but one had a leak. I'll buy another pan the next time I'm at the feed store:

 My sister also gave me a bug zapper paddle, a battery operated swatter which zaps them when they hit the wire mesh. It's fun, but I have to swing it fast to get the flies and then I can't see if it worked or not. I didn't have it turned on when I took this photo and only saw the fly on the mesh when I downloaded it. If only I'd noticed at the time, I could have pushed the button!

 After my sister left, I cleaned out the barn. With the horses spending each night there, the hay and manure builds up quickly:

 It took about six tractor buckets to haul it away to the manure/compost pile. The barn sure smelled better after I'd finished:

A Farm Update

People here are thinking about autumn already and especially the coming winter. Even while the temperatures are in the eighties, it's only prudent to be planning for the cold which will be here too soon. I had the bale fork on the tractor, awaiting a load of hay bales when I took this photo:

This is Hare-Ear Mustard, an inconspicuous but common plant. When mowed over or eaten by cattle, it just miniaturizes and grows as a sort of north country bonsai:

The Tall Garden Phlox were spectacular this year but the butterflies and Clearwing Moths were nowhere to be seen:

One of the plum trees I planted when I first bought this place is producing its first fruits. I can hardly wait to give them a try:

The pigeons and chickens seem to live together in peace, both of them mainly serving as ornamentation for the farm. Their job is to look picturesque:

The chickens have a good life, going where they please and doing whatever enters their little heads:

This toad was living in the dog yard and hopped away when it saw the lawnmower coming. Of corse I stopped the mower and made sure it found a safe, shady hiding spot:

I continue to give the pigeons their birdbaths every now and then, and they continue to be overjoyed, playing in them and splashing like happy children:

And there are a couple more baby pigeons:

It seems there is only one pair producing offspring, but that's alright with me. If they were all breeding, I'd have too many pigeons:

And speaking of breeding, the hens have been laying their eggs outdoors where I can't find them. This hen got so broody that she stopped coming into the barn at night. When I finally located her, I threw out all the rotten eggs she was sitting on and herded her back to the barn at dusk every night:

There was also a cache of rotten eggs behind that rock at the base of the old fashioned rose. It was impossible to find until I weed-whacked the tall grass around the base of the rose: