Busy Around The Farm

It came time to begin planting and I couldn't put it off any longer. I began in the spot where I'd removed the giant stump (well, most of it anyway), adding a bit of compost to get me started:

The Globe Thistles were the biggest seedlings, so I began with them:

Then the tiny Chives. Alas, I had to quit at that point, determined to finish planting the other seedlings as soon as weather permitted:

The fantail pigeons began nesting in earnest after I gave them some hay for their nests:

And one new baby was hatched and seemed to be doing well:

The farm was filled with aroma of lilacs and apple blossoms until one day when a skunk got killed in the road. I left it overnight for the coyotes, but when they didn't want it I picked it up by the tail and tossed it into the brush by the side of the road:

Mowing the lawn beneath the apple trees was like passing through a tunnel of flowers:

And the brand new lilac seemed happy with its new home:

The little rose which was supposed to climb up the old farm sign frame, however, needed more sun. So I got out the chainsaw and lopped off many limbs from apple, pear and cherry trees. Then I hauled them to the brush pile in the woods:

The two Flowering Crabs and the wild seeded Golden Delicious apple tree put on a glorious display:

Here are the red Flowering Crab and the apple tree blossoms:

The Prairie Rose Flowering Crab was taking its time to flower but had an extreme abundance of buds. I knew it would be spectacular when they began to open:

Around The Farm - Part 2

The Daffodils in my lawn have outdone themselves this year. The first to bloom were the white and yellow variety:

Then the pure yellow variety:

Then the yellow ones with the orange center. All three varieties were then blooming together, putting on quite a display:

My internet went out and we had a warm sunny day. So, while waiting for a repairman, I tackled another big project:

I had an old stump in my lawn, four or five feet in diameter and covered with wild, thorny shrubs and grape vines. It had been too solid for me to remove with the tractor a few years ago, but I decided to try again:

Most of the giant stump broke into pieces, some of them nearly as big as the tractor bucket. I drove all the wood and brush across the north field and into the woods, where I dumped them on a brush pile:

Furthermore, as you may have noticed in the preceding photos, there was a cedar tree growing there which blocked much of the sun for the flowers I was planting. Cutting it down was problematic as it would have hit the power lines, but just then my sheep farmer neighbors stopped by with a better idea. He used my tractor to push it over, snapping the trunk. I then dragged the entire tree behind the tractor (using a logging chain) across the north field and into the woods:

I cut the cedar stump lower and then used the tractor to smooth off the ground. I filled the bucket with more brush and the cedar stump, then made one final trip to the brush pile:

But I wasn't done yet. I then used the tractor bucket to back-drag the gravel which road crews had pushed up onto my lawn. I moved it back out onto the road so I could safely mow. The grass was growing rapidly already:

And then I added more garden bed along the dogs' fence. I now have about 35 feet of garden bed, 4 feet wide and filled with 2 year old compost, in which to plant all the flowers I've purchased for this year. I also intend to plant where the old stump and cedar tree were removed:

And speaking of new plants, I have been hardening off the baby roses and Begonias by carrying them outside on nice days so they will get used to the sun, wind and temperature fluctuations. Then I bring them back indoors to where the seed trays are:

Summer In Full Swing

The Snowball bushes were at their peak, blooming extravagantly and, I suspected, nearing the end of their season. So I collected some branches and put them in a vase. I'd intended to bring them to church, but they were so top heavy that I gave up and left them at home. At least I got to enjoy them:

And speaking of flowers, this early morning shot was taken looking over the tops of the Rugosa Roses, out into the pasture. You can barely see some cattle out in the field. They were coming in for some morning grain:

It hasn't all been good news. My Bush Cherry died over the winter. I gave it plenty of time to revive, but it was dead, dead, dead:

I'd sunk cedar fence posts in the ground to use as a framework from which to hang bird netting last year, so I hooked a chain to each one, and tried lifting them out of the ground with the tractor bucket:

To my surprise, they slipped right out of the earth:

Then I used a weed-whacker to clear the long grass so I could see, and a chainsaw to cut off the bush at ground level. I tried to cut it low enough so I could mow there, but not so low I'd ruin the chainsaw blade:

When I was done, I had a neat patch of lawn:

And right next to the Bush Cherry was the plum tree which bears fruit every year. It's doing well again this year, though the other plum tree had no fruit which I could find:

The fantail pigeons seem happy and healthy:

And have an elaborate social structure:

When I top off their food and water each night, they congregate at the feeders and waterer with great excitement:

The old-fashioned rose which I rescued is doing well in spite of the fungal damage from last summer:

A Big Project, A Crisis At Dusk

I've needed to trim the apple trees for a long time, but it began to look urgent as they increasingly rested on the electric wire which feeds my property. I began cutting big limbs which were dead, shading smaller trees or hanging on the electric wire. I had a lot of chainsaw trouble and had to sharpen it a few times.

  I also climbed up on a ladder on my porch and trimmed a number of big cedar limbs which had grown so heavy and low that I could no longer see out over the south field from my porch. This photo was taken when only  a part of the limbs were on the ground - there were many more:


 I was filling the tractor bucket with limbs and driving them across the gravel road and the north field, then dumping them on the brush pile in the woods. It involved more chainsaw trouble, but I got the yard cleaned up, the electric wire looking safer and the porch again receiving sunshine:

 I hauled eight bucket loads of limbs to the brush pile beyond the north field. Then I made sure the gates were closed in case I get to bring the cows into that field again this year:

 Once the limbs were off the lawn, I saw a few apples and pears, which I collected and then took out into the south field to give to the cattle and horses:

 It was almost dusk, so the following photos are not as clear as I'd wish, but the first thing I saw was that Rosella had a snout full of porcupine quills. These are big, easily frightened animals and I didn't know how I'd ever be able to remove the quills. I called the vet, who said he'd come out after dark if I could get someone to put her down with a tranquilizer gun:

 I knew a neighbor had a tranquilizer gun, so I gave him a call. He was trucking cattle at the time but was nearby and came right over. He shot her in the right shoulder and then left to finish his cattle delivery, promising to be back as soon as possible:

 Rosella took it calmly, but it took ten minutes for her to start to nod:

 At about 15 minutes, she went down. I put the pesky horses in the barn and brought out a bucket of tools to see how difficult the quills were going to be:

 The other cows were worried about Rosella and kept coming over to check on her. I was careful, lest they think I was hurting her and come after me - especially since it was rapidly getting dark. I managed to get all the quills out with pliers. When the neighbor returned, he checked and found one I'd missed. It took Rosella all night to fully recover, and even then it seemed to be painful for her to eat (but she continued to do so anyway). As of this writing, she appears to be someone painful but otherwise OK:

Farm Update For April

Is this a photo of the farm in December? No, I'm sorry to say that this was taken at dawn on a day in April. Our winter has lingered and, even when we thought it was over, has returned to put the bite on us:

The view across the road on that same snowy morning:

And speaking of unpleasantness, I had an entire winter's worth of dog poop to clean up after the snow melted:

Rosella began escaping from the fence and I rushed to get the electricity flowing again. I fixed many shorts in the south field fence and then crossed the road to the north field. There, I found numerous small shorts plus one giant problem. A dead tree had crashed to the ground, taking the wires down with it. A chainsaw, hammer and fence staples solved that problem:

The fantail pigeons lost their first two babies but otherwise seemed happy and healthy:

The chickens were the big winners this spring, reveling in their freedom to go outdoors each day, peck and scratch:

Until one day when I found this pile of feathers and discovered I had one less hen:

The next day I discovered the culprit, a red fox who had become so emboldened by the ease of obtaining a chicken dinner that it had little fear:

It was beautiful and fascinating, but could not be allowed to kill all my chickens. I spent an entire day trying to shoot it, but failed:

It returned at least 20 times that day in search of a chicken dinner. While my aim was not good enough to kill it, I did manage to keep chasing it away until I could get the chickens indoors for the night:

The fox kept coming back, looking for hens to eat - but I kept them inside. The chickens were not happy about that but they have no defense against such a predator:

I set a live trap for the fox and the next morning before dawn, I heard it barking excitedly out where I'd set the trap. When I went to collect it, I found it had turned the trap upside down and escaped:

Here it is, sneering at the live trap with no intention whatsoever of going in there again. As of this writing, the hens are still locked indoors and the fox is still loose and seeking a meal of fat chicken. I can't let the birds out until the fox has been disposed of in some manner: