Around The Farm - Seeds, Flowers And Hens

I finally decided it was time to plant my seed trays, but this being my first attempt at such an endeavor, I tried to organize things:

I planted almost all (I ran out of one kind of seed before I finished all the cups) of the seeds I'd planned to sow in the trays and covered them with their clear plastic dome lids. The six baby roses were blooming in a row behind them:

 This was my plan for seed tray number one:

 And for seed tray number two:

One of the new baby roses was just coming into bloom, called Sevillana. It is advertised to be a fiery red, zone 3 hardy, prolific and continuously blooming rose with a mild fragrance and beautiful rose hips in the fall. I never saw the brown spots on the outside petal until I cropped the photo. Then I went back to make sure they weren't insects. It turned out to be dust, which all fell off when I touched the flower:

 The next day, all the dust was gone and the little rose was opening like - well, just like a rose:

 Outdoors, the Daffodil row was blooming happily:

 The newest flowers were the yellow ones, a variety which, if I remember correctly, were called King Alfred:

 The little hens seemed happy and healthy in their room inside the barn and continued to average about three eggs per day, a reasonable amount. I several times scrambled a dozen eggs for the dogs. I will not try to feed the dogs three dozen again:

 I removed the farm sign from its stand at the edge of the road as it was rapidly deteriorating and I don't think anyone noticed it anyway. I hung it against the east wall inside the barn:

 One side had lost much of its paint but of course I put the good side out. Now I hope it will last for many years, maybe even long after I'm gone, as a remembrance of my retirement effort:

 I noticed the Lilac bushes putting forth leaves as well as buds which looked like tiny bunches of grapes. I had to take many pictures because they were never in focus. I finally tried putting my hand behind the buds and that told the camera where to focus. It also gave a size perspective for the tiny buds:

Around The Farm

The fantail pigeons have been making nests and laying eggs, but so far nothing has come of it. I think it's still too cold:

The little hens have done pretty well at keeping their room reasonably clean, and they are both happy and healthy:

Fergus watched me weed the Day Lily bed, which runs alongside the dogs' fence:

And the Sunflower bed, which is adjacent to the Day Lily bed, was much easier to weed because nothing was planted there yet:

The Iris and Asiatic Lily bed was starting to grow, so I quickly weeded that also:

The farm sign was losing its paint, so I took it down and plan to hang it inside the barn:

The white and yellow Daffodils finally flowered:

They are beautiful. The pure yellow ones will bloom next, followed by the pure white ones:

Another of the six baby roses bloomed, this one with a very large bud. This is how it looked on day one:

On day two it put on quite a show:

On day three it was fully open and quite large, as you can tell by my hand in the picture. This variety is called Carefree Delight. I hope it lives up to its name:

And the Darlow's Enigma climbing rose put out one tiny, white flower. It is supposed to be a prolific and continuous bloomer, with vines which can sometimes cover a whole house. It may not do quite that well here in the far north, yet I still have high hopes for it:

September Abundance

Japanese Knotweed may be one of the worst, most invasive weeds, but I have to admit that they are kind of pretty when in bloom. These plants were sticking out of the top of the Mock Orange bush, so I broke them off after taking the photo:

 I trudged out to prepare a bed in which to plant the three new rose bushes when they arrive in April. I dreaded the swinging of the pick and hefting of the shovel. Then I realized that the tractor could do the job in a few seconds. First, I scooped out a trench between the Tree Hydrangea and the two new Morden roses (the Rose Mallows are on the far left of the photo):

 I dumped that bucket full of soil behind the barn and then scooped a heaping bucket of old compost. I brought it around to the front of the house and dumped it in the trench I'd just hollowed out. The only hand work involved was a bit of leveling the compost. It was a happy occasion except that the Globe Thistle I'd worked so long and hard to grow had died in that very spot. I tried planting Globe Thistle seeds and 12 roots, but only one plant resulted - and it died, dead as a doornail, in midsummer. Next April I'll give more hardy roses a try:

 I cleaned out the barn floor by first using a snow shovel to move it to the center, where once again the tractor could do most of the lifting for me. Remy came in to "help" me. He needs to be in the middle of everything:

 When I had Remy's seal of approval (and when he was satisfied that there was nothing to eat and no mischief he could perpetrate) he joined the cows out on pasture:

 A quick walk around the yard revealed a New England Aster plant blooming beneath the apple trees:

 And right behind the New England Aster, on an old stump, was this Turkey Tail fungus:

 I had to stop mowing near the apple trees, which were dropping apples all over the grass. Some were big and red:

 Some were smaller but more numerous:

 And the pear tree was so heavy laden with fruit that the branches were touching the ground. The Postman was pulling onto my lawn each day and helping himself to pears:

 And the weight of the fruit was so heavy that more branches were snapping off. A family up the road will collect and use the fruit when they are fully ripe, but there is so much of it this year that it's hurting the tree:

 I seldom notice the farm sign anymore, at least in the summer when it's hidden in the leaves, but one side of it is holding up well. The other side is peeling. When it's no longer usable, I'll bring it inside the barn and affix it to the wall as a decoration:

Apple Blossom Beauty

The cherry tree bloomed early and profusely, promising perhaps the second big cherry crop I've seen since I moved to the farm. The blossoms almost hid the farm sign:

About ten days later, all the apple trees burst into bloom on the same morning:

I was thrilled, walking from tree to tree in the orchard, looking for differences in the flowers. Notice the cattle, clustered together under a Box Elder tree in the background:

The tree in the foreground produces huge crops every year:

My trees have less pink in them than some apples, so I like to snap a picture when I see a particularly pink set of blossoms:

All in all, a glorious display. It's over quickly, though, which is all the more reason to exult in it while it lasts:

More pink tinged flowers:

I was standing inside the pasture when I shot this photo of the apple orchard, with my house and car in the background:

There are two nice trees, probably wild seedlings, on the other side of the house - and they too were blooming wildly:

These two trees may be wild seeded, but they produce abundant and tasty crops:

I knew that this exuberant exhibition would soon be over, so I spent the morning taking pictures:

This is one of the wild seeded trees, arching out over the road and the Amish "Horse Shoeing" sign. It drops apples everywhere in early autumn:

Around The Farm In Snowy January

We've already had plenty of cold, snow, ice and wind, though of course I know there will be much more to come. The white fantail pigeons are locked up safely inside the barn and seem to feel safe and even comfortable:

 They have a complex community of alliances, quarrels, romances and communications:

 The neighbors across the road brought in a relative's horse to keep their lone boy company. I see the two of them sometimes watching my minis from across the road, and of course there is much excitement from both sides of the road when an Amish horse trots by. Notice the full moon in this photo:

 And less you be deceived by the things I write that farm life is constantly picturesque and charming, I present Blue and Remy's frozen water bucket as I found it one morning. There was frozen manure atop the ice, which I thought was solid, right down to the bottom. I used a brick hammer to dislodge the frozen poop before bringing the bucket into the house to thaw and discovered that there was indeed water under the ice. When the hammer broke through the ice, cold water and dissolved manure sprayed up in my face and across the front of my jacket. Yet I still had to bring it indoors to thaw:

 The chickens don't seem to have a society as complex as the pigeons, yet they enjoy their little indoor community:

 But the constant here is the presence of winter - cold and windy. Sometimes it is beautiful, but no one ever says they'll be sorry to see spring arrive:

 I am located on flatland just north of the Adirondacks, and the howling winds sometimes sweep across it with devastating force. The winds can make even a relatively mild day seem brutally cold:

 And I have been finding daily fox tracks all around the barn and house. I know there is a feral cat living in my hay loft although he runs when I see him. But the foxes are my main concern as I won't be able to let the chickens or pigeons out in the spring. Every fresh snowfall reminds me of the traffic which occurred during the night. I have seen either dog or coyote tracks as well - and once I think I saw bobcat tracks. It's a dangerous world out there for chickens or pigeons, though I believe only the foxes are a danger during the daytime:

 The farm sign shudders in the wind but has held strong ever since I used epoxy to affix the bolts, and added a chain at the bottom to prevent excess movement in the wind:

 And after extra cold or wet nights, when I leave the cows inside, I have a lot of cleaning up to do the next morning. On the plus side, I have two goodly piles of compost for any gardening I want to do: