The Farm In July

I'd had a long and busy Sunday, driving through the Adirondacks to get to the farm and then visiting the Hopkinton town museum. I tended to the dogs when I got back to the farm and then strolled around the yard to see what was growing. This patch of Day Lilies (I think) has odd leaves and has never bloomed before. This year, probably because the Maples have been cut down, it is covered with buds. But I knew I wouldn't be back for two weeks. Would I ever get to see them bloom? Were they some heritage variety? Well, I'd just have to check on them again on my next visit:

The wondrously named Butter-And-Eggs was blooming in with the Day Lilies. And what's that orange flower? Oddly, I didn't notice it when I snapped the photo and cannot now see enough details to figure out what it may have been:

One of the old Rugosa Roses which had lain dormant for so many years beneath the Maples had sprung to life and was blooming nicely:

The dogs watched me from their fenced yard:

The tenants and their friends had picked many quarts of raspberries from my thornless canes, but I still found a few berries to satisfy me:

The barn was looking marvelous and I noticed that the contractor had moved a lift into place. Could he finally be preparing to resume work on the roof?:

The contractor and one worker arrived the next day and began scraping, nailing and re-coating the east side of the barn roof:

There was still a pile of dirt near the septic tank which I'd never gotten spread and it had become a sort of wildflower patch in the middle of the yard with plenty of Queen Anne's Lace:

I saw what I at first thought was Spotted Knapweed growing on the mound, but then realized it was Canada Thistle:

And what must have been Red Clover, though I didn't notice the characteristic pale triangles on its leaves:

And lots of Black-Eyed Susans:

My Tall Garden Phlox were just beginning to bloom over by the apple trees. It was a lovely summer weekend up at the farm and I wanted to take some sort of hike the next day. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

Evening And Morning In The Farm Apartment

I'd already had a long, busy Sunday. I'd been up at 3:30, done all the chores, packed up my car for the trip north, driven 5 hours to get to the farm, walked the grounds, visited the neighbor across the road, hiked with 4 dogs along the shore of the St. Regis River and driven back to the farm. When the dogs had all been taken care of, I settled down in my little farm apartment and realized that I was totally exhausted. From the looks of things, the dogs were ready for a bit of a snooze also:

Little Clover leaped up on the bed and made herself comfortable:

The dogs had already been fed and had several bowls of food on the floor. But as you can see, they were hoping for something tastier than dog food:

But they quickly gave up on that idea and began settling down for the night. I ate a quick dinner, told myself that I was going to lie down and read for a bit and fell asleep. As I said, it'd been a long day:

I awoke the next morning long before dawn and let the dogs out. When they were back in, Wally watched me brew a pot of coffee, do my exercises and haul out the puzzle books:

Clover and Daphne watched also, but from a more comfortable location:

Eventually I cooked myself a super-healthy breakfast of vegetable stew:

By then the sky was beginning to lighten, though no sun was yet visible:

But of course the sun did come up and I decided to take the 4 young dogs for a walk across the south hay field. But first they had to wait while I made one more trip to the thornless raspberry patch:

Although raspberry season was past, there was still a handful of luscious berries on one plant. I gobbled them up and then set out across the hay field with the 4 dogs. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

Arriving At The Farm On A Summer's Day

It was a hot August day when I arrived at the farm with the dogs. Everything looked good:

My first order of business after putting the dogs in their fenced run was to unpack the car and carry everything into the apartment - especially the frozen foods, by then totally thawed. But once all that was taken care of, I walked around to see the place. The lawns were mowed and the Tall Garden Phlox were blooming:

Aren't they beautiful? After I admired the local flowers here on this blog, a friend dug some up and gave them to me for the farm. They're doing great and looking like happy plants:

I walked over toward the south hay field and looked back toward the farm house:

Just past the lawn and a weedy patch of Goldenrod, the south hay field had been cut and baled:

And my thornless raspberry patch, which both tenants had enjoyed, had one odd plant covered with ripe fruit. Having never tasted my own raspberries before, I gave them a try and found them marvelous:

The apple trees were full of almost ripe apples:

And the pear tree was covered with fruit almost ready for picking:

I walked across the road to talk to my neighbors and shot one photo of the house and barn from their place. Well, it was time for me to take the dogs indoors and decide how I was going to spend my summer Sunday afternoon, but I'll post about that tomorrow:

The Beebe Hill Fire Tower

Well, it'd been a nice hike up to the top of Beebe Hill with my four dogs, and very soon we arrived at the restored fire tower. A historic fire tower with a magnificent view less than a mile from the trail head which hardly anyone knows about - what could be better than that?:

And it's a beauty, too:

At the base of it grew Smartweeds in bloom, though I couldn't tell from my field guide which species:

And more Day-Lilies and raspberries:

I walked right to the base of the fire tower and looked up:

And then I tied each of the four dogs to each of the four uprights to prevent them from climbing up behind me:

The view, predictably, was magnificent:

There are four sides to the fire tower cab and views in every direction:

It seemed to me that the towers of downtown Albany should have been visible from up there, but I couldn't find them:

Looking down at little Clover, tied below and waiting patiently for me. I'll post more tomorrow:

Fields And Wild Turkey On Beebe Hill

I was hiking up Beebe Hill with my four younger dogs on a hot, sunny mid-week afternoon. We took the old service road instead of the forest foot trails and this was providing me with lots of wildflowers to photograph and attempt to identify. This one was easy - Yarrow, Achillea millefolium:

And there were lots of ripe raspberries to eat. And eat I certainly did:

And then I encountered yet another flower with which I wasn't familiar. This plant was one I don't think I've ever seen before. It looked vaguely like what we used to call Yellow Rocket or Wild Mustard. I've looked it up now and decided that it is absolutely, positively - a mystery to me:

The dogs ran happily into a clearing, full of playfulness, and I followed them:

Now this may look to you like a picture of not much of anything, but that's only because I was too slow getting my camera out. A very large turkey was standing in the field and all my dogs were uninterested (or at least came when called) except for little Clover. She wanted to chase the turkey which jumped up and down but either wouldn't or couldn't fly (it was HUGE!). Finally the turkey ran off into the woods with Clover on its heels. The turkey easily weighed 10 times what Clover weighed and could have put a real whoopin' on her. Perhaps she'd have learned a lesson if that had happened. As it turned out, I fear she learned that chasing wildlife is fun and I'm now going to have to somehow train her otherwise:

The turkey crisis over, we continued on the trail up Beebe Hill and I kept watching for wildflowers such as this Red Clover, Trifolium pretense:

Another abundant Clover was this Smaller Hop Clover, Trifolium procumbens. I also saw many much smaller Hop Clovers and assumed they were the same species. But I just learned, while searching my Field Guide, that the tiny ones were most likely Least Hop Clover, Trifolium dubium:

Despite it being such a hot and sunny day, I stayed out of the woods and continued on the service road. The temperatures were nonetheless a good 10 degrees less than what I'd left behind in Albany. Oh, the wondrous benefits of forests:

There were lots of Dragonflies, but only this emerald and black jeweled beauty held still long enough for me to get a photo:

I passed by lots of Steeplebush, Spiraea tomentosa. This attractive flower was new to me a few years ago when I discovered it on Harvey Mountain, just down the road from Beebe Hill:

I'm afraid my photo of this plant was not good enough for a real identification, but I was sure it was in the Mint family and a very common lawn weed. I'm reasonably sure it's Heal-All, also known as Selfheal, Prunella Vulgaris. Wouldn't Prunella Vulgaris be a wonderful name for a female villain? Anyway, we were well on our way up Beebe Hill by this time and approaching an important decision. I'll post more tomorrow: