Autumn Farm Scenes

I wasn't sure how to title this post. It's a collection of photos of many different kinds, beginning with a couple of my own little roasters, cooked with onions. They were delicious:

This baby Cottontail was hopping around my lawn while I was mowing. I didn't want to run him over so I stopped, got off the mower and walked over to him. He hunkered down, apparently hoping I wouldn't see him. I even got to stroke his fur once before he gave up trying to hide in the clover and bolted for the bushes:

Lots of New England Asters bloomed everywhere:

And my little hens (and one remaining rooster) quickly learned that the wild birds dropped lots of seed on the ground below the feeder:

I let the chickens out every morning. They're so tame now that they often (not always) come when called:

And they roam freely, dining on garden leftovers, birdseed, grass and bugs:

Canada Geese filled the skies and the corn stubble in neighboring fields:

The trees around my own north hay field turned a variety of colors:

It was a brilliant display:

Hay and apples grew well this year, and apparently the forest trees were happy also:

Summer's rainy weather cleared up and turned beautiful for autumn:

I didn't have cattle to water yet, but I did have my new, frost-proof hydrants with which to water the new plants I'd put in next to the south hay field. You can also see my new hay bale feeder in this photo. Everything was ready and waiting for the cattle to arrive from Virginia. Well, everything but the interior of the barn - but that's a post for another day:

Walking The South Hay Field

It was a happy day when my sister arrived for a week's visit to see me and, of course, also to see her beloved grand-dog, Madeline. The weather for the entire week was spectacular and we started it off by taking a walk in the south hay field with the dogs:

The electric fence was unplugged and I let the dogs run to their hearts' content:

And little PeeWee came along, happy as a clam, albeit a little bit confused:

We walked the length and breadth of the field while the dogs ran and played all around us:

When we got to the corner where I'd had to do so much heavy brush clearing, I showed my sister all the work we'd done. Notice PeeWee romping like a puppy in this photo:

Alas, right after the last photo was taken, PeeWee started trotting back to the house and I had to chase after him. I finally put a leash on him, unsure how he'd react. To my surprise, he liked it! I guess it gave him a sense of security to know, in spite of his extremely limited sight and hearing, that he was safely tethered to us. We continued to tour the field:

My sister gave special attention to her beloved grand-dog, Madeline:

The little dogs ran back and forth under the fence. For giant, obese Seamus, it was more awkward:

We sampled some wild apples:

And began heading back to the farm house:

We'd pretty much walked the perimeter of the south field and it felt good. We'd be doing a lot of hiking in the days to come, so this was a nice warm up:

We arrived back at the house and barn, giving my sister a look at the little chickens. She developed an affection for them as the week progressed, taking over their care and petting them before turning off their lights each night. All in all, this was a good start to her week's visit. Later that night, we dined on roasted chicken from my own roosters:

Converting Roosters To Roasters

I had 26 straight run chicks which had grown into 26 nearly adult bantams. That meant that approximately half of them were roosters. The coop was getting crowded (and stinky) and the roosters were beginning to fight amongst themselves and harass the hens:

The coop was so crowded at night that some of them slept on the windowsill:

So I arranged to have all but one of the roosters butchered at a nearby farm. I dropped them off and was told to come back in about an hour and a half:

When I got back, three people were working on them, turning my little roosters into personal sized roasters:

I'd only had ten and they were quite small, but this seemed to be the best solution to the problem of too many roosters:

After each bird was plucked, gutted and trimmed, they were dropped into cold water to cool down:

I wandered over to the site where they'd been prepared for the cut-up table. There was a propane fueled pot of boiling water:

And an automatic plucker, a rotating barrel with rubber fingers which removed the feathers:

When they were all done, I had ten little roasters and a bag of livers and hearts:

I took them home, bagged them and popped them in the freezer. They'll be small, but hopefully very tender. I felt good that I'd given them such a good life and they were dispatched quickly and humanely. This is a far, far better way than the huge factory farms: