Spring Surprises

Spring has been full of surprises so far, including two early lambs at the neighbors' farm:

And of course snow melting off the roof of the barn, then freezing into long, crystalline icicles:

I started opening the pigeons' window to let in fresh air on days when it's not too cold:

And the little hens are beginning to lay more eggs:

The farm gets covered with snow, then it melts:

Even the snow piles beside the driveway are almost gone:

And the melting snow revealed these amazing plants by the back door. This is not new growth, but Bouncing Bet, wildflowers in the Pink family, which stayed green all winter beneath the snow:

And then, just as I was feeling all the glories of spring, we got buried once again:

I found the cattle's backs covered with snow and icicles hanging off their sides:

I had to drive through deep snow to bring out a new hay bale:

And I had to plow and shovel snow once again. You can see how the piles alongside the driveway grew overnight:

And inside the barn, the snow which had blown through gaps in the wall revealed animal tracks which went up into the hayloft. I suspect they are cats from across the road, and I think they are hunting my infestation of English Sparrows, for which I am grateful:

Wintertime In The North Country

As the cold and wind strengthened, I moved the bale feeder to the east side of the barn to protect the herd from the difficult westerly winds:

 On windy days they were more comfortable, and on calm days they seemed quite happy:

 Eating as much hay as possible, as fast as possible, is their main activity these days:

 The fantail pigeons have been pooping up a storm and I'm dreading the day I have to clean out that room:

 There are piles of frozen poop everywhere:

 But the birds look happy and healthy:

 The chickens are doing well also, though they too are prodigious poopers:

 The old timers used to recommend not cleaning chicken coops during the winter as the natural composting of manure helped provide a little heat. I'm not at all sure that's true, but it makes me feel better to think so:

 I have to keep taking the bale spear off the tractor and replacing it with the bucket so I can clear the driveway of snow:

 I have a long driveway and clearing it is a time consuming and bone chilling job:

 And the snow piles are getting deeper:

 The little horses and big cows are winter hardy and, for the most part, require only a constant supply of hay and water from me. I keep reminding myself that winter will soon become spring:

Snapshots From Around The Farm

It's been a cold and snowy February, but the herd has weathered it all without seeming to mind at all. Little Rocket (that's him on the right, just behind Blue) is not so little anymore. He's growing at an astounding speed, eating hay and grain in addition to draining his mother's exceedingly large milk supply:

I've had to use the tractor bucket to remove snow many times. I keep hoping each time is the last, but of course it hasn't been:

Home Sweet Home, or perhaps I should say "Home Snowy Home:"

I keep treating Gracie's two bare spots but they don't seem to be improving. On the plus side, they don't seem to be spreading either:

The fantail pigeons are looking healthy and happy:

Many of them appear to be ready to nest, and I suppose they will do so as soon as it warms up:

Despite their beauty, they are still pigeons and leave piles of poop everywhere. In fact, their nests are fashioned out of poop:

But they are peaceful and lovely birds, a joy to have around:

The bantam hens are a bit cramped in their room, but I don't dare let them out because of our large and voracious fox population:

I have four Easter Egger bantams and seven Barred Rock bantams:

They too are a pleasure to have, though they too poop an awful lot:

The wind often blows snow through the cracks around doors and in the siding, which means I often see animal tracks inside the barn. One or more foxes hunts inside the barn each night, I often see mouse tracks - and this time, I saw new tracks. They were bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a rabbit. I suspect they may have been from a Least Weasel, hunting for mice in the barn. Of course the fox would probably eat the weasel if they met:

Around The Farm In Winter

Midwinter isn't so bleak with sunrise skies like this on so many mornings:

 The little hens are safe and relatively warm in their own room:

 The pigeons' room is right next to the chickens' room. Last year I allowed them to mingle, at least until I figured out that the hens were eating the pigeons' eggs as fast as they were laid. Now I keep them separated, in their own rooms:

 A couple of birds act like they might want to nest, but there have been no eggs. It's a good thing, as no egg or baby would survive in the frigid temperatures we've had:

 We continued to get snow. It used to melt soon after falling, but now I think it's here to stay:

 I regularly now have to take the bale spear off of the tractor and replace it with the 6' bucket so I can plow the snow:

 Most days now, all the cows except Jasmine come into the barn for a bit of breakfast grain (not too much, though - they're all fat):

 Right across the aisle from the cows, Blue and Remy have separate stalls in which to eat their breakfasts. The gates are to keep them from fighting and to keep out the cows:


 Both poultry waterers sit on heaters to keep them thawed, but one of the heaters died and I had to thaw the icy waterer atop my kitchen stove. I also had to buy a new heater:

 Jasmine never comes to the barn for her grain - and she's the one who really needs it, so I carry her out a bowl each morning:

 Wild Bedstraw plants are still green and sometimes show on the surface of the snow around the barn:

 Now that the geese have gone south, corn fields are often visited by flocks of wild turkeys:

Around The Farm - Part 1

The first two months of winter weather were blessedly mild, but that doesn't mean that everything went smoothly. For instance, there was the day I detached the tractor bucket and replaced it with the bale spear. When I attempted to reverse the process, I accidentally pushed the bucket too far and knocked the bush hog off its wheeled dolly. It was too heavy to lift, so I had to put the bucket back on the tractor, take it outdoors and set it on the ground. When all that was done, I reattached the bale spear and ever so carefully used it to lift the bush hog. I got off the tractor and positioned the dolly back underneath it:

And on the same day as the bush hog incident, opening the heavy barn door pushed several sections of the roller track apart. A catastrophe was imminent and I could never have lifted the barn door back into place. But I carefully climbed up on the tractor bucket and used a sledge hammer to tap the track back into place. Another disaster averted, at least for the time being:

And then there's the cow manure and frozen urine left by the cows every cold night when they sleep inside the barn. This truly doesn't capture the horror of it on the worst mornings, but you get the idea:

Poopsicles everywhere!

And then one day, winter truly arrived, albeit belatedly:

The apple trees probably needed a good dose of winter. They seem to thrive in this climate. If so, they got their wish with a goodly dose of below zero temperatures, high winds, blowing snow and freezing rain:

Indoors, however, my fall blooming cactus was so warm and happy that it began blooming again. I guess it's a multi-season cactus:

For the first and only time this season, my neighbor had to put the snow plow on his truck. I am blessed with the best neighbors in the world and he came over and plowed my driveway:

I declared a truce with the local Red Squirrels and decided to make friends with my home squirrel instead:

I don't know if it's a male or female, but it's not very afraid of me - or of the Chickadees who share its taste for sunflower seeds:

One last look. Notice the icicle covered lilac in the background: