October On The Farm

The Red Poll ladies must still be eating well because they are spending more time than usual lounging around and chewing their cuds. I guess there is still plenty of grass:

 Remy, imp that he is, has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle enough to ingest big globs of Pennsylvania Smartweed:

 Blue too has widened the hole in the front of his muzzle, though he is NOT eating the Canada Thistle in the photo. He just happened to be standing next to it and I thought it would make a nice photo:

 The hens are doing well, and probably hoping for another chance to go outside and scratch around the yard:

 The little horses spend each night inside the barn. Each morning I put their muzzles back on and let them out to join their friends, the cows. They run across the field, anxious to be part of the herd again:

 Scarlett and Blue looked happy to be grazing together:

 As the leaves first began to change colors, I snapped this photo of the scene across the road. This is the view I get from my upstairs bathroom window, and it's both pleasant and calming:

 The same neighbor's barn as in the above photo, this is a typical sunset in the western sky:

 And just down the road from me, a farm family's Halloween display:

 A bit farther down the road, the Fort Jackson Cemetery was beginning to look like Halloween also:

 Many of the town's pioneers are buried here, and I wonder if their ghosts come out at Halloween:

Also on my road is this Amish schoolhouse. One day I saw children outside playing, but Amish are loathe to have their pictures taken. I only photograph their buildings when no people are present:

Around The Farm In October

The grass isn't growing very fast now, and it looks like I'll have to start putting out hay for the herd soon:

The apple trees (well, some of them) are producing beautiful fruit in spite of my gloomy predictions:

The skies here are regularly dramatic. This was a typical sunset in the southwest sky:

And a sunrise in the northeast sky one morning:

A farmer missed a few stalks of corn when reaping this field. Every time I drive by (it's just up the road from me), the remaining stalks put me in mind of survivors after a catastrophe:

Vegetable stands along our country roads are now selling home grown pumpkins:

The cows are looking healthy and so are the little horses:

The hens are enjoying life although they'd much rather go outside:

The white fantail pigeons have had numerous babies this year and are beginning to look a bit crowded:

I attached the yellow flagging ribbon to the horses' muzzles so I can tell from a distance if they're still wearing them or not. Remy is an expert at wriggling out of his. He also knows how to rip off the yellow flagging ribbon. Full blown autumn is here:

Winter Settles In At The Farm

The two baby pigeons from the floor nest began to grow little fantails:

 The baby from the shelf nest was nearly as big as her (I think it's a female) parents and it wasn't long before I had trouble picking her out from the adults. A week or so later, the younger babies from the floor nest were up and about. I count the birds every night before turning off the lights and formerly had only counted adults. I had to start counting them all:

 I now have 27 white fantail pigeons, a pretty flock who appear to be healthy and happy:

 Our weather was occasionally cold - and occasionally it snowed, but then melted away. Flocks of geese passed overhead in large numbers but then they were finished, and I saw them no more:

 Inside, the 11 bantam hens were safe from foxes and comparatively warm:

 On really nice days, I'd open their door for air but kept the bars up to keep them safe. They wanted to go outside, though, as they don't understand about foxes:

 I have been trying to get the cows to come in for a bit of grain each morning but they sometimes will only come up to the barn and stop:

 So to give them extra nutrition and remind them that grain is good (and I am the nice guy who provides it), I carried bowls out to them. One morning, Blue didn't want to come into the barn and tried to steal Rosella's grain:

 I finally decided that they didn't like walking across all those rocks, so I smoothed it out as much as possible (this picture is a "before," not an "after shot):

 The cold became steady enough that our snow began to stick. Luckily, it was only sporadic and light at first:

 And I was treated to frequent and glorious winter sunsets at ever earlier hours:

 The neighbors put up Christmas lights on their barn, a pretty holiday scene:

Snapshots From Around The Farm

Evening, just before dark. I'd finished the evening chores and was returning to the house to settle in for the night when I noticed this glorious sunset:

 Another day, mid-afternoon, just up the county road from my house: A snowy cornfield, filled with geese:

 They were close to the road and were only mildly concerned when I stopped my car to take pictures. The white birds are adult Snow Geese, the dark birds are Canada Geese and the gray birds are immature Snow Geese:

 Early morning, as I walked out to the barn to tend to the animals. Overhead were multiple skeins of loudly honking geese. They continued honking and passing overhead all through that day:

 I've been attempting to tempt the cows to come into the barn for grain every morning like they used to do. Alas, they've been resistant. On this morning, they walked up almost to the barn and stopped, looking interested but unwilling to enter:

 I had the bowls of grain prepared and wanted to get them used to eating it, so I carried the feed out to them:

 Jasmine still has three bad hoof cracks but has been standing and walking normally, so I am hopeful. On this morning, though, she had her collar hooked over her ear. Jasmine is tame and friendly, perfectly willing to let me adjust it. Some of the others are not that trusting:

 Once her collar was adjusted, Jasmine gobbled her breakfast. She gets expensive, extra sweet feed with a heaping dose of trace minerals sprinkled on top. She also gets a quadruple portion because I'm trying to help her recover from those crippling hoof cracks:

 The miniature horses had been eating their breakfasts also, but they were inside the barn, locked in individual stalls to keep them from fighting. When they were done, I shooed them out the door. Remy looked around, probably wondering where he could start the most trouble:

 Blue walked over the new patch of gravel and then just stood there:

 He took a drink of water from the stock tank and then looked at me as if wondering what I was up to. I'd hoped to take a picture which would illustrate how fat he's gotten, but these pictures seemed to have a slimming effect on him. I wish photos did that for me:

 Refreshed and ready to begin their day, both Blue and Remy headed out into the field to join their cow family:

Snow, No Snow, Snow, No Snow, Snow

Our weather has been changing minute by minute. On this day it was snowing again and I tried to refill the sunflower seed feeder. But the Chickadees couldn't wait, one of them landing right on the open feeder. So I backed up and snapped a picture:

One surprise snow coated the pasture gate with coils of white snow in such a lovely pattern that it could have passed as a Christmas decoration:

Beautiful sunsets are common, but on this night it was so spectacular that I had to try to capture it in a photo. The real thing, however, was more wondrous than any photo:

I took three photos and then tried to choose the best one. I couldn't decide, however, so am posting all three of them. This is number two:

And number three. Living here can be spectacular sometimes:

One day all the snow melted and the sun warmed everything up, including the leftover Rugosa Rose hips:

And one day was so darn warm that I opened the door to let the chickens out for the first time since winter began:

Only ten of the thirteen came outdoors, but those ten sure enjoyed themselves:

They spent almost the whole day beneath the bird feeders, cleaning up all the seed which had fallen to the ground:

No foxes appeared to spoil the day, so the chickens enjoyed the warm sun, even rolling onto their sides in heap to soak up the rays:

Blue and Remy can get inside the barn at any time, day or night, and they often take advantage of it. In fact, I often accuse them of coming into the barn just to poop:

Snow again. On this morning, I found tiny footprints inside the barn. They seemed a bit too big for mice, but not big enough for other mammals I could think of. Perhaps the Least Weasels have returned (or never left):