Spring Romp In The North Field

This blog post was reserved for pictures of the first calf of 2016, but I'm still waiting for the calf to be born, a full week beyond its due date. I'll post pictures of that later, after if happens. But we had a lovely spring day and I took the dogs for a walk across the north field, a wonderful adventure in itself and worthy of a few happy pictures:

I've seen at least four Meadowlarks flying around this field and have found their nests before, so I hoped I might see one today. Alas, I never did although the dogs found lots of small items of interest. I suspected that most of them were imaginary, but they made the dogs happy:

We made our way slowly across the field, the dogs stopping to sniff things or to scan the distance:

Fergus alternated between running ahead like a deer or tagging along at my feet, hoping to keep me happy:

When we reached the fence at the far side of the field (the electricity was turned off), I turned right towards the gate:

I opened the gate and we all dropped down into a gully full of weeds, headed through a narrow strip of woods with another hay field (most of it not mine) just beyond:

I stopped when we got to the creek, but the dogs found it extra fun, and the source of a good, cool drink besides:

But it was time to head on back to the house, so we climbed up out of the gully and back through the gate (which I closed again after we passed through):

Seamus struck a pose to show off his newly svelte body:

While Jack and Daphne went after a Woodchuck which had had the effrontery to dig a hole in the field:

The barn and the farm house were just ahead of us and I began to concentrate on keeping the dogs with me instead of bolting across the gravel road (not that there is much traffic):

It was a spur of the moment mini-adventure, but I returned home with five very happy dogs:

The Dogs Get Another Romp In The North Field

We had another indescribably beautiful day, perhaps a cosmic atonement for the long, brutal winter we'd had to endure. I had a farm gate at the far end of the north field with rust spots requiring a bit of Rustoleum, so I put a spray can in the waistband of my pants, turned off the electric fence and headed across the field with the dogs:

The pooches had a grand time. Seamus just walked normally, but the small dogs had to leap through the tall grass. Poor little Jack just followed at my heels, too intimidated to strike out through what to him must have looked like an emerald forest of grass:

I took a couple of giant steps sideways to force Jack to fend for himself. And fend he did, quickly learning how much fun it could be to run, leaping, through the grass:

Fergus ran ahead, his ears flopping wildly:

Jack stopped momentarily to look at me and smile:

Jack and Fergus found a woodchuck hole and gave it a thorough sniffing. No mean ol' woodchuck was going to intimidate these two:

I spray painted the rust spots on the farm gate and then we all headed back across the field, headed for the barn and house:

Seamus walked calmly but Jack was, by this time, running like the wind - an orange, short-legged wind, but a wind all the same:

We were getting closer:

Fergus continued to run and leap:

At a certain point, the dogs saw and recognized home. They began running faster, and I had to call them back:

I stopped all of them except Jack, who kept running for home. Fergus, Clover, Daphne and Seamus (not shown) walked at heel (sort of) for the rest of the way. They'd had lots of fun and I got to cross "Paint rusty gate" off of my to-do list:

More Photos From Around The Farm

Well, it's June 26 and more has happened around here to tell you about. One day I heard a peep from beneath the broody hens and lifted them off the nest, finding this little chick working its way out of the shell:

The first chick died. A little later, I found about seven dead chicks and one live chick on the floor of the coop. I rescued the live one, quickly making a brooder out of a plastic storage bin and a light bulb. When I collected the dead chicks, however, several of them twitched so I put them in the brooder also:

Several chicks died, several more hatched. In the end, I had five which lived. The hens, I'm sorry to say, attacked the chicks viciously and I had to snatch them quickly away:

When all was said and done, I had five Barred Rock Bantam chicks, winsome little creatures and totally charming:

Blue-Eyed Grass bloomed all over the property. It is not really a grass, but a member of the Iris family. This was the first wildflower identification which I remember my mother teaching us. Thereafter, we kept a scrapbook of wildflowers:

I had sprayed the weeds growing directly beneath the electric fence, but the time came when I had to hook up the bush hog and cut a six foot swath around the outside perimeter of the entire fence line. It took a whole day to do it, but otherwise went off without a problem:

I have a Woodchuck/Groundhog living beneath my barn and he's decided that I'm not a threat. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but he does have a cute face:

This old fashioned, ultra-hardy rose had been mowed over for many years. When I saw it trying to grow, I mowed around it and now it's a beauty. Last winter's temperatures of thirty below did not phase it one bit:

Cow Vetch is once again growing in the pastures. I don't know if the cows actually eat it, but I suspect they do because there's less of it this year:

I purchased and planted these Rugosa Roses. Hardy as they are, I don't think they're any match for the nameless beauty which used to be mowed over every year:

My fields still have a lot of junk left over from the previous owners and I'm still cleaning it up, little by little. That's why the tractor was parked there:

The Siberian Iris began blooming in the middle of the month and seems very happy. Perhaps the compost mulch I gave everything is helping: