Clearing Brush On A Sunny Day

I had a new, high tensile fence erected last fall but to my horror, I discovered that it couldn't be used when spring arrived. Many wires were down and the brush surrounding the perimeter was growing wildly toward the electric wires, with branches falling down and grasses growing upwards to short it out - IF I could ever turn it on. I bravely began brush hogging and chainsawing one day only to get the tractor stuck and require a lengthy rescue by my neighbor. A week later, my courage screwed up once again, I detached the brush hog, put the chainsaw and its accessories in the bucket and set out on the tractor to finish the job I'd begun the previous week:

The day was lovely and I was feeling very good about it all:

The main offender, at least at the point where I'd stopped, was a large, thorny Hawthorn tree which I'd formerly managed to uproot but then couldn't move anywhere. That's when I got mired in the mud, unable to go either forward or back. But this day was so lovely that I took a moment to experience it. Crickets chirped and birds sang. The air was filled with the aromas of forest, grasses and wildflowers. My farm house and barn were visible in the background and from somewhere I could hear children laughing as they played:

But my reverie ended when I tackled the evil Hawthorn. It had thorns on its thorns, and every one of them was aiming to hurt me:

This split limb demonstrated how the thorns grow from deep inside the wood:

I finally managed to cut up and toss the Hawthorn into the forest. I still couldn't go forward, however, because of three large Ash trees. So instead I began cutting overhanging branches which had slapped me in the face on my way in. You can see what a narrow space I had to work in:

I lowered the bucket and back-dragged the muddy ruts, hoping that would result in a more level driving lane after the ground dried out:

And then I took a moment to eat some wild strawberries:

I'd previously brush hogged around the inside perimeter and had a mowed lane in which to work whenever a branch fell to earth inside the fence line:

The day was successful although the job was far from done. As of this writing, the job is still not done. But I've been making progress:

Scenes From Around The Farm

I'm now a permanent resident and fully retired, but busier than ever before. Here's a few scenes from around the farm, beginning with the five pooches in their fenced yard behind the farm house:

The Mock Orange in full bloom and the white Peonies just beginning. If you look closely, you can see a red Rugosa Rose in bloom just in front of the Mock Orange. That tree to the right is actually several trees growing in a clump, at least one flowering crab and what seems to be a Yellow Delicious apple tree:

I'd just replaced those two barn windows when this photo was taken. Inside those windows is where the chickens will live and I wanted windows which could be opened for air and yet have screens:

Um, I don't remember what was going on here. It looks like Clover was outside the fence. She might have been, little escape artist that she is:

This old silo base is filled with Elderberries. I always see them bloom but have never seen the berries. The birds were always much faster than I was. Now that I'm here full time, I'll try to get a few berries for myself:

The dogs always watched me while I worked on the chicken coop:

And they enjoy sitting out in the sun, at least if it's not too hot. Seamus has been having trouble standing up, so he especially likes to sit on the ramp. It makes it easier for him to get up:

About a mile down the road, I encountered this boggy field of Blue Flag (wild Iris). It was an incredible sight so I stopped for a couple of photos:

And a close-up. This is truly wild, spectacular beauty:

But the big surprise came one day when I saw what I thought were crab apples growing in my apple orchard. I walked over to see what was going on:

That smaller tree which stood next to the Pear tree and bloomed at the same time, a week or two ahead of the Apples, turned out to be Cherry tree:

And what delicious cherries they were! I had thousands of them, more than enough for me, the neighbors and the birds: