Scenes From Around The Farm

Daybreak as I looked across the road at my neighbors' fields:

And daybreak with the rising sun lighting up my neighbors' barn. Their animals were still sleeping in the barn:

I was working on the fence line shortly after the north field had been hayed and captured this glimpse of the new bales with the barn and house in the background:

Wild grapes grew everywhere, causing much trouble with my brush clearing. They were beautiful, but terribly, terribly bitter:

I was working hard but enjoying it greatly:

I said "Howdy" to a Praying Mantis:

I'd sprayed the perimeter of the field to kill the weeds but they hadn't fallen down, so I had to weed-whack the entire perimeter of both fields. The entire operation from brush clearing, fence repairs, two sprayings, weed-whacking and hanging warning signs took nearly the whole summer:

Another view of the north field, this time from the woods:

The chickens finally began coming out and going back in on their own, but spent most of each day on that step. Well, you can imagine what happened when walking in and out of that door and the messy, poopy shoes which resulted. I got three sections of garden fence at Home Depot and solved the problem:

I netted 35 bales for feeding my cattle this winter. Of course they won't arrive until later this autumn, but I'll be ready for them when they get here:

I got to know a bit more about grasshoppers this year. This one, I believe, was a male although I don't know what species:

And this lovely creature seemed to be keeping me company in the field as I worked. I later looked it up on the internet and submitted photos to the Butterflies And Moths Of North America site. It was identified as a Bronze Copper, Lycaena hyllus:

And here's the page redording my sighting:

And lastly, a short video of my Bantam Barred Rocks waking up and coming outdoors for the morning:

A Tractor Ride Through Beautiful Scenery

I was unusually productive one fine day and got everything I'd planned to do completed early in the afternoon. I finished the high-tensile fence and got it running after nearly a full summer's work. I was still feeling full of energy and good will, so I speared a bale and delivered it to the two brothers who'd cut and baled it (we split the results), about four miles away. I was sitting up high on the tractor, exposed to the wind, air, sun, shade and scenery. I could see everything, feel every subtle change of temperature and smell every little smell along the way. The apples were ripe and red along the road everywhere, the corn was tall and everything was breathtakingly lovely. I began taking photos and here are the results.

This first is along the side of the road - an apple tree, a barbed wire fence and an old pasture which apparently hasn't been grazed in a few years:

Great fields of corn lined the roads in many places:

A field of sheep with big bales of hay in a more distant field:

The land dipped here and I could see over the tops of the corn tassels all the way across many acres:

The bales, which I delivered one at a time, weighed over a thousand pounds and every sudden dip in the road felt, due to my inexperience, like a catastrophe about to happen. But you can see how lovely it all was:

When I arrived at the brothers' dairy barn, we chatted a bit and then I dropped off their hay. I made two trips, one bale at a time:

I passed by old farm equipment sitting out in a field:

And I passed R & S Liquor, a wine and liquor store for local folks. I don't suppose they get much business, being so far out in the country, but maybe I'm wrong. Where else would a person go for a quick bottle of wine or liquor? It's a long drive into the city:

And I drove through a long section of forest. This ground cover was, I think, Vinca Minor, AKA Periwinkle or Creeping Myrtle. It's not native and I was surprised it could grow this far north. But I looked it up and it's hardy to -34 and this forest and snow cover should protect it from the worst of the cold winds:

I passed by my Amish neighbor's dairy cows, looking fat, satisfied and curious. He apparently treats them well:

The hardwood forest began to give way to a pine forest:

I passed by an old stone wall which surrounded a hay field:

This shed used to be the entrance to a trailer home which sat adjacent to my property. Last winter a great wind storm blew the roof off the trailer and it was subsequently removed. Now only this remains:

And finally I arrived back at my own field. Yes, that power pole really was tipping that much. I only hope the power company is keeping an eye on it: