A New Bale

The sun was out a bit yesterday - enough that some of the mud dried out and Al could use the tractor to drop new round bales into the pastures. There is just something about tearing up a new round bale that Micah, our old Dexter bull, cannot resist. Wouldn't you feel important if you'd just shredded into 800 pounds of hay?

We All Have Days Like This...

It has been so gloomy and dark that I haven't taken any pictures lately. But I was going back through some from the last few weeks and came across this picture of Abe with a bucket on his head. We get our kitchen prep scraps from the Hyatt in a big red garbage can and then tote it back for the birds in smaller buckets. Abe, one of our friendliest old sheep, thought it would be a good idea to clean the bucket out for us. Vincent is looking on while one of the smaller Shetland sheep strolls away, not at all concerned about Abe's predicament. As soon as I got a good picture, I removed the bucket from Abe's head. Then I removed the bucket from Abe's pasture as he insisted on sticking his head right back into it once he was freed....

On a Drier Day

This is Freckles curled up with a hen. The animals all just seem to exist together with very few real issues. We did get word from a poultry vet that turkeys cannot exist with ducks as there is some sort of parasite that ducks carry which gets into the drinking water and is fatal to turkeys. No one, however, told that to our turkey who lived seven years along with the ducks. He lived to a nice old turkey age and then just woke up dead one day.

Saturday Market

Saturday Market was actually rained out yesterday! We all stood around waiting to see what would happen. The city had a hard call to make but after we were all thoroughly soaked it seemed like a good idea to just let it go. It has been a few years since Market was canceled due to weather so we hope our customers will forgive us. I did get home & dry off, only to stumble into a bit of an adventure that will be next week's farm story.

It Is Raining!

Lyle is a wet little llama. He has plenty of places to go for shelter but preferred to hang out in the rain and tackle a new round bale of hay with his companion, Ginger. I imagine the fact that it is still in the low 80's and the llamas have nice thick coats keeps them from being too concerned about the weather. The goats, on the other hand, are all huddled in shelters and are peeking out from the eaves of the stable looking at me as if I am to blame for the weather. I am just so grateful for rain that I'm not too worried about what the goats think.

Pretty Little Gal

This is one of our new light brahma hens. They've graduated from the stall to the real world and are thrilled to be exploring. The two dozen prefer to stay together but occasionally someone wanders off for their own adventure. This little gal was soon scratching through the dirt looking for bugs. I helped her out by rolling over an old log.

A New Week

I have been so busy getting ready for the gallery show at Art & Light that I didn't blog. The show went beautifully & I was ready to get back into blogging again when one of our cats accidentally tore up my hand & arm. So that took another week out of things. But I am doing much better now & am about to walk out to the stable for a fleece to wash.

These pictures are from one day last week when I was trying to get out to gather eggs. My arm was throbbing so I sat down briefly on a fallen log to rest. The moment I stopped, most everyone in that pasture felt obliged to come check on mama. This is my "face-level" view. It was a comforting five or so minutes & I went back about my chores. It made me smile.