Around The Farm: Fog, Fledglings, and Flowers

It was a misty morning, with humidity so thick that you could actually see it in the low-hanging fog. The grass was soaking wet with dew – and because of the high humidity, so were we…but there were chores to be done, and many interesting things to be seen!

A pair of swallows had built a nest high up in the barn’s rafters and while we couldn’t see into the nest because of its location, we could hear peeping and, later, saw three nestlings poke their heads out for feeding. Today, the babies were out of the nest – they had fledged!

One fledgling was still in the nest, apparently not quite ready to leave its security, another was about a foot away on the rafter, and the third had flown down to a lower rafter. It perched there for a while (maybe entertained by me trying to capture a photo) and flew away.

Waiting for breakfast
Exploring the world

A volunteer sunflower is growing enthusiastically near the duck coop, no doubt a stray black oil sunflower seed the fowl missed that germinated in the damp soil. I can see where the seed head is forming; once the seeds start to grow in, the fowl will pretty much tear the plant apart. I’m going to put some netting around it to try to help the seeds reach maturity.

Volunteer sunflower reaching toward the sun

I spied these pink flowers growing on vines along one of the field fences. I think it may be a wild sweet potato vine, but need to do some additional research to be certain. Regardless of its true identity, its blooms are lovely.

Wild Sweet Potato, Morning Glory, or..?