Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
An arborist once told us that the big Silver Maple (that I like to think of as the guardian of this property) could be a hundred plus years old. How the world has changed in those years, including the land surrounding the stately tree…but the tree has many more years to live, so what seems like a long lifetime in human years may just be middle age for the tree. With a life expectancy of, say, 200 years, human perspective would surely be altered.
It’s technically Fall, and yet, here, the temperatures are in the 90’s and precipitation has been nearly non-existent. The grass is dry and crunchy, leaves are brittle…it’s clearly a drought. The ground – clay soil – has contracted with the prolonged arid conditions and manifests large, jagged cracks. Is it crying out? I am: let summer end now!
A few more images:
Forecasts (at least in these parts) are fairly unreliable, and storms that were supposed to bring rain this month either petered out prior to arriving or only provided a teasing shower; temperatures are predicted to beginning falling precipitiously in a few days, and rain is supposed to make an appearance next week. We shall see…and I shall keep my fingers crossed!
My caterpillar friend has completed its metamorphosis and emerged in what I know must be an amazing new form. Unfortunately, I didn’t see when it actually departed the confines of its chrysalis. I suppose that, generally speaking, the likelihood of witnessing that event is low…but I had still hoped.
Instead of marinating in my disappointment, I choose to be glad that the winged creature was able to successfully make that incredible change and leave, to begin life anew. I’ve seen some lovely butterflies that could be that elusive changeling. What do you think?
Leaves crunching underfoot, the filtered quality of light, the goldenrod blooming…all herald Autumn’s arrival. The Canada geese, in particular, have historically been a seasonal bellwether for me, with their cries and formations a clear sign of the end of summer. As a big fan of fall, I welcome it, in all its pumpkin-spiced glory!
As summer winds down (not that you can tell from this stretch of oppressively hot weather), young animals are growing, others are just being their playful porcine selves, and we’re picking juicy melons from the pig-planted patch.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Mooning, Mugging, Miniatures, Muscovies, And Melons”
This morning, I was greeted by the lacy work of an industrious (and tiny) orbweaver spider on a hoop tractor; for scale, the opening in the wire where the web was draped is 2″ by 4″. I marveled at the meticulousness and determination of the spider, an everyday artist. May you behold Nature’s wonder today, too.