Animals

This And That

I swear that if we studied the bees a little more,

we would find that a beehive can be used as a natural thermometer.

The hotter the day, the more bees cling to the outside of the box.

So, I guess you can tell by that picture that it is a hot, lazy afternoon

here on the farm.

By the way, this is our one and only living beehive,

having lost the rest to colony collapse disorder.

Thankfully, this hive is robust and full of brood and honey.

The horses seek out the shadiest spots to graze on days like this,

while the dogs head to the pond to cool off.

Maddie, of course goes right in and swims with the ducks.

Sam is a bit more timid,

and settles for the safety of the shallow end.

He has been getting bolder, though,

and now lies down to cool off his undercarriage.

Look at the size of our ducklings!

In two and a half weeks they have grown to half the size of the adults.

By the time they reach 6 weeks of age, they will be full grown.

I suppose that is a survival adaptation.

Tuesday I was telling you how we lost most of our strawberries to the birds this year.

Well, I learned my lesson.

I placed nets on the blueberries.

It is hard to believe that when we planted these one hundred bushes,

four years ago,

they were just sticks with a bare root at the end.

They are now vigorous bushes,

loaded with berries.

With berries ripening daily,

it won't be long before I can make a batch of blueberry lime preserves.

Is there anything better than a snack of just picked fruit?

Hopefully in a few years, we will be able to open our

blueberry patch as a "Pick-Yer-Own".

And finally a special request from our most favored goat, O'Malley.

O'Malley is finally back to her pre-pregnancy weight,

and is dressed in her summer wardrobe.

She wanted me to show you her picture looking so fine....

Isn't she beautiful?

She will look like this for a couple more months.

By September she will start to grow her angora winter coat

(yes, the one that catches hay, goat berries, and anything else close to it!)

Sadly, that winter coat makes her look a bit frumpy.

But for now, she is sleek and sassy and quite proud of herself!

I hope that wherever you are, your gardens are planted,

your hay is growing,

and you are enjoying some hot, lazy days of summer!

Happy Summer!

PS....is there anything else around the farm that you might like to see more of??

Let me know....I love suggestions!

- Berry Time!
One of our favorite times is here...and by now you know that we have many favorite times around here! It's berry season. And that makes us berry, berry happy!! Strawberries, big and juicy... lusciously sweet...are appearing daily in the new strawberry...

- Buzzing Along.....
It has been quite some time since I have talked about our bees.Yes, we still have bees....but, sadly, only one hive at the present time. Over the past two years we have suffered massive losses.Our eight original hives have suffered gravely. Colony collapse...

- What I've Been Up To
Seems like this week has been a flurry of activity,and, gosh, it's only Wednesday. The bear trap has left us...the game warden came and picked it up yesterday.No bear.Just a silly old coon and a nasty looking 'possum...both of whomprobably still...

- Colony Collapse
Life on the farm has its ups and downs.With this past few days came a couple downs. First of all,I lost my sweet Eileen. You might remember my gold laced Wyandotte chickenthat we treated for bumblefoot last summer. She did recover from that and by winter...

- It's Strawberry Picking Time!
Oh, how I would love it if you could reach through your computer and help me pick strawberries! We have thousand and thousands ready for picking. I picked for a short while and before I knew it had 12 quarts filled...and never made a dent in the patch....

Animals