Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Springtime at the farm

Yeah, I know, this blog is becoming a little too dog-centric...

Here is Sophie, tired and happy. As you can see, the grass is riz! And I know where all the birdies iz: nesting around my house! Barn swallows over the back light, robin in the front bush, and on and on and on. Maternal vibes everywhere.



What a difference six weeks makes, eh? The path through the woodlot to the back pasture. You'll note the lack of snow.



This is our spring-fed mucky pond that needs an aerator (windmill-powered.) It's full of all sorts of frogs and who-knows-what-else, and leeches. I know that cuz Tristan jumped in and came out with a leech hanging onto his chest. Ick!


This is the river that runs across the back of our property. The dogs adore swimming in it, running along the banks, snd harrassing the muskrats that live there.



Tristan and Sophie swim towards each other, bridging the great divide.



And back towards home, the "creek" or drainage ditch, and four Canada geese.



A storm was rolling in the day I took these photos. The farmer who currently rents our fields has planted them with soybeans destined for Japan. Eventually we plan to reclaim everything and turn it organic. Period.



The storm clouds gather over the farm. Four lightning rods on the barn, not to worry!


And my still-expanding veggie patch. We took back about 1/2 acre of land behind the barn. This weekend we are tilling all of it except the part for the veggies. The weeds are getting out of hand. We had to rent a tiller but that's okay. Then we are planting it with meadow mix. One day in the not-so-distant future, we hope to see a few sheep here. I hoed the whole damn veggie patch by hand. You may not be able to tell by the photos, but it is huge. My arm and shoulder muscles are now very strong!



Last fall I planted a ton of garlic, and I have since added 400 onions (red, Spanish, yellow and white), 60 potatoes (Red Cloud, Yukon Gold, and some blue potatoes), arugula, spinach, Swiss chard, scallions, and sunflowers. I am behind on my seed planting and have a lot that I will add this week, plus I have six flats of various veggie seedlings hardening off, to be planted by about June 1st. Gordon's jobs this summer are to build me a cold cellar and a chicken coop. We'll see how he does!

5 comments:

  1. ew, leeches. Hopefully they don't swim there often. Very cool you have so much land that you can create such a garden! Good luck!

    ~ Wolf Lover Girl

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  2. I love to see all the green grass now. Oh and I can wait to see the garden pics in the future.

    Did you see my recent coop pics? Not big as what you will need but then again, I don't have a huge farm like you. You can have a bunch of chickens on your property.

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  3. You live on such beautiful property! It's gorgeous! And there's nothing wrong with a dog-centric blog. :)

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  4. Anonymous11:03 am

    GREAT pictures as always. :)

    I love the "crossing the great divide" picture. S looks like a polar bear in the water :)

    So about your garden, you are going to have to put some kind of fence around it, aren't you?

    The farm looks beautiful in the spring. I can't believe the lane through the woodlot. It looks like a different place.

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  5. Nat, your farm is so beautiful. I can't wait to visit some day, and meet the dogs, and see the river, and see you and Gordon, and, and, and.....

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!