The flowers, that is. Not me. I can't believe it's October 16th and we still haven't had a true killing frost. Yes, many plants have succumbed to lighter frosts, but I still have cosmos and coneflowers and sedum and petunias blooming in my garden!
The bumblebees and honeybees are still getting out to take advantage...
And the chickens are out and about too. This is one of the chicks that surprised us in the barn last June.
Yeah, preeeetty sure that's a rooster. In fact, I think we have four roosters out of that batch. I'm hoping I'm wrong. But they're all really cute! Roosters, deadwood of the chicken flock!
My bloggy friend Barbara Lardon is turning the chicks into an amazing art quilt. CHeck out the progress here. If you scroll back through her posts, you'll see more pics of the exquisite quilt in progress.
Rooooooster!
Meanwhile on Saturday we went to the feed mill to pick up feed for our 45 "pet birds"...
Homestead Organics in Berwick, Ontario. The feed we get there is gorgeous.
I love our new Mazda CX-5. It has the gas mileage of our Mazda 3, but we can fit in 12 bags of feed with much room to spare!
I have lots of fat, healthy ducks and chickens who lay some eggs for us but most assuredly do not earn their keep. But the amusement value alone is worth the price of feed!
PS: Ooops, spoke too soon. Just looked out to see that the cosmos kicked the bucket last night. Yellow coneflowers are still blooming up a storm, though!
GREAT shots...ok, I'm not a farm guy, why do you not want them to be roosters? he is a cute little thing :)
ReplyDeleteHe sure is! Don't worry, I won't ring his neck. :) Well, you shouldn't have too many roosters amongst your hens, because they wear them out with their constant demands for nooky! Plus roosters don't make eggs, so they don't really earn they keep. A true farmer would not have, er, 7 or 8 roosters, as we seem to do now! Also, roosters can be ornery, and can fight with each other.
DeleteAll that said, I raise my roosters to be gentlemen (well, they still want nooky all the time) and they aren't aggressive towards humans. The first four get along really well, so we'll see how things pan out with these guys. I mainly don't want them fighting with each other or exhausting the poor hens. I like their crowing and their antics are very cute. They find treats for the hens and make cute little clucking noises to tell the girls to come over. They do a little courting dance before they go full throttle, so to speak. I find them to be a lot of fun! But still, 7 or 8 roosters... oh well, the local farmers already think I'm crazy!
It'sstill looking good.How long till snow though?
ReplyDeleteWe might get a dusting on Hallowe'en, as often happens, but usually the real stuff doesn't happen until the third week of November or thereabouts!
DeleteAs ever Natalie, your photos are just stunning. Especially the bees. Glad to see the ducks and chickens will eat well for a while! My cosmos has copped it too, but in my case just drowned I think.
ReplyDeleteThat's my new macro lens. I've been having a blast with it the past couple of months! I don't know what I'll be photographing this winter... I'll figure something out!
DeleteLet's have a moment for our dear departed cosmos.... :)
Gorgeous photos!
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a question. If one rooster crows in the morning do they all crow together...do they stagger their wake up calls (like hitting the snooze button repeatedly) or does only one boss rooster crow? Not ever having kept chickens I have no idea.
Jane x
They seem to set each other off! In fact, I can get them going if I go down there and crow. Sometimes two of them will crow simultaneously. And they don't just crow in the morning; they crow all day long! They are at the back of our barn, so I can hardly hear them in the house, but honestly I like the sounds of their crowing.
DeleteSometimes when I take the dogs for a walk and go past the chicken run, that's enough to set the boys off. It's pretty darn funny.
And our new rooster McGuinty sounds like he smokes a pack of Marlboros a day. Quite the scratchy, hoarse crow!
Aha! Thanks...I love the sound of roosters crowing.
DeleteJane x
We have rain, but sometimes (like last year) never get a killing frost! Your roosters are quite colorful and the quilt is amazing. The photos, up close, with the bees are spectacular; Natural Geographic should be calling you! XOXO
ReplyDeleteYou know, I used to live just a couple of hours north of you in Abbotsford BC! My first year there, I was amazed at how some things just kept growing all winter. We did get some snow there, but nothing like here, back east. I kind of like being able to ignore my garden for five or six months of the year! :)
DeleteGlad you like the photos. I really love using that lens.
You must have quite a day as you check and feed all the critters and then check all the flowers and water them!
ReplyDeleteGordon helps, and we have a gardener now! :) I just look after the veggie garden.
DeleteThe last clematis folded a couple of days ago. So brave.
ReplyDeleteWhat a trooper!
DeleteGorgeous Rooster! Love the birds :)
ReplyDeleteWe got some really pretty chickens out of the surprise batch in June!
DeleteYour bees and blossoms photos are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you! No blossoms left now, alas...
DeleteHa ha when you said you'd got too many roosters, and then that Barbara was turning the chicks into.... I thought you were going to say something edible like stew!
ReplyDeleteHahaha! You never know. I think we have EIGHT roosters now. Good lord....
DeleteWow Natalie! These photos are gorgeous. I've been so busy lately but just scrolling through your blog and loving it. I love a good squash soup and am going to try your recipe below. Homemade soup is one of my favorite things that actually makes me look forward to the cold weather.
ReplyDeleteThanks CD! Glad you like the photos, and I hope you enjoy the soup recipe. Last night I made butternut squash mac and cheese and it was amazingly good.
Deletehttp://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/butternut-squash-mac-and-cheese/
These are beautiful photos! I am always amazed at how different the seasons can be across our two provinces.
ReplyDeleteI'm far enough south of you to make the difference! :) Often we get some snow on Hallowe'en, but nothing sticks until later in November!
Delete