The week before Thanksgiving, Rosie the pregnant Jersey cow exhibited symptoms that made us worry about another premature birth. So we moved her to the barnyard where she could bask in the afternoon sunlight and spend her nights in the safety of the barn — and more importantly, where we could more easily monitor her
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Mother Nature played quite a prank on us Saturday, which was the Vernal Equinox aka the first day of spring. We got nine, or ten, or twelve inches of snow, depending on who in the neighborhood you asked and how many spots they measured before averaging the results to guess at the total snowfall. It
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The passage of the seasons seems more dramatic in certain places. One such place lies some ten miles up the road from the farm. There, steps lead down the steep slope to a cliff’s edge. I stop there often and follow the cliff path down to a stone bench set into the wall. From there,
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The office cat loves snowy weather. She sits at the window for hours, though not because she wants to play outside. She’s there for the influx of wild birds drawn to the feeders. Granted, the birds come other days, too, but just a few, now and then. When snow blankets their world, hiding much of
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Much has happened in the last few weeks. I’ll skip the detailed report and settle for the shorter, two-part summary. First it snowed. A lot. (You knew that, but it bears repeating.) Sure, our 6-8 inch accumulation doesn’t seem like so much to those of you living in the frozen north, but it’s a lot of snow for
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Yesterday I eased the pickup down the driveway. The feed bins were empty, and I could put off the trip to the feed store no longer. Here’s what I found at the end of the driveway — bare mud on the road. What a beautiful sight! I like mud.
When the snow covers the ground in a deep blanket of white, my world narrows. The occasional traffic on our narrow gravel road dwindles to none. An entire day passes without a single set of wheel tracks disturbing the snow. I could be snowbound here, trapped by the snow and the icy layer of frozen
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The roses began to leaf out on the north side of the house, and the wild ones in the woods did the same. Daylilies and irises sent forth new shoots. The chickens rejoiced . . . and ate the shoots. The air felt warm. It felt like spring. And then came the snow, as predicted,
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About those dogs . . . see the farmcollie on the far right sneaking in for a playful nip? That’s Bebe. She tugged hard on a tuft of old Blue’s fur. Blue curled his teeth back in a snarl. It’s a very careful snarl, not too much growl to it, not too much teeth, maybe
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Even the chickens huddle up close to the fireplace when the temperature drops and the snow flies. Really, there’s a fireplace in this picture with the chickens — the back of one, at least. The wide base of the chimney is the barely visible section of concrete wall jutting out behind the pile of straw
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