A Walk at the Farm

Reflections, The Farm

With temperatures near or at 50 degrees Tuesday I decided it was a good day to get out to the farm for a couple of hours. I grabbed my camera as I headed out with my husband and the kids dogs.

These first three photos were taken two weeks ago as our biggest snowstorm of the season (so far) blanketed our world with 7 inches of snow.

That snow was mostly melted by Tuesday. Looking at our forecast for the next week it seems as if Woody the Woodchuck, Puxatony Phil’s Michigan counterpart, was correct when she predicted an early Spring.

When we arrived at the farm I noticed most of the chickens just inside the barn. Since it was nice outside, I thought this a bit odd until I realized that they were dust bathing. The ground outside was still frozen so the limestone floor of the barn was their best option for dusting themselves.

Ranger went right to work. His mission – to find a bunny.

While Ruby found a ball (or two).

My husband has had several winter projects that he’s worked on at the farm this winter.

The first one is building up our firewood supply. Some of the trees he harvested were on our property while other were dead trees that had fallen on neighbors’ properties. Not everyone in our area burns firewood so fallen trees are often left to rot. Several of the neighbors were happy to let my husband come in and remove the dead trees.

These oak logs on the trailer were from a live tree that was cut by the power company. Again, these neighbors were happy to have my husband remove the logs from their yard. These logs will need to season for a year or more before they are ready to burn.

He has built some piles of tree branches in the woods. These piles serve as wildlife habitat and eventually we might cut some of the dead sticks to use as kindling when we start our fires.

While some of the branches in those piles are from trees he cut down some are from another project. He spent hours picking up fallen branches in the woods. For most of the winter there was no snow on the ground so it was possible for him to go into the woods and pick up fallen branches and sticks – something that I’ve always thought should be done but has never been a priority.

This makes walking through the woods so much easier.

The third project that he spent a lot of time on and I greatly appreciate is mulching the trails.

In previous years this trail was either flooded over or muck and mud this time of year and we just avoided that area until things dried up.

The electric company has had crews trimming trees in our area for the last few months. My husband stopped and asked the workmen if they would drop off some of the mulch at the farm. I think we ended up having 4 or 5 loads of free mulch delivered. One time my husband let the crew park one of their large trucks at the farm for the weekend in exchange for the mulch. It was a win-win.

If it wasn’t for the free mulch the trail through the woods would remain impassable for several months.

While Ranger was still off looking for bunnies,

Ruby spent most of her time hanging out with my husband and I, bringing us a ball and then retrieving it once one of us threw it.

The garden looks so barren and the warm weather has us itchin’ to grow things.

Since we generally don’t start planting in the ground until May it’s even a bit soon to start seeds indoors.

The pond level is extremely low. The 7-inch snowfall brought it up some, but we need a lot more precipitation to bring it up to where it should be.

We did get some of that much needed rain yesterday.

Despite the warmer temperature we didn’t see any bee activity.

That is a bit disheartening, but we are not totally sure that the bees didn’t make it yet.

Little birds like to hang out near the chicken yard where there tends to be food available.

They normally scatter when we approach but I was able to get a couple pictures using my zoom.

The one squirrel nest that we have on our property is nestled in this tree high above the chicken yard. I’m not certain if anyone is home.

Ruby is a master a retrieving the ball but sometimes she doesn’t like to give it up. LOL!

I had to shoo the chickens out of the barn so my husband could put the tractor in.

They seemed very happy when they discovered green grass in front of the barn.

Spotting these green shoots emerging from the ground made me happy.

Daffodils! 🙂 I think this is the earliest I have ever seen them coming up.

Also, in the foreground of this picture are some Iris shoots beginning to sprout up.

I’m fairly certain winter weather will return before spring is here to stay, but if Woody’s prediction is correct, I would be one happy camper gardener.

Thanks for joining me> i hope you enjoyed our walk. Are you seeing signs of spring in your area?

30 thoughts on “A Walk at the Farm”

    1. So glad you stopped by. Right now we are pretty convinced that the bees did not make it but welcome all prayers for the pond filling up. Starting out the gardening/farming season in a drought is not good. I hope you have a great week as well. Blessing to you and yours, My Friend.

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  3. Daffodils already (and this was a week ago … trying to catch up in Reader)!!! When I walk to the Park a neighbor on the next block has Snowdrops every year – his are already up and blooming. I think Woody is smarter than Phil and that we’ll have an early Spring (although a few meteorologists have said not to pack away the snowshovel yet). Today was a not-nice event but before sundown, the snow/ice was gone thanks to the sun. Ruby not giving back the ball made me smile – pets make our lives complete don’t they Ruth?

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  5. That was a great tour of the farm. I really felt as if I was there. And it was wonderful.
    Around here I haven’t seen any sign of spring, yet. Although the weather is predicted to be 57 today, yesterday’s high was 37 and every morning is still in the teens and 20’s.
    Mountains are fun that way.
    I love Dom’s woodpiles. They make me think of sitting together in a warm living room on cold evenings (reading seed catalogs, no doubt).

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    1. I hope Ruby didn’t wear out your throwing arm. LOL! Our 10-day forecast shows temps in the 40’s and 50’s during the day and below freezing at night. That’s prefect weather for those who are making maple syrup.
      We were trying to use the fireplace as much as possible to supplement our heat especially after getting our highest gas bill ever last month.

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      1. I have been keep my arm in shape by throwing a ball for the neighbor’s dog. He brings his ball over to our house when he wants some attention, so I didn’t get too sore. LOL
        Our energy bills have been a bit higher this year as well, but I didn’t get too shocked as our county has the highest rates in the state and I have almost come to expect to be gouged. Besides, most days we have sun (not so much yesterday) and we have large southern windows that help a lot. I only realized how much when we had a few days in a row with no sun at all.
        I am seriously greatful for the wool sweaters that I have had for years. They are getting much use this winter.
        Stay warm and keep looking to spring. 🙂

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      2. Ruby will love you! She usually takes a few minutes to warm up to people but anyone who will throw the ball is a fast friend.
        Your sweaters reminded me of Kara. She wasn’t happy about having to go to Naples FL. in January because she was missing sweater weather in Michigan. I gave her no sympathy when she said it was in the 80’s down there only told her to soak up some sun and get her feet in the sand for me.

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  7. A wonderful walk this was!
    Picking branches off the ground and laying mulch on the path – what great projects! Good to see that the winter had been productive in multiple ways.
    Wow. That IS early for these sprouts.
    There really isn’t a winter here, but I did notice roses coming alive more than a month ago, so there’s that.

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    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I hope ruby didn’t wear out your throwing arm. LOL! I think I would enjoy not having to deal with cold and snow of winter, but I would probably miss the newness of spring each year.

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  10. I’m ready for an early spring. But we have a wintery mix predicted for tomorrow. I have rhubarb peeking out. As well as crocus, daffodils and tulips. I hope nothing gets nipped to badly . We stacked firewood on the porch yesterday while it was so beautiful out. Hopefully this will be the last of the cold and snow

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    1. Those wintery mixes are often part of spring so if it moves through quickly it’s just a hiccup. All of those are pretty hardy plants especially if not in bloom. If rhubarb gets hit it should send up new shoots.

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  12. The snow looks pretty. I haven’t checked my flower beds yet but a friend showed me a photo of his backyard where a primrose and a hellebore were blooming – the earliest ever he said. We have had some nice sunny days with warmth to the sun so it shouldn’t be long. It hasn’t been a bad winter.

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    1. No winter has not been bad this year. That’s why I’m hesitant to think it’s over. I’d love to see my primrose blossom. I moved them last fall so I’m hoping they do well in their new location.

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