Category Archives: Deer

Farm News and Views

Bees, Birds, Blueberries, Deer, Flowers, garden, Nature, Pollinators, Prayer Garrden, Rain,, Reflections, Summer, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Wildlife

Healthy Harvest

Our blueberry harvest is well underway and an abundant harvest it is. My husband and I picked about 5 quarts last Thursday, then on Sunday my sister brought her grandkids out and they picked another 5 or so quarts. The berries are still ripening so I hope to have my grandkids over this weekend to pick some as well. Blueberries are Addies favorite.

We have also been picking and enjoying Swiss chard and green beans.

Too Much of a Good Thing

In the last several weeks we have had more than enough rain. The ground is saturated, and our brassica vegetables are suffering because of it. You might remember as we wrapped up June our gardens were looking great, especially the cabbage.

Cauliflower after too much rain.

They are no longer looking good.

Cabbage after too much rain.

Some of the other plants are showing signs of stress as well like yellowing leaves (squash), slow growth (beets) and split fruit (tomatoes).

On the Wrong Side of the Fence

This fawn was on the inside of our fence.

and was not sure how to get out.

While its mother was on the outside of our fence apparently wanting to get her baby out. I’m not certain how the young one got inside our fence. I don’t think it was born on our property because it looked to be at least several weeks old and I think we would have encountered it before now. I don’t think it jumped over the fence because it didn’t seem to know how to jump back over. In the evenings, when the dogs are not at the farm, we sometimes leave the gate open, so a likely case scenario would be that momma brought the baby in when the gate was open and we unknowingly locked the baby in.

That evening we again left the gate open hoping the little one would find its way out and back to momma. We haven’t seen it around since that day so we are assuming it found its way out.

Pollinator Paradise

The prayer garden is abuzz with bees. Honeybees and bumble bees among other pollinators are heavily foraging the lavender, thyme, oregano and tickseed.

But our back field also has lots to offer pollinators. Perhaps we should call it a”Field of Pollinator Dreams”.

The field is blanketed with white clover as is most of our farm. It is a favorite of the honeybees.

Clover is a very common flavor/ingredient in honey.

Over the years this birdsfoot trefoil has spread throughout the field. We have witnessed a lot of honeybees collecting nectar/pollen from its blossoms.

Canadian thistle also attracts bees and other pollinators for its nectar. As it goes to seed I expect we will see goldfinches in the field as thistle seed is a favorite food of theirs.

Milkweed is another plant that is prevalent in our back field this year.

Milkweed is sometimes known as the monarch butterfly plant because these butterflies lay their eggs only on milkweed plants and their hatchling caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed.

If you grow it, they will come.

We often see the monarchs fluttering above and around the patch of milkweed. There are many.

Monarchs are not the only ones with an appreciation for the milkweed as I also witnessed a honeybee on a milkweed flower and caught a quick glimpse of a hummingbird darting around the patch.

The most northern part of the field is filled with sweet clover this year. This biennial is another blossom that is loved by honeybees.

This monarch is not on a milkweed plant but perched on another plant near the milkweed patch.

I think of this field as ‘nature at its best’. It has had very little human intervention. It just grows wild. We keep some paths mowed around and through it during the summer for walking and riding the 4-wheeler and each fall after the vegetation dies we mow the field. This mowing helps to spread the seeds of plants like the trefoil, clover, thistle and milkweed so over the course of a few years what started out as just a couple of plants has become large patches of that plant.

Fun Pictures

Cattails swaying in the breeze.

Balloon flowers in bloom.

Daylilies and a hidden damselfly.

A closeup of the damselfly.

Believe it or not this is a bluebird house. Over the years we have seen different birds make their homes in the life preservers near our pond. A few days ago my husband mentioned seeing a bluebird fly out of this life preserver. Since then I too have witnessed the bluebird flying out of there. It doesn’t seem to have eggs inside so perhaps just using it for shelter or a playhouse. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great July!

Wrapping Up June

Birds, Blueberries, Blueberry jam, Cherries, Deer, garden, Reflections, Strawberries

I let Ruby outside a Thursday afternoon and as I stood looking out the window waiting for her to return a small but colorful hummingbird made a quick stop just a few feet away from where I was standing. It’s pause in flight was just enough to say “Hello” before it hurried on its way. My thoughts immediately turned to my mom. It’s been 12 years (Friday, June 30th) since Mom passed away and there are still times when something will happen, and my first thought is “I should call Mom”.

For many years of my adult life mom and I would talk almost every day. She wanted to hear every little thing that was going on in my life and the lives of her grandkids. She would have loved hearing about that little encounter with a hummingbird.

Then on Friday evening when we turned to calendar to July it was as if Mom was speaking to me. More hummingbirds.

What I really meant to share in this post was some of the things that have been going on over the last couple weeks.

Berries

We have been picking both strawberries and cherries. Our strawberry crop is small this year and we have been eating some fresh so I only have about a quart in the freezer. Well I should say had because Monday I decided that if I am going to make strawberry jam I would have to buy berries. When I called the strawberry farm where I have bought my berries in the past I found out that it was their last day picking and I was able to snag the last two trays they had. I kept one tray (8 quarts) and got them in the freezer that day. My sister picked up the other tray so she can make jam as well.

Our cherry crop, on the other hand, was fabulous. I think I have 10 quarts in the freezer now and have made 4 pints of cherry juice. My husband finished picking all that we wanted then my sister came and picked about 4 more quarts. We left the ones we couldn’t reach for the robin family that is nesting in the maple tree nearby.

Organizing Freezers

I needed to organize my freezers because the 1/4 cow that we had ordered from our local farmer would be coming soon. I still had a large piece of suet in the freezer from last year so I cut it up and put it in the crock pot to melt. When it was mostly melted I strained it through a fine mesh strainer lined with two layers of paper towel. As it cooled it hardened back up and I now have several pounds of tallow to use in soap making. (This tallow could also be used as cooking oil or in candle making.)

I also had blueberries in the freezer from last year’s crop, so I made a double batch (6 pints) of blueberry jam and some very tasty blueberry popsicles.

Sewing Projects

My sister K.C. and her husband were in Michigan for a couple of weeks so on one of our days together K.C. and I made a trip to the fabric store. The main project I was shopping for was fabric for my dining room curtains. I knew I wanted, in some way, to match the kitchen curtains that I made last year but I didn’t want them to be exactly the same.

The picture above is the new dining room curtains I made. You may remember the kitchen curtains I made last year are full panels of the blue with the lemon pattern that I used as trim for this set. I am very happy with the way these turned out. They are very cheery and, in the afternoon, when the sun shines through the yellow, the room glows.

While at the fabric store I also found same really good deals on clearance fabrics. One fabric was a Christmas themed fleece for $2.98 a yard. It wasn’t anything I thought I would use for making garments, but I realized it would be perfect for making dog blankets to donate to our local humane society. For less than $15 I bought the last five yards and have cut it up into 7 pieces to make dog sized blankets. I have finished the edges on two of the blankets and when I finish the others will make a trip to the humane society to deliver them along with some scarves and chicken potholders that I am making for their “Pawzzar” fundraiser they will hold in December. Animal adoption is not the only way to support our local shelters.

Gardens

As summer arrived our weather pattern changed. The dry weather that we had from late May and early June has been replaced by pretty regular rain showers and storms.

We were able to stop watering the gardens and the plants have really taken off.

We will be picking green beans before long.

The blossoms on the tomato plants are turning into small tomatoes and my husband spotted our first cucumber yesterday.

I don’t know if we have ever grown healthier looking cabbage.

Chickens

When we arrive at the farm nowadays the welcoming committee looks something like this. The chicks have really grown up. The rooster on the far right in this picture, who we are now calling Rex, began crowing a couple of weeks ago. Out of the three roosters he seems to be the dominant one. A second rooster just began trying to crow this week.

Deer

The deer population on the farm has been greatly reduced since my husband put up the fence this spring. There are still a couple of does that regularly stop for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). We did have to put fencing around the strawberries after we discovered the tops nibbled down and my husband replanted and fenced the mammoth sunflower patch after the deer ate the tops off, but they haven’t done nearly as much damage as they have in previous years.

Among things that they have (so far) left alone are the Asiatic lilies that have been in my prayer garden for at least 6 years. Each year they come up but before they ever get a chance to blossom the deer eat the tops off. This is the first year I have ever seen them blossom. That fence has been a blessing in so many ways.

I’m going to wrap up this post that I started writing a week ago, even though I could keep adding things (like we started picking blueberries) because if I keep adding to it July will be over before I hit the publish button. 🙂

Thanks for visiting.

Flowers, Pollinators, Fungus and Breakfast With the Chickens

Bees, Chickens, Deer, Dragon Flies, Flowers, Nature, Reflections, Summer, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Wild Mushrooms

Flowers and Pollinators

The hibiscus bushes are blossoming.

There are three bushes in a row. The two on the ends have the deep red blossoms. The one is the middle has light pink/white blossoms.

This year we have an interesting phenomenon. One of the end bushes has both the red blossoms and the pink blossoms. This has never happened before.

The only explanation I can come up with is that these bushes drop seeds every year and small plants sprout each summer. I end up pulling them so I don’t know how long it would take for one to mature. Perhaps a seed from the pink bush grew up amongst the red bush and has become mature enough to produce flowers. So this is actually two bushes that have commingled.

Many of the plants are suffering from too much rain. The oregano leaves are turning yellow and orange. I have been tempted to cut them way down.

But the bees are enjoying the flowers

as are the butterflies, so I will leave them until they are done blossoming.

Dragonflies are not really pollinators but I do love having them around, especially since they eat things like gnats and MOSQUITOS. (Bring on the dragonflies!!!) This one was resting on an Agastache Kudos Mandarin plant, AKA Hummingbird Mint, that we planted this year.

The honey bees were foraging in the anise hyssop.

This patch of wild flowers attracts a lot of pollinators.

Look closely – how many bees do you see on the Mountain Mint in this photo? I see at least 3.

How about this one? (two?)

Honey bees aren’t the only pollinators enjoying these plants. The blue mud dauber wasps like them as well. This is the first year I have seen this type of wasp.

Honey bees like the cone flowers,

and I even spotted some foraging the purple loosestrife. That is something that we haven’t seen in the past.

It took a while but this beauty finally posed for a picture on a marshmallow plant.

Telling it to “hold still” did absolutely no good so I just had to be patient. I think this butterfly is called a Red Spotted Purple.

Fungus

When I did my mushroom post I had forgot about these puff ball mushrooms that grow every year on the hill where we someday hope to build a root cellar. They are well hidden beneath other weeds that grow up around them so we usually don’t even know they are there until late fall or winter when all the foliage dies. By that time they are just large dust balls.

When I first noticed these, a week or so ago, they were bright white. I didn’t have my camera with me at that time and as you can see they have since turned various shades of brown.

Each of these fungi is between 12 and 20 inches across.

Breakfast With the Chickens

Sunday morning I went to open up the chicken coop. When I do this my routine is to first fill their water dish. I then spread some chicken scratch on the ground in piles around the chicken yard, then I fill their feed dish before I open the coop to let them out. I do this because I know that the first thing they want to do when they come out is eat (except the rooster but we won’t talk about what he wants). If I were to let them out first I would likely have the whole flock following me to the feed can, then I would be tripping over them as I tried to the scatter scratch.

As I was filling their feed dish I noticed a deer approaching the chicken yard. She noticed me as well and we stopped for a minute and stared at each other. I then finished what I was doing while she moseyed over to the pile of chicken scratch that was about twenty feet from the coop and began eating. I opened up the coop and the chickens scattered around the area some of them joining her.

I decided to get my camera to see if I could get a picture of this breakfast club. It was still pretty dark in the chicken yard as it is in a grove of large hickory trees so i wasn’t sure how the picture would turn out.

It wasn’t until I got home and viewed the photo on my computer that I realized

that I had experienced an alien encounter. (Where’s Will Smith when you need him???)

Even when she got out in the light her eyes glowed.

Meanwhile the chickens went on their way,

cluelessly searching for worms or grasshoppers and enjoying their worry-free life.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great week!

A Beautiful Morning

Deer, Reflections, The Farm

I Plan on doing a farm update soon but since I have a busy day ahead I’ll just share some photo’s from this morning at the farm.

A Busy Momma

In the field to the east of us I spotted this momma deer with her young – TRIPLETS! It’s quite common for us to see momma’s with twins and we have seen triplets in the past but they are far less common.

The sky was just gorgeous as the sun came up this morning.

I wish you all a beautiful day!

Hidden Pictures

Deer, Reflections, The Farm,

Who’s hiding in this picture?

Can you see it?

(Keep scrolling)

How about here?

(keep scrolling)

There it is. Isn’t it cute?

This baby deer spent 3 days hanging out in the area around our barn. When my husband first encountered it he or she was lying on a stack of lumber that my husband had left on the porch of the barn. We were inclined to think that it was abandoned, or more likely orphaned, because of it’s close proximity to the barn where we spend so much time. Also because it was there for so long. After those three days it was gone, so it now seems as though momma came for it, and more than likely it is now tagging along behind her.