The Tree Swallows were gone this morning. I did see 4 or 5 circling really high in the sky, but they looked like they were just trying to catch a good breeze which would carry them south. It's always sad when the swallows leave for the year. We probably had a hundred or more living in the swallow boxes that Darren built and put up all over the farm. The sky was alway full of them displaying their acrobatics catching mosquitoes and flies. It was not uncommon to be sitting on the porch and have one zoom past your head. They started swarming around several days ago preparing for their long trip south. Marble the cat caught one on Monday as they were practicing their swarming. Isabella ran out to save it from being eaten but it was already dead. They have brilliant blue-green feathers on their back. She carried it around for a while, pulled out a couple feathers and inspected the contents of its mouth (it was empty). Then I convinced her to give it a proper burial. So she buried it in my new raised bed next to an asparagus plant. And now the sky is quiet and still.
We also had a good thunder storm on Monday, July 5th. Rainbows kept popping up - sometimes you could see the whole thing, and sometimes just parts of it would show up really bright. This picture was taken about 11 pm. The sun was shining through the clouds from the north, illuminating the field below the house during the downpour. Shortly after this, a complete double rainbow appeared over the farm.
This is our new puppy, Cotton. He is an 8 month old Great Pyrenees. They don't reach maturity for two years so he is just a baby still. A 90 pound baby.
He is a happy, calm dog, and very cuddly and gentle with the kids. He will work with the Serena to patrol the farm and keep out invaders. Mostly moose, loose dogs, wolves or bears if they show up. We will keep him on a leash when he is not in the house with us or tied outside for the night for a few weeks until he gets used to things and learns some basic commands. Eventually, he will be able to roam about like Serena. She's a good guard dog and she seems to enjoy it. Being a puppy, Cotton is not as well mannered as Serena was when we got her. He doesn't sit, go, or lay down when told so we'll have to teach him some manners, I think his previous owners spoke to him in Japanese (they were a Hawaiian/Japanese family). He does come when I call him so he seems to be responding to his new name. His old name was Juneau.
Isabella loves her new dog.
Here is the big bull reindeer. Both bulls have shed their winter coats and are very sleek now. The cows are still shedding. Virginia is still sickly. She was doing really well for the past two weeks, but then she got weak and lethargic again. Darren bottle fed her and gave her some probiotics to see if that would help. She was better the next day. Darren is considering just confining and bottle feeding her, he didn't want to do that before because he thought it would be too stressful to take her away from the rest of the herd.
This is Rosie, she is big and healthy. She like having her horns rubbed and she will eat leaves from your hand. She is still shedding her winter coat, too.
The greenhouse is doing well. Darren will put stakes next to each tomato plant so we can tie them up. We have been attaching them to twine hanging from the ceiling, but Darren is tired of doing that so we will just tie them to stakes as they grow. The melons and cucumbers will still be clipped to the hanging twine though. In the picture above, from right to left we have bell peppers (in the grassy looking row), honeydew and cantaloupe, 2 rows of carrots, beets, and green beans.
On this side, we have provider bush green beans, seneca horizon corn, baby bubba okra, bloody butcher tomatoes, cherokee purple tomatoes, sweet million cherry tomatoes, and sweet slice cucumbers.
Isabella saved another butterfly and several flower flies from the greenhouse plastic. She also mashed a grasshopper with a rock so she could carry it around. That is often what happens to bugs that don't want to be held and inspected.
We also had a good thunder storm on Monday, July 5th. Rainbows kept popping up - sometimes you could see the whole thing, and sometimes just parts of it would show up really bright. This picture was taken about 11 pm. The sun was shining through the clouds from the north, illuminating the field below the house during the downpour. Shortly after this, a complete double rainbow appeared over the farm.
This is our new puppy, Cotton. He is an 8 month old Great Pyrenees. They don't reach maturity for two years so he is just a baby still. A 90 pound baby.
He is a happy, calm dog, and very cuddly and gentle with the kids. He will work with the Serena to patrol the farm and keep out invaders. Mostly moose, loose dogs, wolves or bears if they show up. We will keep him on a leash when he is not in the house with us or tied outside for the night for a few weeks until he gets used to things and learns some basic commands. Eventually, he will be able to roam about like Serena. She's a good guard dog and she seems to enjoy it. Being a puppy, Cotton is not as well mannered as Serena was when we got her. He doesn't sit, go, or lay down when told so we'll have to teach him some manners, I think his previous owners spoke to him in Japanese (they were a Hawaiian/Japanese family). He does come when I call him so he seems to be responding to his new name. His old name was Juneau.
Isabella loves her new dog.
Here is the big bull reindeer. Both bulls have shed their winter coats and are very sleek now. The cows are still shedding. Virginia is still sickly. She was doing really well for the past two weeks, but then she got weak and lethargic again. Darren bottle fed her and gave her some probiotics to see if that would help. She was better the next day. Darren is considering just confining and bottle feeding her, he didn't want to do that before because he thought it would be too stressful to take her away from the rest of the herd.
This is Rosie, she is big and healthy. She like having her horns rubbed and she will eat leaves from your hand. She is still shedding her winter coat, too.
The greenhouse is doing well. Darren will put stakes next to each tomato plant so we can tie them up. We have been attaching them to twine hanging from the ceiling, but Darren is tired of doing that so we will just tie them to stakes as they grow. The melons and cucumbers will still be clipped to the hanging twine though. In the picture above, from right to left we have bell peppers (in the grassy looking row), honeydew and cantaloupe, 2 rows of carrots, beets, and green beans.
On this side, we have provider bush green beans, seneca horizon corn, baby bubba okra, bloody butcher tomatoes, cherokee purple tomatoes, sweet million cherry tomatoes, and sweet slice cucumbers.
Isabella saved another butterfly and several flower flies from the greenhouse plastic. She also mashed a grasshopper with a rock so she could carry it around. That is often what happens to bugs that don't want to be held and inspected.
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