Picking Flowers

As one of her fair entries Grace is gathering a display of flowers to dry. It was the perfect opportunity to spend some special time together, just the two of us.

One of our first finds was a patch of Black Eyed Susans, one of my favorite wild flowers.

The flowers seeds we planted earlier this spring had started to bloom so we picked a couple of those, too.

As I looked at these pictures it took me a little while to realize why they captivated me so. It finally dawned on me that it was the sunshine. After 3 weeks of nearly constant rain and gloomy weather it was so refreshing to see the sun again.

Of course keeping all of the critters from eating the flowers proved to be a challenge.

A beautiful bouquet.

A beautiful nature walk with my little girl.

More than a Fair project was created today.

At the Pond

Summertime

Aaaahhh! Summertime! Sunshine and flowers and everythings comin' up daisies (or tigerlillies). Burning hot dogs and brats on the grille.Picnics and a backyard family game of soccer when your team wins, even though you barely kicked the ball. Aaaahhh! Summertime! So glad it finally decided to show up again.

Fair Time

It's that time of year again~ Fair Time. Everybody around here is busy, busy finishing lots of fun projects to enter into the Fair next week. There is drawing, and writing, and paper mache and sewing going on in full force. Not that I needed another project or anything, but being I really do need another quilt for our bed, I started another quilt with the hopes of finishing it in time for next week. All those pesky little triangles are sewed so the rest should go quickly~ right? Nothing like a deadline to keep you up until that quiet still hour of midnight when it's only you and the friendly little mouse under your computer desk to keep you company. Add a mouse trap to the list please honey!

Galloping Goats

In theory it makes sense to stake out the goats so that they can eat all of the grass and weeds in the areas that are not fenced off. And, being their home is currently under construction and they do not have any access to pasture since I cut them off from going out with the steers and horses after they escaped for the umpteenth time, it is the next logical thing to do rather than pay for hay all summer again. But any of you goat ladies out there know what the reality of it really is. It means chasing these little normally tame and cuddly critters over 40 some acres several times a day. Rather than calmly staying tied up and eating their full they plot and scheme until they have masterminded a way for every single one of them, or at least all but one of them so the appointed one can stand there and cry until somebody finally comes out to see what in the world could be wrong now and why is there only one cotton-pickin' goat tied up, to get loose and run around and eat where they are not supposed to eat. Like the grapes. Or the oat field. If the name wasn't already taken I would change our farm name to Galloping Goats Farm , or better yet, Galloping Mom farm, or Get that Goat Farm. Dreaming of all those spots to come makes it worth every single time I have to chase them. And the way we're going again this reconstruction year those spotted babies are going to come sooner rather than later. Oh for the love of goats.

Pastures

Our master plan for the farm includes, eventually, to be able to manage our pastures by having a rotational grazing program for all of the critters. Basically that means rather than having one large pasture we are working on making adjoining smaller pastures. The ultimate end goal is to have separate rotational pastures for each group of animals~ the horses, steers, and the goats. The theory is that the animals can be eating one pasture while the other one grows, allowing the grass time to grow in between and reducing the stress on the pasture. Slowly but surely we are getting there with 4 pastures set up so far, and when time and finances allow, at least 3 more planned, plus a couple of dry lots for those horses that are on the heavier side and don't need full time pasture. Grace and I took a walk out back to look at the pasture that has not been used all summer and decided it was a good time to open up the gate. Solomon was curious and happy to see all that delicious clover and grass growing.
Next we called these big boys. "Come Boss!" always gets a running stampede.
There is not a much sweeter picture to a farmer than seeing cattle up to their bellies in green grass on the right side of the fence.
Now, being that our gates are so efficiently connected, it took a bit of jimmy-rigging to make them stand open the way I wanted them to. With Grace's help we got everything situated and went off for a chase.
To catch this little girl. If she wasn't so pretty I don't know how long she would last around here. Little stinker!
Rootbeer on the other hand is a whole different story.
We did catch her in half the time and with very minimal running today. Once she is caught she is pretty quiet and mellow and follows you anywhere.
Nika and Rootbeer could use some fattening up. A lush green pasture is just what they needed. They do look much better than they did when they first came to the farm a month ago but their ribs are still sticking out.

Solomon, who had been pampered and grained all winter, has a very nice build. What a difference starting 6 months earlier makes with these young horses.

We left the old (fat) horses on the short grass side of the fence. It really is for your own good Woodstockers.

Paints..... and an Appaloosa.... in my pasture..... finally!


Of course Grace had to love up her friendly steer and fight him off of her flowers.

Happy grazing you mighty beasts!

Goin' on a Frog Hunt

Micah and I had fun tracking down the legendary big green frog in the pond the other day.

Lady had fun, too. Although I am not sure how much help she actually was.

Unfortunately, he evaded our bucket and has lived to be caught another day.

But we did catch one of these....