A November week on the farm in photos!

Fall is my favorite time of the year and so many beautiful moments at the farm this week!

Here is our big Tom turkey showing his stuff!

Momma hen on an outing with her quickly growing chick.  Notice how attentive the chick is to mom's instructions!

A big morning crow from the Big Red Rooster!

Muddy piglets!  We had quite a bit of rain this week!  The piglets don't mind and their house is warm, dry and filled with straw.

Narragansett turkey hens out for a stroll.

Our house cat, Seneca, posing.

One of our geese.  His head is titled a little as he turns one eye towards the sky to watch a hawk.

Showing the two chicks I'm in charge of the great outdoors.  Scary view of me.  lol.

A Week of Fall Farm Pictures!

Fall is so beautiful on the farm.  I feel like I can't take enough pictures!  Enjoy and have a great week!

Warm breakfast snacks with extra protein for the molting chickens.

Sundays are for Gratitude: What do you love love love about Autumn?

Good Morning! It is brisk out there this morning...had to find my hat! Continuing the Sundays are for gratitude trend, what do you love love love about this time of year?

What do you love about Autumn?

I love this time of year when the days are still a bit on the warm side but the nights are cool and crisp.  I love to see the dark sky filled with stars at night.
Welcome Autumn.  Some reasons why I love you:

Warm sweaters
Warm comforters
Fall colors
Falling leaves
Cool days
Cold nights
Squash
Apples
Pumpkin Pie
Winter coats on the horses, and on Gandolf (our Great Pyrenees)
Apple spice scent
Hot drinks
Mittens
Football
The World Series (Go Kansas City Royals!)
Fires in the fireplace
Crockpots
The Sunday smell of a roast throughout the house
The Roosters crowing later in the morning!

What do you love about Autumn?
Have a Happy Sunday everyone!  Enjoy this beautiful day!

An Autumn Week in Pictures!

We had a really, soggy, wet beginning to the week but it closed in a beautiful way with sunshine and colored leaves.  Some of this weeks highlights:


So much rain!

Gandolf didn't even want to go outside!

Mud is everywhere!

Soon as the rain stopped, the chickens went to scratching!

Piglets covered in mud!  And yes- this is my little Ginkgo on the left.  See the ginkgo leave on her nose?

I was surprised, but baby limes have started to pop up on my lime tree!

Beautiful Autumn Morning!

A Buttercup break!

Momma hens warm my heart.

A beautiful start to a Saturday morning!

September's ducklings are outside in their own area with their own little pool!

One of the many inhabitants of our farm- Ground Hog!

We have many nut trees on our farm including Chinese Chestnuts, Oaks and Walnuts.  Just outside of our house, the Chinese Chestnut is dropping it's nuts right now.  They have spiny shells and hurt the dogs feet if they step on them.  But this little guy loves them!  Every day I see him out there chomping away enjoying himself.

Sing a song while you lay an Egg!

I don't think it looks very comfortable to lay an egg.  What do you think?  This lady looks like she is in a miserable position.  Hens often sing a little hen clucking song while the lay.  Maybe the tune takes their mind off of the task at hand.

I LOVE AUTUMN!!

37 degrees this morning. I love autumn! Cold nights, starry skies, quiet cold mornings and perfect sunny weather with trees changing colors during the day. Hot Tubs! Warm comforters! Hot drinks! Fires! Pumpkins! Turkeys! Football! Sloppy Joes!  Roasted beets!  Hats and mittens! Hikes, horseback rides! Have a happy, cool sunny Sunday!

PS:  It took a long time and many shots to get this guy (Narragansett Tom Turkey named Cherokee) to pose next to the pumpkins!

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!

I enjoyed seeing a momma hen raise her chick so much that the next hen who wanted to sit on eggs, I've let sit.  She isn't letting me get close to her.

There are really three hens sharing sitting duties on this nest and I hadn't been able to get a look at how many eggs there might be.  And momma hens are viscous.  Finally, all three cleared out for a moment and I got a look.

YIKES!  This could result in many chicks!  But you know what!?  It's true- you should never count your chickens before they hatch.  Not all of these eggs will hatch for a variety of reasons.  Some eggs just don't mature into chicks and sometimes the egg was never fertilized.  It takes 21 days from the time a momma hen starts sitting on her eggs until they hatch.  We'll see soon who shows up!

Thursday morning on the farm...resting Gandolf, fighting turkeys, nosy geese

I love mornings on the farm.  It's usually quiet with just the birds chirping- nature and farm animals just waking up.

It's hard to sneak up on Gandolf, but he was enjoying a relaxing morning in his house after protecting everyone last night.  This guy is so handsome- I just love him.  Wish you could see the size of his paws in this picture!

First thing in the morning, I open the chicken houses and the goose house.  They geese come charging out, turn the corner, flap their wings while the run for about twenty yards.  Toulouse geese are really too heavy to fly although they sometimes make it off the ground about four feet in the air before they come down.  I'll try to get a video of this sometime for you!  In the meantime, here are a couple of my geese checking me out.

This morning there was a turkey fight!  No idea why but in the end, nobody was hurt.
You can see this on YouTube at Turkey Fight!  I love how Cherokee, my Narragansett Tom (that's what you call a male turkey) watches over the fight like a referee!

And lastly, we have a little groundhog living near our house.  He's a happy guy these days because the Chinese Chestnut Tree has dropped it's chestnuts and he's always standing up in this area munching away.  I'll try and get a better picture but it's difficult to sneak up on him and get close enough.

Happy Thursday everyone!

A Squishy Egg?

http://youtu.be/GUHh4AGscC0
A Squishy Egg?

Yesterday I found a strange egg and had to make an emergency video because I wanted to show it to you!  I get no prizes for beauty nor composition in this video (yikes on both accounts) but wanted to show you this weird egg!  You'll never see this in the egg carton you get from the store!
http://youtu.be/GUHh4AGscC0

Gandolf having a look around!

Gandolf having a look around!

Hey You!

Hey You!  Yes, you!  It's a beautiful day out there!  Rise and Shine!

Happy Sunday!

Last week on the farm!

There is always so much happening on the farm.  Here are a few shots from last week!

Cherokee, 1 year, 4 months old Narragansett Tom Turkey

My little chipmunk, Seneca.

A pile of piglets.  They're Mulefoot Hogs about 7 weeks old.

A pile of ducklings!  Warming up after their swim.

Spiderweb!

Fall color hydrangeas!

The duckling with a mohawk.  I thought this would go away but it seems to be the first spot he has feathers growing in so maybe it will always be there!

Cute little duckling!

Julie and Buttercup!

Gandolf (aka: The Big G, Gandyman), our Great Pyrenees, checking what's on the other side of the fence.

Special thanks to Allison Jenkins whose talented eye caught some great photos!