Monday Morning

Every morning after feeding the animals and milking the cow, I take a little walk around the farm.  Probably most gardeners and farmers have this habit, to see what's blooming, make sure all the animals and plants are looking healthy, and note what is calling out to be harvested, weeded,  repaired or accomplished.  I usually have camera in hand because I especially like the glowing morning light and vivid colors for photos.

The turkeys are getting quite large and beginning to  develop their snoods and wattles.  The males are just starting to get their fancy tail feathers and often puff up and display.  Even though this batch of turkeys has been handled much less frequently than turkeys in previous years, they are still curious and friendly and come running whenever they see me (the source of all yummy). I love being the pied piper of poultry.

The cows asked to go into the front yard today, so I opened the gates to guide them across the driveway and along the garden (protected by temporary electric fence) to the yard. This takes a while because apparently there is the most irresistible grass growing along this path.

The front yard has large ash trees, good for shade and head-scratching.  Like mother like son: while Lariat scratched her head on the tree, her calf scratched his head on a stick.

Next, check out the gardens.  This is  the chard I planted last September in the high tunnel, harvested all winter, transplanted to the garden last spring, still providing greens for us and the CSA boxes!  I keep beheading them so they don't go to seed.

The Romanesco was attacked by white cabbage butterfly caterpillars. I resorted to sprinkling a bit of bacillus thuringiensis on them and the other cabbage family crops and they are rebounding.

Had to be sure take a photo of an open squash blossom for a farm FB friend who requested an image for a tattoo design.  In the morning, every squash blossom has a honeybee or two working inside it.

Tomatillos are ready to harvest for salsa. I intended to plant some, but got several volunteers which I let grow instead.

So maybe they are a bit tacky, but I just love garden gnomes. I recently found this cute gnome reading about about plants at a thrift store and yesterday I gave him a spot on the little porch of the garden shed.

Chain link fences are not so pretty, but I appreciate how they keep the pests out of the garden and the livestock in the pasture.  And this time of year they do look kind of appealing with grapevines and scarlet runner beans clambering over them.

Cadence planted borage by the granary  several years ago and it self-sows crazily every year.  Th e small blue flowers taste sort of like watermelon and are delightful garnishing iced beverages or salad.

A large magenta spider flower (cleome) in the outside garden...

and a large  Black-and-Yellow Argiope garden spider residing in my tomatoes inside the high tunnel.  I don't mind her in there, but her huge web will make it tricky to harvest some of my tomatoes.

Cocoa relaxing in the roots of  a silver maple.  She is shedding and has oodles of mats from various types of burrs - little does she know that she is destined for a dreaded bath and grooming session later today.

Orange watches lazily as  Poet devours a mouse on the patio. All the cats have already been fed cat food, but this is Poet's  breakfast dessert. She is an amazing mouser, eating at least one per day.

And with that, I better get to work!