Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week (usually on Fridays). Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.
Mr. Midnight knows the secret to staying cool—you just have to sprawl.
Birds seem to be this past week's theme around the farm: baby chicks, big chicks, wild turkeys, and the two graceful white mystery birds we saw in the front field one evening when we hiked out to count the sheep.
I guess maybe they were young egrets? I love to be around birds but am embarrassed to admit I can't identify very many of them. They looked like they belonged near water. We do see great blue herons around this area sometimes, especially near the river. They used swoop down and grab catfish from the pond at my old farm. Such glorious creatures, even if they are thieves.
These two seemed sort of lost, circling around the field and coming back toward us. Or maybe they just wanted to stay near the sheep. The photos below aren't real clear because I took them on 20x zoom. It sort of drives me crazy that so many creatures are afraid of people but not sheep or dogs or cats or even donkeys. Although it would be nice if the deer were still afraid of the dogs. I'm covering more plants in the garden each night than I did when there was a threat of frost because otherwise they'll munch it down.
We often see wild turkeys in the hayfield, and some years in the spring there are two hens who march around out there with their babies trailing behind. For the past few weeks one hen has been staying pretty close to the house, ambling around in the grass by herself for long stretches during the day.
I haven't gone out to look for a nest because I don't want the dogs to follow me and bother her. I'll never forget the time we were walking through the hayfield and Robin came out of the bushes that grow along the edge with an enormous turkey egg clutched between her jaws.
No sign of any baby turkeys with this hen yet, but on Monday afternoon when I went to pick up the mail and our weekly two gallons of raw Jersey milk, I stopped to let a hen and three little babies cross the highway in front of me. When I drove back maybe 45 minutes later I saw them again, crossing back over in about the same spot.
26 more farm photos below. . .
Most weeks I think I haven't taken very many photos, and then I start sorting through them and am surprised by how many there are. I love the defined time period of this Friday Farm Fix series. I always catch myself thinking, Wow, that all happened just in the past week?
Thanks so much for your kind and encouraging words in last week's post regarding the timing of the Friday/Saturday/sometimes even Sunday Farm Fix. Some of them cracked me up.
Thanks, too, for all of the wonderful comments you left on my Loving Seven Years of Farmgirl Fare post. After Joe read through them he said, "Now whenever you're feeling down about blogging, you just need to go back and read through these." You guys are the best.
It's still hot and way too dry. The weather experts are calling it a 'flash drought,' but it's been too hot and dry here for months. We were thrilled when a storm came through on Monday and gave us 3/4" of rain, which was enough to settle the dust for a couple of days, but not nearly enough to help. More, more, more.
Want a bigger farm fix?
© FarmgirlFare.com, the seeing double foodie farm blog where, as you can see in the photos above, almost two-year-old Gnat is really starting to look like Dan—which isn't all that surprising since Dan is his Grandpa Daddy. (With livestock they call it line breeding; we call it a very cute accident). So we figure that means instead of being Dan Jr., he would be Dan Dan, though we just call him Gnat. Or Dan by mistake.
I think they look like Egrets too.
ReplyDeleteI love the dogs. That Beagle is something else. Really like the pic where both had their heads buried in the dirt (a hole?)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Yes they are Egrets(seen them in Fla all the time)The cat looks cute all stretched out,my hubby don't like cats and well neither does my dog. I think it was because a cat whipped his(dog) behind out here in the yard one day.We are getting thunderstorms here and my plants are surviving pretty good.Wished I could send your way.Keep sending pictures please.I like the pictures of the donkeys.We have some one up the road who has donkeys and llamas and the most gorgeous loghorn steer I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThere are many many egrets here on the central coast and these two are not them. Their necks are too short! Good luck identifying them; I am sure one of your many loyal readers will know what they are!
ReplyDeleteWe were out on a back country drive today and also saw some turkey hens with babies - about 15 little turklets! So cute. (I learned baby turkeys are called poults!)
xo, T
I love the Farm Fix! This week Mr. Midnight steals the show! Thank you for all the beauty you share. -Marci
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great pictures, they make me smile. They are diverse and give a glimpse into another life. Something I believe is just good. :) I love the pets and the animals and plants... all of it. Baby chicks are so cute, I just want to hold one and her it's little chirps. Take care!
ReplyDeleteMe too. I'm from Louisiana originally and they are birds I've seen in the marsh. Did you guys get any of that rain we did in StL last night? I was thinking about you when it started thundering and lightning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pics and words; I honestly don't see how you have time. :)
aliceinthemiddle
They might be young cattle egrets -- we have them here. They like to live in the pastures with large grazing animals since they catch more food that way (they tend to eat bugs, flies, etc and not fish). We had some very welcome rain last night in Hermann!
ReplyDeleteThey are Cattle Egrets
ReplyDeleteCould the white birds be cattle egrets? In central Texas, they are migrating through now. They like to hang out in the fields with cows. We don't have sheep around here, but I guess they may like them also.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see your dogs with their heads stuck in the ground it just cracks me up! It is hard to realize everything that we do and that happens in just a week's time! :)
ReplyDeleteCattle Egrets. They're great mousers.
ReplyDelete