After a busy and successful summer, fall has slid into winter almost without warning. Snow and below freezing temps the past few nights have given us due warning that summer days are gone! We had a lovely long summer though, so we can't complain. With all the unusually plentiful moisture all season the grass was green right up to the end here, and that was great! Better pasture and better growing for the second crops. Now, all that is ended, and all that hay that we were blessed with is coming into its time!

I still miss all the little goats that went to their homes in late July, but breeding season is upon us again! The little girls will be coming back for breeding around December, they went to a (nearly!) local fellow, and couldn't have a better home! The new herd sires we sold went a little farther away, but we made some great new friends of goat keepers we hadn't met before. That's one of the great things about goat-keeping, the people you meet while involved with them are so nice!

Anyway, we are pleased to be using our new buck, 'Sterling', from the Bethel herd in Iowa, and anxious to see his babies in the spring! He is a beautiful fellow, and keeping that great workable disposition that we require in our girls, so his offspring will be a lot of fun to see on the ground! Sort of no-holes...
One of their does, Bethel Mur Rhapsody Rhonda, has been the top producer in the Alpines for two years, and last year she outdid the top producers from all other breeds, though they don't have an award for that! So we are pleased to be maintaining our high production with this guy, and are looking forward to freshening out his daughters, and taking a look at their udders. Sterling's first kid crop is sure to be exciting!

I just hope that we didn't keep back too many '09 doelings, because I have a feeling we'll be wanting to keep a lot of 2010 kids!

July and Hollyhocks

July is upon us already, and it's almost as quickly slipping into the past. True Summer's noontime heat, and beautiful evenings, and drop-dead-gorgeous nights, are so easy to get lost in, to where you don't even notice that the calendar days are surging on like the click-clack of a railroad car.
(As I imagine a railroad car would, at least. I wouldn't actually know. [I like 'railroad car', it sounds so classic and elegant and sophisticated, even if it were only a third class ticket. {Even 'third class ticket' sounds so thrilling!} It's mostly the era, I imagine, and all the movies made it seem so stylish.] But I think I would like to ride on a train, someday.)
And so summer steals by us, and on toward August...

But first, there's Hollyhock season! It wouldn't be right to leave them without an accolade for all the beautiful blooms they put on. So in honor of hollyhock season, take a look at these...


They make a terrific show by the front gate, and Bard the boxer likes to lay in the cool damp earth in their shade. When he isn't waiting for somebody...

What a vibrant and lovely soft pink! The colors all coordinate beautifully. Who says red and pink don't go together?

How Does Your Garden Grow...

Of course it's always gardening time, and there is always so much to be done! From the big vegetable garden, to the flower beds, to the smaller raised beds around the house, there is always something that could use the attention.


















And a long balmy evening is always the perfect time to do it.

Haying!

In the latter part of June haying began, and with the intermittent rains and slow-drying muggy days, it covered a good two weeks of mowing, raking, (often re-raking after a rain,) and baling. Once these were accomplished, by bits and pieces as the fields dictated, the bales needed to be hauled off.
Mom got this shot of the summertime sky on one of her trips to and from the field. Rather iconic...


















And here you can see the 'work-place'. You can almost feel the coolness that that cloud shadow brings... and the sky is picture perfect summer time!
It gets pretty hot in the middle of the day... but you can't beat the view...


Haying is one of the major milestones of a country summer, a huge expenditure of effort that, mercifully, is over as soon as you've finished. Unlike, I suppose, most things on the farm, which are more slow and gradual progressions where 'finished' is a lot harder to define.

Evening Rainbow

All spring we have been getting a lovely profusion of scattered small storms and rain showers, and after one of them we noticed this. Isn't it gorgeous?


Of course, when hay needs to be mowed the moisture is harder to appreciate... but ignoring beauty in the sky won't change the weather. Make the best of it, and glean a lovely memory... at the very least.

Turkey Chicks

The turkey chicks grow so fast! Here is a photo I got of one hiding in the greenery, probably looking for a bit of peace and quiet to catch a few winks...

The pursuit of...

Seeing as it is that time of year again, I wanted to share this... one definition of happiness for any shepherdess, shepherd, or animal lover. When the grass is green, the herd is healthy, the year is young and the world is crowned by a big blue sky... that's what happiness is.