Saturday, June 26, 2010

Bad Bunny

This cottontail has been helping himself to our neighbors gardens. He helps himself to the fresh moist greens.

Purple Cabbage



These are the unique purple cabbages my neighbor has growing in her garden this summer.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Maple's First Grain



Maple pushed her mama away from the bucket to eat some grain. She enjoyed the sweet grain and brushing. And later she followed mama for a stroll around the pasture.

Poppy and tack



Poppy was enjoying the romance of horse tack on the fence. He is trying to put on a brave face and hang out with the horses. But they are much bigger than he is and he is taking it slow. He loves what they eat and the hay, just not the giant size. I am sure as winter comes he will enjoy their woolly backs and blankets. It's a lot of new stuff for this Ozark laid back cat to learn.

Maple meets Rooster



Maple is now investigating the other creatures around her new world. There are people, hens, cats, dogs and roosters. Our red rooster put up a good show until mama came by and shooed him away from Maple. She is learning that people mean good scratches in hard to reach places and tasty sweat bread.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Watermelon and Chickens



Nothing is as tasty as a watermelon on a hot June evening. Our chickens got to enjoy the rinds as the sun was setting. The baby chicks are almost adults and will be laying eggs by September.

Maple gets brushed



Today my husband was able to get a brush on Maple and give her a grooming. She was stunned but tolerated it and had a snack after thanks to her mama. She is growing fast into a young horse.

Sweat Bread


One of our friends came over to help us catch our new mare. She was playing the"don't touch me horse" game. Being a novice we did not know the secret of getting a horse to come. Use a bucket of sweet grain and a slice of bread under your sweaty armpit. Take the sweaty slice and put it in the feed bucket. The mare will smell the bread (your scent) and eat it. She remembers your scent as a good feeling and will come back for more. We were able to pet her and get her into her stall. She is an older mare and a mama. So there is a lot going on in her head, new baby, new owners, new pasture, but she is a good mare once she trusts us. She was just testing us and protecting her foal from the newbies.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hot Poppy



It has not rained here in the Ozarks for a long time. So it has been hot and very dry with no breaks except for evenings. Poppy was overheated while supervising the watering of the gardens. He was panting and seeking any shade he could find. The heat has provided energy for the sunflowers to bloom. And the bees and spiders worked hard pollinating the seed heads.

Horses Home




Our vet dropped off our mare, Dolly and her newborn filly, Maple yesterday. Maple was happy to be running all over the paddock. Dolly is avoiding the halter and being caught as an evasive mama horse. We are working on retraining her to trust us. She has had a lot of changes before coming home to our farm. Horses, dogs and the chickens all share a space in the paddock. It is a small and full happy farm.

Monday, June 21, 2010

June Moon

We were given a telescope this past month and last night we got to see the moon. We have a half moon and could see all the craters. What a treat to see it all so clearly. We placed our camera into the viewfinder to take this shot. Just could not get a good one of Saturn, yet.

Fish Quilt and a Goodbye




One of my new students completed her first fish quilt. It turned out quite nicely. And we had to say goodbye to our youngest student who is moving to GA after this month. We sent her off with her first quilt competed her and by our group and signed on the back. She is taking a piece of Summersville with her.

Look at what the Car Dragged Out




Getting horses means clearing out things that could harm them or the farming machines. This weekend we found abandoned livestock panels in our pasture. They had trees growing out of them. We could not pull them out by hand so we used the car and a tow chain. It worked and we got all the rusted panels out of the pasture. And a friend came and bush hogged our 15 acres for no charge.

Maple and Dolly



Here are our new horses at the vets pasture. Dolly is 18 years old and just gave birth to Maple, her red Fox Trotter filly. This was an unexpected surprise after buying Dolly at auction last month. Both are doing well and are coming home to our farm soon. We have been busy all week clearing pasture, putting up electric fences and getting ready for them.