New Pup, Maybe Gretta

Our pups parents Rio, the red male and Emma, the black female.

Her Mom, Emma

Her Dad Rio, very big and sweet male.

Our pup visiting a neighbors property. Gretta at 4 months of age.

A full day at the vet. She has a high white blood cell count after blood was drawn. So Gretta will be on antibiotics for a while. We hope it is just stress and new home causing her high temp and loose stools.

She loves farm life and herding the poultry with me. She is very smart and active even in this heat. The German Shepherd breed is quite remarkable in that the training sticks. The pup still challenges, but she has an adult shepherd to guide her on farm life.

Best Hen

Osa and my best hen, Whitey, still looking good after several hatches.

Whitey snacking on Osa's chow. Whitey is an English Game hen and is the best broody hen I have. She has survived a lot of things and still keeps up the good work as a mom.

Puppy chow makes for a fat and chesty hen. She needs this fat as she goes into her next broody cycle.

Baby Turkeys

Watching me and my camera looking for dog food.

The only cream turkey I have left thanks to the fox.

Assessing the height of the swing and looking for bugs.

Cuteness in the garden.

I can't name these as they are not pets but future food. Even though they are dinner they are fun to watch as they grow up.

Hungry Turkey

Very hungry turkey waiting to get into the bucket.

Turkey pushes the chickens out of the way. My rooster watches this then fights back.

Americana hen faces off with my Jake. The hen wins this battle.

A hungry Jake attacks my baby chicks trying to eat them before breakfast.

Turkey victim, my baby Orpington,recovers after not being eaten. Since the drought is so bad in the Ozarks there are no bugs for my poultry to eat. So I have had to increase the corn and oats to feed them all. And turkeys eat a lot more than the ducks and chickens.

The Big 90

The cake made by the cooking staff at our local nursing home.

Jim loves nature.I think they did a great job making birds on this cake.

Lunch time the cake is served for all to share.

It was nice to be there for the Jolly's in this milestone birthday. This nursing home is truly the best I have ever been to. Everyone is happy, well fed and taken care of 24/7. The elderly residents get better here instead of worse. The staff is kind and caring and they know us by name. No wonder there is a waiting list to get in.

Potatoes and Melons

I love all the different varieties of potatoes my neighbor gave us.

In this heat in the Ozarks watermelon is a meal.

Animals on the Move

Here is a driveway doe chasing after her twin fawns.

Our home grown little rooster struts his stuff.

Run Opal Run

Opal meets her new pasture mates, my two year old Fox Trotters. They need the grass and Opal doesn't.

Opal runs a lap around the pasture.

Opal leads the pack with Bean and Maple following.

Opal is tired of running away from Maple.

Three Stooges

Here are the three female Boer goats at my neighbors farm. These girls had a blast running around their pasture with our horses.

Que Es un Burro?

Alan walking Opal back home to her pasture after a hoof trim at our place.

Summertime cowboy and part time donkey wrangler.

Opal is overweight, note the back fat. See with her owner.

Our solution is to move our two young horse into Opal's pasture. They will eat all the extra grass and chase Opal around the pasture. They need the extra calories and experience.

Happy after her hoof trim, walk and worming. She is such a sweet donkey.

Trees Down

On Monday morning I drove down our country road to mail off a package. I saw trees down everywhere. The NOAA radio mentioned strong winds but not this bad. My neighbor almost lost his green house in the severe winds. The local power company drove through and cut and cleared all the downed trees. These trees were strong and healthy hickories.

Blister Nightmare

in the straw

in the weeds

in the tomatoes

These are photos of the blister beetles all over the place. In my garden and my neighbors the grounds moves with thousands of these bugs. Ugh, they are awful for an organic farmer. I used oil soap in a spray bottle and that got them off the leaves But after two days they moved onto some other part of the farm to lay eggs. They thinned out the tomato plants and the potato leaves as well. But the plants are growing new leaves so all is not lost. I am still getting tomatoes from the wounded plants.

Blister Tomato

This morning I went to water my veggies and saw the ground moving under my feet. Legions of red and black stripped blister beetles were everywhere on my tomatoes, peppers, cabbages and anything with a leaf. And if you squish them they burn your skin. In a few hours they had eaten almost every green leaf in my garden. I hit them with chickens (they don't eat them) then every citrus and cedar oil I had.I used soap and DE and vinegar. And I topped off the dirt with cedar shavings. The beetles got the message and left. Leaving me with a decimated garden. I do not know if my tomatoes will bounce back from all this leaf loss. I think the beetles were attracted to the rich alfalfa I put on the tomato plants. Since almost everything else is dry and crispy in the yard.  I have learned to be more vigilant of my insects and note the circumstances of the invasions.  I thought after the June bugs, web worms and grasshoppers left I was in the clear, ha!