Friday, July 03, 2009

Miscellaneous farm "stuff"


"Oh, oh, Violet, she's in here again - what awful thing do you think will happen now?"

Pearl and Violet (in the front, isn't she pretty?) are surmising that since The Shepherd's Wife is in the barn with him something nefarious is about to happen -

"Don't worry girls, it's only worming paste - and it tastes like green apple, I think you'll like it."

With the barn door shut, everyone is easy to catch with the help of the shepherd's crook that I got The Shepherd for Christmas a year ago. He wonders how he got along so long without it It certainly makes things easier on the back (his, that is) I stand, pressed against the wall so I don't get knocked over and when he's got someone caught - "Blurp" there's your worming paste for the spring - on to the next one.
The swallows have nested in the barn again - I couldn't quite reach high enough to get everyone in the picture. It's only been 5 days since I took this picture and they are already out flying with their folks. I love watching baby swallows learn how to fly.





So, with worming fait accompli, the girls were turned out into their new pasture - but they couldn't help munching down a bit of grass along the way.

Speaking of munching, this year we've had a huge problem with bunnies munching everything they can get their little lips around. It is very apparent that Neelix kept the bunny population at bay. We sure do miss him.

He probably kept the raccoons out of the corn too - They have cleaned out The Shepherd's first planting. He is very discouraged!
He was also surprised to see a yearling buck bound into the girls pasture this a.m. The young fellow stood around and munched on some cherries for a bit and looked like he was going to make his way into the barn to see what was in there - but The Shepherd waved his arms and shouted and the little guy decided the better of it and bounded back out of the pasture an on his way. Cleared that 4 foot fence like an Olympic hurdler.

No, the new sign is not for the deer, it is for the neighbor's grand kids who had beat a path down the creek and were throwing sticks into H.B.'s pasture and taunting him. All we need is for one of those little buggers to get hurt - so we have two new signs on the creek to let them know that they are not welcome on our property. I think we should string some electronet along there, but, then again....

The whole creek bed behind our house is full of cherry trees. They are a tart cherry - but we never get to harvest any because the starlings seem to sense when they are coming on and beat a path to our back yard. They sure can get rid of a cherry crop in a hurry. Darn things.

I loved this picture of the cherries though - and yes, I picked that dark one and ate it right after I took the picture.

And a parting thought -

Do you think we should change his name from Cooper to Flash?

4 comments:

Sharrie said...

I have a net over my "cherry tree". It has four cherries. How I long for full grown cherry trees.

vlb5757 said...

I would kill for some of those cherries. I am baking a blueberry pie for July 4th and cherry would be great too! Those look so good. Cherries are very expensive here. We are going to pick blueberries this month. I so love going and then getting home and eating them with some greek yogurt and a little bit of honey drizzled over them. Yummy!

Gone2theDawgs said...

which paste do you use that tastes like green apple? I may have to get some for my flock....'course who tasted it to make sure it DOES taste like green apple...?? :)

The swallows nest in our barn every year too, I just sigh and put out a tarp over my hay as they like to nest right above the bales.

I personally like the electronet idea to deal with children with bad intentions...:)

And though I can see why you would want to change his name to Flash I love the name Cooper.

Leigh said...

I'm thinking about planting some cherry bushes next spring. We had cherry trees in NC, and I actually would get to can a couple of quarts of pie filling each year.

Disappointing about the critters eating things you don't want them to! I found a mauled (dead) mouse in the driveway today. I think it was Miss Catzee, who spends a lot of time watching the wood piles. Of course, Rascal has caught many in his day, but he's been a real house potato lately.