Hay Hay Hay

The days are longer, cool and comfy and the hay is still delicious and great to roll out.

I had a welcoming committee this morning waiting for me.   I wish they could hand me a cup of coffee when I arrive.

A field of white marshmallows....

I did not have any help unrolling this morning.

 

 

I decided to make the letter "L" for LUCKY.

I am a lucky girl to be living the rural life.

I actually unrolled the hay in a "H" last time.

H for HAPPY.

 The herd does not care what letter I unroll the hay in.

It all tastes the same to them.

Although I KNOW when I unrolled it in the "J" shape a few of my older girls smiled.

When I unroll the hay early in the morning, I have many other sets of eyes watching me.

They wait until I leave the field and then they come nibble with the herd.

The turkeys are as hormonal as my own 2 ducks. These tom turkeys have been in the same exact little area of the field for 4 days, in plain view strutting and gobbling.

When the grass gets about 8 inches high, we can stop feeding hay and start rotating the cows through the field. I think it will be next week.

Who else is still feeding hay ?
~

Fowl Friends

One of the first signs of spring is that the wildlife start pairing up.

In all the neighboring fields there are large flocks of ducks and geese playing the Matchmaker game.

Most of the fields are along the river, which is a prime spot to marry, mate, hatch eggs and raise young'uns.

A little further inland there are huge groups of turkeys gathering on manure piles and looking for any tidbit left behind.  No mating rituals going on yet, at least from what I could see.  of course I think the majority of these turkeys are male.

There were about 80 turkeys in this group and they were very intent on snacking and scratching.

Click on the photos to make them bigger and really feel the manure pile.

 

Back at my own field I had a bunch of crocus come up and bloom since I had left the house several hours earlier.  Really amazes me how fast these little flowers appear.

And dissapear....   Once the flock finds something, they shred it, eat it or destroy it.

The ducks stampeded through the crocus and squashed them flat.

So I did get to enjoy them for about 9 minutes.

I presently have one hen who seems a bit phobic about being on the ground.
She will only stand on rocks, the nest box roof, the coop steps or stay in the coop for the day.
Very strange.

Any suggestions ?

A very dear friend made this stained glass for a coworker.

This photo does not do it justice.

I hope someday she will do one of the Silver Appleyard ducks.

Whats your favorite fowl ?
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Freaky Snow Storm

My boss called me at 6 am this morning to warn me about the blizzard he was dealing with 3 hours from here and to warn me about coming up to the main office today.  I had only an inch on the ground, so I wasn't concerned.    I have a 2 hour drive to work, one way, so I thought maybe the snow would all be melted by the time I reached the office.

What the heck was I thinking ?????  Within 5 miles and 3 minutes of leaving my home, the snow started bombarding my truck. So intense was the amount of snow blowing at me that I got a wicked headache.
You know the kind.   Snow got deeper and more blinding the further I drove.  The ride to work was over 3 hours. Most of it at 40 mph behind a long line of vehicles. The last 12 miles were at 20 mph.
Many cars were off the road in the ditch.  The roads were very slick and as you can see from the photo, we were down to only ONE lane.  Visability got worse and worse.     There were confused turkeys sitting in trees by the highway.        Amazing to me was that I could NOT see higher than the treetops because the snow clouds were so low and the snow was coming down so hard.

It was a long day at work and I was glad to head home. By 5 pm the roads were much better, but the tress had lots of damage from the weight of the snow. Many big trees were down on the powerlines. Lots of Vermonters have no electricity tonight.  Worse yet, all the berry and fruit growers are in a panic that their crops may have been destroyed.

I headed for the farm as I had a gut feeling there were new calves. When the barometer falls, like it did for this weird storm, calves start being born.
I was not dissapointed.

Three new calves. Two huge boys and a big girl were born in the snow, sleet and rain.  Lots of rain.

Mud season has returned.

Here is Gwen and her new 90 lb boy, Galvin.           Gwen is a serious graham cracker addict.