the Grazers View

 The herd as they go from field to field, meadow to meadow, pasture to pasture.

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Rain Birds

Its been raining for several days with severe thunderstorms every afternoon.

When the first few drops start coming down, the flock runs to the porch and camp out for the rest of the day.

My reading chair gets claimed by Marilyn the blonde hen. She refuses to let anyone else on it or near it.

The pullets have discovered how to get up on the porch and stay dry.

Hunger starts to motivate the hens to go look for bugs and worms during the rain.
They stand at the edge of the porch to figure out the driest way to get to where some delicious bugs might be hiding.

What are your critters doing during these frequent downpours ?
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Wanda's Busy Tuesday

On Monday I went to check on the herd in the afternoon.  Most of the herd was in the shade and the calves were laying under a fallen tree.  It was hot and humid.

There was one obvious cow missing.   Wanda.

I found her up in the woods away from the herd.

She was bagging up and preparing to have a calf.

There have been some very nasty thinderstorms and downpours every evening and I knew that this calf would more than likely be born during one of those storms, since more were heading our way.

I gently coaxed Wanda (my favorite cow, btw) down to where the herd was shading.

She continued to gorge herself on grass before her big birthing event.

I counted calves and cows again and headed home.

Sure enough that evening there was another big storm, with flooding in many New Hampshire and Vermont communities.

Early the next morning I went looking for my beloved Wanda.

And found her in a field cleaning off her newborn calf.

In a few minutes the hefty heifer attempted to rise and try out her long legs.

She gave me a quick look as she searched for the warm milk she craved.

It takes awhile before a calf finds the correct location of the milk bar.

This heifer kept searching.

and searching....

Wanda made little sounds of encouragement to her new daughter.

Their bonding moments were interrupted by the unofficial "welcome wagon" of calves that descended quickly upon the little meadow hilltop..

They all wanted to meet their new sister.

Once they scampered off, the search for nourishment continued.

After a few sips the tired heifer laid down. 

Being born is exhausting.

I need good "W" names.  Give me long lists of them.
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Gorilla Gardening

Several weeks ago our local non profit health care clinic was looking for someone to revive their dying and overgrown flower bed.

First thing I did was say YES! we would do it. "We" being us three Community Garden coordinators.

I was ready to go buy $20 worth of marigolds, but Peggy said "Wait, I have a better idea."

She got on the phone and called our dear friend, Sun, who is a Master Gardener and has incredible gardens that lots of people like to go see.

Sun said she would donate some of her home grown perennials to the clinic flower bed.

I drove over immediately to get a few.

Sun met me in the drive way, grabbed a wheelbarrow and swung into action.

I followed.

She didn't just pick out a "few" plants, she carefully selected 20 well potted perennials that would work well in the partially shaded flower bed at the clinic.

She laid them out the way they should be dug into the soil.  I took a photo so I would remember.

Sun was excited to be able to help us complete a project and I was excited that the flower bed was going to be so much more beautiful with her plants than they would of been with $20 worth of marigolds.

We packed my truck with plants.

I made a phone call to my sister gardeners for a spontaneous meeting and "dig party."

I drove to the little 10x10 flower garden and waited for the other gorilla gardeners to arrive.

The little garden has been neglected and taken over with weeds, hemlocks and junk.

My garden friends arrived at 7 pm and one of the business owners across the street came to help us as well.

Pulling up the monster hemlocks required some real muscle.

Composted horse manure was donated by a friend.
2 bales of straw and dozens of paper grain bags were collected to keep the weeds from taking over after we planted.

The digging, planting and laying down of the compost, paper and straw took several hours, and it got dark.

I had to turn the truck headlights on so the planting group could see what they were doing.

The flower bed came out great and every day another plant blooms.

I finally got a photo of the flower bed yesterday after 8 days of rain.
Most of the flowers have bloomed, but you get the general idea.
The grain bags and straw have almost eliinated all the weeds.

Next year the plants will expand and their blooms will be more numerous.

Stay tuned for the next project!
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Barn & Chicken Tractor Views

I went on a little field trip the other day to visit with some friends who built a chicken tractor and got their first chicks. Six red Comets.

The view from their living room is typical of Vermont:  Barns, green lush grass and small mountains.

Their home made chicken tractor reminds me of a Conestoga Wagon.
Complete with a covering to provide shade and some protection for the chicks.

This chicken tractor has wheels on the front with handles on the rear like a wheelbarrow and is easily moved to a new spot every day.

This  chicken tractor will be featured in the Tour D'Coop this summer.

There will be 5 or 6 coops on the tour and a few chicken tractors.  PLUS there will be lots of gardens to oogle over, various livestock species and other interesting details.

Have you ever gone on a Tour D'Coop ?

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