Farm and Garden Report - May 4

Heard peepers - April 24, Easter night
Redwing blackbirds at the feeders - April 25
Heard white throated sparrow - 'old sam peabody, peabody, peabody - and the song sparrow.
Tom and Matt went to a lecture on vernal pools. In Matt and Margaret's pool there are wood frogs galore and many eggs.
First flowers on April 25 - bloodworts


The daffodils have brought sunshine to Windy Poplars on the gray days. I took this photo yesterday out the east kitchen window. The world is greening up so beautifully.



My daffs are a mixture of bright yellow, and the lovely, soft white with yellow at the center.


On April 27, Katie, our sheep shearer came. It was the first really warm day, and the sheep were so happy to get rid of their woolly coats. I wrote about last year's shearing here, if you'd like to learn more about it. I've offered the fleece to a local yarn shop for any spinners who might want it.


Here is a view of all the animals in their spring, summer, and fall pasture. They stay there during the day and go back to the other pasture, where the barn is, each evening.


On May 3, I planted 40 leek plants we started from seed. I put them in the chive bed. There were four big chive plants in there and we moved two of them to other areas. If you click on the picture of the view out the kitchen window, that bed is the closest to the bench. The garlic is coming along great in the bed next to the chive bed.

This morning I found the first tick of the season crawling on my arm. I had picked up the hamper to bring the laundry downstairs and I bet there was a tick on a piece of clothing from the day before. Yuck!

Also this morning, the sixteen new baby chicks arrived. It is a little miracle that they hatched two days before and were packed into their little box and mailed to us. They are down cellar in a big box with shavings, a feeder, a waterer, and a heat lamp, and I can hear them peeping all over the house. I wrote a long piece four years ago, the last time we got chicks. If you are interested in the whole process, you may read it here.


I looked out the window and saw a rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeders. First one this year. They are a rare, and most welcome visitor. This is not my picture!


I took down the suet feeders, but have continued longer than usual with sunflower seeds and cracked corn because of the cold April, but ... it is just about time to remove them because last evening Tom was walking down the hill and 20 feet away from him a big black bear crossed the road. He stayed very still till it walked away.

We are high on a hill and never have to worry about high water, but a couple towns over there was flooding. That's the Connecticut River on the left, and a field on the right.