January thru June on the Farm

It has been a busy and full first half of 2012, and we have enjoyed all the usual farm activities of winter, spring, and early summer.  The snow is always exhilarating, and then spring breathes a wash of green over everything and soon pink and white blooms sweeten the air.  Now in summer we are enjoying fruit and sun, making use of the long days by planting trees and tending the farm well into the evening, and visiting the creek during the day as a shady retreat.

We love the grey and white weather of winter:

The chickens were pretty reluctant to come out and enjoy the snow with us:

It was the first snow for these young chicks, who were not entirely pleased with their excursion:

Deek loves the snow:

Early spring:

February is the start of the planting season.  Craig got another 200 or so seedlings into the ground this year:

 

He also works steadily to clear away the blackberries: 

And also did some work this year clearing out an overgrown stand of 6 Christmas trees that were growing precariously over the orchard and had put on about 20 feet in the 4 years we have lived here.  If you look closely, you can see Craig way up high tying them off so they could be winched and pulled to land away from the young Christmas trees and mature fruit trees.  There are already several fruit trees  planted where they used to be, and their wood will help keep us warm this winter.

 

Trilliums in the forest are our first bloom in the spring:

Looking up between sheets of bark from a big stump of the old growth that was harvested 40+ years ago.  These trees also seem pretty relieved that winter is over, as it was pretty rough on the forest this year with late snows on wet ground uprooting and splitting many trees:

 

And then everything around us bursts into bloom and comes to life with bees, eventually bring us  apples, cherries, pears, plums, and other deliciousness:

We also enjoy watching our one deciduous pine come to life:

Tux seems to appreciate the warming too:

And there are perks to the late rains: 

 

Spring also means fresh eggs for eating and also broody hens to hatch a clutch here and there.  This first picture is of a ridiculously large clutch of eggs that eventually was sat upon by our largest hen who hatched out 6 chicks:

Here they are relocated into the little coop:

 

 Peek-a-boo from under Mama-Penny hen.  First sighting:

She successfully reared all 9 of her peeps: 

Her next brood was 4 of her own eggs and 2 we added for some new blood from a friend's aracuana chickens:

Our first Mama Hen hatched another 3, after a rough, cold, and rainy brooding period:

The alpacas love the fresh grasses in the spring:

 

Here they are just after shearing, discussing their new haircuts:

 

Cherry season!  One of our favorite crops as summer rolls in: 

Hot days lure us down to the creek, where Craig caught this teeny tiny crayfish:

Snakes also come out on hot days.  This is one of the largest ones we have seen here:

In fact, all sorts of animals get busy around this time of year:

 Most of our good sightings are during the day, but it sure is a treat to see a great horned owl at dusk: