What a whirlwind the last several months have been! Things here at the farm have been so busy ever since the puppies arrived. Piper was amazing whelping and rearing her litter, and we supported her through the whole thing. Together, we gave the puppies an exceptionally good start and they all went to their homes healthy, happy, and well socialized. We are still in touch with all the families and everyone is doing great. And of course, we know first had that our keeper puppy, Poppy, is just everything we hoped for in a Piper puppy. Ember, Piper, Poppy, and Hazel make for quite a pack, and we love having so many dogs around.
In addition to puppy related things, we continue to take care of Al, Boo, the chickens, the bees, the trees, and the garden here at the farm. The summer was hot and dry and hard on the trees but it was a relief that the fires stayed farther away this year. We were very happy that we had a great harvest of fruit from our trees and veggies from the garden. In fact, it was the first year in many that the yellow plum produced fruit and we very much enjoyed it.
It is always such a relief when the rains come, and the pace slows, at least for a little while. Now we approach our busy time with Christmas trees, and then hopefully a cold, quiet, and snowy winter.
Teeny tiny puppy. They weighed about a pound each at birth. For more pictures and videos on the puppies, please check our
Corner Crest Labs Page:
Piper was such a proud and loving mama to her litter:
All 9, belly up sleeping:
Puppies on a wagon ride:
This is Purple Girl, aka Purpo, eventually named Poppy, who made it clear to us that she was the puppy who chose us and would become our pick of the litter:
Piper saying hi to one of her pups, while remaining out of nursing range:
Look at this little man!! So much cute.
Al also took great interest in the litter of puppies:
Here is the last picture of all the litter together, before the first pup went home at 8 weeks old:
It took some time for Poppy to walk the whole walk:
Poppy and Piper love each other so much:
Here's Poppy looking rather majestic after a swim. She loves water almost as much as she loves Piper:
Al loves his chickens.
We love finding tiny frogs who set up residence in our garden, and who also very much appreciate the lack of poison here:
These two are just splitting image of each other:
Our first crop of yellow plums in years!
A hiding cricket:
This was the first year we had a very successful cabbage crop (even if we thought we were planting brussel sprouts)! We will definitely try growing more next year.
Poppy just chilling:
Poppy and Al getting to know each other:
Poppy helping with the garden. She is also the only dog we have who loves produce, especially cucumbers and plums...
It was a good year for mantises:
We had some gorgeous lilies in our garden this year:
Another mantis:
Delicious garden rainbow:
Boo has trained Poppy and the other dogs very well now and they all respect him as Cat.
Piper and Poppy love to play on the trampoline:
Craig and the black pack:
Al was very pleased with himself when he ate all the parsley. We are working on a new fence so he took advantage of the fenceless garden:
Craig and the pack:
Fujis and honeycrisp are my favorites of the apples we grow:
The final garden pickings:
This is our pack, and I had labeled this picture for a friend but it still makes me laugh:
It was a great year for amanita muscaria:
This was the single biggest cluster. The tops of these are the size of dinner plates:
This patch was a pretty orange color:
One more patch, I just love these:
Can you tell who is who? That's Piper on the right and Poppy on the left:
Our dogs really like to relax. They are very good at it:
And as the weather cools, they know how to find the best spot in the house:
