Welcome Ember

The house was eerily quiet without a dog.  And after a few months, it was time to refill the quiet, and our hearts.  Meet Ember.

A Chilly Spring

Spring was cool and wet and beautiful.  The longer period of low temperatures also meant a quieter spring...  the bees and other insects that usually come to pollinate our fruit trees were largely absent.  The rest of the farm came to life as the days grew longer, but as the cherry and plum and apple blossoms fell we could see the trees were going to have a year of rest from fruiting.  Hopefully next year the weather will be warm enough for the bees to find us and help turn our spring flowers into summer and fall fruits.

The creek ran very high this year as the snows melted.  It's a bit hard to tell from this photo, but we are way up above in a spot where the creek appears as a small wet ribbon during the dry season.  Here it was a roaring river:

Beautiful hummingbird, a male rufous:

And a lovely female:

I was very happy the kale wintered over so we could have some early garden veggies, and eggs to go with it:

We actually have lots and lots of eggs.  Peak production in late spring is probably over 20 dozen per week:

Friendly (or at least mutually tolerant) chicken and chipmunk sharing seeds scattered by the birds from the feeder above:

I always get so excited when we see a mole.  They are so funny:

Cute chipmunk:

Despite the cooler weather, the trees burst into bloom:

Trillium in the woods are another seasonal marker that spring is really here:

Heavy rain and winds knocked down some big trees in the forest.  This one was probably well over 80 feet tall:

Tiny blooms from the forest floor:

Getting the garden starts in:

The alpacas are always so excited when the grasses become green again and the can enjoy fresh pastures:

The feeder gets lots of colorful visitors:

This color variation was an unusual one (at least for our feeder):

Hyacinths are one of my favorite flowers:

Each year I seem to forget where the daffodils are going to pop up and they always are such a happy surprise when I find them:

Blooms and blue sky:

The chickens are always so relieved when it finally stops raining and the ground dries a bit:

These puffballs smell sweet too:

Peepster (a hen we raised by hand after her mama rejected her) has actually become a very high ranking lady in our flock:

I remember the first year we lived here we were so surprised when these giant peonies popped out of the ground:

Each flower is so big, like the size of my hand:

Fresh spring grass makes for happy alpacas:

Goodbye Tux.

Sixteen and a half years.  That's a long time.  We adopted Tux as a pup back in late 2000 so Deek would have someone to play with.  And they played and played, and grew up, and they were our little pack.  And they grew old, and in late 2014 we said goodbye to Deek.  And Tux grew older, as an only-dog for the first time in his life.  In his prime he would stay out while Craig worked on the farm.  As he aged the noises of booming or banging in the distance began to make him nervous and he would run back to the house.  As he got even older, he didn't hear the loud noises but was too tired to stay outside while Craig worked.  And somewhere along the way, he became so very, very old.  He was happy and still doing his dog things while his health deteriorated in his final months.  When it was time to say goodbye, he was ready to go.  For the first time ever, he left the property.  He was heading down the road to find a final place to rest.  Craig carried him home and we fed him bacon and we said said goodbye.  

Puppy Tux:

Welcoming Tux to the family, back in 2000:

Oh, how they would run:

Time passed and we found ourselves celebrating his 16th birthday last year:

A final walk in the sun:

He stayed close, and so did we.

He was ready to go though; it was his time.

The vet came and helped ease his pain, and we said goodbye as he rested on the grass, finding peace.

About an hour after he died, this crocus, the first bloom of the year emerged from the ground into the morning sun.

And now two gravestones and a beautiful view where we can sit and rest and remember them:

Winter Happened!

We had a delightful 2016 Christmas Tree season and hope your holidays were wonderful as well.  Thank you so much to those of you who came up between the snow storms (and the few brave neighbors who walked here in the snow) for your trees.  As promised, this year we supported the cause of protecting Native American access to clean water, donating $125 of farm proceeds to the Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund.

The close of the 2016 and the beginning of 2017 have both brought days of snow, of sun, and one night with the brightest moon we have ever seen.  This time of year always feels a bit magical to me, and the weather definitely matches my mood.  I'm ready for quiet time to lay low at home, reflecting on the year that was and the one that is just beginning.  It's cold and dark, and surely time for a rest, but the light is coming again and we'll be ready when it does.

Snowfall:

 Kitty knows the best spot:

The alpacas are not fans of the snow.  It makes the grass disappear.  Usually even with just a little bit they stay in the barn but apparently they were feeling adventurous:

Our best evening skies of the year are in the winter when the sun is very much in the southern sky:

Craig venturing out after the big storm that left us with around 10 inches:

This puffball of a hummingbird wintered here despite the harsher than usual conditions:

We didn't expect Tux to get to see snow again, but at nearly 17 he kept us company on many snowy walks this winter:

I took this picture out our front window of this deer who came to munch the cold remains of this really beautiful late blooming plant that volunteered in our flower garden:

This was taken around midnight by the light of the full moon so bright we needed no flashlight:

This photo is of Craig under the moonlight around midnight on that bright and eerie night.  There is no artificial light in this photo and it was not even a notably long exposure:

The chickens dislike the snow even more than the alpacas:

As it melted they were relieved to forage under the tree shadows where there was some uncovered dirt:

We went sledding in some new places on the property, with this being the most fun sledding ever:

The bird feeders get a lot of traffic all winter:

Little visitors coming for a snack in the snow:

More birds coming for food:

Snow tumbling out of the high branches through the sunbeam:

Evening sun over the snow field:

Here we are, enjoying winter:

And the light low in the sky, climbing higher day by day: