Catching Up

Once again, I've fallen behind in my farm chronicles. It's always busy on the farm but lately it's been busier than ever... partly because there is, most of the time, just one of us here doing all the work... me. Johnny has been off in Washington State helping Kevin and Jessica with a monumental house fixing project. I've been home trying to fend off the grass and weeds that have buried all the flower beds and garden. Plus attend goats that are giving birth... lots of them. Okay, those are my excuses, or some of them. Another standard excuse of late is my crotchety hip which makes getting around a challenge. Thank goodness for my EZ Go (electric golf cart) that takes me almost everywhere on the farm without hurting my hip.

The story in photos...

Most every morning while milking goats, I keep a list of what birds I see out the windows and send that to e-bird as an "incidental" list. When I get a chance, I take photos of the birds I see to document my sightings. Below is a Black-headed Grosbeak, common on our feeders. And a Rufous Hummingbird by the nectar feeder.

 

 

 

 When Johnny is home, I drag him to the coast with me for one of my surveys. On this survey, I photographed a Pelican on a Rock. I don't regularly survey pelicans but this guy was begging to be in my blog post.

 

 At home, I sometimes drive my EZ Go around the flower meadow I've been creating between south field and Agency Creek. This day I found one lonely camas about to open. I hope to get more growing there. We have many in the arboretum that I started some years back.

No EZ Go needed in the greenhouse. Veggie starts are getting ready for transplanting and the many epi hanging cacti are blooming. This rather spectacular (but out of focus) epiphyllum in the greenhouse was huge but didn't last long.

Back in the goat barn, these twins at first were rejected by their first time mom, but she finally figured out what she was supposed to do and is an attentive mother now.

 

 Back in the greenhouse, the Amaryllis are opening...

 And a second spectacular epi opened from a different plant than the one pictured above. Many more are in bloom now. I'll take more photos another day...