Random Farm Photos (RFP)

My workflow with Lightroom, my photo organization/editing software, is to leave everything in folders by date until I get a chance to sort, add keywords, etc. It’s kind of like picking up the envelopes of prints from Costco or where ever and leaving the envelopes in an ever increasing pile. The pile just keeps getting larger. So this post is a result of going through a few of the smaller envelopes (files). The big ones are still waiting because I want to organize them properly—and that usually means putting them in my “scrapbook”, also known as my blog. Maybe I will have to have a regular RFP post and not worry about things being in order or telling a story.

I took this photo a week or so ago Look at that lush clover and the other plants out there. I went to a Soils Workshop today where we learned about the microbial component of the soil and the importance of biodiversity above ground. Lots to think about.

The speaker, Dr. Christine Jones, talked about growing flowers—in the sense that having a lot of flowering plants is part of the diversity that is important in healthy landscapes. This is Salsify growing in the pasture. Those yellow flowers in the background are birdsfoot trefoil.

Last week’s load of alfalfa. I order it from the hay company that is a mile west of us (the barns visible from our place) and wait for it to show up. This is 80 bales. It takes me a half a day to get it in the barn and if Chris is around he can do it in less than an hour. Dan tackled this stack and moved it in about an hour and a half. I didn’t touch a bale.

It’s milder today than it has been, but last week when it was so hot Meryl (DIL) got the dogs a wading pool. This was welcome to Ginny after working with the ewe lambs that I’m keeping.

I only got one photo and no ID on this hawk. I went out to put the chickens away and saw this hawk flapping against the wire of the chicken house. Dan came out and walked around back and the hawk figured out how to fly out the door.

Coreopsis in the dye garden. Some of this year’s plants are shoulder height. I attributed that to all the rain this spring. After today’s workshop I wonder if some can be a result of a healthier soil and the mix of species in that part of the garden.

Zinnia in the dye garden.

The dahlias were looking great. I love these flowers because they produce such intense color and they are so easy to harvest compared to the coreopsis flowers. The gophers are wreaking havoc on the dahlias however. I don’t know that I’ll have many more flowers from this batch. I may have to start over.