Thursday Morning Farm Photos

I was talking about the pasture and someone asked me what birdsfoot trefoil looks like.

The sheep love it. From PennStateExtension: “Birdsfoot trefoil is a perennial that adapts well to production on poorly drained, low-pH soils (Table 1). It can reseed itself, is resistant to Phytophthora root rot and numerous alfalfa insects, responds well to fertilization, and does not cause bloat in animals.” What a great plant! We have some in the pasture and I’d like more. This photo was taken in an area that the sheep can’t access.

One of my chickens wandered by while I was admiring the trefoil.

The sheep have been in this section a few days now and have eaten it down quite a bit. There is still a lot of grass left and some clover hidden in the grass clumps. I noticed that last few days that the sheep weren’t out when I expected them to be in the morning. I didn’t know if it was because they had eaten the plants they like (clover and trefoil) and were turning their noses up at the dallisgrass that is getting coarser or if there was another reason. I wanted to see what they were eating and if the mosquitoes were as thick as they had been earlier in the morning.

I took this photo of my leg a few days ago. The mosquitoes were worse this morning when I walked the pasture about 7:30. The sheep didn’t want to go out until about 9:00 and I took my camera out a little later. That’s when I took the most of these photos. By that time the mosquitoes were not nearly as thick, although I’m sure I’d have had bites if I wasn’t completely covered (overalls over my shorts and a long sleeve shirt with the collar up).

The Western Kingbird is happy out here because there are plenty of bugs to eat, mosquitoes included. I see them flitting around while the sheep graze.

I spent some time watching the sheep eat to see what plants they chose.

This ewe is named Dimitri.

This is Beauty, the March daughter of Belle, the sheep I gave my granddaughter to show in 2019 when she was here for the State Fair. Kirby has chosen names with a Disney Princess theme. If it wasn’t for the pandemic Kirby would be here to show Beauty at this year’s State Fair. The fair is cancelled but Kirby will be here and she and I will spend time befriending and halter-breaking Beauty and other lambs.

This is Juniper, another lamb I am keeping. I’m not crazy about the quilting—that’s what you call the unequal lengths of wool fibers in this fleece. But it is likely to even up after her first shearing.

This is not a pasture plant, but a dahlia. Its one of the few things growing in my dye garden right now. After a rough start my dahlias have finally taken off. Some are almost my height and some of the flowers are massive.

This flower is as big as my hand.

This is 8 ounces of flowers that are going in a dyepot tomorrow. Stay tuned.