Tuesday's Takes

on the last few days...


Old man Blue scores a ride home from the Dairy after a hard days work.





plenty of natures bounty to eat



We've been catching rainbows



and welcoming a brand new puppy to the family!


Wish you were here?

Well, come on over...

were always lookin for some good cowboys and cowgirls!



Have a great week everyone~

RAIN

If a farm were a living breathing organism (which it is, really ) its life blood would be rain.

Even though I see it year after year, I am still in awe of the change that can occur literally over night in some instances.

We are now in that summer weather pattern where the heat builds all day and in the late afternoon - it rains...

everyday.

It is hot and sunny, then the temperature drops, the wind blows, the animals kick up their heels with relief and run and cavort in their fields....

and people have about 2 - 3 minutes to find shelter or find a bucket of wetness dropped on your head.

These are violent, thunder booming, lightning filled, drenching storms that coupled with the heat before and after, create an outdoor greenhouse.

Remember when I was forced to turn the grass fed steers out to graze because their grass was all gone?

This was "The Littlest Princess" herding the steers out of their field of dying rye so that they could graze the lush green pasture behind it.




Millet was planted for them and we waited for rain.

This is the same field 5 weeks later...





Belly deep in the good stuff!

So no more "babysitting" them while they are turned out on the hayfield every afternoon
(I got a lot of reading done)


So tell me, my little buds...will you miss hanging out together with me on the open range?

Of Mowing and Melons

Today has been all about mowing...

My backyard has been mowed right up to the edge of the hayfield it borders




The hay field is getting mowed today for the first time this year.




Its not "early" or "late", as has been the case in recent years.

Rather,
its right on time.

We are getting rain and LOTS of it
(thank you El Niño or La Niña. I apologize for not knowing which of you is responsible)

Know whats kind of cool?

The watermelon and the fresh cut grass smell very similar.

They both have the smell of green.

I am feeling extreme pressure while attempting to take these pictures...

the pressure to share...

Apparently everyone likes watermelon~



I rest my case.

Catcher In the Rye

The steers have always loved grazing right up against the rye field (a forbidden zone for them).




The rye field is gone now. It was ready for harvest. No more grazing in its borders for green stuff for my little steers.

Now that it is gone, peanuts will be taking its place.

As I write this, I hear the tractors droning on in the darkness. Plowing the rye stalks under and readying the ground at night, helps preserve the moisture that the sun would take.

Here's hoping Rye seed is selling well on the global market...

and one last look at the shimmering field of gold with fittingly enough, a double rainbow hovering above.