Friday’s Leftovers

Once again, you are getting my leftovers from when I was out taking pictures of all the crazy things going on this past week.

Victoria and Sidney

Reva

Bambi

Cinnamon

Haley by the barn; Maybeline in the doorway

Dolly

I picked a pie pumpkin that I didn’t think would make it till October, and I forgot it in my truck.  When I finally got around to getting it out to feed to a goat, it was still good.

Haley

I was amazed, and Haley enjoyed it.

We hit the time of year when the blackbirds hold their fall convention on my farm.

All those black spots on the ground and in the trees are birds.

Seriously.  They were loud and everywhere.

Easier to see in the bean field.

There may have been some shenanigans while we were pressing apples last weekend.

My son, my nephew and the Little Farm Hand

Did you know that if you cut an apple in half across the core it has a star?

Every single time!

The Detour

I said I’d share the detour I am taking to the sale barn back when things were rather boring.  It’s been crazy busy, but it’s such a pretty drive, I still want to share it with you.  My normal route actually is a longer trip, but it’s all paved.

The detour is pretty direct, but it’s all gravel.

Pretty much every gravel road in the area has a warning about high water.  Of course, right now I don’t have to worry about it with the drought.

My farm is the start of hills.  North of it is pretty flat, but to the south, there are hills that make it hard to have large flat fields, so there’s small fields, pasture, and lots of trees.

I’ll get back to the church in this image.

My son makes fun of me for driving like an old lady on gravel, but there’s a good reason I drive that slowly.  You never know what’s going to jump out in front of you.

Deer on the road

There’s a lot of old farms and old barns and buildings along this route.

I also get to go past this old church, in the middle of nowhere.  It’s the Union Chapel church which was founded in 1877.

It has a cemetery behind it.  Do you see those stones in the front–they are all cousins of mine.

In the old part of the cemetery, I have more relatives.

I have three sets of grandparents buried here.

Shelby Baker is my 4th great grandfather.

A bit closer to home, there’s the Clear Creek Wildlife Area.

Clear Creek Township is where my great-grandparents lived.  In fact, their old barn is still standing, but I missed taking a picture of it.  No wonder I love my hills.  I have deep roots in this area.

Unloading Hay

Saturday turned out to be fairly busy.  My nephew decided it was the perfect day to unload hay.  And it was. The rain drained the humidity from the air, and it was cooler with a nice breeze.  So he brought out the elevator.

Sky had fun barking at them.

Then it wasn’t long before he pulled in with the hayrack.

We had two racks like this to unload.

Once we got the barn doors open, we set up the elevator.

These were some fairly heavy bales, but we got them stacked.

That’s a good dent in what I need for winter.   There was one bale that didn’t quite make it to getting stacked, so I gave it to the kids left up north.

Perdita and Chunky in front; Olaf in back

As soon as the goats came up from pasture, they snacked on the pile that formed under the elevator.

Caroline

Soon, my nephew will mow the back hill, and we’ll get the rest of the winter hay off of it.