Nature is Lovely

 A bouquet of wildflowers I made while scouting an organic apple orchard.

 A very adorable white tail.

 A butterfly really vogueing for the camera.

 A fledgling chickadee and it's little hole in an organic apple tree.

 Good job soldier bug.

Her two survivors.

Sweets

It's that time of year again.  The cherry harvesters are hard at work.  The crop is about 10% of average but at least there is something.

Barn Love

I have had an extreme case of 'barn love' my entire life. Someday I will have my own.

My New Favorite Flower Blog

Floret Flower Farm
   Erin is a cut flower farmer in Seattle and grows heart melting, tear inducing, beautiful flowers.  The photography is beautiful!  You must follow her and get a glimpse into her hard working, lovely, daily life.

It's May

 The blue waters of Lake Michigan.

 A little love from the goats in April.  I miss those little rascals.

 Me demonstrating my new goat milking skills.

 A Plum Curculio caught in the act on a sweet cherry.  They are a very bad pest of tree fruit.

 Tovah helping me pack.

 Last weeks apple blossoms.

 Our important friend, the honey bee.

 The amazing variations of Trillium late in the season.

 

 Chris and his new son Rowen and Lily too!

Rowen looking wise for his days.

Think spring!

White Morel time in Michigan.

My new nephew

Rowen William

More Baby Goat Videos

I Will Have Goats

I spent Sunday morning at Tanbrit Tiny Goats  learning the ropes from Sarah as she has asked me to farm sit a few days for her.  We bottle fed all these adorable kids.  The Nubian's were quite vocal about being hungry. One little girl was especially demanding and kept screaming MAAAAAA! MAAAAAAA! to grab our attention.  She sounded like a real child.  I couldn't stop laughing.

Sarah raises Nigerian Dwarf and Mini Nubian Goats and boy are they precious!  I was in bliss with all the cuteness surrounding me.  It's safe to say that I will certainly be owning little goats in the near future.

I also learned how to milk goats today.  I have never tried so there was a bit of a learning curve but I was getting better with each goat.  What was surprising was how different each goat was to milk.  My hands were quickly cramping but with a bit more practice, I'll get it.

The little guys and gals were recently dis budded.

Goat Mob

Nigerian dwarfs

Mini Nubian and I.  Isn't her face the sweetest!

The triplet mini Nubian's.  They are smaller than my cats!

Just a little headbutting.

Latest Good Reading

 This springy weather has me itching to get into the dirt.  I have six more weeks to wait and then, Michigan, here I come!  Instead of playing in the dirt I'm mostly just reading about it these days.

I just purchased a whole bunch of new books in the past few weeks. I've read three of them so far. 

This Life Is In Your Hands by Melissa Coleman was fantastic.  I was thoroughly captured by her story.  She writes a beautiful and tragic memoir about her life as a child living as "back to the land folks" with her parents Susan and Eliot Coleman.  Many of you have probably heard of Eliot Coleman as he is the author of The Winter Harvest Handbook, The Four Season Harvest and The New Organic Grower.  This Life is In Your Hands had me smiling and imagining as I did as a child.  It is also devastatingly sad.  I was crying pretty hard Sunday morning, he he.   I strongly encourage you to read it.

All The Dirt: Reflections on Organic Farming by Rachel Fisher, Heather Stretch and Robin Tunnicliffe was also really good.  Each author gives an account of their journey into small scale farming.  It's light, fun and easy to read.  I gathered lots of useful tidbits from it so if you plan to farm, it's worth giving a read.

The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook by Richard Wiswall is great.  I have always been mystified by the record keeping side of farming.  He gives plenty of examples, charts, spreadsheets and instructions plus the books comes with a disk that includes all the spreadsheets in excel format.  I have a much better understanding of the business end of farming now, yay!

I just started All Flesh Is Grass by Gene Logsdon.  I love Genes books and this one is great as usual.  If you raise or plan to raise animals on pasture, pick it up!

Next on deck are Crop Planning For Organic Vegetable Growers, Botany For Gardeners 3rd Ed, The Hoophouse Handbook, Market Farming Success, The Apple Grower, Specialty Cut Flowers, Living With Goats, and so many more.  It's a never ending list of goodness.  You can find them all on Amazon.