To me, mornings on the farm are the best time of day. By 5:15 AM the air is filled with cheerful melodies as the wood thrushes call "eee-olaaaay" back and forth to each other. Most mornings are relatively the same...early rising followed by the same daily chores of feeding the goats, chickens, horses, duck and making sure all have plenty of fresh water for the day. During dry weather, the garden, grape vines and orchard trees need watering. And although the days are fairly ordinary, each is filled with extraordinary moments. It is these moments that makes life on the farm so alluring...so fulfilling.

This morning's sunrise was breathtaking....a bright pinkish, orange orb rising above the misty fog that had settled over the valley through the night...the promise of another beautiful day. The day lilies turned their faces towards the warmth as if equally awestruck by the sunrise.

This year's blueberry crop has been exceptionally abundant. Friday I picked about 15 lbs of blueberries and turned them into 26 half pints of jam, with plenty left over for eating. Last evening while making animal rounds I passed the blueberry patch and noticed that two birds were caught in the bird netting that covers the bushes. They were a species of bird that I had not seen before. It took about 10 minutes to free this pair from the bonds of the bird net and they flew off unharmed. When I got back to the house, I checked our bird book to find that the birds that I rescued were a pair of orchard orioles that had stopped by for a blueberry dinner and gotten caught under the net. Note to self: check blueberry nets several times daily!