Setting The Scene

There are some blogs that I read daily,
and (due to a lack of time) others that I catch with less frequency.
I love these glimpses into others' lives...most with whom I share a common love of animals.


I often wish I had a tour of their homes, farms, lands, etc.
so that I could see in my mind's eye the backdrop for their stories.


Without some guidance, my imagination fills in the blanks,
but I like it better when I have a clear picture of the reality.


That's why I decided today to give you a little visual tour of how
my world is laid out.

Each day I leave the house and travel down our long driveway...
past the little log guest house, the wood shed...


past the Roos house, the brooder house...
(on the right behind the tree)


and down to the fork in the drive.


If I head down the drive to the left, I pass the front pasture on the right,


the bee yard on the left,


and end up at the old, historic log cabin by the road.


To the left, beyond the bee yard, is the duck pond.


If at that fork in the drive I turn right,
I head by the orchard on the left.


Just beyond the orchard is the pig's yard and house.


Straight ahead is the barn, with the indoor arena in the distance.


Closer to the barn, there is another turn to the right.
This lane takes me by the garden (to the left) and the pavilion (on the right)
up to the goat pasture.


The fainting goats live in one of our four upper pastures,


that are laid out two pastures wide by two pastures deep.


As you can see, our egg layers also graze in these pastures.
The other three of these pastures are also used by Becky's horses for grazing.


My horses use the large front pasture in the front of our barn.
This pasture is much less nutritious, and so is good for "fat" horses.


This view is looking from the opposite end of the front pasture.  
As you can see, the old log cabin is far down on the right side, by the road.
If you look at the left side where the barn is, you will see a small grey shed beside it.
That run-in shed serves as shelter for the donkeys in their dry-lot.

I hope this helps you with a better mental picture of our farm.
As you can see, we have no leaves left on our trees.
We have plunged head-long into winter.


Last, I wanted to share a picture that I took yesterday as I returned home to the farm
from family business.
This is the time of year for fantastic sunrises and sunsets,
and I caught this sunset last evening....


Isn't this an amazingly beautiful world in which we live?

Today I have a special little visitor from Australia.
I will share pictures and stories of that visit with you tomorrow.
Have a great day!!

Comments

colleen said…
Thanks for the tour..what a wonderful way for me to start my day.Now I see why you use the gator :) The sun set was beautiful...We sure do have so much to be thankful for. Have a great day!!
daisy g said…
What a beautiful property you have. How blessed you must feel to enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing. We hope to acquire something similar to your homestead.
Junebug said…
I sure enjoyed my tour this morning! You are blessed beyond words to live and share your land with your tails!!! Hugs!
This N That said…
Good idea to show your farm all in one post..The sunset last night was gorgeous..Is your visitor a Koala bear or a Kangaroo???
Suzan said…
Thank you for the tour!! Everything is lovely and I know that you've put years into everything you have and keep up!
Anonymous said…
You have quite the impressive farm. How many acres do you have?
Shar43 said…
I saw that beautiful sunset last evening from my porch. It was almost as impressive as your view over the water. "Awesome" is the best descriptive word for our sunset!
happyone said…
Oh your farm is sooo nice. I love it all and thanks so much for taking us on the tour. : )
WOW what a sunset. Awesome is the perfect word for it.
Ellen in Oregon said…
Thanks for the tour. I thought I had the farms' layout pretty well figured-out, but the photos today gave a very different perspective than I had thinking. Mostly, the distances between locations were much greater than I had envisioned. Now I see why your gator is used so much & why the dogs like to hitch a ride with you. Your property is beautiful and really shows how hard you & your family work do to keep everything looking perfect as such a heavenly location deserves. If I were a donkey or a fainting goat (God forbid) I could not think of a better place to plant my hooves.
The sunset photo is awesome. While the trees have lost their leaves, their nakedness now lets us see all the views normally hidden by the leaves. My favorite part of Fall is when the leaves drop and I can now see the beautiful pond & estuary across the street. At the top of a very tall fir tree, there was a white egret dining on a fish it caught in the nearby river. We had our first below freezing night and the bird feeder traffic this morning reminded me of the early-bird crowd at Starbucks as there were lots of birds lined & pushing each other for a prime spot to perch on along the edge of the feeder. Even the hummingbirds were very excited to find their feeder filled with fresh nectar. For me, these sights are priceless and part of the reason I enjoy the change of seasons so much.
Thanks for the tour & enjoy your Australian guest.
Katmom said…
Thanx for taking us on a walk around your sweet farm..... hugz and Happy Thanksgiving day...
Oh and I think I overheard your turkies say, "Glad we're greetin' and not being eatin'..." lol! I mean gooble gooble
Bee Haven Bev said…
Do you still have hummingbirds there? Ours left in the beginning of September. As for our birds...we cannot keep the bird feeders full enough for them. They are in a feeding frenzy. We are to have an exceptionally cold and windy weekend here. Brrrrrrrr. Thanks so much for your comment, Ellen!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Well Gracie....those west coast turkeys must be strange...."Gooble, gooble"???? Hugs...miss you!!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Thank you!! This seems to be the best time of year for magnificent sunsets!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Thanks!! We have a total of about 140 acres. About 80-90 of those are wooded.
Bee Haven Bev said…
Oh my, and what a tough day my gator had today....story will come as soon as I get the pictures! It's a doozy!!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Thanks Daisy! I do feel very very lucky. Best of luck with your quest to find the right place!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Thanks June!! Hugs to you, too!
Lady Jane said…
What a beautiful farm you have. Thanks for sharing it with us. I can picture it so much better now. Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving.
mrscravitz said…
What a beautiful farm. Like you I fill in the blanks too, but never imagined your place so big, and so beautiful! Thank you for the tour.