Saucy Gossip

 Days start early on the farm.  At least one of us gets to see the wondrous pre-dawn sky, while taking the horses up to the pasture.

It's an incredibly peaceful time - void of the birdsong and the thrum of insects that dawn awakens.  Perfectly clear, nighttime skies have given us quite chilly early mornings of late. 

 It is so unusual at this time of year to experience mornings in the 50's.  Personally, I love it - it reminds me that autumn is around the corner.  My heart beats just a little stronger in the autumn - it's my favorite (that is until the end of winter and spring is just around the corner - then, that's my favorite!  I'm fickle, like that!)

The thing is... each season has its blessings.  And, I'm not quite ready to trade this...

for the blessings of autumn - not quite yet.  For now, I will let August be August, and enjoy that which only this particular month can deliver.  It's always good to remind oneself that tomorrow might not come - so enjoy today while it is here!

I love the rhythm of life these days... the unhurried mornings tending to chores.  It's satisfying work - tending to the needs of the animals that we cherish.

You might notice that Moonie always takes the high road!

And Forrest is usually always on his heels.

Moonie couldn't care less.

With the equines squared away, we head up to the chicken house.  I was surprised to find this gal roosting in the upper house with the teenagers.

When queried, she replied:

"Those kids kept me up all night!"

"And they don't know the first thing about good gossip!"

(Hens prefer their gossip to be a little on the saucy side.)

Our last chore of the morning is to dump the night's accumulation of equine and chicken manure on the compost piles.  This gives me the opportunity to check on all of my pumpkin babies!  The vines keep growing and producing more flowers.

And the pumpkin babies are growing beautifully!  There are so, so many!

I cannot wait to harvest our own array of pumpkins.  Warty pumpkins are one of my favorites!

Yesterday morning, we finished picking our ripe peaches.

We throw our pits along the woods line.  The ones that the wasps eat (that end up with a fungus) we pitch into our wild patch just below the peach trees.  Maybe the next people who love this land will discover our gift of more peach trees!  (We have another peach tree beside our driveway, at the edge of the woods that grew from a pit that was tossed there years ago. )

Forrest watches as the peaches sail over his head.

Then he leaps into the long grass in search of these strange flying objects.

PS:  The morning pond duck count has increased to 30!

More arrive every day!

Lastly, we took a long, late afternoon bike ride through the countryside to a local butcher for meat sticks.  (We cut them in small pieces for treats for the dogs). The valley that we rode through was so beautiful...

Would you believe me if I said we saw a unicorn?