June Is Bursting Out All Over

Every month has its beauty but June really sets the bar, I think.  Every live thing is blooming, growing, expanding and enjoying the warm sun.

Our bee tree was silent this spring.  The resident honey bees apparently didn't survive the winter for whatever reason, but nature abhors a vacuum and a bee tree isn't vacant long.  A nice big swarm swept in from somewhere and set up housekeeping.  That's a lot of bees!  We're hoping they are docile occupants as previous swarms have been.

The early summer flowers are making a good show.

 If you look closely you'll see a big jumping spider hiding in the peony bloom.  I'm sure there's some kind of sinister metaphor here but I just think they're cute!

Another little visitor is a pretty garter snake that has taken up residence somewhere under the concrete patio and likes to sun himself in the tomato bed.

We had  few days of hot sun and a dry Canadian high pressure system which allowed us to get a good start on the hay.

Unloading the bales in the morning of this beautiful day with the prospect of baling more in the afternoon, watching the cloud shadows slide over the hills while the sheep grazed, hearing the birds talk and the flag snapping in the breeze.....  I feel so blessed to live in the place and time that I do.  I could wax poetic about living in the country and farming but the pictures are better, I'm sure.

The view of home, from north to south.  Sorry it's a little shaky - I'm trying a different video platform as I don't like that I can't disable 'suggested videos' on YouTube anymore - and I haven't gotten far enough into the editing functions to improve the quality.  Sigh.  Have to learn new things again.

And we did have lambs this spring!  I'll try to do a baby picture recap at some point but this is where we are now - going out to a small pasture with the moms and a few old aunties!  We mowed the long flat part of this pasture and will bale it.  What we didn't mow will feed them well until the grass grows back where it was cut.

This is not a trick of the camera - the gray ewe in front, Taffy, is really this big.  Oy.

Trying to get pictures of small moving lambs in tall grass proved to be an exercise in futility but the gist was that they were tasting grass and happy.  :-D  

It's not hard to see why this ewe is so big - she's the original Mowing Machine.

And how could you let a gorgeous June day go by without taking your most dignified dog for a drive to Tractor Supply in your classic car?  

A remarkable day all around!

Bits and Pieces

A brief recitation of events since the last post........

Way too much of this.....

Followed by this......

Means we have done blessed little of this (two sessions - about 800 bales so far).......

On one of the far-too-infrequent hottish days I treated myself to lying on the patio concrete for a little while and found I had company.  Like minds. Heh.

I did some dyeing to finish up a colorway I'm out of - Twilight Time.  This is the spruce component.

My friend Julie and I went to visit Thecrazysheeplady of Punkin's Patch in Kentucky and had a marvelous time.  We came through torrential rain as we neared the farm and so an escort met us at a corner.  Yes, that's a lamb.  She loves to ride in the car.  Being an escort was likely her idea.  ;-)

"C'mon, follow us!  You're almost there!"

Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner on the deck and Liddy the lamb went too, sitting politely next to me on the back seat.

The property is located just above a quarry - a rock quarry, that is - so there are lots of building materials lying about.

Liddy was interested in the heavy machinery.  Headed to a trade school when she grows up, I bet.

"Yes, much more efficient than shovels and wheelbarrows!"

"Aw, mom, I could totally have driven that.  The boys at home told me how."

Sunday we went to church, which is about the best church I've been in since they allow dogs (and lambs on occasion).  Miss Tilly and Kate went along, sharing the back seat with me.  Kate was eventually IN my lap being hugged which was fine by both of us.  :-)

All the rest of Sunday we dyed wool which was a first for Thecrazysheeplady but she handled it very well and got some great results.  It was huge fun and I was sad when the weekend ended too soon, as wonderful weekends tend to do.

On the way home we transported a young English Setter named Jed back to our area where the new owner picked him up.  It was a serendipitous series of associations and timing and worked well for everyone in the end.

"Crated in the back seat with AC, a blanket and cookies after every rest stop - a dog could get used to this."

And I managed to get a whole lot done on a scarf I've been knitting.

The little kitten I rescued in June, now named Popeye, is doing much better and has a new bed thanks to Thecrazysheeplady's cat Betsy not wanting it.  Thanks, Betsy!

And after an evening of playing a lap is good too.

Oh, to be a happy little kitten!

What Did YOU Have for Lunch?

I'm hoping it was something in the rodent family.

This lovely was sunning herself (I'm going with "her") on our patio step, all stretched out and using the heat to help digest whatever she ate. She's big for a garter snake - about two and a half feet.  That's a pretty big bulge and there's a funny lump on the bottom - maybe a hind foot?  Snakes eat things head first so I'm not sure what prey would leave a bump showing.  I couldn't see if there was a matching bump on the other side.

 

I love the spandex aspect of her skin and it shows off some pretty, hidden colors.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July - boy, I've wished I had this ability!  ;-)

 

 

Her eye is a beautiful copper color.  For a snake that looks kind of dull at first glance she teaches a great lesson about looking more closely to see the loveliness in ordinary things.  The good Lord put beauty in every creation.....if you look.

 



 

I sure wish I could speak Parseltongue.  

What a Tease

The weather continues to be phenomenal.  Warm, sunny.........aaah.  With the lawn freshly mowed it even smells like summer instead of fall.   After the three-plus inches of rain we had and now hot weather we're seeing some late bloomers strutting their stuff.  Here's a short but vigorous teasel in bloom, which some bumblebees are happy to take advantage of.

The king and his court

Teasels used to be cultivated here in the northeast for use in woolen mills. The large primary head was called the king and the others were also harvested, but considered of lesser value as they were smaller and not as stiff.  The heads were used to brush cloth and raise the nap.  There's an interesting article here from an 1893 American Agriculturist magazine about their culture, harvest and value.  An acre would raise an average of 100,000 teasels and at upward of $1.50 per thousand it was worth growing although the market was rather limited.  Now they're mostly just interesting wildflowers and a boon to the bees.

Our daily walkies found the milkweed pods on the lower farm opening in the warmth, but it's been so still today that none of the seed silks took flight.  The first good gust of wind will really send them flying. 

Milkweed fluff

Milkweed is another plant that has uses other than to make more milkweed.  Monarch butterfly caterpillars feed exclusively on it.  I have a friend who spun a very serviceable yarn with the fluff.  And during WWII the seed pods were collected for use in life jackets for soldiers having to traverse the Pacific.  We also saw two brave monarch butterflies gamely flitting south, but they were too high to get a picture. Good luck!

There's always an audience by the fence.

Hey, how are ya doin'?  Me, I'm good,  I got grass.

And back in the house I found this little guy on the kitchen floor - a ring-neck snake.  He wasn't getting much traction on the linoleum despite all the fur and dirt.  :-/   This is his normal adult size.  This particular individual didn't have the classic vivid underside of some, but was a pleasant pale yellow.   Good thing I found him before one of the cats did.  They'd treat him like a Twizzler and it wouldn't be pretty.

Sorry, wrong address, thought I was in Slytherin House.

I was able to get our Cotswold yarn posted today on the website for sale.  I'll work on getting the dyed skeins listed as I am able, but it just feels wrong to work at the computer during daylight hours when it's this nice out.  I also started putting a finish on the nice yarn display boxes Andy made and hope to finish that tomorrow. 

Stay tuned!