Beauty Farming Life

This is 2nd Family's horse, Artax, meeting the 'new neighbor'.  I watched this for about thirty minutes the last time I was out there.  This calf is on one side of the fence, the neighbor's, and then Artax is in 2nd Family's back pasture. The calf discovered the horse, and they followed each other up and down the fence line.  They would be nose to nose, then they would nudge each other.  It was so adorable. A horse and a cow, best friends Wherever Artax grazed, the cow followed along.  I tried to snap some more pictures, but then I was busted!  "Hey, what are you taking pictures of?" Thank you all for the so very kind words about the passing of my Grandfather.  It's comforting to hear such nice thoughts from all of you. I'm also back to normal.  Cold is almost over, well, my physical cold, the actual outside cold weather is still here and boy is it cold, brrrr.  I'm back amongst the blogging world, s...

Nosey cows They're baaaack... I forgot to post this when it happened, hence the green grass even though we are now in the middle of Winter.  But I figured better late than never.  The cows had been grazing on another part of their property so I hadn't seen them in awhile.  But they came back and as usual, they spent their day grazing and 'observing' my every move in the garden area. Fast forward to this weekend.  I was at the farm most of Saturday working in the garden area and doing other little projects and guess who came over to the fence to visit? Friendly black cow This one was curious about what I was doing and came right up to the fence to say hello...literally.  I heard some mooing and turned around and took the pic. Pretty Texas sky It was a beautiful day Saturday and supposed to be even prettier for Sunday.  It was partly cloudy, there was a nice breeze and it was cool.  I almost forgot we're still in ...

I was at the farm, working on the garden beds last weekend and I heard some mooing.  Seems the cows from the property just behind the garden area were wandering over to the fenceline to see what I was doing. Nosey cows...mind YOUR own business!

This has been a tough post for me.  Seda the Pig, our sponsored pig for our friends son, has been auctioned and we know he has been "processed". First the good stuff; he did very well for "T".  He came in THIRD in his class, and 26th out of about 225 pigs (just about top 10%).  There was the Grand Champion and the Reserve Champion and then about 23 other pigs ahead of him.  Not bad at all and we, as are his parents, are very proud of him, this was his first time doing this.  He had never even been around a pig before this, and he is more than willing to do it again next semester. We went to the auction day to see him and cheer on T.  Seda was in his own separate pen and we got to interact with him for the first time in awhile.  He was a sweet pig, if pigs can be be sweet.  He was very gentle and very intelligent.  He recognized T every time he saw him and would get up and run toward him every morning.  He even had this really ...

One of my best friends, "R", has a cabin at his parents ranch, about 30 miles from our farm.  On Sunday a couple of weeks ago, his niece's horse gave birth do this beautiful little boy. He is sleeping in this picture, or probably just resting after using his legs for the first time. Here he is with his Mom, learning to use those (long!) legs.  Isn't he adorable?  In both of these photos, he's literally only a few hours old.  Mom and son were checked out and both are fine.  Can't wait to see him grow up to be a big strong beautiful horse.

No, not our chickens, sadly we don't have any of those yet.  Can't do that until we are out there on a more regular basis.  Fortunately though, we can live vicariously through 2nd Family's chickens.  Theirs had stopped laying, as hens often do in the 'off season', but now they are back to producing and when I was out there Saturday, they surprised us with two dozen fresh eggs gathered in the last week. I got to use our  new ceramic holders  and I think the fresh eggs, especially the ones in that beautiful pale green, look so beautiful against the white ceramic. Almost too good to eat!  No, not really, they will definitely be eaten.  There is nothing better than fresh eggs, or "real eggs" as we often call them, ha.  Fresh eggs are to store bought eggs like garden fresh tomatoes are to store bought tomatoes:  No comparison!

Duck eggs This past weekend, 2nd Family gave us our usual gift of fresh farm chicken eggs (two dozen!).  But this time, they also gave us something else: one dozen duck eggs!  They have two ducks who lay almost daily.  We've never had them before and they are fascinating to look at.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but they are a different color than white eggs, sort of a creamy beige color.  They are also slightly larger (the cover of the egg carton barely closes) and, as you can see in the photo below, they are covered in a waxy sort of coating that gives them a slightly duller appearance. We've yet to "crack" into them but looking forward to trying them. Anyone else eaten fresh duck eggs? Any differences in taste? Best way to eat them? Duck eggs up close

It's always a nice time at the farm when the local animals come to visit. Last time I was there was no exception.  First up was 2nd Family's horse, Artax, who was grazing in their back pasture. Then as I edged around some trees, one of their cats came to visit.  This is Benny.  It's kind of cool to see a white cat amongst the green.  He showed up in their tree one day as a kitten and never left.   My nosey cow friends were hanging out too, spending most of the day under the shade of a mesquite tree.  Actually, they were pretty smart to do that on this particularly hot day. On the other side of the property, we discovered a new animal friend. This large (and somewhat intimidating) bull  cow strolled by. H i bull  cow  Nice bull  cow Pretty bull  cow Moving along now, LOL. Back out there this weekend, to see about that list of things to do. UPDATE: Thanks, Joani for gender correction, see we are new...

Nosey cows They're baaaack... I forgot to post this when it happened, hence the green grass even though we are now in the middle of Winter.  But I figured better late than never.  The cows had been grazing on another part of their property so I hadn't seen them in awhile.  But they came back and as usual, they spent their day grazing and 'observing' my every move in the garden area. Fast forward to this weekend.  I was at the farm most of Saturday working in the garden area and doing other little projects and guess who came over to the fence to visit? Friendly black cow This one was curious about what I was doing and came right up to the fence to say hello...literally.  I heard some mooing and turned around and took the pic. Pretty Texas sky It was a beautiful day Saturday and supposed to be even prettier for Sunday.  It was partly cloudy, there was a nice breeze and it was cool.  I almost forgot we're still in ...

Curious cows They were back this weekend, the next door neighbor's cows, watching me work in the garden. I must confess, I'm getting used to the view AND the company...

Cow humor LOL! I crack myself up!   Sorry, just couldn't resist! More later this evening!

It's the end of the world as we know it!  LOL! Cows and Horses grazing together This past weekend, I looked over the garden fence to the neighboring pasture and there was a horse...and a cow...and another horse...and another cow.  They just all casually crazed and occasionally looked up to see what I was doing.   They definitely keep me company when I'm out there doing stuff.   And speaking of doing stuff, we had a nice gentle rain Wednesday and Thursday and ended up with about 3/4" of rain.  That's nice and definitely good for the stuff I planted last weekend.  It also softens up the ground so I can dig a few more holes this weekend.  With this forecast, it will indeed be a great weekend. We may not have many of these left this season so we have to strike while the iron is hot, or in this case, cool, LOL!   Hope you have good plans and a good weekend to get them all done! Updates as we can!

Since the farm was rainy and COLD, I am posting a photo from when we were out there a few weekends ago.  I was in the yard at the farm, surveying things, and I heard this noise.  I turned around and this big guy was standing on the other side of the fence.  This is on the property behind us.   He was huge . Really big bull It's like standing next to a large vehicle and I guess in a sense he could be a vehicle of sorts...though I wouldn't ever do something like that, I'll leave that fun job to the rodeo pros, LOL. He took up the length of a whole section of fence... Face to face with a bull It was somewhat intimating standing there face to face with him.  Solid muscle.  Very powerful animal.  He snorted a few times and rolled his head around in the dirt/mud.  He didn't seem overtly aggressive and was curious as I stood there taking pictures.  Then I looked at the barbed wire and thought, hmm, I better not take an...

When we were at the farm this weekend, I was roaming around, like I often do, and heard some noise on the property next to us.  I looked over and saw these beauties!   The neighbors had these newest additions to their farm.   You know me, I just had to rush over and snap a picture or two.   Nubian Goats Barbados Sheep They were curious but cautious and so I couldn't get them to come to the fence line for a closer picture.  They sure were pretty though.  We love that we can see livestock from our porch and yard.  It's nice to look over and see them grazing in the pasture.   We get to have the view without all the hard work that I'm sure is involved.   These are called Nubian goats Barbados Sheep... (hat tip to commenters below for correcting me!) Click HERE to learn a little more about them. (thanks Colleen) And don't forget to enter the book giveaway, click HERE .

"Mabel didn't quite understand the concept of HIDE AND SEEK"... Cow and Tree Saw this cow on an adjacent property and we were cracking up imagining that she and her cow friends were playing a friendly game of hide and seek, ha.  In reality, she was of course just standing under the shade of a tree but we think it made for a pretty picture.  It just seems like such a classic cow image and she is a bit of a looker...as cows go of course.

Twin Calves One of my best friends, "R", sent us this picture.   This is one of his father's cows at their ranch.  This lovely lady just had twin girls!  What a cute pair of babies they are!   It's definitely Spring, as there are a few new babies at the neighbors' farm next to ours as well.  Love to see the babies of any animal. Yesterday the bees were fine. I  filled the feeders and took a peak inside.  It all looked good and they were building comb and hopefully the queens are laying eggs and the next generation is being created. Langstroth Bee Hive There were bees coming and going at the entrances.  A couple of you left comments here and then I saw on Leigh's blog about how to watch for beeS returning with pollen that they had gathered.  I watched and saw several of them coming in loaded up with pollen so I hope that means good things are happening deep inside the hive.  This weekend I'll be removing the e...

We always love when we get to experience the neighbors' livestock just on the other side of the fences around our farm.  It gives us a taste of possibilities for the future and lets us enjoy them while we are there part time without having to worry about leaving them alone. White Mule So we saw this handsome fella at the back fence line the other day.  He was definitely a looker standing there in the green pasture grass, dressed in his finest white.  Found out the neighbors got a pair of them to help protect their other animals from coyotes.  Apparently mules and donkeys hate coyotes and will chase them off if they approach the other herding animals.  We had never heard that before but like that some animals will help to protect other animals.  I had heard of dogs doing this of course but didn't realize that other animals did this as well.  You learn something new every day!

"What are you looking at?" This is 2nd Family's horse, Artax, and a couple of weeks ago, she came up to visit and to see if I had brought carrots or some other snack, as I often do.  I forgot.  When she came to see me at the fence line, I held out my hands and told her I was sorry, I didn't bring anything this time...she promptly turned around walked away.  Oh snap!  This time, I'll make sure I bring snacks. We have stuff to do in town and it's still well over 100 for heat indexes so we're not sure how much we'll get done this weekend.  Of course, this month is the month of not worrying about anything other than watering, so it's OK. Hope you have a great weekend!

Noticed some new (albeit temporary?) residents on a neighbor's property... At first I just saw some white movement in the distance and wasn't sure what it was.  Then with the camera zoom (above) I was able to see ducks! Ducks I swapped out the telephoto lens and zoomed way in and captured them in all their beauty.  There were only three of them but they hung around together everywhere they went. Ducks on water I noticed that there is a little pond back there and I'm sure that is why they were hanging around.  I asked 2nd Family if they knew if these neighbors had ducks and they didn't think so.  We're not sure if they were just passing through, I'll see if they are back again next time we're out there.  Makes me wonder if someday, after we have a pond dug, will we get our own ducks? Anyone ever have temporary duck visitors like this?

Got these pictures in my email box a couple of days ago. 2nd Family got some new chicks for their coop a few months back that I blogged about HERE .   Among them was an odd little chick that looked kind of like a black bird that somehow got mixed in.  She was smaller than all the others.   There was also one that turned out to be a rooster.  A TINY rooster.  I've never see such a small rooster.  He has all the attitude but none of the aggression, oh and did I mention he's tiny?  All of the hens are bigger than him by at least two times the size. Anyway, "birdy" as they named the odd little black chicken, sort of stayed to herself.  In their chicken yard, she made her own nest away from the other hens.  They didn't notice that she had laid some eggs in a hidden spot.   Hen and chicks  And then they went out the other morning and saw little fluffy black things running around in the yard.  Baby chick...