As previously mentioned, I’m in MN visiting my family. I decided to take a mini-vacation here (sans Mike) before the garden and horses got into full swing. Seemed that as long as summer really wasn’t going to arrive in Seattle before the end of June I might as well come here and enjoy a bit of it early.
It’s been a very relaxing time and I’m be putting up photos of the gardens and farmers markets as my “end of life” laptop battery will allow Image may be NSFW.
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First up, farm photos!
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Above are a few of my mom’s laying hens. She lost half her flock to a fox in early May and the ladies have now been moved to the yard of my grandparents’ home (my Uncle now lives there) and have taken up residence in the old playhouse. She’s got 11 hens, 3 pullets and a young cockerel. There are also 24 five-week-old pullet chicks in the barn. They won’t be keeping them all, but will add to their flock and sell the pullets later this summer (if you’re in MN and interested in a few, drop me a note).
This is our old playhouse, now hen house. The front opens into the yard, the back butts up to the old duck pond.
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There are 19 sheep, a mix of ewes and lambs, in residence. They’ve been sheared and are ready for the summer heat. Thankfully, this year, there is enough grass stocked in the pastures to keep them going until fall.
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They are quite friendly and always willing to pose for a pic.
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Nemo, the only black/horned sheep on the farm, is a former bottle lamb that was raised by my cousin/god son Derek. Nemo is pretty sure he’s a dog.
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My mom and her siblings (and my cousins) still maintain my grandfather’s gardens. They’re smaller than they were when he was here and dedicated to them full time, but still supply everyone with strawberries, onions, squash, tomatoes, etc. This view really hasn’t changed that much in the 29 years my parents have lived in their house.
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This is the upper pond that we swam in all summer when I was a child. Eventually my parents put in a pool (we’ve been enjoying it all weekend!) and we were able to stop swimming in the muck. Strangely though, I still sometimes miss swimming out there.
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And this shot? This one was just for me. I liked the way the grass heads looked bending over in the pre-storm breeze and the late afternoon sunlight.
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