Bottoms up!

Nope, no drinking involved; I just liked the picture.

I went out one afternoon this week and tried to get some pictures of spring around here, but my photography skills leave a lot to be desired. However, one theme did come up quite a bit. Can you see it?

Yes, in the background.

It's still not very green around here. Our daffodils still aren't in bloom. But the light is different, the breeze is a little bit warmer, and the peepers are out at the pond. And the birds are going crazy with the displaying and breeding and nesting.

Roy and Ed are doing their best to keep us entertained.

If you are wondering who takes Top Bird honors this year, a comparison of their tail feathers gives a clue:

Old Roy in the background is still looking fine. Ed has taken a beating from him quite a few times already, and it shows. But by next year, Ed will probably be in charge; Roy's getting old.

One of (brown hen turkey) Trixie's babies from last year is nesting in an old doghouse we have on the property. Trixie has got a nest going in one of the barns again. However, as you can see by the blue and other non-speckled eggs, the chickens like to add their two cents to her clutch:

Turkeys (all birds, I guess), won't "set" on a nest until they've laid all the eggs they're going to lay. Once they decide to set, all the eggs start incubating from the same point so they all hatch at the same time. It's too early to tell whether either of these hens will set reliably, even though Trixie did a good job last year.

Meanwhile, our flightly little bantam Maude, seen running away from my attempts to take her picture, has started her own nest,

not in the chicken coop, but in cows' hay rack, there on the right:

They don't need the rack in the summer, so she's okay, but her eggs are not fertile. Chip, RIP, is no longer here to father bantam chicks. So we took most of the 13 (!) tiny eggs she was sitting on and replaced them with three of the laying hens' eggs, which are fertile, thanks to the ever-randy Calvin. I'm worried that Maude's too nervous to make a good mom, but we'll see in a few weeks.

My husband attempted to fill the pigs' wallow with a too-short garden hose, but they were more interested in him than the wallow.

Even the cows were fascinated.

We hung out with the cows.Note you-know-who in the foreground.

If you're wondering if the trout survived the winter, they certainly did. It's so fun to feed them and then watch them come up for food. A few minutes after you scatter the food, there are probably two fish splashing every second for several minutes. I tried to capture it with the camera but you never know where they're going to jump.

The big news is that on Thursday evening, we saw an immature bald eagle swoop down and take a trout right out of the pond!!!! No pictures, and it hasn't been back. How cool is that?

The goats were gossiping about the sheep.

And the peahen and peacock made brief appearances.

The humans have been busy too.  I baked sourdough Friday night:

And we did something really huge a few weeks ago: we dumped cable TV. That's right, we're down to two (!) computers with high-speed Internet, and DVDs from the library, so in other words practically cut off from the real world. To my continued amazement, my 9yo has not died of boredom and in fact keeps doing unexpected but welcome things, such as deciding to wash both the car and the truck the other night.

Awesome.

And there's this:

I had a shop update yesterday. If you are on the mailing list, you already know about this, and you may be one of the people who snapped up one of these:

My husband Mark's nostepinne's hit the market. And four are gone. The mahogany one (second from the right), the only one not made from local apple wood, is still available. I haven't checked all my orders, but the brief rundown is that I added some very cool colors (in my opinion) of Long Trail sock yarn, above in the basket, and I put the last of my Real Vermonter "Bristol" yarn (local wool/alpaca, spun at Green Mountain Spinnery) on sale -- 40 percent off!

I also saw my friend Amy yesterday. She's the one who made the silver jewelry I have been selling. She was wearing a whole array of her own stuff:

To my amazement, this bracelet is still available (on sale, no less) on my site:

I am lusting after it, but it is not for me. If someone doesn't buy it soon, however, it might find its way into my jewelry box.

Anyway, Amy has an Etsy site, Kabux Designs, as I have mentioned before. It seems that most of what she puts up she ends up selling locally, but she does have a few items posted now, mostly earrings. Are these not adorable?

Ten bucks. Go buy them.

Okay, that covers pretty much everything I can think of at the moment. I'll just throw in a few last animal photos and finish with Milo the Smug Cat. P.S., I'm almost to the lace part of Juliet using my recycled cotton yarn. I forgot pictures.

Our back property. The pond is past the apple trees just in front of the pine trees.

The boys setting new fence posts. (In August, Gert and Polly, below, will be calving and then we'll have six cows altogether.)

One more thing:  I'm currently reading Bill McKibben's book Deep Economy. It's a pretty interesting read about our society measuring success in terms of growth and money, rather than in terms of happiness. (He asks us to contemplate that "more" is not necessarily "better.") In fact, studies have shown a decrease in happiness over the past century, despite the huge increase in standards of living. Hmm.

Comments

[Carole]

Thanks for all the pictures of life on the farm. And the eagle visit is really cool - except maybe the trout don't think so.

[Kristen]

Ah, I always wondered how the chicks hatched at the same time when the eggs are laid on different days.

Yes, love the farm photos. I can almost smell the pig pen!

We've been without broadcast TV for maybe 3 years, ever since the roof antenna (remember those?) went kaput and my husband never went up to fix it. I don't miss it at all, and wish my husband had backed me up when the kids were young and I wanted to ditch it then. People wonder how I am still able to be up on current events - well I can read a newspaper. We've never had cable as I am too cheap, but we do have Netflix, so I can choose what to watch. Good for your daughter finding real things to do with her time. She sure has a lot to keep her busy on the farm!

[AnnaMarie]

I love all your pictures! I haven't had cable TV for more than 10 years now and actually haven't owned a TV for abut 5 (we used one for DVDs for a while). Internet does it for me.

I think that as we've downsized we have definitely become happier. I now have a 10th the yarn stash I used to and haven't bought yarn in months but I LOVE each and every skein I have (including some of yours). I think I might be finally coming to the end of my affluenze and while I might backslide and have a relapse now and then (fiber festivals coming up) I think it won't be a lifestyle ever again.

[lynne s of oz]

Your *nine* year old!!! She's growing up!
Looks like Spring is springing :-)
We have silver perch in a water tank at home and boy when they are hungry and get fed, it turns into a feeding frenzy! The water boils just below the surface with occasional silver bodies flashing out of it.
We haven't had a TV since we moved to the States. We mostly get stuff from the library and do some internet downloads. It suffices and there are NO ADs! :-D

[Robin]

Love the animals updates. That Ed is impressive - Roy better look out! Sorry I missed one of your hubby's apple wood nostepinnes. Will he be making more??

[gayle]

I'll have to watch for that book. With all the emphasis on "more", people have lost the ability to recognize "enough." TV (especially the commercials) feeds this More-more-more mindset.
We ditched TV 7 or 8 years ago. I can watch movies or shows online, or we can buy movies that we like enough to watch over and over.

Love all your photos! I wish we had more acreage - we'd have a farm so fast!

[Shell]

Would your friend make a duplicate of her necklace? I'd love to gift it to a friend.

[Abby]

I love your farm! I lost my little farmette in the divorce, but am toying with returning to the land when I retire. The only thing I watch on tv is NFL football (go Colts!) and once in a while I check the weather (like when the sirens go off). After you have not watched tv in a while, it all seems so stupid and mentally intrusive and such a waste - junk food for the brain. We never had cable while the kids were growing up, and as adults, they are selective about what they watch. Besides, they have lives to live!

[Elizabeth]

I have a trout question.
(I'll bet I'm the only one who's ever said that in the comments) We inherited trout in our pond when we moved in and a big bag of food (which I thought was dog food at first, I am a city girl, shoot me) How often do you actually feed them? And how big do you let them get before they are dinner?

[margene]

You have a very active farm with enough entertainment, more entertainment than anything on cable. It's great to hear from you. My, all the stuff in the shop sure is nice!

[donna lee]

It's been a few years since we gave up on the television and no one seems to miss it. We watch dvd's on the computer. I got tired of paying an exorbitant cable bill every month for a service we don't use. We get dsl from verizon and it's been great.

[Teyani]

your farm is just bloomin' with fabulous critters! And good for you dumping cable tv - I've not had it for a few years now, and I love that. Neither of my girls grew up with TV, and they honestly don't miss it at all.
LOVE your photos - I think my favorite is Milo on the fence, lounging over the chickens.

[JessaLu]

Wow you've been busy! ;o)

As soon as we have actual high-speed here I will probably follow through with my threats to kill most of the DirecTV lineup that costs an arm and a leg each month but until then it's Dancing with the Stars in HD for me ;o)

[Rippedoffknitter]

Never a dull moment at the farm! Love how the animal personalities come through in the pictures and how Milo sneaks in everywhere, the goat gossip photo is great!

[Dorothy]

Milo is so funny. All the animals seem really happy to see spring too. We still have the odd bit of snowbank here and there and no flowers as yet. I am holding out hope for someday though.

The cows are nice looking, but I've never been fond of them. I never knew why until my Mother told me of the time we went to a farm that belonged to friends of her parents. Apparently I was a baby at the time and was asleep in my car seat with the window down. The car was parked next to what had appeared to be an empty paddock. No one noticed the cow wander up and stick it's head in the window. When it mooed right above me and I began to scream, they all came flying though. Supposedly I was jumpy the whole weekend we were there and haven't been fond of cows since.

[Bullwinkle]

This whole post made me smile. Thanks for the glimpse of life in your world.

And those nostepinnes are gorgeous!

[Debbie(purlypig on Rav)]

I thouroughly enjoyed your post. I am still struggling with getting a sourdough starter that won't mold. No cable here either. Don't miss a bit of it. I am using an old wooden jump rope handle for a nostepinne. Your nostepinne are beautiful. Thanks for sharing Spring in Vermont.

[Emily]

I'm waaaay behind on blogs and trying to catch up. I wanted to tell you this is the best post I've read all day! Wonderful spring - I want chickens more than ever. And maybe a pig.

[Hose Reel]

I had been looking for details on the different styles of water and gardening hoses. This posting came up in the results pages. Even though while not exactly precisely what I was searching for, it was well worth the read.