A Lamb Outing

Nora will post more photos later today or tomorrow, but last night we visited some new-born lambs. Sandy, our shearer, has down-sized her flock recently (she had 120 not too long ago, but is down to about 20 right now), but still has 10 or so ewes ready to lamb.  The first ewe delivered a couple of days ago - two beautiful, baby boys.  Nora and I went over to Sandy's farm last night for a visit.

Nora's first experience with lamb holding; she's a natural :)  Apologies for the shadowy shot, but we couldn't move far to get out of the setting sun; mom was standing nearby and not terribly happy with these strangers picking up her kid.

what appears to be a sweet moment

is actually Lynn scolding Lily for getting into the freshly planted flowers.

Then Lily moves away and feigns interest in a post. Naughty little girl, you are not fooling anyone.

Peek a Boo

A game of peek-a-boo with mom this morning, or so Nora thought

Actually, just caught red-handed eating the baby spruce

Good morning!

Another glorious day on the farm.

Autumn Equinox - two days late

Ok, so I'm a little late.  Generally I try to acknowledge both the fall and spring equinox; the two days out of the year when we have an approximately equal amount of day and night.  But I mentally noted it yesterday morning and then promptly forgot about it, until last evening.

Welcome back Autumn!

Pics from today

looks like a caped mother looking after her children

Jem sleeping

Tallulah smiling

MadeIt's addiction

So we discovered that MadeIt loves her some baked goods. Over the last few weeks we have been giving her crumbs from muffins, pies, etc. We switched to Saltine crackers for ease of availability. She comes up on the back deck looking like a crack addict desperately searching for her next fix. Here she is doing a small trick for one.

Summer is fading

Yesterday's freeze killed off the dahlias, zinnias and basil.  Most perennials came through, but every one is looking a little worse for wear.

The first day of fall is around the corner, and I have lots to do in the garden today.

The ubiquitous clematis

Miss Bateman

I love clematis.  In my opinion, it is an indispensable addition to any garden.  It is everything a gardener could want in a flowering plant: beauty, resilience, easy-going temperament, and can be found in multiple colors, with various flower-types and bloom times.  It is also a climbing vine, which means it can be used to create vertical color in any garden space. You can train clematis to climb anything -- trellis, tripod, wall, arbor and fence. You can even plant it under a non-flowering or early flowering shrub (i.e., lilac, viburnum) to create color later in the season.  Unlike ivy or grapevine, clematis will not smother the shrub, but will gracefully snake its way up through the branches adding splashes of color throughout. The clematis will also benefit greatly from the shade the shrub provides to its roots (clematis grows best in an area where it has lots of sunlight, but shady feet).  Ultimately, my goal is to have at least one type of clematis in every flower bed in our garden.

Currently, I have spring bloomers (Miss Bateman, above), early to mid-summer bloomers (Jackmani - "Queen of the Climbers" and Niobe) and my autumn beauty, "Sweet Autumn."  

Jackmani

Sweet Autumn

My Sweet Autumn resides on the south-side of my front porch and has grow so profusely you can barely make out the wooden trellis beneath.  Few clematis bloom in fall making this a particular favorite of mine.  The Sweet Clematis can grow from 20-30' tall and has a bushy, cascading form. Beginning in late summer and lasting into mid-October, Sweet Autumn blooms with thousands (and that's no exaggeration) of small, star-shaped, white blossoms.  If you're into fragrant flowers, Sweet Autumn fits that bill as well.  

Sweet Autumn again -- she's not fully flowered yet, but gives a sense of scale

The only "challenge" to maintaining clematis (and it's not much of one if you pay attention to what you plant) is that clematis are pruned in accordance with their "type" or "group." 

Group 1 - generally flower in spring and bloom on old growth; prune sparingly after blooms are spent.  The goal is to clear out dead wood and keep the stems tidy.

Group 2 - produces flowers on old wood in late spring/early summer and often blooms again on new wood in late summer or fall.  In March, remove dead wood and cut the remaining stems 6 to 8 inches to a pair of strong buds.  Can prune sparingly in early summer after first bloom just to tidy.

Group 3 - the easiest of the bunch; blooms on new wood in the summer and fall; dies to the ground over winter.  Each year in March, prune all stems back to a strong set of buds 6-12 inches from the ground.

Although I adore the fragrance and beautiful, full blooms of a rambler or climbing rose, roses are infinitely more finicky, temperamental and not very winter-hardy (a big problem up here in North Country).  When it comes to vertical color, a clematis will win me over every time.

Light freeze

Frost on coop roof

It was 30 degrees when I awoke this morning.  The first light freeze of the season; the warning shot across the bow.  There is always a certain sadness for me to see the drooping of the flowers and plants beneath the first frost.

Louisa - not quite sure what to make of this white stuff

Potatus Gigantus

Last week I harvested the red potatoes. The plants had died off a couple of weeks earlier so it was time. I had forgotten that Lynn also planted some russet tubers in the same row so I kept digging. This is what I found.

Now come on. That potato deserves its own zip code. Next to it is a full-sized travel coffee mug. A meal in itself.
I also found evidence that we have been invaded by voles. Yes voles, not moles. Basically, a mouse that likes to eat freaking potatoes. What a bunch of assVoles eating my russets. Go for the fancy yellow ones that Lynn likes and leave my favorites alone!!. Obviously, I am not a fan of the vole.

Good morning

Beautiful sunrise this morning.

With a high of 48 degrees yesterday, Nora had the wood stove going all weekend.  Nora and Magnolia lounging.

Butterfly Day

I was just chilling on our back deck when I noticed we had a bunch of these lovely creatures flitting about the circle garden. So I took some pics.

The friendship tree

I have mentioned a number of times that things go down a little differently in North Country, and Thursday was no exception.

We received an email on Wednesday from Lorna notifying us that she, Tim, Pete, and Debbie bought us a Catalpa Tree as a wedding gift. Awesome. We love trees! A gift truly up our alley. Oh and she told us to think about placement on our property and that they would plant it for us. Totally cool and meaningful gift.

Jump to the next morning. Jim and I return home from retrieving the last of the sheep bedding (this experience warrants a separate post and maybe I will write one).  We had just finished unloading the hay when I saw Colin, fabulous son of Lorna and Tim, walking up to me. I asked why the honor of his visit? He said he was there to dig a hole and that Tim was on his way from Potsdam with the tree. I laughed and said, "good thing I am here I guess". His phone rings and he answers. "Yup, got it. 4 feet by 2 feet." I asked if that was Tim and he confirmed. Then I asked the logical question, "just how big is this tree?" Colin shrugs, "beats me, but you know Tim." Ahh yes I do, Tim's motto is "Go big or go home."

So, about 20 minutes later Tim arrives with the Catalpa. What a beauty, and a wee bit bigger than I was expecting. Often when receiving a tree you get a sapling; this pup is about five years old with a 200 lb root ball, lol.

Not a problem. Just needed to cut the fence, tractor the bad boy out there, and presto you have a tree planted. And so that is what happened. Tim drove the tree out ( I am not quite comfortable with side to side pitch on the Kubota) while Colin and I walked beside it. Jim cut the fence so Tim was able to get the tractor out into the dog field. After much maneuvering and "Tim engineer planning," the tree was in the hole.

Here are some pics from the experience. We love our crazy friends. And as we told them in our thank you to them, "May it grow to be as strong as our friendships have."

How tall are your sunflowers?

Despite appearances, Lynn is not holding up the flower. In fact, not sure why she is holding the plant at all. I just asked her to stand by it so you could see how freaking tall it is. Below are some other varieties growing in the vegetable garden.

Pumpkin shots

So in a post the other day I was boasting at how large our pumpkins had gotten this year.  Last year we yielded a few good sized ones. We currently have 7 big ones, and 2 young ones still growing. The one in the second picture is about 16 inches in diameter at its widest point. Granted these will not win a farm pumpkin prize but they are winners for us. :)