Summer on the Farm

Well, summer is here. The rainy days have faded away and the summer sun is touching the land.

We can really feel the length of the days; it starts to get light around 4:30 in the morning and doesn’t fully darken until after 10:30 PM. When you hang out in the country, you notice these things!

By the time the sun pops up around 5:30, farm life is up and running.

I begin my day by heading out to check water supplies, look over the livestock, feed anything that needs fed, and finally I come in the house for my morning cup of coffee… farms create their own priorities. The first stirrings I hear are the pitter patter of little feet coming down the hardwood hallway. It’s one or both of the twins (Grace or Hope). Yep. As always, they are ready to rock and roll. The rest of the family is soon to follow. We all settle in for some breakfast and get ready to tackle the day.

Now that it is warm, the sheep that could not be sheared in the spring finally get their summer  buzz cuts. The spring lambs are frolicking in the meadows drinking from the springs, and our newest Dorper lambs were just born – they are in great shape!

Home schooling gets a little more relaxed in the summer, allowing us to tackle extra farm jobs such as mowing the fence lines and moving the sheep to neighbor’s fields to help keep their weeds down.

With this year’s late rains and colder-than-usual temps, our garden is getting a new face-lift: different seeds, new transplants. The roses we planted in the spring are now blooming, although one of the sheep jumped the fence and gobbled a couple rose buds before we noticed.

The baby chicks are now strong, strapping hens and will soon start laying eggs.

Summer County and State Fairs are nearing and the kids are starting to work their sheep to get them ready for the shows. We look forward to reporting on their participation.

It’s always a treat to hit the river for fishing and swimming to cool off in the afternoon. The woods are full of berries and the grazing of fine, juicy blackberries are only a few weeks away.

Sunday evening we were greeted by a male Bald Eagle. Wow, what a magnificent bird! This time of year we see a lot of smaller bird species chasing the larger birds from their nesting areas. It is quite fun to watch these mighty little protectors take on huge crows and hawks. The swallows are also a hoot when they swoop down and grab some stray wool. As they fly towards their nests, they usually lose the wool, but another swoops down and catches what the first bird dropped. It’s as if they are playing “catch” with the wool before putting it to use.

Speaking of fun bird behavior, the blackbirds are doing their summertime hitchhiking routine on the backs of the sheep.

An occasional raccoon will come by, and our dogs, Holly and Nicholas will dutifully bark and chase them to the end of the property. But the ‘coons always outsmart the dogs; once they tire of chasing the coons off, the dogs come back and take a nap on the back porch, thinking they did their job protecting the flock. Little do they remember that the raccoons will be back soon and often, especially during nap time.

Summer is also a time for long bike rides out in the country or over to friends’ houses, usually pulling a trailer full of little kids and a picnic basket full of  our organic Smoothies and Puddings, yummy sandwiches, and plenty of  fresh organic fruit.

Life on the farm is good!

Travis Potter