Walkabout the Farmy on a Still Sepia Day

Good morning.  I took you around the farmy yesterday. Yesterday was a day of bird song. It was still, overcast and bright. Which is actually a perfect day for the camera if you want some serious light for the densest colour in your images. Sadly we are still waiting in line for our spring colours, my sepia world persists.  I would like to have shown you the birds but they were way, way up in the tops of the trees. But I know I heard a red-winged blackbird, and the mourning doves are back.  Their spring song was sunny all in itself. The exciting news is that my Cardinal has appeared, he comes every spring with his wife to nest high up in the mulberry tree.  Cardinals are very cheeky birds, bright orange and they flit about like little nightclub lights.

My lambing pen sits quietly.  Waiting like me. With the really big barn doors open, you can see inside. Look at that fantastic old hand made gate.   It is almost one hundred years old and is one of my favourite barn gates. 

No lambs yet, just a cat.  Thing One I think, but he was so fast asleep in the cleanest pen in the place that he did not even raise his head the lazy sod. What if I had been a big fat mouse!?. 

Because it has been steadily  getting a wee bit warmer in the last few weeks,  the bees have been up and about. You will see that we have moved the blog hive away from the big trees. It was just too cold in the North shadow of that shelter belt. When we lifted it,  we found that it was quite light, too light, (they have eaten up their stores of honey) so I have begin to feed all the bees sugar water.- see the little jars? – once I start this I must continue, probably until Late March, Early April – whenever the first flowers are in full bloom.  But for now the bees are buzzing all over looking for food, with day after day in the upper 40’s. So I am forced to feed them sugar water. Especially this weaker hive.  The problem with feeding this early is that the bees will become active and the queen might start laying so that is why I have to make sure not to miss a day until the first decent run of flowers.  No grass in Pat’s Field. Of course not – it is way to early! I am going to drive you batty for weeks now, staring at the fields willing that grass to grow! And we all know how exciting it is watching grass grow. Actually for me it kind of is!! 

Look at that rain cloud. Though we had no rain yesterday. It is so exposed out here. The spring winds will start soon. Maybe I should create some kind of sound track so you can hear the howl of the winds hurling across the plains.. not yet though, not yet. For the moment we are still.

We are entering the time of year that I call the slog.  It feels like spring should be coming. We feel like surely we can wear one less layer of clothing. It is not cold enough to light the fire but not warm enough to open all the windows. The nights are almost above freezing but not warm enough to leave the seedlings out at night. So hundreds of little plants in their paper pots lined up in their trays, are carried  out every morning that is  over 40F and carried  back in that evening. The floors are covered in plants at night.  I stare and stare across the tundra desperately seeking green.

Today I start to clear the flower gardens. I never cut down old plants in the autumn, I like to leave the seeds heads up until the birds have got every little mouthful out of there.  So today I start to clear and compost. 

Ok enough chatting. The dawn is here,  (this is the view out my loft study window about three  minutes ago as promised) I had better hurry up and publish!! Looks like there may be a bit of rain heading our way.  I am off outside to play.

Good morning.

celi