Queenie Wineti’s eye is all better and she has been allowed back out into the field with Daisy, though she is still sticking close to the barn cleaning up the last of her food.
You can see the bag of DE that hangs above their feeding car boot. They knock it with their faces and get lightly dusted. This should help keep the flies away from the cows eyes. But nothing will kill the flies better than the cold. Which will come soon.
Daisy never shares her pumpkins so Queenie did not even bother to go over and try.
Though Charlotte has been gone a little while now, Sheila shows no signs of being lonely. She chats and follows me about, she gently leads me to her feed bowl at meal times, politely requests her egg tax when I am in and out of the chook house, (she stands outside the chook house door and when I appear she opens her mouth and I pop an egg in) she never tries to knock the bucket out of my hand or overturn her water container (which cuts down on my work a lot). She is actually never alone. Even when she takes herself to the barn to sleep she is only a wall away from the cows and the piglets are within earshot. Ton usually sleeps with her. She likes Ton but she does not like Boo.
Piglets Plotting.
Tilly and Mama under the mulberry tree.
The chickens are drinking more, eating more and being shifted more often. They are certainly the most work at the moment.
Good morning, here is the first attempt at a Farmy Night Sky. I know it is not October yet, but I have been doing the study and this is the first half decent image I took. I have learnt how to change the ISO in the camera, (in the old days I just bought a roll of faster film). I hope you will see an improvement over the course of the month. I am hoping to have things at least technically worked out by Oct 18, that is the full moon. 6.38pm on Oct 18! I hope to get a shot of the full moon rising up out of the corn. Ambitious? Yes.
You will see that this image is grainy. In photo speak that is called Noise. Plus a lot of the clarity was lost to camera shake. Balancing this all out is my first task.
This shot was taken about half an hour after the sun went down. I need to stay up until it is quite, quite dark or shoot early in the morning. And I really am going to have to get a proper tripod. Mad has suggested a few that I am looking at now. (Early Christmas present I think!) Plus I am going to get a remote shutter release to take the shot. These are quite cheap and will cut down on camera shake. My exposure last night was 25 seconds.
Today I will learn how to lock the mirror in the camera, which will cut down on camera shake, plus hopefully eliminate that annoying click (which every single one of my animals is wise to now).
Speaking of goals, today is the last day of the Home Grown September Challenge. We are going to have a home grown proper nosh up and a good look at the experiment.
I hope you all have a lovely day. Or if it is your bedtime, have a lovely good sleep.
Your friend on the farmy, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
48 responses to “From morning ’til night”
Now you have me wanting to try night sky photos…I hope I can! We will see!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
I purchased a camera last year with some “bells + whistles ” that I have yet to discover! I would say you are doing a great job. I did find a book on “Understanding Exposure” by Bryan Peterson to be a useful book to help me figure out some of this new stuff these cameras are able to do:-) My frist camera at 19yr old was one that I saved my money for-it was a fujica 35 you made me think about my old camera when you mentioned buying film:-) Just think no one will remember what film is just like records-lol
I’ve had to be MIA for many days, but am so glad to see the farmy looking so serene. Love your night sky shot. Have a gorgeous day!
Yes, fly masks for Daisy and Queenie…I’ve seen Jane wear one, I think! Just don’t get white ones!! Love the shot of Daisy and her pumpkin! I give them to my goats and it’s funny to see when they stick their entire head in…you know…pumpkin heads! 🙂
Can Sheila not be in with the piglets or would there be a tussle there? Ah well, she has Ton and you, her mama of course!
I would say your first attempt at a night sky shot is very good, indeed! Looking forward to that full moon shot on October 18th! I follow another blog called “Beyond the Fields we Know” and the author takes the most beautiful full moon shots every month and then lists all the names that particular moon is known for…if you get a chance pop over there on the 18th…or anytime really…I think you would enjoy it too!
Sheila is a lady! 😀 Lovely manners! As for pigs? When they are little they are very cute…when they get big they will eat your shoes! LOL I remember walking above a barnful of sows (across the rafters) and being the novice that I was…it never occurred to me that I may be lunch if I fell in!!! Yikes! Or crushed!!! Don’t know which is worse…..
Your piggies are very friendly! When there are a hundred or so there is no real friendship going on…with us two leggeds for sure!
Great photos! Loved them all! That is the good thing about the cooler weather…bugs start to disappear…but these blasted flies hang out around my kitchen door like a kazillion octopi suctioned to the screen! I hate their dirty little feet! I know where those feet have been!!!! LOL Then they try to hitch a ride on you when you try to get in the house! I look like a crazy person flaying my arms everytime I enter my house! 😉
Have a great day Celi! Everyone else too!
Happy end-of-the-month-challenge, Celi! I want to hear what you hope to first introduce back into October’s diet! 🙂 And I enjoy your photography lessons. I play around with night shots, but have a lot of trouble finding anywhere that’s dark enough for a true test. You might have enjoyed overhearing some recent conversation from my house. My granddaughter’s went to the Los Angeles County Fair this weekend and saw a calf so “new” he was still trying to get up on his wobbly little legs. These city girls had quite a little show watching Mama clean up after birthing the babe! Sophia is still talking about all she saw and what was “hanging” from Mom. I couldn’t help but think of all I’ve learned from your blog! I really need to share more photos with them and bring them into the story of the farm. A field trip now and then really doesn’t give them much to go on, but your daily life is a real education. ox
Love the pumpkin photo…my friend Karla’s goats feel that way about Christmas trees!
So, what’s for tomorrow night’s dinner, when the Challenge ends?
Good question. Actually I have not thought about it. Hmm, I will NEED to think about it. Maybe cheese and salami and avocados and lemons! c
Well done on completing the September challenge. I wish I had a black velvet sky at night, but alas I have too many lights around me these days, so I look forward to you capturing it for me.
Stars, I see stars! Yay!
What a happy walk around! Daisy the Gourmet savouring her pumpkin, Queenie ‘all better’, growing piggies ‘plotting’, Sheila requesting her ‘egg tax’ [hmm: stupid again ~ the shell gets eaten by the piggies, big and small also?] and a clever way to apply necessary face powder 🙂 ! Glad to see that altho’ the meat chooks have grown so much, there still seems plenty of space for them to wander around . . . Photography: shall be following your efforts carefully but am, these days, very much a point and shot gal!!!!
Yes i give the pigs the eggs whole. Less mess. The chew on concrete .. it seems to me they can do egg shell. Unless the pig is pregnant then weirdly too much calcium is not so good n the later months of gestation. But as a rule I just hand them to the pigs. The meat chicks still have lots of room and i shift them so often they are on clean grass frequently. It worked out very well..ni ni eha.. c
Sheila actually growls at Boo? That’s so funny . . . must be confusing for Boo!
I always wondered how you got Queenie Wineti’s name and now I know; it’s the most dreamy beautiful name!
Good job on your first night shot, looking forward to more.
Nice to hear that Sheila is happy, and that’s a nice first night shot; very atmospheric.
Tonight here in North Dakota the Northern Lights will be dancing across our sky out here on the farm!!! Can’t wait! Sure hope it clears so we can enjoy it! 😀
I love my shutter release cable. Feels very professional.
But I’m lazy about setting up the tripod.