Up before the Sun
There are many things about farming that I love. One of them is milking. So one of the joys of farming is the early mornings when it is just me and the cow, her calf and the sun rising and the gentle flow of fresh milk.
This is a shot out to the West – Before the milking. The East is the Header shot today. 
Then to the North.
South-East.
The milking team.
After the milking.
It rained. Poured actually. I had to wait it out in the barn which suited me just fine.
Though I did think about my morning coffee waiting to be made in the kitchen.
Later when the sun came out –
The farm woke up. (That is Potter – above.)
– and after my coffee, and a bowl of home made Mama’s Muesli, we began our day all over again. 
Good morning. I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
73 Comments on “Up before the Sun”
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I can’t believe this! You must be up really early. I who am usually the last to post, am suddenly the first. It’s nearly 10 pm & I’m heading for bed. I can feel the stillness of early morning seeping out of your post, & the quiet of you, the cow, and the milk. What a beautiful, spacious post. I will dream of your morning while I disappear into my night.
YUp, I was up at 4.30 this morning.. I could not sleep any longer! c
Absolutely lovely Celi!
Have a wonderful and happy day.
🙂 Mandy xo
beautiful
I love watching the sun rise. The colors alone are enchanting but the peace and serenity are the best parts in my opinion.
Have a great day C
Your day is just beginning as mine comes to a close. I don’t usually see your posts till my morning as I have usually switched off my computer by now, but I just popped in and saw you had posted. It makes a change for me to be one of the first to comment!
I can feel the quietness of your early morning Celi, like a kind of hush over the farmy as it comes to life on another new day, it’s magic! I loved seeing the photos of all the farmy animals (four legged and feathered) waking up to start a new day. Where was Boo?
Have a lovely day!
While there are lots of babies about Boo stays on his chain at milking time, cows are very protective of their babies.. c
Oh yes, I forgot about Boo’s motherly instincts with the babies.
It looks like a lovely day, now it’s stopped raining. I had a dream last night where I had a big farm house and was raising pigs 😉
A Spanish barn is calling to you.. c
Most definitely and I’d love some Iberian pigs 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Iberian_pig
You will need to find a place with lots of nut trees then.. Let me know when i need to come over and tag along on the house hunting!!
They need to eat acorns for bellota ham 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_ib%C3%A9rico
There you are! An oak tree farm. I will help you look.. c
Thanks, perhaps Sheila could help 😉
She is packing her bag as we speak..
I’ll get her a packed acorn lunch 😉
I am a night owl who sets the alarm for as late as humanly possible! So I rarely see the sunrise and these are beautiful pics 🙂
… Almost makes me want to get up early one of these days heehee
One of these days! c
what a lovely day to start the day…..Happy Day to you Miss C
Might I suggest you take one of those thermos mugs filled with coffee to the barn to drink while you are milking? Have Sheila and Poppy been naughty, or just not early risers? 🙂 Beautiful pix as always. Have a really good day miss c. Laura
Sheila is the last one up usually.. If we had had sound you would have heard Poppy banging about round the back.. c
No wonder you enjoy milking time, with such fabulous surroundings/ Potter looks like a jolly little calf.
We are still enjoying the warm sunshine that is such a benison at this time of year. I actually had to put sun cream on my legs , as I am wearing a skirt for the first time.
love,
Viv
SUN! Nice. c
The stillness is beautiful. And then there is Potter gamboling about in the field. I was looking at the goats in their little enclosure, thinking about what they are munching on in there. As the leaves come out on the cherry tree, they will be munching away, I would imagine. Perhaps they can help with the weeds in the other fields too as they get a little bigger. Such sweet faces and so eager to say hello. Good morning, C.
Yes, this is still a nursery pen. Just as soon as I have kid proofed a field out they will go! Those trees will not last long once they start! c
Yep like you I’m up well before the sun. Love to hear the frogs start to quieten down as the birds pick up the dawn chorus.
Off to plant stuff in one of my clients gardens – hope the rain holds off until I am done. My own garden still needs lots of work, but the green house is getting quite full now with lots of seedlings.
Love your photos of a still morning!
The east really looks ominous!
I like that you used a half of a blue plastic tank with the doorway cut out for your kid’s shelter. Nice use of repurposed material.
Beautiful! I’m up and out before the sun every day too. Love that hour before dawn as the earth begins waking and the shift begins. One of the reasons I love day light savings time. It is so dark when I leave but the sun is still up when I get home. In the winter I never get to enjoy the sun!
Little calf bopping around like a puppy. Very cute.
I love those vista-wide shots of the farmy. Are you going to choose a view for your daily/weekly photo snap comparison this year?
M x
>
I had not thought of it.. we have done that for a while. hmm.. c
I thought it was really fun!
now is a good time of year for it too!
Celi, where did the big round blue shelters in the kunekune field and in the kids’ area come from? They look like super shelters! We bought one 0f the large pig shelters, and all the pigs want to be in there! Too crazy! All looks wonderful on the farmy!!! xo
This is an old fish tank.. the same one was moved across yesterday.. but I love them and could do more.. we need to find an abandoned fish farm!
I would love to be out and about there as well. A good rain makes everything smell so fresh. Dawn is just breaking here and I’ve yet to get to my coffee either. Busy trying to catch up on my reading. I’m always the first up too. Love this time of day.
It is great to be up early, though sometimes by about 3pm it catches up on me rather.. c
A twenty-thirty minute nap is good for the heart and gives you two mornings. Sometimes, just stretching out prone, closing my eyes mid-day gives me the energy boost I need to take me through. My mother did it for years when we were young. It made her a much nicer person too. 🙂
I love the sky shots – beautiful! So serene when it’s you and nature. I remember those times when I farmed for many years with my Dad – on my John Deere tractor early in the morning till late at nite – watching God’s magnificent landscape and beautiful creations – the birds flying thru the sky and some of the wild animals! And little Ms Potter – they are always so much fun to watch!! Got Wild Elsie calmed yet? I doubt if she will change!! It’s her way or the highway!!! Have a great day Celi.
Its will be her way and the highway i think. She is officially For Sale. I do not need a milking cow that I cannot milk. So ii will be advertising her soon.. c
Will you keep her calf?
Not if she is still feeding it.. I will sell her with a calf at heel, (if I can sell her) I cannot hold more animals than my land can sustain without damage. The cows gave us two heifers this year, One of the cows refuses to be milked so that divides up my fields. And the sale of those two is a small income to sustain the rest. Do you see the equation?
Very clearly – – – and income is never a bad thing as SOME would make you think. 😉
Good Morning! Love the pics!!! Beautiful! Wish we got your rain! We need it! Very very dry here…fire watch for our area. Everyone got the snow and rain and I was happy that we didn’t have to move a lot of snow this winter, but the moisture is greatly needed now.
Started seeding the wheat yesterday. Early for a change! Summer our golden retriever is a big girl now! And we are going to get another in July! So excited! 🙂 How is your pup doing? Do you still have your old timer? You are an amazing woman Celi….live stock is a lot of work. But you reap the rewards too. Love all the changes!
Have a great day and send us that rain! LOL Please!
The old dog died in late autumn last year.. glad your life is going well.. mere.. c
I agree. There’s something about the quiet of the morning on a farm. And I’ve always appreciated the glow of lights through farmhouse or barn windows. Soothing, welcoming…
I’ve been waking up very early lately, so this up before the sun concept is familiar to me!
A big Thermos sippy cup with a spillproof lid, that’s what you need. I have one, mainly because I am incredibly clumsy and inclined to knock over any cup within elbow-shot, but I love my fresh hot coffee. It’s perfect, you can turn it upside down and nothing will leak, and the coffee stays hot for up to 6 hours…
Are you a Sagittarion by any chance? John brings me a small cup of coffee when he goes to work. I just roll out of bed and into my clothes and out the door. Always been that way. breakfast and large cup of coffee about 11 usually.. c
Not a Sagittarian, an Aquarian, a water carrier, which makes my inability to carry a cup without spilling it a bit ironic!
Ah.. well.. carry on with the water carrying ! I know nothing about these things but I knock over or bump into anything even vaguely in my way.. and I am a sago.. c
Your pictures are lovely and your farm house looks so welcoming in the rain x
Good Morning Celi, I love mornings like yours today…the dark clouds and smell of rain it makes me feel so alive…it happens so rarely in the desert and when it does its very exciting! Beautiful pics as always.
Robin🐥
Your header shot is gorgeous . I love watching the sun rise and the house being quiet. Have a wonderful day.
Watching the rain from the barn at sunrise…I can’t imagine a lovelier morning. Unless maybe you already had a hot cup of coffee in hand.
Great photos! Always feel free to send rain to New Mexico!!!
I’m finding it hard to smile as our plumbing appears to be fucked…we can’t wash, cook or shit…..so I’ve been breaking concrete…if this is how the summer’s going to continue here I might have to consider a life on the prairies:)
You are so wonderfully green! We are still greening up!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
I think Mother Nature’s theory is to make the early mornings enticing so we’ll get out of bed… although the lure of coffee works too. I love the light bright fresh early mornings so long as I have peace and can pace myself… none of that hurry hurry rubbish. The rain looks nice… and now I know the sounds hanging out in the barn would be lovely… I wonder if you could keep a chair there for cat naps, although you’d probably have to relocate a cat to get space on it! The news said for Australia at least El Nino effect over winter into summer so we’re grateful for the rainy start to Autumn.
the barn is emptying out, it is a deeply restful space now.
I have to smile when I find myself noticing Dutch Belted cows in fields. Just in the last week I have been in 3 different towns in southeast Michigan and have seen them. One farm is right behind where I live and I have run right by those cows many times. Now I feel like I know them. And I could have sworn it was a kune kune with it’s head stuck through a fence munching on what was on the other side last evening. I will have to have a closer look the next time by that farm.
Could be!! I love this. Being part of the Fellowship and learning so much.. c
Sunrises and sunsets… some of the most beautiful colors and hues. If only I was a painter!
I love the morning when the farm is just waking….it is a very magical time!! You captured real beauty in your morning today!!
Such a nice quiet feeling post. I may’ve attempted to dodge the raindrops for the sake of morning coffee…
[chortling with laughter] Isn’t it great we all are different! I’ll happily work way past midnight but please do not knock on my door before 8am !! Oh, the few times I have had to see the sun rise it has been absolutely magical, but ‘Eha’ does mean ”the last light of day’ or as Wikipedia unromantically calls ‘dusk’. Thus absolutely love your photos to learn what I regularly miss . . .
I am like some of your other commentors … must take coffee with me! My mug of coffee is part of my wardrobe in the mornings! 🙂
I should hope so with a blog called “Just make the Coffee!”.. c
I love the dawn photos – fantastic!
Lady A’s calf is a tiny girl. So sweet. We had a good bit of rain, too. Beautiful sky captures.
Your pictures are beautiful!! I love being up early, but can never get myself to wake up. What beautiful views you have though, and a gorgeous milking team 🙂