Fall Light

Hurricane Patricia is history, leaving afternoons like this in her wake.

After so many dark gray, rainy days we're basking in the light.  Heads down in a new pasture is how the Dexters express their enjoyment, while I do it by running for my camera.  Blue skies, white clouds, green grass, gold light, orange trees, and red and black Dexters.  Who could ask for more?

Fall Fun on the Farm

The kids and grandkids were here last weekend, and we had a beautiful day to enjoy the farm.  One of their favorite activities is to go out and see the animals.  Siobhan loves the treats as much as the kids love handing them out.

This little wheelbarrow is just the right size.

We took a "six month anniversary" photo with Seb (at left) and Ebby six months after his birth during Eden's birthday party.

Sir Loin came up to look for treats and made everyone smile with the bit of greenery stuck under his ear tag.

Wellie struck a handsome pose, glowing bright red in the sunlight.

There was fun to be had indoors later in the evening as Jim swung the kids . . .

. . . sending them flying through the air to land on the couch.  Inside or out, there's never a lack of fun on the farm!

Don't Call Me Late for Dinner

"I don't care what you call me, " goes an old saying, "just don't call me late for dinner."

Dinner time for Ebby takes me past our lower lane on these lovely autumn evenings.

Now that the pasture has been bush hogged, Ebby and Seb are probably enjoying the hay bale in the run-in shed, so I call out, "Ooooh, cow!  Oooooh, cow!"

Ebby appears in the distance with Seb trailing along behind.

I pour out her feed and top off the water tank, but the evening light is so beautiful, I stay to watch her amble towards me.

Ebby takes her time--she knows I wouldn't call her late for dinner--and I take my time, too.  These golden autumn moments are treasures to be enjoyed.

The Foggy, Foggy Dew

We've had over 5" of rain in the first twelve days of October, and now it's started to warm up.  That has led to some heavy dew and foggy mornings, like this one from last week.

To see why this is weird weather, just compare it to the banner photo, taken on October 29, 2012.  Fortunately, both beautiful weather and weird weather make nice photos!

Welcome Home!

I was gone to Virginia for 8 days, and when I got home, Misty was the first one to greet me.  (Herb wasn't home yet and didn't witness the welcome he was going to have to live up to.)

The photo was taken after Misty's welcome routine because I couldn't possibly have used a camera while it was going on.  She whirled, she twirled, she leaped.  She did all of this while spinning in circles around me, moaning deep in her chest.  Now THAT was a welcome!

Hero showed how glad he was to have me home by wrestling with Misty to show off.

I knew what they both meant!

The chickens and ducks came running to meet me at the barnyard gate.

Sterling sat and purred at me and actually let Rascal eat first.

 The ducks aren't demonstrative, but I had to get this guy's photo in while he looks nice.  The ducks were molting when I left (that's NOT a pillow fight you see behind him!), and now they're bright white . . . for a while.

As soon as everyone down below heard the Doodad, they all headed out to greet me.  Now that's a welcoming committee.

After everyone got treats, I walked over to check the water.  Siobhan followed closely, hoping for more treats.

Have you ever wondered how a cow begs?  This is how!

Julie is below Angel & Brandy on the totem pole, so she got chased off.

She took her revenge out on Ebony and Boudin by chasing them away.  (Animals have never heard of the Golden Rule.)

I had to smile at this view of Siobhan and Julie, front and rear.  I do believe they're every bit as big as Angel & Brandy, just more spread out!

Ebony has a bit of spread, too, although I think most of it is winter coat.

Jet was missing from my "Welcome Home" because he was boarding at the vet's, and I got home too late to get him that night.

The next morning I brought Jet back home, and he was "welcomed" by Bonnie and Hero.  It was a game, BUT Jet was definitely the underdog!  I much prefer the welcome I got!

No matter how far I roam or how much fun I have, it's always good to come home!

A Trip to Paradise

Last week I visited my sister and her family in Virginia.  Ever the great hostess, she asked if there was anything I'd like to do in Virginia.  "Visit a Dexter farm!" I replied.  Barbara and her two youngest sons were actually excited about the idea--aren't they sweet?!  So I pulled up the ADCA website on my iPad, found the list of members in Virginia, and looked up those who had websites to see how far away they were.  (Let me say a word here to all of you Dexter breeders who don't have websites yet.  The websites let my "fingers do the walking" on my iPad rather than calling a long list of phone numbers.  A website--even one so simple as this blog--is the way people are going to find you nowadays!)

Right off the bat I recognized the name "genebo" from several Dexter forums I follow.  He was less than three hours away, so I called to see if he likes visitors.  He does, so we set up a date to visit Paradise Farm.

Gene very kindly met us out at the highway in his Kawasaki Mule and took us straight to meet his cattle.  As soon as they saw him opening a bale of hay, they headed in to the barn.

Here is Gene's pride and joy, Brenn of Paradise, his stud bull. Barbara had met FF Lil' Christmas Cash when he was boarding with us this summer and seen how docile he is, but I think she was surprised to find that although Brenn and all Gene's cattle have horns, they were not in the least intimidating.  (Her only previous experience was with our first (and only horned) cow, and she was not a good ambassador for horns!)

I'm afraid I made the trip to meet Gene and his cattle with an ulterior motive--I intended to pick Gene's brain!  (In the nicest way, of course!)  Since we've bought a bull calf who will be arriving in January, the first question I asked was how to train a bull.

Gene explained to all of us about flight zones and showed us the best way to approach a bull (or a cow for that matter), moving in toward the shoulder, steadily and confidently.

Next he explained about scratching a bull's neck behind the head or anywhere else on their body--but don't play with their head.  And don't ever let them butt you!

He went on to show us how his cattle all know where their horns are and how they are very careful not to hit him.

Gene has a lead cow (sorry, Gene, I've forgotten her name).  Brenn doesn't lead the herd; she does.  But Brenn IS the undisputed King!  When he comes over to eat, all the girls move over for him.  But most importantly, Gene is the Boss over all.  Everyone respects Gene!

Here everyone is sharing the hay peacefully, but Brenn obviously has the spot he wants.  The cow next to him kept bumping his side with her horn, but he didn't mind because it didn't hurt and wasn't done aggressively.  No one even came close to bumping Gene, though, nor any of us.

Gene pulled out some bread, which Brenn had obviously been expecting.

 Barbara and Brenn met up close and personal.

Everyone got bread and a chance to feed Brenn.  He was happy to give us all a turn!

Then Gene took us over to meet his youngest heifer, a pretty long-legged girl who is just beginning to overcome her baby shyness.

My youngest nephew got elected to see if the heifer would eat out of his hand.  She wouldn't, but she's almost there.

Of course I had to have a photo even though Gene claims he's not photogenic and I know I'm not!  (I wish I'd thought to take one at the house later when we met Gene's lovely wife, Beverly, but by then the guys had started talking antique tractors and it didn't occur to me to try to tear them away.)  I think that along with all the attributes of Dexters, we should add to the list: Not only are they friendly, but they help build friendships among their humans!

We learned about Gene's feeding plan and how it works symbiotically with his manure handling.  Here is his Manure Handling Squad, a bevy of (mostly Muscovy) ducks.  We saw the evidence of how well his system works, although when Gene pulled the bread out, the ducks abandoned their cow patties at full speed!  We were all laughing by the time the last piece of bread disappeared.

We left the herd grazing peacefully to ride up to the beautiful house situated on the far side of a tranquil pond.  I was driving and couldn't take a photo, but you can see the house on the Paradise Farm website.  It may be named for Gene's grandmother, Mary Paradise, but it's the biblical meaning that comes to mind looking at that scene.

We all hated to leave and would have gladly stayed many more hours if we hadn't had family waiting back home and a three-hour drive to get there.  Heading out the tree-lined drive, I thought of Anne of Green Gables and wondered what she might have called this peaceful lane from Paradise.

Thank you, Gene and Beverly, for sharing your piece of Paradise with us!

What's in Fashion This Fall

Frosty mornings

Mid-morning naps

South Pork Ranch T-shirts!

To my delight, I won these great shirts by being the first one to correctly guess the identity of a secret contraption featured on the "Midlife Farmwife" blog.  I met Donna O'Shaugnessy when she made a very apropos and very funny comment on a blog we both follow, which she very kindly allowed me to reblog as "The Poop-ular Chicken."  I'm definitely wearing my shirt next time I go visit my sister in Allen, Texas--right next door to South Fork Ranch in Plano!

A Sunday Walk

Sunday was such a beautiful sunny day that I suggested we eat dinner (what I call Sunday lunch) on the back porch.  We didn't talk much because we didn't want to wake up the Triplets and make them bark at us!  After dinner I still hadn't soaked up enough of the beautiful day, so I suggested we take a walk around the property.  We took a couple of buckets along in case we found any acorns for the pigs since we've used up almost all the ones outside the back door.

The sun went behind the clouds for a few minutes, but not for long.

By the time we finished our walk, these two buckets were full--two days' worth of pig food!

 Up in our 8-acres of woods which I hope to use for pigs some day . . .

Hero comes running when his Daddy calls.

 I call this "The Kissing Tree."  Someone told me that sometimes Native Americans fastened trees together like this or bent them in odd shapes as road signs to each other.  I wish the tree could talk!

Update:  Mountain Stewards is in the process of documenting trail trees, many of which exist in  Northwest Georgia.  You can submit a photo of a tree to see if it might be a trail tree.

Hero and Misty romping.

 Hero's so fast that Misty can only catch him when he's ready to wrestle again.

 Sara's expression completely cracks me up!  I'll sure miss her when she's gone, and I'm so glad we're keeping her for this next calf.

Setting sun and fall leaves--a marvelous combination!