Corn Crib Gazebo

I stopped today to buy some bluebird houses at a little roadside stand, but this is what I really wanted--to get a closer look at the corn crib gazebo that was behind the farmhouse:

(Note to self--find a free unwanted wire corn crib and bring it home!)

Linked to skywatch friday.

Wire Corn Cribs

There is something about this set of wire corn cribs--silhouetted against the ever changing sky at the top of a hill on a neatly kept up little farm--that sings to my soul.

The day I finally stopped to take a picture, the sky was clear blue, but I also love seeing them against cloud filled skies as well.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Dandelion Field

Linked to skywatch friday.

Earth and Sky

Winter is the time of silver days...

...when earth and sky are one.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

"...a barn is a whole universe..."

"Inside a barn is a whole universe, with its own time zone and climate and ecosystem, a shadowy world of swirling dust illuminated in tiger stripes by light shining through the cracks in the boards."

--Carolyn Jourden (Heart in the Right Place)

50 Miles From Home

I don't mind a lot of driving when the scenery looks like this.

Greeting the New Year

I got up this morning hoping to greet the first sunrise of the new year. But nature had other plans and I was met with a cold drizzling rain. I went for a walk anyway. On a whim I decided to walk down a road that I haven't been on before, and discovered that is is more picturesque than my regular route with a small abandoned cemetery by the side of the road, several old barns, two small streams, and  a farm that still has cows in the pasture.

And the nice part is that the road loops back around onto the road the we live on.

Two different views of one of the old barns.

I don't have many goals for the new year beyond surviving the learning curve of my new job. If I can get through the winter with finishing my charting on time and not accidentally driving off a bridge on my way home in the dark and sleeting rain,  occasionally cooking real food and vacuuming the house, I will call it good.   But if there is one this I'd like to work on a bit this year, it is to be slightly more adventurous. Even if it as simple as taking a different road on my walk.

I am quite shy and not an adventurous person by nature and am realizing that because of that  life can pass me by. I would hate to come to the end of my life and all I have to show for it is that I went to work each day and did a bit of house work.

What about you? Any goals for 2012?

Linked to Homestead Revival's barn hop.

Rainbow Sunset

Wintery Barn

We woke up to temps of 5 degrees and frost on the trees yesterday morning.

The red horse barn with its little farm house and 5 acres of land sold a few months ago for only $47,000.  (Yes, we did entertained the idea of buying it--if there had been a way to just buy the barn and a the few acres that surround it, we would have done it.) Neighborhood sources tell us that a local family with horses are moving in in February. It will be really nice to see horses in the pasture on the other side of our fence.

(A glimpse of the farm house is the background of this photo.)

Smile!

A happy little farm that I passed on my way to see one of my patients today.

My sick chicken and the little animal barn

As fun and entertaining as chickens are, they have no compassion and no mercy when it comes to their fellow chickens and can be downright mean to newcomers and those who are hurt and weak. Not that I am faulting them for it, that is just how chickens are, and as chicken owners we have to find ways to work with them and keep everyone from getting hurt.

One of my hens hurt her leg a few weeks ago and lost a lot of her strength and the ability to scratch for worms and dig in the dirt. It soon became evident the the other hens were picking on her, stealing her food, and chasing her away from the feeder. It got to the point where she would just cower in the corner or limp in the other direction if the other hens even came near. When she started loosing massive amounts of feathers, and was getting weaker, I realized that if I kept in her with the rest of the hens, she would never get the nutrition she needs to heal, and might even starve to death.

New feathers coming in!

So I fixed her up a cozy little spot in the animal barn to sleep at night and let her free range all by herself for several hours each day before letting the other four hens out of the chicken coop to make sure she gets some peace and quiet and the first choice of bugs and kitchen scraps. She perked up in a couple of days after being separated, new feathers are growing in, and her leg has healed enough for her to start doing some minor digging again. She is still terrified of the other hens and runs in the other direction when I let them out to free range.
The little barn. It doesn't look like much on the outside, but it is warm and cozy on the inside.

One of the stalls inside the barn with a warming light.

I thought she might try to roost in the coop at night, but no, she heads off to the little barn instead of going to the coop with the other chickens. And that is just fine with me.

Grey Barns

Farm Country

Photos from today's walk.

Barns make me feel happy. All I need to do is see one, and I feel better. I guess that is the farm girl in me. I love the smell of them , too.
Abandoned farm equipment in a farmers field.


it was a dark and stormy morning...but if you look closely, you can see a rainbow in the corn.
Butterbur...it grows along the edges of cornfields.
Golden soybeans...there are acres and acres of them.
I live in corn and soybean country, that is for sure.

Canadian geese where able to stay in a perfect line, despite the strong wind.