The New Look from Google

Well imagine my surprise when I found Google Maps had updated the satellite image for our region this summer.
I thought it looks pretty amazing with the new fences and barn restoration.
It shows our farm in early June with our first cut of hay down, I have labeled the paddocks, fields and gardens. I love the fact you can see our new Orchard, but I have to admit the photo reminds me of the one roof we still have to replace, the Utility building.

Now you can see how our system has been setup. The laneway is on a semi-flat strip of land and paddocks 1,2,3,5 and 6 all slope away or downhill from it. Paddock 4 is a bit higher than the laneway. The slope of the land did make gate placement a royal pain. It is the one less than ideal piece of otherwise a very easy system to work.

There is a working gate between paddock 4 and the hayfield. Paddock 4 and the South field are almost fully secure, they are fenced with double twist woven wire with a high tensile, hot cap wire to stop anything from leaning on it. We like the option of these more secure paddocks for lambing and calving. The South field has the lean to in it. It is full width of the tobacco barn and we are finding the extra expense to build it more and more valuable.

The entire perimeter of original barbed wire has been upgraded with the addition of two high tensile wires that we can run as hot.

I am seeing so many people rush to get animals and they ignore the perimeter of their land, instead they decide to use electric netting instead. After the expense of this fence work however, we are even more convinced a top quality perimeter fence is invaluable. The permanent cross fences we have are a luxury. Electric netting or single hot wires would be just fine if we didn’t have the permanent fencing. We designed the paddocks to suit the addition of single dividing hot wires as we learn the art of grazing this farm. The security of it all relies on the strong and well built perimeter fence. It keeps our stock safe and contained on the farm, even if we forget to close a gate or Mischeif unhooks one of the chain latch’s.

It was a year ago that we made the final plans to get the fence and barn work done. It is a joy to use the paddocks and barn.

The sound of livestock and the chores are keeping us happy, busy and entertained to no end.

Our First Ice Storm

It's a sparkling, tinkling wonderland outside this morning. We had a small ice storm go through. Officially our first ice storm here. We have had freezing rain before but this was heavier right from the start. It is beautiful but I could hear tree limb snapping in the woods to the west as it got heavier.

The trees across the road have broken tops and one of the willow around the pond has broken off at a fork. There are tree branches drooping everywhere. The sun is working its magic though and the sound of falling ice and water is everywhere.

Our Old Oak is fine, although it is rather droopy...it still bears scars from a severe Ice Storm years ago and I worry about it during any storm. It is the tree of my heart!

 

 The Oak

 One of the Maples in front of the House

 Looking South East

 The Flowering Quince, it will be blooming in December, it continues to amaze me with its beautiful pinkish flowers in Spring and Fall.

The view toward the Park, so bright and sparkling.

It is lovely and crisp out, the chickens are glad its sunny today, they do love to roam to forage and bad weather means storm stayed in the barn. Even though the barn is big and has lots of things to scratch it is just NOT grass and stuff out on the farm!

The new chicks are turning into wonderful young pullets and if your looking into new hens you really might want to look at the New Hampshire Red, we are very impressed with our Accidental Hens. They are very friendly, growing well and are sure free ranging. They are uniform in size and a lovely red color. They are sassy too and always come to see if we have feed and demanding if it is time for a snack.

Now its time to go and clean the barn. I have more blogs in the works, and as winter nears find I am doing more inside again. I do love being outside in good weather.

The cattle are fine and we are enjoying milk every day. Life is good.

God Bless you all!