Visitors

I was doing dishes and looked up and out toward the large pasture when I spotted a couple of visitors grazing away out there.

I naturally grabbed my camera and ran outside. Though I was quiet as a mouse, she heard the shutter of my camera.

Then was off in a flash.

Leaving behind her fawn who had no idea mom had abandoned him.

And continued running about and playing in the pasture until I nearly walked upon him. Then, like his mother, was off in a flash.

But these two weren't our only visitors to the farm today. As I mentioned in the previous post, we have a special guest staying with us. His name is Joey.

He is here to hopefully impregnate Pixie. Fingers crossed we have a foal next spring.

Visitor

We found a visitor in the greenhouse this morning.

See him?

And we have the first sign of spring on the first day of spring.  Granted, it was found indoors but it gives me hope.

If you Plant it, They Will Come

Or that line from Field of Dreams comes from goes. I didn't plant anything necessarily, but did "plant" or hung my birdhouse outside my dining room window in hopes of catching some Bluejay photos.  And guess what?  They came.

Deep Freeze

This morning we woke to the farm blanketed in hip deep snow.

And tonight the area is going to be hit with below zero degrees weather like it's never seen before.

Environment Canada has sent out warnings, advised us to raise the temperatures overnight and to keep a tap running so pipes don't freeze.

So we prepared today for this unusual deep freeze occurrence.

We chopped lots of wood and stacked enough for both fireplaces for a couple days. My horses are usually outdoors 24/7 year round however with the -35 forecasted, we decided it would be safer to bring them inside.  This meant we had to do some rearranging.  One of our horse stalls was housing all of our straw so we moved it out and across the aisle instead.

This left the stalls open for the horses.  Sierra is our only full-size horse left on the farm which meant that we could double up in stalls.

This did mean however that the goats were booted from their stall and forced to move in with the sheep.

Which in turn meant Dodge, the ram, had to leave the sheep pen and shack up with Caesar, the billy goat.  Ya, that's going well.

They\ll get over it so I'm not overly concerned.  However, this leaves no empty stalls for my maternity pen.  And I have a ewe who is due any day or week.  I've put her in the nursing pen with the newborns and their mothers and have my fingers crossed she won't deliver until we build something for her.

Back outside, we called in the Calvary, or er the neighbours, as the snow was far too deep for our usual snow plow truck driver.

The fireplaces have been burning all day log and getting the house nice and warm in preparation for tonight's deep freeze.  I'd like to think I'm ready, but time will only tell.

Nest

I discovered we have a huge, HUGE, hornet's nest in the large maple tree out front.

I had no idea what breed of hornet it was so asked my Facebook friend's and we all know if you ask it on Facebook, you shall be answered.  They are the Bald-Faced Hornet.  One of the most aggressive breeds of hornets.  Joy.

Was going to call in the exterminator but at a charge of $140, think we'll just leave it until winter and remove it then.  Thankfully, it's located in the front yard, not in an area we spend much time in.

Today

We woke to find the turtle had company once again in the empty pond.

At first we thought it was a groundhog, but it's rat tail gave this muskrat away.

The Bambino heard about the plight of the bumblebees so we went around the property looking for bees.  We had no problems finding any.

The meat chicks still live.

The man spraying my neighbour's corn fields, did the courteous thing and came over to worn me he would be flying over the horses and didn't want to spook them.  I assured him they would be fine and I was right!!

Even the mini's did fantastic, including young Blossom who followed the example of the older horses and learned the helicopter was nothing to fear.

The sheep, however, were another matter.  They spook at everything, so indoors they went.  Which gave me the chance to use our new-to-us hay feeder out.

Back at the pond, Sydney and Jewel are obsessed at the new pond occupants.

And I have a new favourite love.

But don't worry, Aussie, mommy still loves you best.

Giant Swallowtail

The Bambino has a huge interest and fascination with wild life.  His favourite show is Wild Kratts, he watches it four times a day if not more.  And it seems they never have an unending supply of new material.  He soaks it up and is constantly drilling us with information.  I love it.  One of the things I love about homeschooling is that children learn best when they self-teach themselves.  In other words, they choose the subject, and put as much time and energy into it as they want.  And since it is a lesson they chose for themselves, you are guaranteed interest, and with interest comes learning.  A child (or adult) learns best when they are sincerely interested.  They become a sponge.

Sometimes I fear that his lessons are far too much tv oriented so I will take him to the library where he consumes as much books and info on wildlife as he can.  But the best part of learning is always found right in his own backyard.  One of the wonderful thing about Wild Kratts is they just don't focus on the big impressive animals like lions, elephants, or giraffes, but also on the smallest lizard or insect.

Yesterday we had a visit from a a beautiful black and yellow butterfly with spots on it's back that looked like it was smiling.  It's belly was even more impressive displaying a bright golden underside.  We had no idea what type it was so took to the computer to find out.  Before Wild Kratts, the Bambino would have paid no attention tot he butterfly and would have passed it off as just another butterfly.  But the show has triggered his interest in all creatures and his desire to learn more about them.  So it was to the world wide web we went to discover this beauty is called Papilio Cresphontes, aka the Giant Swallowtail.  Canada's largest butterfly with a wingspan of 83 to 113 mm.  She is also super friendly and had no fear of us humans.

My Hero

Once upon a time there was a woman who lived in the most enchanted place but she was very miserable as the place was also inhabited by many, many frogs who croaked all night long not allowing the woman to sleep.  She became very, very tired and thought she would have to leave her enchanted place but then one day a hero arrived in the form of a turtle and ate all the little frogs up.  Silence filled the nights once again and the woman was finally able to sleep.  The end.

Visitor

We had a visitor in the back yard today.

Living across from a 200 hectre swamp often means we have all sorts of visitors, but this turtle was our first.

Most don't make it across the road.  The Bambino got a kick out of seeing it but back to the swamp it had to go.

This guy was the snapping kind and not only do we have bare toes running about in the long grass, but some very curious noses.