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Nightingale, Annie, and Me

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Nightingale is my last horse. She was born here as was her mother, Jessie Anne. One by one Jessie Anne and her mother Polly grew old and crossed the Rainbow Bridge. My beloved gelding, Mr. Smith, was the last one left with Nightingale. Then in 2022, he, too, passed on. Nightingale was devastated. She cried and cried but there was no one to answer her. It was heartbreaking. No matter how much attention I gave her, it was not enough. She called and called. But then...  Nightingale found Annie, our livestock guardian dog. And decided, near as we can figure, that Annie was her foal. They became inseparable. If Annie escaped the field, which she loved to do, Nightingale went out with her and they explored the neighborhood together. We learned to be very careful keeping gates securely shut.   Gradually, Nightingale stopped searching for her former herd mates. She has never stopped keeping track of her surrogate "foal" Annie.   This year, 2025, Nightingale is 21 years old and st...
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The Hay is in the Barn!!

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It's been a busy week on the Fink Family Farm. The hay is baled and in the barn! First was mowing...   Then raking...   Baling...                                                                                                                ...with neighbor Paul on the baler... The last load...                                               ...with friend Mary driving the tractor...   And lots of time spent fixing equipment between operations... by Johnny, of course...                             ...
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It's Haying Time on the Farm

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  Whew! I just spent an hour trying to get signed in to google so I could write another blog post. Google sure doesn't make this easy. I would love to have a blog somewhere else but I haven't been able to navigate any other site. It's not easy being old and technologically challenged in this day and age. What I know how to do is grow plants and animals, milk goats, and help with putting up hay for our horse and goats. So far, Johnny has cut and raked the first of the hay. Neighbor Paul baled the first bit and we moved that into the llama-barn-turned-horse-barn. Tomorrow more hay will be baled and we will move that into the goat barn. I got things a bit out of order so am revising here...  Johnny cut, raked, and neighbor Paul baled the tall grass around the barn for the horse. Friend Mary drove the tractor pulling the loaded trailer to the horse barn. I had loaded the nice light bales and Johnny stacked. If only it were all that easy! Here's Johnny cutting the South fiel...
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The Greenhouse is Abloom

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  Outdoors, some flowers are able to rise above the over-achieving grass and weeds...     These cheerful yellow flowers are Leopard's Bane and are, presumably, the reason we have no leopards in our yard
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Full Flower Moon

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Last night I was surprised to see a full moon on the eastern horizon. I didn't realize those empty pale circles on our calendars signified a full moon. They look like empty moons to me. I hurried outside to get a photo as it was behind trees and, I thought, about to disappear. I've since learned it must have just been coming up as it was supposed to stay up until 5 in the morning. However, the clouds must have parted just then to allow me to see it. My photo is pitiful. Too bad I haven't learned how to lighten photos with the new programs I have on this new computer. Just one of the many things I don't know how to do.  May's full moon is called, I learned from the internet, a Flower Moon because May is the month wild flowers bloom. This site tells more: https://www.space.com/stargazing/the-2025-full-flower-moon-rises-tonight-heres-how-to-see-it Although my photo is pitiful, a Flower Moon gives me an excuse to post the wildflowers that have been blooming in our woods...
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A Mother's Day on the Farm

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A pleasantly cool day to tour the woods and wildflowers. Starting with the common camas that are still blooming in the arboretum...  Then, I motored my electric EZ Go (I don't walk so great anymore) into the woods and checked out the little Sitka Spruces I've planted. They're growing! But I didn't take photos this time. Onward into the woods to check the tiger lilies... not yet blooming... the ones that have not had their buds eaten by deer, who seem to love tiger lilies. Hopefully, there will be flowers to photograph next time. Next I found the apparent False Solomon's Seal that I had found on a deer trail not yet in bloom last time I checked. Since then, the deer had found it and chomped off all the flowers... It appears to be a Star Solomon's Seal, Smilacina stellata.   Onward to the creek trail where the deer had bypassed this similar looking, but not so glossy-leaved flower, branched Solomon's Seal, Smilacina racemosa...   And then, close to Agency Cre...
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