Sassy & Sweet Notes

What's Growin' on the Farm (Video)

Took some video clips this evening showing the progress of some of the garden veggies, the wildflowers in the pastures, and COWS!

If you're not able to view the video here on my blog, you will find it here on YouTube.

Enjoy!

More Cows, More Blue Bonnets

Thought I'd step out into the pasture today to see what the cows were up to. The blue bonnets are lovely, and smell so sweet!

Dust was laying down, but got up when I got close enough for a nice photo. At least she stood pretty for me!

Houdini had better things to do than stand around posing for me, so his photo is an "action shot".

Pixie's little one was enjoying a snooze in the flowers. Isn't she just the cutest thing!?

Manetta's Valentine is growing up so fast! Her hair is bleaching out from all the sunshine we've been having. She wasn't to sure about me visiting them in the pasture. She's got her eye on me!

Eventually she got up, and had to stop and scratch an itch. Ha!

Chick was really enjoying her afternoon nap, the scent of the flowers, and the light breeze.

Pixie and her little one (we haven't named her yet!) look so cute in the flowers! The 2013 On the Farm calendar will have at least one of today's photos in it, I think!

After all the cows got up from their naps, back up to the barn they went. Time for a drink, I imagine!

Cows and Blue Bonnets...

Today in the pasture...  More to come!

Give This Photo a Caption

Love ... Exciting and, uh, confused?

It would seem that Baaaaad Boxcar Betty and Albert are in love. What a sweet boy, giving her smooches on the cheek! 

Albert licks her face... Betty seems to really enjoy it. Oddly enough, she's been afraid of all the other calves we've had in the barnyard with the two goats. There must be something special about Albert...

*Smooooooches!*

Whispering sweet nothings in her ear? Or in search of milk? Perhaps he's not the brightest fella! *grin*

Just keep the barnyard antics to a minimum, you two lovebirds!

Bingo! A High Hopes Challenge

There's a challenge on the High Hopes blog, and it's a "bingo" challenge. I chose the bingo card's top line: Flowers, Ribbon/Lace/Twine, Buttons. Get all the details on the High Hopes blog. The challenge runs until next Monday night, so I encourage you to play along! For my card, I chose to use this cute tea pot image called Laurie's Teapot. The image is colored with a combination of Touch Twin and Copic markers.

Jeepers... is it Friday, yet?! I'm looking forward to the weekend!!

An Anniversary, and a Sunset

First, here's wishing Mom and Dad a wonderful, happy anniversary! 42 years, if my math is correct! Wish we could be with you to help celebrate ... or, at least have some cake!

And, what a lovely sunset we had this evening as the last of the big storm moved off to the west of us. Thought I'd share it with you! Going....

Going.....

Gone.

Thanks for checkin' in!

2012 Garden Map

 

(Click on photo for larger view.)

 

I updated my garden map to show this year's planting plans. I've got about 75% of the garden planted already, and things are starting to pop up! We've got a good showing of peas and radishes, and the beets, spinach, and carrots are starting to make an appearance. I'll need to pickup some tomato and pepper plants at the nursery (didn't get my seeds started last month), and I may bring home some Ranunculus flowers, too. I do love them.

I need to decide on what else to plant in the cucumber bed. I have the cucumbers set so they grow up a trellis down the center of the bed, which leaves the outside edges of the bed available for something else. Maybe something will get my attention at the nursery...

Something that's missing from this year's garden are Patty Pan Squash. I haven't found any seed yet ... bummers! EDITED: Found some seeds!! YAY!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm wearing green today ... are YOU!?

*pinch pinch!*

Garden Girl available at Whipper Snapper Designs.

A New Wee One!

Monday afternoon our cow Pixie delivered a cute little dun colored heifer calf! She had her during the sunny part of the day, down by the pond. We've been expecting her to deliver, but as obstinate as she is, we were not able to get her into the barnyard prior to the delivery. In fact, we weren't able to get her into the barnyard AFTER the delivery, either! I think we've determined the next COW we'll be selling!

The calf was just a few hours old when I saw her out in the pasture. I popped right on out to take some photos. She had already been standing and nursing, so things were going well.

We're glad that Pixie delivered her baby shortly after Pixie Dust delivered her calf (Manetta's Valentine). Now the two will be good friends and playmates.

Speaking of little Manetta, here she is with her mama, Pixie Dust. They were down by the pond when I went to check on the new baby. Enjoying the sunshine!

Garden Update & the Weather

After the bit of rain we had over the past few days, I was happy to be able to get some work in the garden done today! I'm really happy about it too, because by the look of our 10 day forecast hopefully the seeds will get some much needed rain! There's still LOADS of work to do in the garden, but at least I've made a small dent.

Here's what got planted today:
Zinnias
Sunflowers
Onions (two types)
Spinach
Carrots
Radishes (two types)
A little bit of lettuce
A few broccoli (never grown here -- just a test)
A few cauliflower (never grown here -- just a test)
Peas
Garlic Chives

I didn't get tomato seeds started yet (I had hoped to get them started a month or more ago), so I will most likely just pick up a few plants at the store one of these days.

What's left?
Zuccihini
Cucumbers (several types)
Tomatoes
Beans
Squash
More Spinach!
More Radishes!
...what else? ... I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

High Hopes Spring Release

High Hopes is celebrating March with a small spring release. Get all the details on the High Hopes blog. I hear there are some prizes being given out as well! I do love prizes, don't you!?! My card features Laurie's Garden Angel. She's pretty cute, I say!

Pop on over to the High Hopes blog for all the details.

We're expecting a big storm to roll through over the next few days ... we can use the rain, for sure! And lucky for Alan, the clouds are blocking the full moon. I get a little crazy during a full moon, so maybe I'll be a little LESS crazy this month! Haa!

A High Hopes Sneak...

High Hopes Stamps has a small spring release tomorrow. How about a sneak peek!?

Find all the details on the High Hopes blog.

Working the Calves

We are selling some of the calves later this week, so this evening Alan and I had a little rodeo in the barnyard. I only snapped a few photos -- there's not a lot of time for taking photos when I'm doing half of the work and need to be focused on operating the chute while Alan's moving the cows. We try to make the process safe, quick, and easy on the animals, and us. It was their first time in the chute, but they all did surprisingly well.

When it was Cassinova's turn in the chute, he pouted. Our chute is sized for full-sized animals, and well... even our adult Dexters don't fill the chute. When we're working with the smaller critters, we find it works best if we steady their heads with a rope wrapped around their horns. It keeps them up on their feet, and keeps them from bonking their head around on the chute rails.

Here is Cassinova just before I gave him his vaccination shot. Doesn't he look thrilled? They all took their shots really well, especially Cassinova. He didn't make a sound, and not a single tear was shed -- not even by me! *grin*

Here Alan is getting ready to set one of Cassinova's ear tags. Alan looks closely at the ear to make sure he doesn't hit a blood vessel when he clamps the tag into place. He's very good at setting ear tags .... piercings, anyone?

Pixie Stix wasn't too thrilled about the entire process. But now she's all ready to go to her new home. Moooo!

Beautiful Day!

It is such a beautiful day here today, and the neighbor's cows say hello!

Tomorrow is Sue's birthday (Alan's mother), so I'm cooking up a nice dinner for us all tonight. Roasted chicken, garden pasta salad, corn, and fresh bread. For desert, lemon cake for the girls, and brownies for the boys. Mmmmm...

Hope your day is just as beautiful!