Galloway Farm

A recent quick shot of Persimmon, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  She’s a herding dog.  She herds the goats, the sheep, the cat, the kids…  She also loves to hang out anytime I’m doing work on the farm.

I came across this creature recently and just about missed him.  He’s really well camouflaged to hide from predators.  No idea what type of bug this is.  Shout if you have a guess.

“Bottoming out” trees, or cutting off the lower branches takes a bushy looking/overgrown tree and lets you see through the tree to what is beyond it.  This opens up your yard in a great way and also makes the trees looks great.  

Notice in the first picture of these two chestnut trees, how your view nearly stops with the tree. 

click the picture for a bigger look

In the after picture, you get to enjoy the trunk and branches more.  Notice how you can see past the trees to view in the distance. 

Chestnuts in their prickly husks that will turn brown and drop off the tree for fall squirrel treats.

I passed this young doe on another property near ours as I was driving away this week.  I never get tired of seeing deer up close.

Talk about raw power, this monster does one thing and one thing well!  This is Roger Neale and his heavy-duty stump grinder.  This thing eats stumps for breakfast.  Check out the before and after pics…not even roots are left in the ground when this thing gets done.

BEFORE

AFTER

One of my favorite parts of the farm…our 250 year old Beech Tree.  That puts its first birthday around the year 1760.  If trees could talk, this one could tell us some stories I’m sure.

This picture is taken several hundred feet away from this large tree.  For comparison sake, look at the bottom of the tree and you’ll see my son Charles standing next to the trunk.

A close up of the trunk (and Charles).

These holes are homes to all sorts of wildlife.

The branches on this tree are larger than the trunks of my 100 year old trees on the farm.

Our newborn bluebirds are starting to show some blue feathers!

Looks like our apples are coming right along!  For some reason, this tree didn’t bear fruit last year so this is our first real experience with apples.  They showed up in early spring and grow very slowly.  My guess is that they’ll turn red and ripen in late summer or early fall; but that’s just a guess.  Sure will be fun to eat them when they are ready.   Kids enjoy trying to eat them now; but they always come away with a sour face.  : )

This apple tree is approx 20 ft tall.

Here you can see our newborn bluebirds are starting to take shape and look more like birds than in our first picture a few days ago.  If you look closely, you can make out their closed eyes and beaks.  It looks like there are four in the nest. 

6:45 am.  Mornings are always peaceful and quiet at the farm.  This fog seems to add to the stillness before the day gets busy.