Life on a farm includes caring for a multitude of crops and animals. I grow herbs and veggies for drying and canning and always enjoy making hoards of apple butter from our various apple trees. Yet growing, tending, and cutting flowers is what really makes my heart soar! Even
dividing bulbs, rhizomes, and hostas is great fun as it means I get more free plants to disperse. This love of flowers has provided other surprises I’ve come to enjoy as much as finding new buds on a
lilac or
peony bush:
butterfly and
bird watching.
Gardening is a never-ending learning experience full of experimentation and wonder just like my on-going appreciation for our winged and feathered friends. I observe these avian beauties with awe and curiosity to understand how they live, what and how they eat, and where they raise their young. Recognizing the subtle color variations of similar birds and knowing the names of the most strikingly beautiful birds (like the
Indigo Bunting) has become as second nature to me as spying weeds from a distance among my flowerbeds. In Iowa, gardening is a three-season affair with the winter months dragging at a snail's pace. The few plants I winter indoors like pink geraniums don’t nearly satisfy my green thumb, so I’ve come to appreciate bird watching for its year-round appeal.
Of course, anytime I feed the birds our cows have gotten the idea that means I will have something for them too. Just before our two mama cows had calved last spring, I began feeding them cracked corn/protein and carried it to their feed trough in a bucket. I also use a (different) bucket to carry the birdseed to refill my birdfeeders. So now, anytime the cows see me toting a bucket around, they saunter to the fence and stare me down often mooing to get my attention. I don’t feed them cracked corn now but I do keep extra apples in the fridge as they enjoy eating them almost as much as the corn. I got in the habit of feeding them apples from our apple trees to get rid of the bruised, fallen, and unsavory ones. The experience has taught me that cows have good eyesight (probably better than mine without my glasses).
Life on a farm includes caring for a multitude of crops and animals. I grow herbs and veggies for drying and canning and always enjoy making hoards of apple butter from our various apple trees. Yet growing, tending, and cutting flowers is what really makes my heart soar! Even dividing bulbs, rhizomes, and hostas is great fun as it means I get more free plants to disperse. This love of flowers has provided other surprises I’ve come to enjoy as much as finding new buds on a lilac or peony bush: butterfly and bird watching.
Gardening is a never-ending learning experience full of experimentation and wonder just like my on-going appreciation for our winged and feathered friends. I observe these avian beauties with awe and curiosity to understand how they live, what and how they eat, and where they raise their young. Recognizing the subtle color variations of similar birds and knowing the names of the most strikingly beautiful birds (like the Indigo Bunting) has become as second nature to me as spying weeds from a distance among my flowerbeds. In Iowa, gardening is a three-season affair with the winter months dragging at a snail's pace. The few plants I winter indoors like pink geraniums don’t nearly satisfy my green thumb, so I’ve come to appreciate bird watching for its year-round appeal.
Of course, anytime I feed the birds our cows have gotten the idea that means I will have something for them too. Just before our two mama cows had calved last spring, I began feeding them cracked corn/protein and carried it to their feed trough in a bucket. I also use a (different) bucket to carry the birdseed to refill my birdfeeders. So now, anytime the cows see me toting a bucket around, they saunter to the fence and stare me down often mooing to get my attention. I don’t feed them cracked corn now but I do keep extra apples in the fridge as they enjoy eating them almost as much as the corn. I got in the habit of feeding them apples from our apple trees to get rid of the bruised, fallen, and unsavory ones. The experience has taught me that cows have good eyesight (probably better than mine without my glasses).
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