farm

every once in a while, ander asks me to take him to the farm. he loves to see the boars and sows and piglets. snuffling snouts and wagging tails, cloven hoofs and floppy ears. the grunts and the squeals. the wiggles of active nursing and finding a place in the napping pile.

last month, when i took these photos, i got to watch a farrier. i had seen videos of what farriers do, but it was much richer in sensation to observe in person. the smell of the barn, the sounds and movements of the horse and the person holding it while the farrier was busy at work. great care is taken in this job, and i appreciate viewing that care between and among humans and horses.

temple hall temptations

i have been taking various members of my family to temple hall farm for years. this time i went for myself, and to introduce a neighborhood family to its immersive farm experience. farmer emily made sure our time there was entertaining and educational. she knows so much about the farm!

i got to feed a five week old calf his bottle, and then let him suck on my fingers to pacify him. the inside of a cow's mouth is, as expected, wet, but the tongue is soft and there are no top teeth to bite and it's like a massage for my hand.

i was also too busy petting the chickens to take a picture of them. we got to be right in the enclosure with them. i remember wanting to keep hens when we lived in california. i wish we could have some here, but we don't have the space or the permissions to do so.

these boys had rock star names like ozzy and motley

kevin the peacock

mama peahen has three chicks

male turkeys showing off but keeping their distance from the peacock chicks

african geese are loud

dolly, reba, and another country music star i can't remember

goats

kit the draft horse and his pygmy donkey companion

sheep

a lovely afternoon

we meant to go peach and plum picking, but it turns out the tractor pulled us to the black raspberry field instead, so that's what we picked. extreme heat didn't keep us from enjoying a visit to great country farms with our friends. it reminded us fondly of good times with good friends at u-pick farms back in northern california.

chicken tenders! and lemonade!

flatbread for the teen

burrito for mom

panning for stones - one of the teen's favorite activity. he came home with a damp pocket full of treasured rocks.

gorgeous day on the farm

feeding the sweet baby goats

on the way to the picking field

black raspberries at varying stages of ripeness