Beyond the Buildings

I know that some of you have wonderful memories of the farm beyond the buildings.  As a relative newcomer to the family - OK it's been about 20 years - most of my farm activity is confined to the area near the house and buildings.  Only twice have I ventured out into the fields - and the land beyond.

A few weeks ago, Helen took John and I out back for a walk in the woods.  If memory serves me right, it had been 6 years since I'd been back there.

After walking across the alfalfa fields, and beside the corn field, we came to the spot where we thought the trail into the woods should be.  The trail was overgrown and hard to locate, but we we eventually found our way and spent some time alongside the swamps located back in the woods.

There's lots of water this year, though you could tell it had been higher.  The shoreline was walkable but damp where the water had recently receded.

Here we see John and Helen observing the shoreline.  There were a variety of waterfowl - not the usual ones (Canada Geese and Mallards).  I did not bring my binoculars but I believe there were a number of blue winged teal, along with some wood ducks.  We also saw phoebes who perched in trees near the swamp and flew out to gather insects hovering over the water.

On the walk back to the farm we took the scenic route so Helen could show us the deer stand.  Both John and I climbed up (and I took the picture below).  There were a number of bees circling around us in the stand.  Recalling Winnie-the-Pooh (and my bee sting allergies), we thought it best to climb down before they attacked.

It's amazing how green everything was - only a month ago.  Last weekend the grasses and trees were dry as a bone and leaves were beginning to fall.