We have some new visitors in the neighborhood.

A flock of Canadian geese has taken up residence in our big front field every morning for the last two weeks or so. I’m a little frustrated that most of my pictures are either far away or of them moving away. They don’t get “scared” when we’re around, they just turn and mosey off across the field and all I get are pictures of their tails. It sounds very Fall-ish as they honk on their fly-overs.

As usual, everyone else on the farm is {shrug} undisturbed.

We’re not quite so casual about the owl family that seems to have taken up residence as well. You may recall the great pictures Mr. Fix-It got of a Great Horned Owl on the power line. Well, they’ve made themselves comfortable in the area and we see them regularly hunting between our property and the neighbors’ pine trees across the road. Usually in the evening. Especially in rainy weather like recent days.

This makes me a little nervous. I love wildlife, don’t get me wrong. And I love birds of prey. I could study them for hours. However, they tend to eat other things I care about as well, and that’s not cool. Turns out that an owl can take down a goose (hmm…things could get interesting around here!) so that means a chicken would be pretty much no contest. We haven’t lost any yet, so no harm no foul. But I’m keeping an eye on the Pixie!

The predator/prey cycle is pretty interesting here in real life, in the backyard. Remember my coyote sighting a few months ago? Well, so far our stock has continued to be left alone. Hopefully the resident owl will end up being the same. I don’t mind co-existing–I enjoy it actually!–as long as they’re not eating my food. Or pets. I mean, there’s not much around here that could take Penny out, but if something comes along, we’re not ok with that either–just for the record.

Mr. Fix-It’s probably neutral on the barn cats, but Liberty sticks pretty close to the house and no hunting carnivores should be comfortable coming that close to our house!

This weekend is the County Fair. We won’t be at the Fair this year, but if you’re in the area, it should be a lot of fun. We always had a blast (although it was a lot of work!). But Fair weekend means we don’t have soccer this weekend, which is good for us since we’ll be home with customers coming by to pick out and put down deposits for lamb. Our harvest day will probably be either the 3rd or 4th of October this year and we’ll likely be sold out by the end of the day on Saturday.

If you have any questions about that, please feel free to email us, or message us on Facebook.

We’ll still have eggs, chickens, and breeding stock for sale if you’re in the market. We’re downsizing this year, so we have some great, proven ewes for sale. They’d be perfect for someone new to sheep, as they’re all known easy-keepers and dependable lambers.

In the meantime, reader-friends, I have a question for you. Do you prefer pictures in a post, even if they’re bad (like the shadowy, grainy, rainy, I’m-an-amateur, pictures above) or do you prefer no pictures unless they’re pretty good? I like to capture the moment and the memory, even if it’s not a great image. (Translation, I accept my own weaknesses!) And I like to share those moments with you! Honestly, the farm life is so busy, hands-on, snatch-your-camera-before-it’s-trampled-or-eaten, put-that-down-and-get-over-here that blurry and grainy is sometimes all I have!

But how do YOU feel? Pictures, or no pictures? Or only good pictures? 

Have a good weekend!

See where I’m sharing…