2016 Trip to the Farm

Northland Sheep Dairy

This year’s trip is at an end, but true-to-form I took enough photos to make even the hardiest city slicker feel like he was right there with us. Even though we took this annual sojourn over a week earlier than usual, we completely missed making hay, and instead we helped harvest the garlic crop—a much less strenuous endeavor.

(Click on the pics to view all flu size images)

Leaving our home base I was diligent in checking the forecast for our drive. The day began with promises of afternoon rain in Marathon, NY, to the tune of over 60%. However, by the time we arrived, the chance was under 10%. They’re having a pretty serious drought. Instead of gray skies and fat splashes of water, we were greeted with a very showy cloud display and seriously high temperatures.

Even with these dry conditions, the in-laws’ gardens were impressive; veggies galore and a shocking stand of sunflowers.

You know I’ve considered growing garlic in the orchard, but never got around to it. Getting to see the fat fragrant bulbs, and liberate them from the parched ground inspired me to get a move on. I’m definitely going to plant a stand or two of the beneficial roots in the coming months!

Hubby and I would make awesome garlic farmers!

As always, we had a blast. Sunrise is the most spectacular time of day…duckies are waking, pigs, and sheep need feeding, horses and mules are being moved or trained (or both), and there’s always work to be done on the farm, and we hit a neighbor's pool and splashed around with some friendly peacocks and peahens (sorta) :