Jul 2007

November 7, 2007....Each early morning the past two days our outdoor cat George has brought up a baby cottontail rabbit to the back porch.....

Our peacock is missing today....He will usually come to my call when I yell "pea....cock" while holding a soup size can of wild bird feed. I am fearing for his saftey. The peahen is sticking up closer to the farmhouse than usual. I believe there is a particular set of coyotes that have been preying on our livestock for a few years. This particular peacock was the survivor of a set of five peacocks, four of whom were lost last year, only feathers of one had been found. Our farm has a creek on the backside with substantial floodplain and vegetation up and down the creek and a very wild area which also is between the creek and our domesticated animals....

We are one or two days away from the birth of twin barbado sheep to add to our herd of eight...They have been very important in keeping down the grass...We are very vulnerable to grassfire this year as we had record rainfall through the summer....I have added to their range to help control the threat of grassfire.....This same brush has enabled the coyotes to silently get nearer the farmstead....