Sunday on the farm

This is my second time writing this post.  I got it all ready and then it disappeared into the ether.  That first post was probably Pulitzer prize worthy (we'll never know) but the redo can't possibly match up.

                                                                                     

After a hearty Waffle House brunch, Craig and I headed over to the farm Sunday afternoon to get some chores done.  We want to get our veggie garden planted soon, but first we needed to disc it (again) and deer-proof it.  Our original plan was to fence in the whole garden, but since it is our first year I thought we might not want to go permanent quite yet.  So we opted to build large cages around the plants instead.  Here's hoping the deer respect our decision!

I knew we have several rolls of fencing in various places around the farm, as well as whatever might be in the barns, so my first order of business was locating the right materials.  It was a bit of a scavenger hunt.  The first roll of fencing was conveniently close to the garden, right by my new compost pile.  However, upon closer inspection I discovered that roll had several trees growing up through it.  It had obviously been there a looong time!  Next I checked the goat barn, where I found a dead possum but no fencing.  In the big barn I got distracted with a bit of spejunking (I love that word), but also found a perfect pre-built cage. Alas, there was only one of them.  My last resort was a spot down by the big pond, under an oak tree, where I had seen several rolls of fencing.  It seemed like prime critter territory, not to mention poison ivy, so I was hoping to avoid it.  But I actually did find just what I needed there.  The only catch was I needed Craig to haul it out with the tractor.

I'm not sure what Craig was doing while I was trekking all over the farm hunting for fencing.  Every time I saw him he seemed to be laying down on the job.  

Is he napping?! 

Definitely napping.

Just kidding - Craig works non-stop at the farm.  I was ready to call it a day long before he was done!  He hauled the fencing all the way over to the garden for me, where I cut off sections and turned them into individual cages.  We haven't gotten the plants in the ground yet, but we're expecting chilly weather this weekend so the delay is probably a good thing.

The wild grape vine on top adds a jaunty touch.

It helps if you squint a bit.
OK fine, just trust me, there are LOTS of cages in this picture!

While Craig and I were working, Daddy and his buddy were fishing in the big pond.  Age has its privileges!  After we finished our chores we headed over there to say hello, and wound up interrupting sexy time for snakes.  Apparently it is breeding season for water moccasins (aka cotton mouths).  There were several swimming around in the pond - we saw 4; Daddy saw 8.  Craig was excited because it was his first time seeing a live moccasin.  I agree it was exciting, I just wish the excitement had been in someone else's pond.  

Warning - those of you who aren't fond of snakes might want to skip the next part.  

First there was this guy, who was swimming away from us and therefore not so bad:

  

Then there was this one.  The photographer in me was thrilled with the shot I was getting of him swimming towards me, but eventually I realized that meant he was getting close to shore, and therefore way too close to me.

After that I was ready to call it a day.  But just as we were leaving, our contractor and his wife (Tracy and Jamie) showed up to do some demo debris cleanup.  Tracy teased us about always being at the farm working, which is pretty rich coming from a man who spends his Sunday evening on the job! Tracy was still hard at work when we called it a day.  He's doing a heckuva job for us and we couldn't be happier.

View of the front pond, now my favorite
pond due to its (relative) lack of snakes.