Farm

Archived Posts from this Category

November 3, 2010

Who knew poop was such a popular search term?

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm | Tags: blogging, poop, search terms, toad poop |
[30] Comments

Technology allows us to see which search terms folks use to find us online at Morning Bray Farm. There are the usual and expected terms and phrases, such as “morning bray” and “the morning bray farm blog,” and terms and phrases generated by earlier posts we’ve done, such as “hummingbird moth…”

…and “stuffed jalapeños.”

But who knew “poop” was such a popular search term? Because of our post on “toad poop,” “poop” – in one form or another – has generated a total of 345 visits to our blog so far this year.

We’ve had visits from folks who searched on the following phrases: toad poop, skunk poop, poop, skunk poop pictures, frog poop, skunk scat, toad poop picture, what does toad poop look like, toad scat, toad poo, toad feces identification, raccoon poop, what does frog poop look like, frog feces identification, poop in my garage, toad poop pics and identifying toad scat.

If you do a search on Yahoo! for toad poop, our toad poop picture comes up first. I suppose there are worse things to be known for, right? ♥

October 13, 2010

Magical moments

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Farm, Sheep | Tags: Baby Boy, guinea hen, Lenny, Limpy, sandhill cranes, sheep |
[13] Comments

Don and I often talk about the magical and unexpected moments we experience at Morning Bray Farm. They seem to happen a whole lot here.

Take Baby Boy, for instance. He’s gotten to the point now where he follows me around the corral and pasture… his nose to my rear. Momma is frequently not far behind these days. That’s magical, considering they were feral when they came to us a year and a half ago. I love them and they make me smile.

Check out Gladys. After laying a dozen or so eggs and being inattentive to her nest the last couple of weeks, she’s been faithfully sitting on her X marks the spot eggs in the goat stall for the last two days and nights. Isn’t she pretty?

She doesn’t seem to mind our comings and goings. That’s magical too. I can’t help but coo at her and smile every time I walk past.

Unexpected surprises can also be magical. For example, finding one of Lenny’s winter stashes in the hose storage container by the barn. How does he know he needs to save for the upcoming months? Whether it’s magic or instinct, made me smile.

Yesterday, this one made me say, “Well, I’ll be.”

The sandhill cranes are back in town. This was our first official sighting of the year from Morning Bray Farm. The magic in this… Limpy (in the foreground) is back for her third straight year in a row. In case you’re wondering, Limpy limps. That’s how we know it’s her.

She brought a big old smile to my face. Simply magical. ♥

October 12, 2010

Doing what he oughter

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm | Tags: American bullfrog, bullfrog, frog |
[22] Comments

Jeremiah was a bullfrog…

An American bullfrog, actually… and the largest frog species in North America.

They’re nocturnal predators and will ambush and eat just about anything they can fit in their mouths, including insects, mice, fish, birds and snakes. They sit quietly and wait for prey to pass by, then lunge with their powerful hind legs, mouths open wide. Who knew?

We see quite a few during the summer months along the banks of our irrigation ditch. Don enjoys driving me mad each time we spot one by singing this little tune.

There’s a little green frog (glumph)
Swimming in the water.
A little green frog (glumph)
Doing what he oughter.
He jumped right off of the lily pad
The little duck bit.
And he said “I’m glad,
I’m a little green frog,
Swimming in the water,
Glumph, Glumph, Glumph.”

October 4, 2010

Another bug for the blog

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm, Insects | Tags: dragonfly |
[18] Comments

“Another bug for the blog?”

That’s what Don asked me yesterday morning as he happened upon me having a conversation with this very handsome dragonfly.

From 21facts.com:

One of the most distinguishing features of dragonflies are their eyes. They have large, compound eyes with many facets or sides. Because of their large, multifaceted eyes, the adult dragonfly can see nearly 360 degrees around it at all times.

The front wings of the dragonfly are slightly longer than the rear wings. This helps with both speed and maneuverability.

As far as insects go, dragonflies are among the fastest. Some of the faster species can fly upward of 30 miles per hour. Their four wings also allow them to move sideways, backward, to hover in place, etc. And they can do all of these movements quickly and accurately, which makes them well suited to eat other insects right out of the air.

October 2, 2010

A week of eggceptional surprises

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Farm | Tags: eggs, fresh eggs, guinea eggs, guineas |
[9] Comments

With Tuesday being the eggception, our guest guineas have surprised us with an egg gift every day this week.

To be sure we’re taking only freshly laid eggs, Don had the great idea of marking the “old” ones with a Sharpie.

As of last night, we had four fresh guinea eggs in the fridge. Can you tell we’re eggcited?

10/2 Morning Update: Fresh and delicious! We fried up the eggs for breakfast and agreed they were some of the best we’ve ever had. The egg shells were extremely thick – Morning Bray’s resident egg chef (Don) was quite surprised. I heard the first egg bounce off the frying pan as he tried to crack it open!

September 23, 2010

The silver lining

Posted by Morning Bray under Albuquerque, Birds, Farm, New Mexico | Tags: guineas, rain, rainy day, silver lining |
[35] Comments

It rained like hell yesterday. We had two inches between noon and 5 pm, and it was still raining when we went to bed last night. Gads.

As we were rushing around yesterday evening to make sure everyone would be warm and safe and dry for the night (my mantra… everyone MUST be warm and safe and dry), look at what we discovered in the goat stall.

Three beautiful, perfect guinea eggs. A couple of guineas from next door seem to have moved in over the last week or so.

We’re totally okay with that and figure their eggs were the silver lining in yesterday’s clouds. ♥

9/23 Note for Posterity: Meteorologists recorded 1.74 inches of rainfall at the Albuquerque International Sunport – the greatest amount in one day Since October 22, 1969.

September 17, 2010

The Leaf Bug

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm, Insects | Tags: insect, leaf bug, nature |
[25] Comments

Isn’t nature amazing?

I once read that the leaf bug’s camouflage is occasionally a detriment. Because of their remarkable disguise, they’ve been known to now and then mistake each other for real leaves and have been seen nibbling on one another.

Apparently there are quite a few species of leaf bugs. In some species, the edge of the leaf insect’s body even has the appearance of bite marks. And, to further confuse predators, when some leaf insects walk, they rock back and forth to mimic a real leaf being blown by the wind.

Now, really… how cool is that? ♥

September 7, 2010

So he’s a problem child…

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm, New Mexico | Tags: Lenny, rock squirrel |
[14] Comments

CeeCee‘s comment about squirrels eating her sunflowers prompted me to do some Lenny research over the weekend.

Turns out, Lenny’s a rock squirrel. Apparently, they’re considered a nuisance to many folks here… so much so that the New Mexico State University College of Agriculture published this: Controlling Rock Squirrel Damage in New Mexico.

Yikes. Poor Lenny.

Hmm… makes me wonder… have I been blaming the wrong four-leggeds for eating my flowers?

August 21, 2010

Saturday Stuff – Sulphur butterflies

Posted by Morning Bray under Farm, Insects, Saturday Parts & Stuff | Tags: alfalfa, butterflies, Butterfly, sulphur butterflies |
[10] Comments

Up until last week when it was cut, the alfalfa field behind us was vibrant and alive with beautiful blue flowers.

And what seemed like tens of thousands of small, yellow butterflies.

Turns out, they’re sulphur butterflies. Caterpillars of these butterflies feed on plants in the legume family. This includes beans, alfalfa, sweet clover and red clover. Because their caterpillars are readily found on alfalfa, the butterfly is sometimes called “alfalfa butterfly.”