Spring has come to the farm! Most of the flowers aren’t blooming yet, but the birds are coming back, and the over-wintering butterflies are out. It’s so nice to come back and find that spring has begun.

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We’ve been traveling to New Zealand, so there aren’t any new farm photos, but I’m putting up some photos of the wildlife we saw in New Zealand.

You can scroll down the right side of the page to find them in the “Travel” section, or click on this link.

This week it’s more like spring, in spite of all the snow we’ve had. There’s still 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground, but the temperature gets up over 40 degrees during the day and the sun is out, so it’s melting away quickly. Continue reading →

This has been another week of wild swings between spring and winter weather. One warm cloudy afternoon I watched a pair of Eastern Bluebirds forage for insects in our Milkweed Meadow, and saw a flock of Sandhill Cranes and a flock of Snow Geese fly over.

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We’ve heard Saw-whet Owls here several times, but seen one only once. A few years ago one spent a few weeks in our screech owl house. Continue reading →

Giant Swallowtails are the largest butterflies we have on our property. Their wingspans can be up to 6 inches – really breathtaking the first time you see one. We see them mostly in the wetland and the prairie, and sometimes sailing along wide trails through the woods.

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The Gorgone Checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone) is a butterfly that I saw for the first time last summer when Mike Reese and I were doing a butterfly count on our land. Continue reading →

It’s wonderful weather these days – grey, but warm and wet and feeling like spring. The snow is almost gone, and the snow that’s left is wet and melting fast when the sun shines. Continue reading →

This week I cleaned out our bluebird nest boxes to get them ready for spring. The bluebirds should start coming back in March, and I want to be ready for them. Continue reading →