Tuesday Farm Photo: Winged Spectacular

Just as Busy as the Bees

See the comments section for notes about my beloved point and shoot camera and how I took this photo (no technical expertise required!).

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where the echinacea is so popular we've been seeing pollinator pile ups on the brightly colored blooms — which are also called purple coneflowers but are actually quite pink.

Book Giveaway!Win a Copy of Butterfly by Thomas Marent

Pollinating Sedum Autumn Joy Last September

Some of you know about my love for moths and butterflies. I find myself constantly awed by these remarkable creatures, and of course it would be nearly impossible to have any sort of garden without them. Well if I'm in love, then Swiss photographer Thomas Marent is obsessed - and in a good way. His gigantic new hardcover book, simply titled Butterfly, includes more than 500 amazing photographs of butterflies and moths in each stage of their life cycles.

Thanks to the nice people at DK Publishing, I have a brand new copy of Butterfly to give away. You can learn more about this bigger than life-size book, see the photos of a mating pair of luna moths I took one morning in the garden (those colors!), and sign up to win over on my kitchen garden blog - because that's where the moths and butterflies like to be.

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where a butterfly bonanza is always sure to bring a smile - and more flowers!

Farm Photo 9/27/07: Made For Each Other?

A Perfect Match

When I first saw this butterfly I thought its wings were partly transparent and that I was seeing the color of the squash blossom beneath them. Considering there are probably at least a million colors in the world, it seems incredible that this butterfly has the exact same coloring as this flower. Or does it? All I know is that from now on, this winged beauty will be referred to in my garden as the Squash Blossom Butterfly.

Speaking of squash, have you frozen some grated zucchini yet so you can make Carrot, Raisin, & Zucchini bran muffins once I finally get around to sharing the recipe? It's a scrumptious new variation of my popular bran muffin recipe, and calls for one packed cup (weighing 8 ounces) of grated zucchini for a dozen muffins. I hope to have it up in the next couple of weeks. (The Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread recipe is coming first.)

More into salads than squash? Over In My Kitchen Garden, I've just written all about how easy it is to grow Swiss chard, one of my very favorite vegetables, from seed. No garden? No problem. Swiss chard does exceptionally well in containers, which means even apartment dwellers have no excuse not to try sprinkling a few seeds somewhere.

Next up In My Kitchen Garden will be two of my favorite Swiss chard recipes. In the meantime, I hope you'll add your favorite way to enjoy Swiss chard in a comment on the how to grow it post--whether you actually grow your own or not. The suggestions so far all sound so delicious that I've been out in the garden urging all my 1-inch high seedlings to grow "Faster! Faster! Faster!"

Want to see more?
You'll find plenty of pollinator pics here, and lots more flower photos here.

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote acres.

Farm Photo: 8/14/07

Joint Pollination Task Force

It turns out my camera has more zoom than I thought. Who knew?

More pollinator pics:
Farm Photo 4/10/06: Look What Landed At My Feet
Farm Photo 5/11/06: Butterfly Conference
Farm Photo 6/22/06: Farms Depend On Pollinators
Farm Photo 6/23/06: You Can't Have Too Many Pollinators Around
Farm Photo 6/28/06: Butterfly Paradise
Farm Photo 7/08/06: The Stuff Of Life
Farm Photo 7/16/06: Butterfly Bonanza
Farm Photo 8/18/06: A Most Extraordinary Hug
What's Growin' On 6/24/06: Pollinators & Sheep & I Love Spiderwort
What's Growin' On 6/29/06: Obsessed With Bunnies & Butterflies
What's Growin' On 8/26/06: Butterfly Photos Are Better Than Nothing
5/11/06: My Good Deed For The Day

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares photos & stories of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

Daily Farm Photo: 8/18/06

A Most Extraordinary Hug

When I stepped out the front door this morning, I had a sudden urge to detour around to the garden before heading down to the barn. The morning light was beautiful, and I thought I might find a photo. Okay, busted. I was mainly going to see if anything in the garden had been ravaged during the night. I only gave the garden a cursory glance, though, because my attention was drawn to something much more interesting.

I have seen these beautiful Luna moths before, but never two at once--and never intertwined. They are large, with wings that span four inches across. They stayed like that for several minutes while I stared, fascinated. Four hours later, they were still there. I lightly tickled each one with a blade of grass, just enough to see if they were alive--yes. I suppose they may have been busy making more moths (I know nothing of moth mating habits). I do know that pressed together, holding tightly to each other's little legs, it was quite a romantic scene--and a glorious morning surprise.

I am thrilled the photos I took came out. Click here if you would like to see the rest of them.

A year of Daily Photos ago: Baaaaaa!

Daily Farm Photo: 7/8/06

The Stuff Of Life

A year of Daily Photos ago:
I'm Still Amazed That This Is My Backyard
And just a little while ago, while I was out watering the garden in the still, evening shade, I looked over and saw something amazing in that very same scene--a wild hen turkey leading a procession of at least five baby turkeys back and forth across the grass, just beyond the fence. The stuff of life--oh yes.

Daily Farm Photo: 6/28/06

Butterfly Paradise

I just love butterfly season. Click here and here (and on 'Butterfly' in the caption) if you do, too.

A year of Daily Photos ago: Last Of The Hay Bales

Welcome new visitors to Farmgirl Fare!
Click here for a brief introduction to this site.

Daily Farm Photo: 6/23/06

You Can't Have Too Many Pollinators Around

A year of Daily Photos ago: Camouflaged Garden Toad

Back To The Beginning:
I've posted another story from my early days at Windridge Farm, but since this one takes place in the garden, it's over on my kitchen garden blog. (The rest of the auction story should be up on the Writings From Windridge site soon.) So what do a newly planted clump of lemon thyme and some 11-year-old sugar snap peas have to do with each other? Click here to find out. And click here if you'd like to read more about my initiation into country life.

Welcome new visitors to Farmgirl Fare!
Please click here for a brief introduction to this site.

Daily Farm Photo: 6/22/06

Farms Depend On Pollinators (& Fortunately Ours Is Full Of Them)

More than 100,000 different animal species--and perhaps as many as 200,000--play roles in pollinating the 250,000 kinds of wild flowering plants on this planet. In addition to countless bees (there are an estimated 40,000 species of bees), wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, beetles and other invertebrates--perhaps 1,500 species of vertebrates such as birds and mammals--serve as pollinators. Cherish our pollinators--they mean the world to us. Click here to learn more.

A year of Daily Photos ago: So Often I Forget To Look Up

Oh, the joys of being on dial-up! Keep getting knocked offline every few minutes, am now connected at just 21.6 Kbps, plus Blogger has apparently gone crackerdog. You don't even want to know how long it took to post this--and it's going to look a bit odd until Blogger gets its wits back. Also, I have been unable to access my gmail accounts since yesterday morning, so any messages you sent me have not yet been received. It is definitely time to go outside, grab my pitchfork, and attack a pile of sheep manure headed for the garden!

My Good Deed For The Day

Free To Fly Away

Another butterfly? Well, yes, but this is a special butterfly. This is the butterfly I was telling Stephanie about earlier this afternoon in the comments section of today's daily photo--the one I said I saw stuck in the henhouse window yesterday and couldn't do anything to save it.

Well, I was wrong. Several times. First of all, I actually saw that stuck butterfly the day before yesterday (because I was off the farm all day yesterday). And secondly, when I was over feeding the chickens a few stalks of lovely flowering arugula a little while ago, I thought I'd see if somehow the butterfly had escaped (though I was half afraid to look because I was pretty sure that I would find a dead butterfly). Wrong again! It was, miraculously, still alive, but looking very worn down.

I was determined to do something this time. So I started bending the mesh wire away from the wall and trying to coax out the butterfly with a little stick, but the space was too tiny and the butterfly was confused. Then fwop! the whole piece of mesh came away from the top of the 'window,' and suddenly there was enough room for the butterfly to get out. I nudged it onto my stick and voila! freedom. I set it down on the grass, and it floundered around a little, getting its bearings I guess. Then I snapped this photo, and not five seconds later it lifted off and danced up into the sky. I swear I could almost hear it singing.

So that is my (slightly sappy) butterfly story for the day. And if you are reading this wondering why on earth I'm making such a big deal (or any deal, for that matter) about one silly old butterfly, well, just remember that little girl who was walking along a beach absolutely covered with dying starfish that had all been washed ashore. She picked one up and tossed it back into the water. The adult who was with her said something like, "Why bother? What difference can it make? There are thousands of dying starfish here; you can't possibly save them all." And the little girl calmly replied, "It made a difference to that one." And I am sure that starfish danced out into the ocean just as happy as my silly old rescued butterfly.

Daily Farm Photo: 5/11/06

Butterfly Conference

Lamb Report: Number of bouncing sheep so far today: 0. Slight pause in bouncing sickness epidemic attributed to one of two things: 1) Lambs so water-logged (from yet another rainstorm) that lift-off is physically impossible to achieve. Or 2) Lambs don't want to leave the ground because I put everyone in a fresh pen filled with tall, lush grass this morning, and bouncing would mean missing out on biting. There is nothing quite so pleasant as the sound of 64 happily (and frantically) munching mouths. (Leopold The Ram is in Solitary. He is munching, but not happily or frantically.) Current Lamb Count: 21.

Daily Farm Photo: 4/18/06

Spots On The Glass? I Don't See Those Kinds Of Things.

Lamb Report: At 4am, I ambled down to the barn to find bright lights, Non-Stop Classic Rock, and 50 totally wide awake sheep. Little pangs of guilt. They are used to sleeping out under the starry sky, listening to nothing but the soothing sounds of nature. And now this. I mean, I was only down there because I couldn't sleep--and that was in the dark and silent house. I have, of course, explained to them that it is all for their own safety. I told them of rowdy urban teenagers and the perils of apartment living. (But not one word about the trampoline--that's all we need.) Oh, and it seems that I Gallop On was right. Just received ebay confirmation for 50 pairs of dark sunglasses, 16 of them size XXSmall. Current Lamb Count: 16. Current Number Of Cranky, Sleep Deprived (but soon to be very cool looking) Sheep: 50.

Daily Farm Photo: 4/10/06

Look What Landed At My Feet

This butterfly was so big I actually heard a soft thud! when it hit the ground. Look around--there is probably something beautiful right behind you.

Daily Farm Photo: 9/24/05

Look What Flew Into My Photo

Daily Farm Photo: 8/23/05

Hardy Echinacea Blooms All Summer Long In The Garden