We spend a lot of time managing fields of dreams and of grass, but this one, in our wetlands, we don't have to manage at all. It takes care of itself, and in so doing, takes care of us, for which phenomenon we are increasingly grateful.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the summer for us is that it brought us laying hens and meat chickens. The last time the farm saw poultry of any sort was probably 50 years ago, so this venture represents a new learning curve.

We moved cows down the road, up the laneway, and through the head-gate Tuesday morning, so we could wean yearling calves, and prepare for birthing to arrive in September. It was so foggy we could hardly see. The car in the background had previously run through our tape to direct livestock off the road. Once discovered, we had to sprint around the herd to resurrect the tape, so they wouldn't end up on the highway... All part of life with livestock and inattentive drivers on foggy mornings.

This picture is a vestige from last week, showing tracks of the lime truck in Field 7.

From a squint, this field of Queen Anne's Lace looks covered in snow, yet it is August. And why not? Suspended reality is relief, for a while. What conspires to create such a fantastic scene, as this blanket of white in August? We can't really know, except the great symphony of Nature is always at work, bringing the fantastic to the fore. It is fun to think of this picture as snow, or Queen Anne's Lace, or whatever one can imagine. In the end, all we can really do is appreciate it, for soon enough it will be gone.

Rest is integral to the workings of nature. Without it, there would be no seasons, dormancy of plants, or hibernation of animals, and natural systems would become exhausted and collapse. At our farm, even during the growing season, we employ rest of 60 - 90 days to replenish roots of grazing plants, so they re-establish vigor for lean times, like the next grazing, droughts, or winter.

Here are our 50 new Australarp laying hens, learning about: grass, bugs in the ground, plankways, laying of eggs, and their new home - this handsome eggmobile. The hens are "pullets", so their eggs start out small, but grow in size daily. We close the hens into their shelter at dusk, to protect from nocturnal predators. But the first evening, they all congregated under the eggmobile instead of inside it. A valiant effort from Kathy, our neighbor, trained them to seek nightly refuge inside, and they have been faultless since. They are fed a non-gmo grain ration to supplement pasture. Over the past two weeks, we have been enjoying the growing bounty of our new flock on the farm, and hope you will too.

Julio's father, Sammy, is our current herd-sire, so we had to send Julio to greener pastures to avoid in-breeding in the herd. But he is a beauty. The buyers were two wonderful women - Jill and Mary, long experienced in the production and marketing of artisinal foods, who run Cranedancefarm.com.

Butterflies on the butterfly flower and day lilies lining the roadside

Universities have not caught wind of this phenomenon yet, but anecdotal evidence keeps surfacing in the country that grassfed ribyes enhance love-making, in the same vein as fish and oysters. So, we no longer need to feel disadvantaged we don't live near oceans, as midwestern pastures can supply all the amour we need.

It typically takes three sunny days to make "dry" hay - one for mowing and two for drying, raking, and baling. The challenge is it often rains during one of those three days, greatly diminishing nutrient value of hay. As a result, a method of growing use is to make "wet" hay. This involves mowing, raking, baling, and wrapping the bales in plastic all within 24 hours. The wet hay then ensiles or ferments in an anaerobic environment, becoming more digestible. Livestock much prefer it over dry hay, and waste less. Reducing the haymaking window by two days reduces production risk many fold, so there are few drawbacks to this method, except one, which is why I have resisted it over the years. That is the waste of plastic wrap that ends up in the landfill. Last year, we made half our hay dry and half wet. The dry was rained on and was of greatly inferior quality thereafter, while the wet was excellent. So economics drove the decision this year, and we have made all wet hay. There is a movement afoot by OEFFA and others to find ways to recycle the plastic, which would be of great benefit.

These young ladies just arrived to bring new dimension to our farm and the food we offer you. While we complete their egg-mobile, they find comfort and security in this magnificent old corn-crib.