photography

All posts tagged photography

Just in case

Posted by kenleighacres on February 29, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Snow, whippet. Tagged: , , , , , . 7 Comments

Just in case we were beginning to think Spring was here, Mother nature reminded us what season we are really in…

WINTER!

This is what we woke up to this morning.  Lots of big snow flakes falling and it was sticking when I left to take my son to school, but it had all melted by the time I got home.

The robins were out looking for breakfast.

Unlike the robins who were out working for their food, these guys were looking for a free meal from the chickens, little stinkers.

The boys don’t have a cozy barn like the girls do and they weren’t too sure about the change in weather.

They were snuggled up around the tree and waiting for breakfast when I went out.

The ducks seem unphased by this wet…cold weather.

As for the rest of us, sitting inside by the fire sounds like a very good plan!

Glorious mornings

Posted by kenleighacres on February 25, 2012
Posted in: Ducks, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, Lambing, Llama, Photography, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , , . 9 Comments

We have woken up to a couple glorious mornings and nothing makes me happier than to open the blinds and see the sun shining!

It makes the sheep happy too!

My goal was to get an updated picture of all the lambs, but they had other things on their mind.  These lambs were munching on the blackberry leaves.

This group of lambs was enjoying the grass with Magoo.

This lamb was being a funny guy 🙂

Luckily, I can always count on Maelstrom to pose for me, thanks little buddy.  Their horns are really starting to grow.  After a bit of work, I did finally get new pictures of all the lambs.  They can be seen on our website – www.kenleigh-acres.com

After accomplishing that goal, it was time to go for a little walk and enjoy the morning.  Azera was enjoying the grass while her lambs soaked up the warmth from the sunshine.

 

The chickens were scratching for goodies…

and having their morning dust baths.

My favorite little birds on the farm, the quail, were out and about and in the mood to have their picture taken…doesn’t happen very often.

I said ‘good morning’ to the pair of ducks living on our pond.

The pair of geese that have been hanging out here thought I got a little too close for comfort and off they went.

The boys were doing what they do best this time of year…hanging out.

I’m glad we all enjoyed it while it was here because it is now pouring and supposed to continue for the next couple of days.  Hopefully the rain with trigger the next ewe to have her lambs!

Good for the Soul!

Posted by kenleighacres on February 3, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , . 20 Comments

Taking pictures, from horseback, in the sunshine…it doesn’t get much better than that!

This morning I went with my brother and one of his friends to move the cows to a new pasture.

There wasn’t much ‘moving’ to be done because the cows were headed to the new pasture when we got there, they must have gotten the memo that was on today’s to do list.

That was ok, because it was still a great day for a ride.

In addition to managing the cows, my brother also manages the race horses for the company he works for.  Here he is ponying one of the soon to be 2-year-olds.

He was such a good boy!

Going in water and over little creeks and he didn’t even flinch when the dogs were running around him.

Such a pretty horse.

This was Nelly’s first time ponying another horse and she did a great job, even though she wasn’t very happy about it.  He was being sweet, but was in her space and touching her – two things she was NOT ok with!

 

You can’t move cows without a couple of dogs, this is Newt.

This momma cow came down the hill with two calves.  From what we could tell, both are hers!

 I can’t put into words how much I enjoy just going outside and taking pictures, it really is good for my soul.

and look…a picture of me!  Since I am the one with the camera most of the time, this doesn’t happen very often.  I made Wyatt work for me a little bit more today than the last time I rode him.  He is a big, funny guy.

The smile says it all, we had a great time in the sunshine!

Kate’s other job

Posted by kenleighacres on January 31, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, Dogs, Farm Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

My border collie, Kate, is a huge help here on the farm…

she is wonderful with the moms and babies.

Even when the babies get a little too curious.

But she also has another job.  It is our duty to keep a local college free of geese.  Here is a little bit of information regarding hazing geese with border collies.  The most effective way to humanely control the goose population is to introduce a ‘predator’ into the environment.  Since it isn’t practical (or safe) to reintroduce wolves, coyotes, and foxes into commercial and residential areas, specially trained dogs are the natural answer.  Geese that are harassed on a regular schedule by border collies will seek a safer place to live and raise their young.  Geese are beautiful and I love watching them, but when each one of these guys…

is leaving 2-3 lbs. of waste a day, it gets nasty, pretty quick!  They also eat 2-5 lbs. of grass in a day – leaving a muddy, poop covered landscape behind them.   

Kate and I have been visiting the college for 3 years and the flock of geese that called this location home has decreased dramatically.  Unfortunately, it is the perfect place for flocks that are flying through to stop and take a break.   This gives Kate steady work and she loves it!

She is always looking, but we couldn’t find any geese on the ground today.

The sky was full of them.

and plenty in the pond, but nothing for my girl to focus her attention on.

That is, until these three flew in.

I love this goose and have been trying to get good pictures of it for quite a while. 

It is some sort of cross – the colors and patterns are so fun.

As an extra bonus, we had geese to chase when we got home as well.  I have been very careful to save our grass for my mammas and babies, there are plenty of empty fields in our area for these guys to get a free meal somewhere else!

Checking for calves

Posted by kenleighacres on January 12, 2012
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , . 8 Comments

No, we don’t have cows, but since we still have a few more days until anymore lambs are born, we thought it would be fun to go with my brother and check for calves at the ranch he manages.

The really fun part…

 is we got to check for them from horseback!

The big moose on the right, is the one I got to ride.

I told my son that he would probably have to ride with me because I didn’t think my brother had enough horses for all of us.  Even though he has only been on a horse once before, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to ride by himself.  Much to his delight, there were 4 horses in the trailer and there were 4 of us.

Here he is on sweet Mae.  They were a great team!

There were 4 horses, but unfortunately there were only 3 saddles.

  

Luckily my brother said ‘no problem’.  His mare, Nelly, had never been ridden bareback, but she handled it like a pro.

My saddle was nice and comfy 🙂

My brother’s son has been riding since he could walk and his horse, Cowboy, is a cool dude.  He looks pretty good for being 32 years old.

My brother wanted to check on the first calf born.  Can you see it hidden in the blackberry bushes?  It is a couple of days old and mama was up on the hill eating while the baby stayed hidden.

So cute!  Mama trained it well and it didn’t even bat an eye when we rode up to it.

Next, we headed up the hill to see if there were any new calves.

I love the look of this cow, but she wasn’t what we were looking for.

Here is what we were looking for!

A new calf with a protective mama.  My brother rode up to check on them and all looked good.

Beautiful country to take an afternoon ride in!

The boys weren’t quite ready to stop, so they headed out for one more loop around the pasture.

Budding photographer

Posted by kenleighacres on December 23, 2011
Posted in: family, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

The fog cleared off, the sun came out, and my camera begged me to go outside!

The sheep were also begging to go out in the pasture where the grass is, so my son and I put on a couple of layers and headed out.

You can really see the bellies now 😉

While we were walking through the sheep, my son asked if he could take some pictures.  I always love it when he takes the camera because his perspective is so different and I love sitting down at the computer to see what he has captured.

Here are some of the pictures he took…

One of his ewes, Petunia.  She didn’t lamb last year, so he is excited that she is very pregnant this year.

He loves that she is a big talker 🙂

He caught me talking to Delight.  She has a while to go before she lambs and I was discussing her big belly with her.

This is one of my favorites.

Here is the little photographer with one of his buddies.

Enjoying the sun while it is here!

As busy as a bee

Posted by kenleighacres on August 6, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 7 Comments

Summer was late showing up here in the Northwest and now that it is here, it is flying by!  This particular summer is a little busier than most because we are hosting the Annual General Meeting for the Jacob Sheep Breeder’s Association at the end of August.  I am trying to balance summer fun with planning the event.  We spent the last two days at the Benton County Fair with our sheep and definitely had some summer fun.  I woke up this morning to a cloudy sky and beautiful lighting, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to do chores.  I was hoping to find some get up and go.  There was a lot of activity to take pictures of, but the bees really called to me.   They were busily flying from flower to flower and filling up their legs with all the pollen they could hold.

I may not be a fan of the thistles, but this big bumblebee is.

This patch of flowers was alive with activity!

I would love to know what they are….anybody know?  They have an exotic look to them and I love their colors.

There were bees everywhere!

Even though their legs looked full, they would continue flying from flower to flower adding more.

Focused and undeterred!

I am hoping to have some of that focus rub off on me!

Right place at the right time

Posted by kenleighacres on May 8, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 9 Comments

Being in the right place at the right time is such a big part of taking amazing photos.  A few weeks ago I was driving home after picking my son up from school and captured a bald eagle in our neighbor’s pasture…

It was incredible to see such a big bird up close.

What was even more incredible was to see that it had a small Canada goose in it’s talons.  My son made me laugh when he said ‘boy, you don’t see that everyday!’

Today, once again I was in the right place at the right time.  I saw a bunch of goldfinch in our garden and I wanted to take some photos of them, so I ran inside and grabbed my camera.  Unfortunately, they flew off when I came back out, but some movement in one of the pastures caught my attention.  It was a couple of the pheasant roosters that have been eluding me!  The chicken pen and our pump house gave me the cover I needed to sneak up on them.

To my delight, they put on quite the show for me.

It looked like they were having a territorial battle.  They were sizing each other up and making the craziest sounds.

They would go back and forth, growling and clucking at each other.

Then they would ruffle their feathers up…

stare each other down…

and pounce!!!

What a treat to see in person!