“Farm livin is the life for me”

Every year I can’t wait to visit Sweetfield Farms in mid-May (although I missed 2020 for obvious reasons). Besides the sunflower fields, the farm has a lot of animals and activities going on during their festival.

They have rows of zinnias in all of the colors. You can pick them for $1 and I brought home a handful of them.

The one thing I noticed was there was a lot less butterflies here than last year. Maybe it was timing. Or lack of rain or too many pesticides? I was 2 weeks earlier than I went last year.

I’m not sure what these are but they were growing in the vegetable garden.

I know these yellow flowers are zucchinis. You could pick these as well and I took home a big one to saute in my spaghetti sauce.

I was watching the horses at the farm next door run around.

It’s always fun to feed the goats.

Just a boy and his turkey! He brought out some of the turkeys for people to pet. They were friendly although they don’t look like it.

But the main reason to come here is the sunflowers. I took a ton of pictures so more on those later.

SkyWatch Friday

Also linking to Your Moment Blog Hop.

Surrounded by snow covered mountains

Across from Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City is Heritage Park. We stopped by for a quick walk around the park but did not go into the historic village (there was a fee to get in and we didn’t have enough time since we would have to leave for the airport soon).

It was beautiful here and you can go horseback riding in the summer. It’s amazing it’s only 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City.

I found a frozen pond and thought that was cool. Wasn’t sure how far down it was frozen so I wasn’t risking walking across although it was tempting.

The monument tells the story of how the Mormons settled in the area. The view from it was amazing, surrounded by snow covered mountains. Back home we have been in the 80’s since the beginning of March so the cold is only a distant memory.

My Corner of the World

“Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play.”

Zooming in on the bison at Antelope Island.

We briefly saw pronghorn sheep from far away.

Views along the drive. You can barely see some bison in that last picture. They were far out in the dried lake.

A few shots from the working farm on the island.

Antelope Island is a state park that sits on the Great Salt Lake.

Antelope Island

The weather called for rain during our trip to Utah but we got lucky. We only saw rain on one day. The morning we went to Antelope Island, just after getting off the plane, was a perfect day even though it was a little warm and the bugs were more annoying than ones in Florida. The ride on the causeway out to the island was amazing. We pulled over several times.

Far across the lake I could see hundreds of avocets. Avocets are fairly rare in my area and I’ve only seen one. I was bummed they were so far away but the water levels were extremely low due to a long drought in Salt Lake City.

Across the island a coyote was running for the trees. He stopped for a brief second as if to say “Take a picture quick lady cause I’m outta here.”

The roads were lined with yellow flowers.

Stopping along the way to take pictures of the bison.

The horses were on a historic farm on the island. Even they were getting annoyed with the bugs.

We loved Antelope Island. Since it’s so close to Salt Lake City, we stopped by twice. The bugs were vicious and the birding was slow but the landscape was amazing.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Horse Pens 40 Park

Horse Pens 40 Park sits at the top of Chandler Mountain in northern Alabama, the 3rd highest elevation in the state in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. I hadn’t been since i was a toddler so I didn’t have any memory of being there. On the way home from  hiking around Noccalula Falls, my sister and I decided to stop in for a quick walk. The park has cabins and trails and is known for holding music festivals during the summer. The park was originally settled in 1880 and the name comes from the deed containing the amount of land the horses were kept on, horse pens 40 for 40 acres.

Looking down the mountain.

SkyWatch Friday

Visiting friends in the rain

I hadn’t been to Horsepower for Kids horse farm/sanctuary in a while so I stopped by on the way home after a walk at Chesnut Park. It had started raining so I walked around with my umbrella since the weather had cooled off.

Said “Hi” to the chickens and pigs. The one above came over to give me a snort.

The mandarin duck family seems to be growing there.

The kids out for a ride did not seem to mind the rain.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Chillin with the farm animals

Watching the big horses grazing in the pasture.

This one was taking a dirt bath.

A few of the fowl I snapped while watching the horses.

I spent another morning relaxing at HorsePower for Kids animal sanctuary. There’s something about watching the ducks swim around the pond and the horses grazing that takes the stress away. I guess because I don’t have to feed them or clean up after them. I can just stop by and chill with the farm animals.

Funny Faces at the Funny farm

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Funny faces at the Funny Farm (Horsepower for Kids) near my house.

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I was watching some of the volunteer kids chasing after a crazy rooster that had gotten free and was driving all of the other animals crazy.  That rooster was pretty slick and kept them running for a while. It’s always entertaining there.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

Get a room, or a barn!

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This one is all alone in the corner.

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This couple was getting frisky while the other one watches.  Love was still in the air even after Valentine’s day.

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Mom eagle is still sitting on the nest. I’m getting worried that the eggs should have hatched by now. I’ll check back on them again in a few weeks.

I was hoping to see baby eagles by now but all I got were kissing horses.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

A horse is a horse is a horse of course

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He’s not Mr. Ed. Someone told me he was an Amish horse. Not sure if that’s the technical term. He was beautiful.

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They were very curious about a new visitor at the farm.

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One of the volunteer’s had brought her great Dane.

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They had a little “meet and greet”. All were very friendly and wanted to play but she just stopped for a minute and then left the field with the great dane.

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The horses went back to snacking.

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Beautiful face.

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What is it about young girls and horses?

I spent a recent afternoon hanging out at Horsepower for Kids, watching all the animals eating and sleeping and the kids riding the horses.  It was too nice of a day to be inside.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters