This past Thursday morning I built the sides to Blondie's compost bid and
our good friend Al showed up with his tractor which he loaned me for the day. With it I was able to clear a small area by the North Entrance of the East Field; lay a bed of manure from the barn; pick up Blondie laying in the field and carefully deposit her onto the bed; build the four walls around her; fill the newly constructed bin with the old bedding from the barn; and last cover the compost bin with boards, now being sweet Blondie's grave.

I am presently walking as much as possible in order to strengthen my foot and so I've been walking about the property today. Friday and yesterday were spend mowing grass which also exercised my foot. To the right is a photo of a Naturschutzgebiet / nature preserve that we are slowly creating in between the two new fields. The barn is located in the distance.
During my walk this morning, I met with my neighbor who informed me that the male black bear has returned and is presently in the neighborhood. He is about two or three years old now and is probably on his own and checking out the area for food sources, including, unfortunately, bird feeders & etc. I'm hoping that everybody has taken their bird feeders in.

Last year I hardly saw any Monarch butterflies. One thing Valerie and I do is set aside three large areas of milkweed in order to attract them and unfortunately I didn't see a single Monarch butterfly cocoon last year. This year they seem to be everywhere, which we just love. Their visit also reinforces me to make sure that I properly take care of the three milk weed patches.

Valerie is presently attending with her Border Collies Jessica, Rose and Kep the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair in Cummington. Yesterday she won a Ranch Class first place with Jessica, a Novice Class second place with Kep and a fourth place Novice with Rose. That is quite an accomplishment. A video was made of Jessica's run and will be posted on YouTube.