Transformations in the pasture

I grew up in a small seaside town on the west coast, and although I did lots of camping and hiking I never lived in an agricultural area until adulthood, and never on acreage until I moved to this property two years ago. Pastures of my childhood were viewed from the road through a car window as we took off for the mountains, and those I saw more closely were either eaten down by livestock or mowed down by machines.

But here in my pasture there is one lone alpaca to trim the fields, and a dozen piggies who have access to the area beyond their own pigyard for a couple of hours per day. Watching the field in its natural state transform from barren land to sheaves of grasses far taller than I, and watching those grasses change from green to purple to golden, has been an education in itself. It is truly beautiful country, and nature's cycles and seasons are nowhere more clearly evidenced than in my own back yard:


Fall colours in the pasture, 2007


Martin in the winter snow, 2007


January, 2008


February, 2008: brown stubble dusted with frost


March, 2008: Signs of green begin to show in the willows and ground


April, 2008: The bushes and grass are greening up quickly


May, 2008: The fields are a blanket of yellow flowers


June, 2008: Masses of white daisies appear


Late June, 2008 - the grain towers above my head, beautiful shades of purple


Summer storm July 3, 2008: The grain turns to gold and bows to the ground with the weight of its seeds and the wind and rain. All too soon it will lay flat and dry, and the fall colours will begin to appear once more.