Coast atlantic France.....

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A tired old barn is illuminated by the morning sun pouring into a former farmyard. It may not mean much to a younger person to see a barn swallowed up by trees of all sizes but to those of us raised on a farm, the sight of a barn closely surrounded by overgrown greenery and tall trees is not something we remember when we grew up.

There are always exceptions but a century ago, most farmers chose open areas on which to build their barns. They needed space for feedlots, corrals and waiting areas for Holstein cows eager to get admitted to the barn to be relieved of their twice-daily milk collections.

In addition, after a couple of years of use, any greens that fought for survival were either trodden to death or were casually eaten by livestock around the barn.

When my father first introduced me to the joys of carrying 5 gallon pails through the length of the barn, two at a time, full of ground corn out to homemade wooden feed troughs, the immediate area outside around our barn was simply dirt ground. That was fine in the frozen winter and in the driest parts of the summer but early spring was another experience altogether.

Nearly every farm lad trudging out to take care of livestock during the wet spring months had the dubious pleasure of wearing 5 buckle overshoes to maintain dry feet during his journey.

There were two problems with this scenario. One, if the feedlot was not cleaned regularly, the result was the spring rains caused wet manure and mud to be deep enough to overflow the top of your overshoes and make its way down inside.

Secondly, I can vividly remember several times in my brief farming career when one of my overshoes would get “stuck” in the mud and my foot would come out of my overshoe and the next step was a sock-clad one into the cold muck. For me, those times were illustrative classes on career guidance that steered me away from farming.

By the time I was in senior high and the oldest boy still at home, my dad broke down and had the feedlot paved with concrete which made both the cows and me a lot happier.


(Photographed in Kannebeck County, MN)

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King Charles and Queen Camilla have just left Sydney for Samoa after a short stopover visit to Australia.

It is most likely his last visit to Oz. A natural title choice I think.

This Cinerarla flower was taken at the Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory.

Many thanks for your visits, comments, invites and faves...it is always appreciated.

Peaceful Bokeh Wednesday

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