Farm Life

It is the end of August and we, at SoggyBottom Farm, are in the doldrums of late summer. It is a time of a slow, relaxed slide from the...

17 July 2022 – 10:15 am As Jean and I left the apartment for a mid-morning walk, we encountered a commotion among the chickens in front...

We have attempted to supplement the written narrative in all the blog posts that have appeared on this site with a meaningful photograph....

Our wildlife observations at Soggy Bottom Farm are enhanced through the use of trail cameras. A few likely locations have been...

Soggy Bottom Farm possesses a plethora of habitats: open meadows, dense forest, creek-side riparian areas, alder/willow marsh, overgrown...

Lead photos - Swallows flying freely over the pasture pose a difficult challenge to a photographer. Getting the bird in the field of...

In addition to eagles, we often see ospreys in the air above the farm. In most cases, the osprey is high up either passing by or...

An old cottonwood tree next to the creek died some years ago. It was in the slow process of decay when a wind storm blew its top off...

above: Western red cedar planted under alder. At Soggy bottom Farm, we often pass a book around that is to be reviewed when those who are...

When the pigs come to the farm in late winter as newly weaned piglets, Jay puts them in a special nursery stall in the barn where they...

A parable is a story that conveys a lesson, usually a moral lesson. A vignette is a short descriptive literary sketch. I write...

Here on the farm, we wrestle with the proper approach for dealing with our resident predators. Specifically, the local coyotes. After...

It is the end of March. The first trillium of the spring has just bloomed at the edge of a clearing in the Soggybottom forest. Not far...

9 March 2022 Earlier this week, I was taking video of a coyote in the hayfield when the coyote suddenly made a jump and pounced with her...

20 February 2022 Earlier in this blog, I posted what I called “A Little Story” about a Sharp-shinned hawk hunting a Towhee in the twiggy...

A Trumpeter Swan is a very large bird; even larger than an eagle. Like an airplane, such a big bird needs to be in motion to be in the...

Despite the beauty and pristine native plantings of the Soggy Bottom forest, we inherited a junkyard from the previous owners in the...

Whenever I finish a posting for the Soggy Bottom Farm blog, I wonder what my next post could possibly be. Previous posts seem to cover...

The Soggy Bottom blog provides me the opportunity to tell stories about the farm. I look for and discover these stories from two...

The transition from 2021 to 2022 on the farm was unusually eventful this year. The first event was the arrival of Leo, home on his first...