These particular baby chickens were being taken care of by my mother-in-law when her friends went on a weekend trip. Some friends of mine who live in the heart of Walla Walla actually raise chickens and though I haven't gotten out there to see them yet this year, they do have some new chicks currently. They raise chickens, selling the eggs, eating the meat, and making their own egg products such as mayonnaise. Incidentally, those eggs made the absolute BEST deviled eggs I've ever tasted.
I drive past this field and farmhouse every day on my way to and from work. The sky was irresistible on this particular evening, and I love the silhouette of the tree against the soft colours in the clouds.
Silos are a common sight when you're in farm country such as this. I believe it was here that during a massive wind storm in January 2008 a silo toppled, spilling grain all over the ground and scattering it in the wind. That was a lot of time, money and energy lost to whoever owns these silos.
This is a common sight around the valley: Tractors going down the roads. Fortunately the drivers are quite courteous and always stay close to the shoulder so you can go around them easily. This one was actually going pretty fast; I'd guess it was going close to the speed limit, which is 25 mph on this road.
Until I moved to the WW Valley, I didn't know what a "dell" was, or whether the farmer in the song being there was a good or bad thing. Though this is a quite small dell, it kind of gives you the idea; it's a low area surrounded by hills (too small to be considered a valley). The song "The Farmer in the Dell" talks about someone who might live in a little place like this, located on the south side of Walla Walla.
It's harvest time, and all across the Walla Walla Valley are fields of wheat stubble, cut down for baling and stacking by machines such as this one. It's a beautiful time of year.
Sorry about the title of this post...I couldn't resist. These fields used to be covered with hay. By now all of it has been cut and baled and stacked - just like this. These large bales are, I think, 500 pounds each. They are the medium-sized bales. Other bales are a quarter this size and weigh around 100 pounds; the larger ones aren't bales - they're rolls - and I'm not sure how much they weigh. They are around 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Perhaps they weigh 2000 pounds, I don't know. Can any farmers out there correct me/inform us?
