Wildlife Sanctuary -- Our Back Yard

Mr Madley and I like to believe our yard can be a wildlife sanctuary of sorts for birds and butterflies and lightning bugs and bees.  We plant flowers and fruit trees and bushes to attract the butterflies and bees, and we let the grass grow long to give protection to the lightning bugs.  We love to see new and unusual (for us) birds at the bird feeders (like last week when we saw a beautiful rose-breasted grosbeak, whose mate is at the feeder as I write this).  We even like spotting the rabbits, despite their tendency to decimate my garden.  And so it was a blast to look out my kitchen window this morning and see a pair of turkeys tranquilly enjoying the tall grass and the warm sunshine in our back yard.

I know I live in Western Massachusetts, where whole flocks of turkeys can be found dining in front lawns, but it's not so very common at my house when I'm home to see them.  It was a happy way to start this summery week.

Acorns Grow Trees

Yes, oak trees really do grow from acorns, as is proven by the number of oak seedlings in our lawn.

Kind of amazing that that huge tree grows from that little nut; it's also amazing that I keep finding more and more to pull out of the yard....

Our Cardinal

One of the male cardinals that makes residence near our house.  Isn't he a handsome fellow?

Anniversary + a Week

One year and one week ago, I posted my first MadleyHadley post, featuring the 2010 Hadley Memorial Day Parade.  Since writing my first post a year ago, MH has had over 2000 pageviews, with the record two days being the day and day after the article was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, I've added 4 pages with useful (at least I think so) information, and have posted almost 70 posts.

This year, to celebrate the anniversary, I thought I would post a few pictures from the 2011 antique tractor show that happened on the same day as the parade.

 

 

 

 

There was a farmer's market, an ice cream truck (Scoops), a live band -- and Local Burger was there to provide the food (yummy burgers, great fries, though we didn't have any that day).  All in all, a happy Memorial Day weekend and one more brand-new experience for us in Hadley.
Happy June!