Bird Love

Man, I love birding. Nothing is as absorbing and rewarding as being out there, catching glimpses of birds in the air, in the trees or on the ground. The rewards are ephemeral...nothing you can keep (unless you have made the effort to photograph )
and what sightings you get can often be hard-won.
I spent most of yesterday counting birds with Bruce and Helen, and Helen's daughter, Holly. We were covering a small sector of Loudoun County, Va. for the 111th Audubon Christmas Bird Count. It was a little cold, but not too bad...it started out around 25, but shot up to 50 by 2:00. Patchy snow here and there. No wind to speak of. And lots of bright sunshine. Considering that most of the east coast had just endured a massive snowstorm, that left up to 30" in some areas of New Jersey, and 18" in Boston...we were actually very lucky! Our highlights included getting a good long look at a hovering Sharpie and seeing a flock of 15+ Northern Flickers going over an Osage Orange tree for what we werent sure, but something in or on the tree was very attractive to the Flickers and a small troop of Titmice. We stopped about 10 feet away and watched for a good five minutes.
Collecting information for scientists to use for projects like this Occurrence Map put together by eBird is such a privilege :)
The Christmas Bird Counts in our area are organized by Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, which itself is a crucial organization striving to, among many issues, educate the public about the importance of wild places for wildlife and people.

Hmmmm.... in last post I was gushing about the raised beds we had set up ( did I thank my sister-in-law for helping me clear out the Fenced Garden?....I don't think I did ! ), and here I am having a Chickpea-of-the-Sea sandwich on rye with a small salad's worth of the last of the lettuce on it ! I picked it all this morning. We are expecting high temperatures, and it was wanting to bolt. I gave some to a neighbor, will give some to Dad, and will still have a lot. Jamie is in Brussels at the moment ( just called to say he's still alive after the Brussels 20k race ! ) , but when he gets home, he'll love the big salads we'll have for a week or so, till the lettuce ' turns' in the fridge. the picture here is of a sandwich I made a few weeks back with more CoftheP, sprouted lentils and tiny thinnings from the beets. Even that small, you can taste their sweetness.
I planted out around 65 milkweed seedlings...some as thin as threads. Some milkweed is coming up from last year...from wintered-over tubers ( rhizomes ? ). I think that is Swamp Milkweed. I've bee pulling up the Balloon Milkweed seedligns that are everywhere....I grew those last year. The Monarchs loved them, plants and blooms. They bloomed all the way up till a hard frost. But they are not native to our area, and I'm trying to plant only natives now, to help local species. I wish that I had been cued into this years ago...! The second anniversary of my brother Bill's passing is coming up June 2nd. All the Milkweeds got planted in his garden. AND, I think I may have seen a Monarch this morning !!!!

New Year and Raised Beds

Yikes ! Almost a year since the last post !!! I don't know how that is possible...I think of this blog often. The plants, bugs and animals that enter my life... I make mental blog entries , but then apparently never actually type the words.
Time to reconnect !
And we are starting this new year out with a re-invigorated veggie garden, including two new 4x8 foot raised beds, 12" deep. Jamie built the beds from old 2x6's and some plastic raised-bed corner thingys we've had for years ( I think I got them at a yard sale )but had never really used )that hold the boards in place. These beds will be for all the greens, lettuces, beets, carrots and a few herbs. I'm just finishing up some arugula, collards, chard and kale a very generous neighbor gave me at the end of last year's growing season. I blanched and froze the greens in batches so that I could easily add a servings worth of the super nutritious leaves to what ever I wanted. They've been used all Winter in soups, stews, over rice, quinoa and even rolled into burritos. The tomatoes and peppers will go in the ground , in the old hen yard, behind the hen house, after we till in some extra leaf mold and kelp meal.
Stink bugs kept us company all Winter, only occasionally going off and confirming that yes, they can stink...quite a bit! But for the most part, they tried to stay out of the way and were gentle reminders of the abundance of insect life.