Hamish Passes

Our Americana hen, Hamish, died today. She was 7 years old on June June 19th. We've lost several others in the last month, but her passing seems like the end of a family era. She laid gorgeous big bluish-greenish eggs....was still laying up until about a month ago, when they all stopped laying. J buried her in the Fenced Garden saying that the garden was as much hers as ours. She spent many happy hours in there with the others, scratching for bugs and bits. Hard to believes she's gone....so robust and smart we figured she'd be the last hen standing out of their flock.

The hens started out as something our daughter wanted to do in her senior year in high school...actually she wanted to rescue a bunch of chicks that were hatched at school ,( in one of those misguided class projects ), but I said, "no"...let's order some from a hatchery ( ugh...that was before I became vegan ! ), and before we knew it, there we were, in love with the little peeps that arrived via the post office, in a cardboard box. I think we always gave them good care...lots of room to run about and explore, good food, fresh water, and we even built a nice hen house which has become a focal point of our yard.
When our daughter went off to college, the hens needed me to take care of them and I loved the rhythm they brought to my day. The girls would be crowding the door to be the first out to start the day's bug hunt. Just before dusk they would amble back in to the house and arrange themselves on the roost, fussing about who would sleep where. Some of the smaller ones worked their bodies up under the wings of the two big Cochins, some would roost apart from the others, all murmuring ancient chicken songs to themselves and each other. Rain they hated. Falling snow was intriguing, but accumulated snow was a problem. One year snow drifted 3 feet deep in the hen yard. I shoveled high-walled alleys so they could get outside and stretch their legs and watched them parade single-file down the blue corridors.
Only three hens left. Who will I bake giant pans cornbread for in the bleak dark days of Winter ?

Mom's Birthday Butterflies

This chrysalis all but opened on my Mom's 79th Birthday, she LOVES butterflies.... especially Monarchs, so I'm calling it her's ! It did open and fly away the next day. Next year I'd like to get some pictures of one as it's emerging from the gold speckled cellophane envelope. I'm still seeing lots of Monarchs, and still reading Four Wings and a Prayer. It's getting a little tedious and disappointing to keep reading how petty some of the early researchers were about sharing their information with other researchers, both citizen and degree-ed scientists. More writing about the natural history and migration of the insect would be welcome. But I guess this way I'm getting the whole picture on how the information that we do have came about...so I'll quit gripping !

Summer's End

Wow...here it is already...the last full day of this Summer.
I walked down our gravel road towards the setting sun late yesterday afternoon and found myself in a sea of airborne plankton...winged motes of life, swimming, floating, wind-driven...lending dimensionality to the invisible. Threads of cast spider webs, yards long, caught the light twisting and turning, spinning in the currents. All constant motion, lit from behind by the gold of the sun.
Earlier in the day a Monarch butterfly hatched out of its chrysalis in the hen house. I missed its departure, but didnt see it in the hen house, so I'm thinking that it got out and into the world to start its journey South. I'm reading Four Wings and a Prayer, by Sue Halpern, about one woman's experience with Monarchs, and now I would like to tag some butterflies next Summer....hopefully in our yard. tiny little stickers you adhere to a hind wing...amazing. I've seen more Monarchs than ever before this year, which is odd....Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy reported a very low year for that species. I see them EVERYWHERE...not in big numbers, but everywhere I go...even parking lots and highways. Maybe I'm just suddenly attuned to seeing them, like when someone you know gets a new car, and suddenly you notice just how many of that kind are on the road !

Deep Hot Summer Day

Wow. What a day. I was out in the yard, watering, weeding, and just hanging with the plants at 6:45am. Spent a nice, solid 3 hours engrossed in everything Plant. Did a light cleaning of the hen house too, and realized that I could add the poopy straw to the Very Neglected Compost Heap. So the heap itself became a mini-project...hmmm...need to weed around it, straighten up the end panels...ok, so layer the goodies on with helpings from the rotting mass of veggie scraps, weeds, and Willow Oak leaves from last fall that havent really broken down much. Water it from the hose to get it all nice and damp for the microbes and macro-life to multiply and work their composting magic. Ah, I love a good heap.
The chickens got weeds and over-ripe tomatoes to nibble on. Wish I could let them run free, but they would not last a day. They've got a pretty large fenced area to roam around ina nd I try and supply interesting things for them to peck and scratch at. The 5 hens are 7 years old now and seem content to just stroll around their fenced areas and take siestas in the shade when the sun is hot. We are getting from 0-3 eggs a day at the moment.
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Picked a bunch of Hillbilly tomatoes, a few Brandy Boys and a Mortgage Lifter. The Hillbillies are really a gorgeous tomato...brilliant streaky sunsets within. The San Marzanos look like they might be a bust...many are getting the dreaded Blossom End Rot. The first Mr. Stripey might get picked this weekend. Oh, and some extra sweet Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. The Swiss Chard plant is still doing great...I'm still picking 4-5 big leaves off of it every ten days or so. picked up a neighbor's CSA for her, since she and her family went out of town. Got to pick out peppers, tomatoes ( ! ), cucumbers, eggplant, squash, chard, peaches, and a cute little yellow rind watermelon that I dropped off at their house for them to enjoy when they get back.


It is J's Bday today. 54! For the dinner I made tacos, complete with the fried corn tortillas , guacamole, salsa and other goodies. also made a fabulous vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake...really yummy, and the cake part of it was perfect...I'll have to remember that recipe ...from vegcooking.com. Oh, and we ate the cake with a scoop of coconut ice cream ( vegan of course ! ).
Listened to a heartbreaking podcast on Compassionate Cooks....about motherhood and maternal instincts. I cried out of pure sadness and pure frustration for the animals and for the willful blindness that perpetuates all of the unnecessary suffering imposed on the creatures we enslave and then slaughter. How did we get this deep into such a nightmare ?

Sunflower Serendipity

Weeks and weeks ago i transplanted a 3" tall volunteer sunflower seedling from between stones on the Stone Patio to the Kitchen Garden, about ten feet away. It has since thrived and shot up to over 6'. Four days ago I settled sunflower seeds into vermiculite-filled soy yogurt cups and gave them a good soak. This afternoon, the first flowerhead on the Volunteer is unfolding just as the Yogurt Cup guys are emerging. The YC sunflowers I started especially for my son and his fiance's September wedding...I'll try to communicate ( to the seedlings ) the importance of timing their blooming to the wedding date, and see what happens :>
I also started some Morning Glories a few weeks ago and now have those in the ground and in a big pot...they have really taken off in the last day, with the heat ( and extra water)...Heavenly Blue...wonderfully cool crisp , fraglie flowers. The unexpected pleasure of re-using the yogurt cups over and over ...tomatoes, Cardinal Climbers ( up to 9 feet today, but no blossoms yet ), MGs, Sunflowers... has been fun. They're the perfect size, and with little slits cut into their bottoms, they soak up water from tubs, and drain off nicely.
I've been seeing a few 2" long Praying Mantis' energetically skipping among the tomato plants...hope they're finding lots to eat ! I rescued a 3/4" brown one from the kitchen counter the other day ...not sure how he got there, but I was so happy to get him/her out the door undamaged.
I've put off posting this till the sunflower seedlings were big enought to show...and here they are ! The tall leafy vine in the Silk cup is one of the Morning Glories, still waiting to get planted. As you can see, there are several brands of soy yogurt available... Trader Joe's , Whole Soy, Stonyfield and Silk are represented here. Not seen is the Wildwood brand, which has the advantage of coming in the quart size, unsweetened and unflavored...very nice to have on hand for uses other than the morning's first bite ! Some grocery stores carry a few brands, some carry none...you do have to do your homework to stay staocked up as a vegan !

Summer Solstice Afternoon

What better way to end the longest day of the year than with a double rainbow ? Our next door neighbor alerted us to the gorgeous event unfolding outside our door, off to the south east. Too bad the rainbow doesnt offer any magical properties to the cows and calves on the farm, such as exemption from ending theirs lives as living , breathing beings and going to slaughter, but still...what a beautiful sight.

A June Wedding

On June 9th my amazing daughter and her wonderful man got married up at Cooper's Rock State Park. This is the rock that they got married on...it is not THE Cooper's Rock, but a fabulous rock nonetheless ! It's hard to tell how large it is without people around it, but I'd say from the ground to the level part by the ferns, where they took their vows, is a good 10 feet or so. The weather was perfect,this after thunderstorms and drenching rains moved in the evening before. The Bride and Groom wanted a casual ceremony with "a picnic in the woods" sort of theme, which suited them perfectly. I love how they did just what they wanted and didn't sweat all the silly details and expectations created by various religious notions or the very wasteful and profitable Wedding Industry. They've started their life together with care, honesty ....and a nice piece of land to build on !

Summer Solstice

Here it is, the longest day of 2007 already ! This is the view from our front yard, practically. It was taken at about 5:45 this morning. The light plays over it all day, a constantly changing show. The seasons work their magic, also...fog, snow, rain , even the amount of humidity in the air all create very different effects.

It overlooks a "calf and cow" farm...I think that's what it's called....pasture impregnated beef cows on these rolling hills, let them calve and keep the young ones with their mothers for a few months and then it's off to a " finishing" process for the young ones while their mothers stay , graze and grow wide with the next calf developing inside her. I read somewhere that that cycle goes on for 5 or 6 years for the mother cow and then she herself is sent off for slaughter. I can see how people have a hard time connecting the contented looking animals they see out in the sunny pastures, to the meat industry as a whole. They never see the fear, pain and suffering endured by the animals in transport to and at the industrial slaughterhouses that turn living, breathing sentient creatures into sanitized steaks, burgers , leather, dog food and so on.

This morning while walking with two friends ( and all of our dogs ) we walked by another such pasture, only this one was empty but for one very young calf all alone, not another cow or calf in sight in the acres and acres of fenced fields. He could not have been more than a few weeks old. He stared and stared at us, about 15 feet away, unsure what to do. WE weren't sure what to do...and as we moved off , he just hung his head and slowly wandered off, stumbling a bit. My heart about broke...he's given up already ? Where are the other cows, where's his mother ?! About that time a truck drove by that we flagged down and pointed out the calf. Luckily it was one of the men who work with the cows and he was going to take care of the situation. He said that they had moved them all to another pasture yesterday and this little guy must have gotten separated. I'm happy in one way...the little calf will be reunited with his mother and won't starve , he gets to live on to.... make it to the...slaughterhouse and become...just...another piece..of...meat. Oh.
While going vegan and taking oneself out of the meat-eating loop does make you feel good about not participating in an incredibly cruel and unnecessary industry, it doesn't lessen the heartache felt for the animals having to live their lives out as resources, commodities or entertainment. I think it actually heightens the emotion. Advocating for the animals, speaking up for them, is about the only thing that really lessens the pain and anger on this end, for me , anyway. Not that calling attention to the stranded calf was advocacy ( that was just common sense )...I mean leafleting and supporting vegan efforts to raise consciousness of the cruelty of animal agriculture.

Wrens

This Carolina Wren was furiously stuffing this decorative bee skep with grasses...he ( she ? ) seemed to be in a BIG hurry. I think I saw another one flitting in and out of the shrubs. This skep is on our front porch, just sitting on a table. I don't mind them moving in, but I worry that it is not such a great place...in fact, the cats ( two ) could just reach right in, really. I think I'll move the whole thing up...maybe hang it in the corner of the porch. There is also a pair of house Wrens out back...raising a second wave of wrenlets in a Bluebird house hanging in the Wisteria. Early eviction of House Sparrows ( removed nest ) back in April seemed to send the Sparrows on their way,and then I left the door open...didnt want ot keep clearing out HS nests ! But then J closed the House back up, and within two days the House Wrens took charge. I'd heard that you can have multiple wrens in your yard, they just need to not see each other. So front and back yard territories seem to suit these couples just fine.
A friend, Laureen, and I monitored the Bluebird boxes out at BRCES this morning. She was really great to have along, unafraid to get dirty and intensely curious, as is requisite of all of us amateur naturalists :) She did most of the work...unscrewing the door, looking or gently feeling for babies or eggs. We saw some VERY young , naked babies. The tiny nubs of wings; wrinkled, pot-bellied translucent bodies and gigantic bulging still-sealed up eyes seem far to frail to digest still-kicking robust insects caught by the parents and stuffed down their throats...yet they not only manage, but thrive. Amazing.
We also saw a Northern Oriole, a Worm-Eating Warbler and several Indigo Buntings. The birds were all pretty quiet, perhaps because of a big Scout Training event with Wood Badge.
Zillions of gnats swarmed around us , but none of them bit ( thank you Gnats ! )
What a great start to June !

volunteers

What is it about volunteer plants sprouting up as seedlings in our yards and gardens that gives me such a thrill ? Is it that they mysteriously show up, unaided by human hand, in unexpected places...leaving us to wonder just how the seed got there in the first place ? Maybe it's that little feeling of gratitude: our garden was chosen as the perfect site for this particular plant. Now, I do spend an inordinate amount of time ripping out volunteer grasses, mints and bindweed gone wild, but I still feel surprised and honored when something totally unexpected shows up. This little Dill plant was hiding amongst a thick patch of weeds next to the strawberries , down in the Fenced Garden. A bird was almost certainly responsible for delivering the seed ( or seeds ) from my neighbor's Dill Forest that takes over her garden every Summer. But still. Its tender pale stalk and feathery bluish leaves were instantly recognised for what it was, and carefully weeded around.

Wow...it's been awhile since I've posted. Last i wrote we were heading out to AZ to spend time with my brother. He thrived under Mom and S's care while in Sun Lakes, but once home started to lose weight again. He's now in the hospital...I think it's been a week since he went in. Liquid nutrition is all that he can take in now, and the hospital is trying to track down how he can get the stuff he needs outside of the hopital. Uh, why don't they just sell him what he needs, since no one ele on the island carries the stuff ? How hard is that ?
The dinosaur amongst the pansies is to remind myself just how fleeting life on Earth is, to fully appreciate our lives and those of our family's. The Brontosaurus ( does that name still apply ? ) was found on a gravel road while out on a morning walk with my walking friends...seemed a shame to leave it lying in the road. It had already lost one leg and deep dusty gouges run the length of its body. Why not give it a new life in our garden ? Toads, slugs, worms, birds and uncounted insects will keep it company.

Couldn't Resist !

Every Dandelion in the County got the word to open up today, it seems ! Thousands of the gorgeous little things are everywhere...in lawns, on roadside edges, in fields. In light of the awful shootings at Virginia Tech down in Blacksburg, and my brother's and father's cancer...these obstinate, persistent YELLOW flowers are a strong cheery sight. Grazing animals eat their leaves ( our chickens love a basketful of their leaves, stems flowers and roots) and flowers...people even cultivate Dandelion greens for themselves. Insects collect pollen and nectar, and the seeds feed various finches...including Goldfinches. Last year, out at the Blue Ridge Center, Jamie and I saw hundreds of Goldfinches lift off of a field of Dandelions gone to seed in a single undulating wave. I'll never forget it.
Who knows what sort of microscopic agreements, arrangements and connections are happening underground between the Dandelion and the incredibly abundant world on the other side of the grass ? Despite being labelled a Weed by some people, it carries on its multifaceted life, laughing all the way, I hope !

Off To Arizona

Jamie and I leave for Sunlakes, Arizona , to visit with my Mom and my 4 brothers. The main reason for the gathering is that one of my brothers has pancreatic cancer and we all want to have some time together. Dad can't make it..he's staying behind to deal with one of his own cancers, and then he's off to Hawaii to spend some time with his son and his wife, who I got to know some when Mom and I went out in November '06...I'm so glad that they have each other. I really like her down-to-Earth attitude, and her compassion :>
We'll be gone from Virginia for a week....a lot can happen in a garden in a week ! This picture is of a big Dicentra (I took today ) that puts on quite a show for weeks in the Spring, and wears out later in the Summer. I'll take another picture when I get back and see how much it's grown. No sign of the Garden Toads yet, although we've heard some frogs/toads or peepers in the area. We are honored to host an area for some toads to live. Each Summer evening they patrol the Stone Patio for bugs and slugs. We leave out little Toad Pools ( shallow dishes of water ) for them to soak in when it's dry, hoping to create a nice toad habitat.
We've had close to 3" of rain over the last few weeks...maybe more...our electronic rain gauge fell over, and I didnt keep perfect records of the manual gauge...and it looks as thought it is finally going to warm up. The Stitch Club is on Junco Departing Watch...we're trying to figure when they leave the area. Their numbers have definitley fallen in the last few weeks...they are off to the Boreal Forests to nest and raise their young on the forest floor...I can't get over that...why not up in a tree ??!!! We'll be looking for the first Catbird before long...last year I saw the first ones in our yard on April 25th. It was a great year for Catbirds...they were everywhere it seemed ! Love their tiny little black caps.

Bluebirds and Cold Rain

Jamie and I arrived at the Blue Ridge Center on Saturday morning, the 14th, ahead of the coming Nor'Easter , in time to check on the Bluebird nest boxes on the Farm Loop trail. We saw Bluebirds perching on wire fences, in the trees and even a pair on a box, but we didnt see any finished nests in the boxes. One box held a single 6" long white chicken's feather...probably brought there by a Tree Swallow. I've wondered...do they collect feathers for their nests off the ground, or do they pluck them out of the air as the discarded feathers of other birds are lifted by wind gusts ? Last year, there were lots of Tree Swallows in the boxes...out of the 12 boxes available, I think 7 were occupied by them. Amazing creatures of the air, and brave defenders of their nests...they'll swoop repeatedly at your head, until you are sure that it is going to take a piece of you ! Kaufman's bird book describes their call as "liquid twittering"......can't think of a better way to describe it. I also read that although most of their diet is flying insects, they will also eat berries.

Into the Allium Patch

Today I got about 16,17 marble-sized Purple Onions into the ground, next to the garlic and the little purple onion plants I rescued from the compost heap. I don't know that the soil is as loose as they might like...this coming fall I MUST layer up horse maure and leaves and compost to deepen the beds. Our next door neighbor gave us the onions...he's already planted 2 pounds of onion sets and didnt want any back from me. I ended up turning all the extras into the heap. Also in the heap are some "compostable" plates made by Earth Shell. I peeked at them today, two weeks after they settled in, and they seem to be about halfway "composted". The heap was warm, with hundreds of worms...think I'll have to heat things up a bit.

Saw the first warbler in our yard today...not sure which kind...deeply yellow throat, white wing bars, dark streaking on flanks and head...argh ! wish I had gotten a better look ! Jamie and I are going out to the Blue Ridge Center tomorrow morning to monitor Bluebird boxes before the big Nor'Easter due to arrive sometime after Sat evening. We probably won't see anything but nests in the boxes, in fact, bluebird babies at this time are pretty risky...no reliable bugs about yet. I'ave heard that the parents have had to stuff their babies full of dried seeds and berries in the absence of insects during cold, wet Springs...and the babies die :<

Arizona Cactus Bloom

Well, since things seem to moving pretty slowly here ( another freezing morning ! ), and not many things in flower ( other than the hundreds of daffodils ! ), I got to thinking about Arizona's desert blooms. Cacti that stand mute for most of the year are suddenly shouting " Magenta !" "Yellow ! " " Red ! " Insects, birds and even bats answer the call and join the plants in mutual relationships of give and take. This is a picture my Mom is AZ took several years ago of a neighboring cactus in bloom...incredible color. Nice shot, Ma !

There is a tiny poppy of the purest orange that unfurls its petals as the sun comes up...if you are hiking amongst some of Arizona's many mountains, hills or outcroppings you might catch one in the act of presenting itself to its world.
Ocotillos are fascinating...looking like nothing more than a shabby bundle of thorny sticks for months at a time, they can grow several sets of glossy boxwood-like leaves several times a year. In times of drought they drop all their leaves to conserve energy . Yet they bloom every April without fail, providing hummingbirds with crucial nectar at a time when food may be scarce.

Red Onions' New Home

Here are the little guys snuggled in with last Fall's garlic. Hope they form some bulbs !
We are testing the "compostablity" of some compostable tableware...Earth Shell. We used a few plates the other day and this morning I'll bury them into smallish compost heap we've got going. I think it's got some heat going on in the middle, but it does need to be built back up. I think I'l just slide them into the middle of the heap and check on the progress in a week or so.

Red Onions

March 31st I found this clump of red onions growing on the edge of the compost heap. Seemed such a shame to just turn them under when they looked so healthy and happy to be growing. It looks as though maybe a seed head of onions started there...where would that have come from ? maybe they're just red "spring onions" that will never form a bulb ? Where would those have come from ? I lifted the clump and seperated out 8 of the sturdiest looking ones and planted them alongside the garlic that was planted last October. The very next day a neighbor gave us some small red onion sets...proper little onions bulbs. Having never grown onions, I read up a little and see that I have to put a little thought into planting them ! I really wish that I had spread thick manure and straw over all the beds last Fall ! Well, I'll give some a try anyway.

March 31st is also Circumference Day...the day we go measure the circumference of most of the trees in the yard. It's a fun thing to do, something I wish we had started the year we'd moved here. As good a clelbration of the return of the growing season as Easter, I think. Pop came over and helped J and I measure and record the trees' girth. The big surprise was seed pods on one of the baby Catalpas that I started on Pop's 72nd Birthday started in Feb. of '01. We had a nice Mexican casserole ( layers of corn tortillas, roasted veggies, tofu, beans ) a big salad for dinner and then watched Who Killed The Electric Car. Everyone should see this film. Especially anyone contemplating buying a new car. It's a wake-up call for an individual's responsibility as an informed consumer and a scary look into how that information is twisted manipulated by and for the automobile and oil industries, aided by friends in the White House. Yikes.

Tender New Lettuce

I bought these at a wonderful local nursery/garden center yesterday. A few were plucked from the greenhouse...they have not spent a day or night outside yet. I'll harden them off in the next few days and then plant them in a few galvanized "wash tubs" I got for cheap at HD. I'll sow some lettuce seeds amongst these little guys to take their place as they get eaten .

Soil Ruminations

I find myself thinking more and more about soil as an actual organism, rather than just something that plants happen to grow out of. Our appreciation of both the intricate relationships between the separate organisms within the soil, and their sheer numbers and diversity grows each day. here's a nice example of soil life, lifted from
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/fred.moor/soil/formed/f0105.htm

Soil Inhabitants

"Bacteria
As well as plants, other life arose in the soil. Some of it is more fascinating that the world we see each day. In one tablespoonful of soil, there are more bacteria than there are people on the entire planet. A quarter of a million of them could sit on the full stop at the end of this sentence. They can live in air, water, extremes of heat and cold, and are able to function without sunlight. There are bacteria that can take animal excrement and purify it. Others can take nitrogen from the air in the soil and convert it into nitrates that are needed by higher plants for growth. Being contained within a single cell, they cannot eat solids, but feed by secreting enzymes to dissolve their surroundings to a form which they can digest, then re-absorb as lunch.

Another of the most impressive things about bacteria is the range of material they can break down to digest. Carbon compounds like naphthalene present them with no problem, something we as humans find difficult to do unless we have a laboratory.

Fungi
Essential to the breakdown of woody organic matter, fungi are another mystery in the soil, Some are parasites on live or dead plants, others live in harmony with plant roots, helping to create the ideal conditions for both to flourish.

Algae
Like plants, but more simple in composition, algae can take up carbon dioxide from the surface air (although a few do it deep in the soil) and convert it to oxygen as part of their food production process. We, of course, are happy with this, because oxygen is replenished by such means and we get to live.

Microscopic Animals
From simple celled amoeba and protozoa running their lives in the soil moisture, through nematodes that can damage the roots of the plants we want to grow, your soil is teeming with unseen life all of which plays its part in the complex chain of interdependency that is life.

Other Creatures
The most obvious are earthworms. The gardener’s friend, they play a huge part in mixing organic matter from the surface into the lower depths of the soil, and in doing so, they provide the source of food for countless numbers of other organisms who feed on the organic matter. Their burrowing also leaves (by comparison) huge aeration channels and fissures in the soil, along which air can diffuse and water drain. It is estimated that there are somewhere between 200 and 600 worms in every square metre of your garden.

Then there are the beetles that assist in clearing up the decaying organic matter, and who themselves provide food for small animals all the way up the food chain to man.

So, as we have seen, soil is a hugely complicated microscopic world, teeming with interdependent life chains."

Now would be a good time to have a national reading of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Not only to marvel at her prescience and courage, but as a wake-up call. From the chapter, The Obligation To Endure:

"Future historians may well be amazed by our distorted sense of proportion. How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind? Yet this is precisely what we have done. We have done it, moreover, for reasons that collapse the moment we examine them."

Time to get outside and fluff up the compost heap again...got it re-invigorated yesterday...stirred in more leaves that were shredded in the Fall, turned in the kitchen scraps that had accumulated on the heap...folded it all in with the worms and microbes from the bottom of the pile. It'll heat up nicley in a few days...yea, Spring !

the mustard greens project

Here are the little mustard greens and friends 11 days after their debut on the blog. The daffodils in the little vase were cut from plants out by the front steps. They were fat buds till this morning, when they started to unfurl. Yesterday's high of 72 dropped steadily after about 2pm. Light rain fell with the temps and now we've got snow and 32.9 degrees. I am so over the cold and the snow.

Cat-Minty Madness

While doing a little more clean up in the fenced garden, before I let the hens out for the day, the cats, Sam ( pictured ) and Nemo The Plush came in and discovered clumps of catmint I had pulled up ( the ground is nice and soft at the moment...it easily gives up the weeds ). They went crazy twisting and rolling on the clumps, even batting them around a bit. Sam started kicking his own head while grabbing at his tail; Nemo cavorted about like a kitten....very cute. Here's Sam looking a little wild, just before he sprang away. The Catmint becomes a bush in the right conditions, and the insects LOVE it. Its free-seeding ways must be looked after though, or you end up like me...with hundreds of young plants that grew quietly over the Winter and are now setting the stage for Flower Bed Domination.

hens in the garden

Our hens are 7 years old this Spring, and we have 7 left from the original 15. Although I am now vegan, and don't eat eggs, it's not often an issue with them...they are pretty causal about laying. I like to provide them with room to scratch the dirt, look for bugs and worms to eat, and some dry, bare dirt to hold their elaborate dust bathes. Nothing looks more blissful than a hen laying in a dustbowl, stretched out in the sun ...they can look positively comatose. They were all out, helping me get a look at what's going on in the Fenced Garden (FG )...fenced against deer, mostly. But it keeps the hens in and foxes out, too. The girls are not allowed in there all of the time...once the growing season gets going, they'll have to move their activities to another little "field".
Pictured is Aurora ( aka The Khaki Barn ), a Buff Cochin and Top Poly, the more dominant of the two Polish Tophats.

Kitchen Door Daffodils

The cold has kept the daffodil's development down and bit, but yesterday and today it 'soared' into the upper 50's...yea!!!!! There are some daffs out front, that get more sun throughout the day, and are a little further along, but not as easy to watch their progress. The first few years we lived here I planted bulbs each Fall, forgetting each year how hard it is to plant them in clay-bound rocky soil. Those gorgeous gardening books show people casually tossing bulbs into 6-8" deeply groomed beds that must have taken weeks to prepare. Or worse, some glib TV host is showing how to plant bulbs in the lawn, for a natural look...he or she sinks a trowel up to its hilt, pulls it aside a bit, drops in a bulb and then seals the earth back over the slit that now contains a flower bulb, nestled firmly in the ground. And this is under trees for crying out loud ! What, no tree roots ? No rocks ? Give me a break. Or better yet, give me a couple of seasons to forget, so that I can be lured in once again by the promise of Spring and load up on bulbs again next Fall. I just remembered the Alliums ! Their flowerhead's spherical shape mirrors many other forms in nature...diatoms come first to mind, then dandelions and their tribe. The gigantic Gladiator alliums are showstoppers ( we don't currently have any of those growing...at $5.00 a bulb, I just can't seem to go that final mile and actually buy them ! ) , but the late-season white ones ( actually a garlic I think ) are a nice contrast with the Echinacea and Asclepia....and who knows where else this year...they seed pretty freely.

up and coming flower show

The snow is gradually melting/evaporating away...none too soon for me! these daffodils have been coming up for weeks, but just a few days ago started showing flower buds. I thought it might be fun to follow one bunch's emergance into flower and see where it goes from there...maybe a trip to the compost heap ? Maybe some microscopic pictures from the heap later in the Spring...hmmm...

cardinals

This morning, amid light snow flurries, 25-30 cardinals (both male and female) seem to be stocking up at the birdfeeder. Blackoil sunflowers seed is the only thing we put out. It is hard to tell from this picture ( taken just minutes ago ! ) that there are 10 cardinals in it ( and a squirrel )...the females are well hidden in the greenybrowny grass. There is also a heated bird bath near the feeders to offer water during the freezes. We've had a troop of around 15-20 most of the Winter, but they really seem to be concentrating now. Saw a few Robins walking about...first ones I've seen this season, here at our house. Earlier in the season S, L and I would see a good-sized flock of Robins down our road, in the woods...about 20-30 I'm thinking. The Juncos are still here, but not in the numbders we've had in the past...maybe 15-20 at most. A few White-Throats.

a creature of summer warmth

Came across this picture, and in the interest of practicing uploading picture files and wanting to bring some juicy green life to the blog, I felt the urge to post it ! I have to say that I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing insects about again...the winter months seem so sterile without them. Is it that they represent some unsaid diversity ? I think we need to have an Insect Day....a day to celebrate their myriad forms, incredible solutions to ancient issues of climate, predators...hmmm...perhaps some day in mid June ? Or wait until the Cicadas are out and about..finished with their underground existence and have literally shucked it off, leaving their papery husks to be consumed by birds, dogs, and collected by children ? It would be a day for all insects...not just "beneficials" or the pretty.

lettuce and mustard seedlings

Here's the little guys in their natal seedling tray. they really need to be separated and given some space. So far the mixture is hard to tell which types are which. The little brown specks on a few of them are, I hate to say....sunburn !!!! I had watered them from above and then set the tray back in the sunny window... the sun magnifying through the water droplets on the tender young leaves...burning little holes ! :< But they will survive. Today they got a drink of chamomile tea and some leftover coffee. ..this time I watered more carfully !

the power of seed

Fresh, silky milkweed floss in late summer ( or is it early fall ? )...about to carry the next generation into the wind and colonize new territory in the Spring. Paper-thin wrinkled discs hardly look capable of growing into great stalks of sturdy milkweed plants. Each individual plant seems like a world unto itself : aphids, leaf hoppers and spitbugs sip their juices, milkweed beetles thrive on them ( not exactly sure what they do...? ), Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat the leaves. All sorts of insects visit the sweetly scented flowers to sip on nectar or collect pollen ( or dine on smaller insects that are collecting nectar or pollen ) I've witnessed at least one groundhog chow down on the young plants ( less than two feet tall ) in our own yard, leaving bare stems weeping white latex. Who know what goes on under the ground...what sorts of relationships they have worked out with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms. Where there is now seemingly barren ground, milkweed seeds await their cues to continue their version of life on Earth.

Spring is possible !

OK...now it seems possible for the ground to thaw, for mud to transform back into soil and for green shoots to emerge from dormant roots, rhizomes and seeds. The past few weeks have seemed a little bleak, what with lingering snow and ice... but really when compared to the 11 foot snows they've had to endure in upstate New York, I shouldn't complain. Yesterday was nice...50-ish with the sun out...streams and creeks alive with snow melt and the rain that fell during the night.
I am reading "The Snow Geese" by William Fiennes. A Brit, recovering from a long illness decides to follow the snow goose's route from winter grounds in southern Texas up through the Mid-West and on to Baffin Island, where they nest in the summer. Wonderful, evocative writing. Here he is describing a pet of a new friend:

Saila was three-quarters wolf and a quarter husky, with the colouring of a wolf, and the figure of a Shetland pony: fourteen years old, lame, deaf, almost blind, her dark eyes swirled through with milkiness.....her legs no longer hinged at the knees:they were as stiff as crutches. Each step forward beat the odds, bucking a trend. She tottered.She moved one foot and waited before following its lead, as if to verify that the limb could support her weight....we'd walk down the corridor together, one step at a time, blind Siala listing from side to side, slewing into stacks of boxes. One morning she knocked over a box mark "christmas decorations" and stood confused in a spill of rosettes, pompoms, and paper-twist angels.

tiny greens and big bananas

The first lettuce seeds did not sprout. I think they were too old. What did sprout were a variety of chrysanthemum that is grown for its edible leaves. I re-sowed the lettuce area with some "Hotshot" mustard greens mix ( from High Mowing Seeds ) they started sprouting within 2 days ! I'm going to have to do some thinning and potting up within the week.
I whacked back the biggest banana tree in the pot...an invasive ( and almost impossible to get rid of ! ) White Impatiens has been making life tough for the 3' plant. its edges were browning and it was looking a bit chlorotic. But the 3 little ones will live on and grow into a fantastic little grove outside this summer...this year I am going to put them in the ground, just for the summer...first they must be pried out from the pot, and I hope to tease out the Impatiens then...without killing the banana ! today's picture is of a banana tree I saw at the Ala Moana Center in Hawaii back in December of 06.

Winter Impatiens

This guy blooms merrily all winter long. I've brought them in for the winter before, and wonder why they arent as popular as Amaryllis and Paperwhites for indoor winter gardening. You can even multiply them as they grow...just start more from the cuttings that you've got to thin out now and then !

greens in the bedroom window

This is the first entry into what I hope will be a fun way to keep track of and ruminate on experiences with plants and their allies ( bugs and all ). this first picture was taken last summer in our Fenced Garden area...it's a Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar dining on parsley. I never did find any chrysalis. So I don't know if a bird ate it, or the magic happened unseen by me.
Two weeks ago I started what I hope to be a bed of lettuce. A clear plastic clamshell that held purchased lettuce a few months ago is serving as the seed-starter bed. The warm, sunny South-facing window of our bedroom is where the lettuce seedlings share their first days with a 4 year-old potted banana tree and a pot-bound Impatiens brought in to bring cheer throughout the winter.