A Fowl Trade..Let it Bee

Long time no bloggy. As with everyone this is a particularly busy time of year and in my case made even more so by taking on new projects proving yet again my high standing in the kingdom of Flibbertijibberty..

Anyhoo..the ducks, my beloved ducks, have a new home on a 3 acre pond. It wasn't just that the kiddie pool wasn't cutting it but also that the boys were having their way with the chickens, denuding them of neck feathers and a sort of general humiliation that come to find out could kill a little hen. So off they went. I visit them when I can and note that the female is actually broody on her homemade woodland nest and maybe they won't get picked off like 3 of my hens have this Spring by maurauding foxes.

So, in exchange, the pond owner has gifted me with the green egg layers Arconas (sp?) and the silkies. The black chicks came from the grain store where, I think, I was told they were barred rocks but I kinda don't think so. Do you know?

In other news I think the honey bees are doing their thing but more on that later when I have time to investigate properly.

what I watched from my office window all winter

hanging on for dear life in the old apple tree...

wind, snow..amazing. still there.

loss

Whenever I read a blog about the death of a beloved pet I feel deeply. Often feeling more deeply than I do when watching the perpetual horror stories in news cycles of tragedies too huge to comprehend. It is a matter of being able to, for the lack of a better word, relate.
But there is another part of me that feels it's just too personal sometimes, too raw.

So for Url the cat who I raised from the tender age of 2 days to 8 short years who died unexpectedly
yesterday and is now buried beneath one of the new apple trees I can only blink back my seemingly endless tears. No kidding, this cat was not a cat but a neurotic clown who gave me more smiles than I can calculate. I held him and made myself watch him as life left his eyes. I admit, without embarrassment, I am bereft.

cart before horse

Interesting title since the one thing I have vowed never to have here is any critter with hooves so no, this is not about a horse. It's about jumping into things before you have all the info, before all the research is done and hoping, with childlike idiocy, that everthing will work out in the end. (I majored in magical thinking..)

So since today is promising more thunder showers I'll try to prime this new enterprise and dream of applied countrified design to adorn..

BEES, honeybees, all ordered and half paid for, to be inserted into new home very soon by something worse than a novice: me.

I will attend a class and will join VT. BeeKeepers but, end of the day it'll be me and the bees. Of course AFTER I decided to bee up I read lots of blogs and watched lots of vids and heard all sorts of sad stories of dead queens, unsucessful mite smiting, mysterious die offs, and racoons and bears and jeez you name it. But I'll soldier forward and keep my 'it's just an experiment' hat on. Maybe a mentor will fall in my lap..then too maybe I'll be invited to the royal nups. HA!

my 'glaring' valentines

consequences of neglect

There are always a couple of perennial beds around here that get 'forgotten' every couple years....I try to do a kick ass job on each bed every couple years but it doesn't always work out.
Witness the attack of Bidens frondosa or more colloquially named hereabouts as Devil's Pitchfork.
As someone who's done her share of weeding I know things are bad when I am forced to retreat and find a fresh shirt.
But as I was en route I must admit to a moment of grudging admiration for the opportunistic little beggar. We critters do all the work dragging it's sorry seed from pillar to post, pulling, or trying to pull, them off as we advance. hmmmmmm....

maybe a frost tonight

castor beans for those stews (just kidding)
peas will appreciate the frost
kangaroo apples will never ripen to orange by the looks of things
how much damage will the girls do to the little pink magnolia with their roosting ways?
ornamental kales also give thumbs up to some serious chilling


no, really I was just kidding about the castor beans

an 'almost' RIP

today's lesson:
you CAN scream loudly enough to make a coy dog drop his brunch
and hit the underbrush!

the highly low, lowly high sunflower

They chatter.

And lend themselves to the whims of all ilk of artist.






After the smiley face they are the most overused icon for cheerfulness the world has ever seen. And when they evidence any hint of imperfection or decay they play magnificently to the poignancy card Joe SixPack holds near to his heart. They've nodded their way in and have no intentions of leaving our Hallmark Card dramas.
As you can imagine, I would not be without them.

how I spent my summer vacation or there is life without a computer

Well, so much for my note-to-self regarding discipline when it comes to blog posts BUT it ain't easy to do minus an actual computer so I'm letting myself off the hook.
At first it was a nightmarish withdrawal but very quickly the pain subsided and was forgotten and my ruminations over this dry summer were just mine own bouncing around and echoing in my head. Though, to disclose fully, it has been a gluttonous affair catching up on my favorite blogs.

It's been a bizarrely dry summer in Vermont this year and truly for the first time did I actually begin to think about some sort of practical irrigation ideas. (Add that to the list)..The upshot, of course, is that everything that's been struggling along is small, small, small having been deprived of the quantity of water for optimal growth. But, on the flip side, wow, I have enjoyed the sunshine and lack of rain more than I can say so I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and hoped that the imminent collapse of 'everything' doesn't happen this particular winter as the goods put away thus far are minimal, (except for pesto..basil galore!)
So what I decided was to just look around, move alot of perennials, amend the soil, spend endless hours watching the ducks and chicks grow and to feed them whatever their caviar lovin' palates desired. (OK, let's be honest, I am their slave).
So truly I'm just trying to prep for that mythical ideal represented in the words 'next year'..that attitude has really lessened the burden and I've found myself enjoying my humble labors.
As to my connection to the interwebs? I'm still on shaky ground but I'm taking it in stride!

alright already with the ducks!

a backward glance
grooming poolside
yes, I put rubber duckies in there...
what can I say, I get a kick out of them.
a photo while the water is remotely clean...duck befoul with astonishing rapidity.
duck known as 'lame-y' wears a buff orp chapeau

the chicks love them, they love the chicks!

going to seed and other stuff

As is often noted time is a precious commodity this time of year, at least it is for me. And though I've a bit more time for my own garden projects the 'to do' list has expanded exponentially it sometimes seems. In any event I'm already at the 'let's try setting one's head straight' portion of the season and am opting to work hard and enjoy even more. That's the goal anyway. Remaining conscious and actually looking around is my major ambition.
That said much of what is happening here this season will be allowing stuff to go to seed for seed. The charge of seeing a biennial do it's thing is worth the wait. I'm following Mike's,(Subsistence Pattern), general idea of trying to stay a couple of years ahead seed-wise, (and wood-wise as well)..I'll be at it a couple more years but hey, baby steps.
Meanwhile, back in reality, there is a heap o' weedin' to do!

adventures outside

Since it was about 90 today we decided to take a little sojourn to the great out of doors and it seems to have been met with great interest and enthusiasm, must say i'm looking forward to it being a permanent situation despite how high the cute-0-meter is registering.

in my mind's eye

in my mind's eye these waddlers will be assisting in future pest control but for the moment they are just cute splashing in their Ce-ramic pond! (However, the endless clean-up at this stage leaves something to be desired but eventually they'll move to their own digs and balance will be restored).

up for air

the irony is that it's a time of year with so many gardening related interests a' happenin' the menu of choice topics goes on forever....the problem is there is NO time to wander with camera in hand or compose those pithy mental notes. My hope, (since there is such an overload of projects happening simultaneously), is to get on some sort of track in the next few weeks and re-establish some semblance of routine. Meanwhile it's hard labor and baby chicks!

it's a sog-i-fi-ca-tion situation!

Unlike most I am only now seeing some of the mushy truth revealed...oh boy.

crazyass winter shenanigans with bobcat

This post has nothing to do with gardening. About a hundred years ago some family member ended the life of this poor ol' bobcat and then had him stuffed. Since I've known him he's existed largely in the darkness of attics so today we thought he needed a walk in the snow and a little time in the fresh air. I left him guarding the seedlings out in the shed that desperately want some sunshine.

Serious Snow, Finally

It's unusual for us to have such an open winter as we've had so far this season and to be frank, I'm relieved and grateful for this snow cover. For the first time in a while I've had plants exposed where the thus far relatively minimal snow accumulation had receded a bit and that made me concerned for dessication,burn, windchill, what-have-you..
And look, here's the deal, please don't live here if you don't think it's about the most beautiful sight imaginable. Err, or, if you are ill prepared for the realities of what I think is about to happen any minute, power failure.
The snow wade I just took blew my mind, and quiet, oh my. (Pausing to collect myself)
So, what's there to say except "WOW!"