This Morning

Mondays are my super official day off.  Not that I'm working much at all lately, or getting much else accomplished because of a little back trouble of late.  But still.  I've been repeating a mantra since my return from vacation "Commune with the world outside, nature, the garden, and write about it".  And so, after my morning pages and coffee and cake and David got off to work, I headed out, down past the pond to the creek again.  Today was cool, I had on pants and socks and shoes. 

Patiently following a low slow thunking yielded a pileated woodpecker, his crest so brilliant, like a flame bursting out of the top of his head.  And a black and white warbler, first one since spring, busily eating bugs.  I'm reminded that when birding in the fall, it's not so much about sound and song as movement, the warbler was making not a peep, it was the chatter of some other bird that drew my eye up to where he fed.

This funny flower is blooming in profusion where the power cut meets the pond.  I've yet to ID it, but it's taller than me and on close examination I see the flowers have only 2 or 3 petals.  At first I thought they had lost some but I see that no, this is how they grow.  Anyone know what this might be?


No matter how quietly I approach the pond, the turtles kerplunk into the water before I can spot them, they must feel the vibration of me walking.  I never know what might be hanging out on the water, herons, ducks, otters or beavers, but not today, just the mud turtles, splashing back into the brown water where they wait for me to walk on by.

Again I saw the deer, same spot, today only two, they ran across the creek this time then stood, white tails flicking, watching me watch them.  They were silhouetted in the sunlight, I could see the whiskers on their chins, the light passing through their tall black edged ears.  Eventually they snorted, stomped and zig-zagged away into the forest. 

At this sparkly place, where the creek is particularly chatty, right where I had been wading just yesterday afternoon, a barred owl flew silently up and out of the creek.  I tried to follow- see where he landed, crept along the path and scared him up two mores times, flying further into the tree tops, I never could spot him with my binoculars but know that if I had, he would have been staring right back at me, waiting for my next move.

I've been reading Annie Dillard.  Had never been able to get into Pilgrim at Tinker Creek for some reason.  The wild tangents perhaps, she can go on a tangent.  But I'm giving it another try and its working for me this time, even though I have to press on through some sections.  But there are moments of brilliance throughout- guess that's why she got the Pulitzer huh?  For example: "Night is rising in the valley; the creek has been extinguished for an hour, and now only the naked tips of trees fire tapers into the sky like trails of sparks."

I want to spend the next 3 seasons being the Pilgrim at Morgan Creek.  Let's just see if I can make it happen, maybe you'll come along for the ride?

Down at the Creek

We've had 6.5 inches of rain since last Monday, including a true gully washing frog strangler on Thursday afternoon when we got 3.5 inches in about an hour.  The result is that the creeks are up and flowing again. Our little wash has moving water for the first time since late spring.  Down at Morgan Creek today I could see the swept clean banks where the water had been up several feet after the downpour last Thursday.

Evidence of the big water in our little creek, flotsam on the left and right bank swept clean.

Heading down the hill today I startled 3 deer, they jumped and ran then stopped when I stopped.  We had a stand off for quite a while, they not moving, me not moving, looking right at each other but I think they couldn't see me, just knew something was up.  I had the thought that if I'd had a bow or rifle I could have had some venison about then.  I finally got tired of standing still and once I took a step, the deer furthest back in the group stomped and huffed and they were off like a shot and out of sight.

The flowing clear water beckoned and I went wading.  Stood for a long while feeling the air on my face and chill water on my feet and legs.  Light dappled all around me and danced on the water. 

A downy woodpecker tapped on a branch over the creek, titmice squabbled in the tree tops, a barred owl hooted in the distance.  

Before the flood earlier this week I snapped this picture of a cardinal flower. There were lots of them blooming, growing in the creek bed on sand bars, surrounded by the invasive microstegia.  All now flattened, their red petals washed away in the torrent, their roots hang on to hopefully bloom another year.

The weather today was a balm, after all that rain and a hot humid week, we woke to a cool dry day.  The windows are open again for the first time in a while and the sound of frogs is coming in the screens, we'll sleep good tonight and need to pull a blanket up around us come early morning.  Autumn is on the way and I am ready.
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In the Bean Patch

You know I'm a beanaholic.  Since we were away for most of August, I timed the second planting of beans for mid-July with hopes they would be fruiting now, when we returned.  Bingo.

This patch includes a jumble of zinnias, falling into the paths but they give such cheer its worth climbing around them to get to the beans.  Grey-speckled cow peas in the foreground, an heirloom variety new to me that I'm hopeful about.  Haricot verts next- Taverna- reliable and a heavy producer of small, tender, sweet beans.  On the trellis at the back is Vortex, a new pole bean I'm trying, they are very long yet string-less and tender.  I think they would be the perfect bean for dilly beans with their long-straight habit making them easy to pack and pretty in jars.

 

Furthest out on the trellis, another heirloom bean, Garden of Eden, long, flat yet tender, cooks in 3 minutes!.  either side of the trellis I also planted lima beans, they are a bit shaded by everything else but coming along.

Bean flowers promising many more to come 

  While picking I almost grabbed this guy who was prowling around in the leaves looking a lot like a bean.

The end products; Vortex on left, Garden of Eden in center, haricot vert-Taverna on right.  And flowers to brighten the table.  Think there will be beans on the menu tonight- possibly with some home grown red potatoes and chanterelles picked in the woods this humid warm week.

Surviving July

A Typical Day's Haul

I've been thinking lately that July is pretty much just about surviving anymore, and August too for that matter.  Me, the plants, the animals, we are all just trying to get through the hot, humid weeks and make it to the other side.  I hear those of us in North Carolina are not the only ones suffering and maybe not even suffering the worst with highs in the upper 90's and into the 100's all across the country over the past few weeks, it's just brutal in general.  The only thing that's saving us here is a fair amount of rain keeping things alive.

It's been a while since my last post and we are just hanging in trying to stay on top of the weeds and the harvest and holding our breath till we leave for a much anticipated vacation to the Pacific Northwest where they are experiencing Junuary, with highs in the 60's. I'm so ready.  The idea of needing a fleece at night has me positively giddy.

In the meantime, here is a bit of what I've been up to lately.

This guy was so tall I had to get up on a step stool to take this picture.   It came up voluntarily in the veg garden and we enjoyed it for a few weeks until the wind blew it down and after I stood it back up, the squirrels pulled it down again to snack on the seeds. SQUIRRELS! The bums, they have been eating tomatoes and blueberries so we polished off the 22 and popped a few as they fed under the bird feeder. Think we got the worst offenders though there are always more and the wiliest ones are staying out of range.

It was time to harvest the last of the beets, not a bad showing for the end of the season.  About 8 pounds. We had them roasted, boiled and I pickled 6 pints for later.  Delish.

On a rare and horridly hot and steamy walk I encountered this handsome lad.  Just down the trail about 10 feet was a female.  Not sure if they were just about to find each other or had just finished an encounter.  Or maybe they were just minding their own business, I traveled on.

And finally, in the silly/freak vegetable category, the donut cucumber.

Other wise, we took a short trip to the mountains, missing a few of the 100+ days in late June, spent our time sitting with our feet in the creek or standing under waterfalls, dipping into pools, really a blessing. I went to the beach for a day trip with a couple of girlfriends, crazy: 6 hours in the car, 6 on the beach, but worth it to dip into the Atlantic and watch the waves roll in. 

So now we are just counting the days until we depart for the cool climes and hope that things will survive while we are gone under the watchful eyes of neighbors, family and friends who will pick and water and eat the bounty that we will be leaving behind.  Hopefully I can get a couple of batches of tomato sauce into the freezer before we leave and there will still be some figs when we get back.

Summer is really here

The day lilies continue to brighten the edge of the lawn and the front pathway with multiple shades of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple, lots of hot colors to match the hot weather.

I walked into the shed today to get some string to tie up the tomatoes and startled a baby wren that flew into the window.  It fell into a plastic tub of nuts and bolts, wings spread out.  I picked the soft brown baby up, unsure if it was going to revive, held it firmly but gently in my hand and carried it outside behind the shed to search for a safe spot to set it down.  The small eyes, with cream colored eyebrows arching above were shut, the eyelids grayish white. 

I feared the bird was dying, held it closer to my face to see if I could sense breathing or movement, just then the bird twitched and fought its way out of my hands.  The little one landed on the trunk of a big pine tree and within one second a parent was there feeding it.  Amazing; mom or dad, not sure which, was watching the whole time as I brought the fledgling out and was totally ready to rush to the rescue as soon as it flew from my grasp.  Pretty cool.

There have been loads of baby birds all around the yard and farm lately. Last week I spied 4 baby killdeer toddling around in one of the pastures.  Grey and white striped fluff balls on long toothpick legs.  They bobbed their heads and cheeped while the parents performed their best "Hey look over here" distraction routines, feigning broken wings, flopping around on the ground, running down the driveway ahead of me to get me off the scent of their babies.  Pretty funny.

It is to be close to 100 this week- finally summer comes with a vengeance.  I'm trying to get the last of the spring crops harvested now; beets and turnips need out of the ground, all the onions are curing, all the greens either picked and eaten or fed to the chickens because they were being consumed by caterpillars.  Summer crops are starting to trickle in, cucumber and squash are sweet and full of water, blueberries are ripening at the rate of a pint a day.  Still haven't had our first ripe tomato so I broke down and bought some from my brother at the market last weekend, we had our first BLT of the season tonight for supper with potato salad, beet and cucumber salad and an ear of corn.

Now that was a meal that really felt like summer.

Nature drama; bluebirds vs. black snakes

This was the scene of nature in action this morning.  As I was getting dressed I heard the birds making a ruckus and when I looked out the window, I could see a black snake disappearing into the bluebird house in the middle of the fence.  I threw on my clothes, grabbed the fireplace poker and charged to the rescue, I tried to hook the snake with the poker but it just kept slipping into the house and out of reach.  So I ran and grabbed a screw driver and came back and loosened the bottom screw allowing me to open the house by lifting the front up.  I then hooked the snake and carried it across the lawn and tossed it down.  One dead baby fell to the ground and another hopped out, two more were in the nest with their heads down.  I picked up the live baby and popped it back into the nest and closed the front.  I turned around to see the snake heading back so I tossed the dead baby to it.  The snake pounced on the little guy and immediately started choking it down and then slithered into the day lilies on the fence line.  When I looked over to the nest again the one baby had hopped out again.  The parents were flying back and forth chattering like mad.  I've seen this played out many seasons in our yard.  When the parents decide its time for the babies to fledge they fly back and forth across the yard talking to the babies, its like they are trying to coax them out. I realized it was this very behavior that probably drew the snake in in the first place, alerting him to the fact that there were babies to be had.  I picked the baby up again and shoved it back in but it popped back out- determined to make its way, so I watched as it hopped away towards the blueberry patch.

Thinking the snake had its fill, I headed onto my days task of weeding the blueberries. But no sooner had I gotten down to business than I heard the birds going crazy again and looked up to see a snake sliding across the fence from the right, I think this was actually a second snake, different from the first.  I grabbed a stick this time and wrapped the snake up like twirling a piece of spaghetti, pulling it from the fence and carried it down into the woods where I hurled it down.  Came back up and saw a baby bird hopping across the grass.  At this point I realized that I was out of my element getting in the middle of this whole play.  But I was still concerned for the baby.  The parents were again flying back and forth chattering, all the birds in the yard were getting into the mix, flying past the house, even perching on top and peeking in, first a chickadee, then a chipping sparrow. And everyone was making alarm calls.

Then I saw the adult bluebird hovering low over the grass and I realized the snake was heading back for the nest, I picked it up again with the stick.  It was doing its best cobra imitation, pulled back like it was going to strike, tongue flickering out of its mouth, it was even able to make its head look kind of triangular like a venomous snake, pretty impressive, but I still carried it on down to the edge of the lawn and gave it a fling.  this time it seemed it wasn't coming back.

I watched as the baby cheeped and hopped up across the patio and past the back door. I could see the parents were keeping an eye on it so at that point I went in and did some Google searching on baby bluebirds.  Turns out that when they fledge they spend the first 5-7 days hopping around on the ground-  it seems a miracle that any of them live to adulthood given the number of snakes and other predators that are around.  Once I read that, I decided I really needed to step back and let nature take its course. 

I did spend some time reading about devices and techniques to keep bird houses safe from snakes and might put some effort into snake proofing our bluebird house for next season. I also wondered about the other two babies still in the nest.  I resisted the temptation to open the box and peek in, figured they would either fly or die and it wasn't my place to interfere.  But it was an exciting if sad encounter, and I did get to hold a baby bluebird which was pretty cool.

On other fronts, it's day lily time and they are starting to really put on a show.  We added a bunch of new varieties including many in the red and purple color range a couple of years ago and they are starting to get well established now.

 Dark Star- these flowers are about 6 inches across

I harvested the first batch of early onions last week and they are curing, many more to come. And the garlic is out of the ground now and curing as well.  A good looking crop again this year.

 The blueberries are loaded and we are just waiting for them to start ripening up.

We've been having a spectacular patch of cool dry weather that came following an inch of rain.  Fingers crossed that the good weather and decent rains will continue into summer, I'm always skeptical and prepared for the worst, but for now its great to have the windows open and feel the breeze.

Vegetables keep coming, tender and delicious

Kales and cabbage dappled with raindrops

The greens continue to grace our garden and our plates on a daily basis, though their season is coming to a close.  I picked all the spinach last week as it was starting to bolt and I taste the lettuce cautiously before picking, expecting any day it will be turning too bitter to eat.

I tried this new spinach this year called Bordeaux.  Very pretty with the red stems and tender for salads but bolted fast, not a hot weather favorite.

The peas came on heavy for a couple of weeks and are now slowing down, but with a cooler week forecast, perhaps they'll have a renaissance?

Broccoli had to be harvested all at once before bursting into yellow flowers, I was kind of glad I only had 3 plants, that's a lot of broccoli to eat all at once, and there is still some in the fridge.

So the spring garden slowly transitions to summer as these greens fade out and squash, beans, cukes and tomatoes grow rapidly, begin to set flowers and soon will bring a new variety of flavors to our kitchen.

It's good to be alive and a gardener.