Sherrieflower's Blog
Sherrieflower's Blog
Last Post 80 days, 12 hours Ago
Jul 18, 2008 | 4:18 PM PST
Tag: this years garden july update
Hot humid July -- I don't do well in hot weather - it just wilts me so I barely have the energy to keep up with everything. And July is a busy month. Blueberries are on full bore now so while I am busy picking berries the grass weeds stage a coup and take over the rest of my gardens. I 've also been picking red and black raspberries but about at the end of the blacks.
I tried laying down newspapers and mulching between my fruit trees but must not have had enough layers coz now the weeds are worse than ever. I wanted to get it so I could plant strawberries in between the fruit trees and double the production of my orchard + lay in irrigation but now I don't know what I am going to do coz its worse now that I can't get in there and mow at all. My husband has been so busy with his work that he hasn't been available to helping me with anything at all lately and I am really missing not having any help.
I do have a friend who enjoys coming over to help me pick blueberries and it is more fun when she is here to help.
I just wrote a long update but when I went to post it - it said I was not logged in = rrrggghhh! so somehow I got kicked out after logging in or something - so anyway - the reason i have not been on in a while is because I am working my fool head off in my gardens. We started Tuesday night markets which we will do in addition to our Sat. markets for about 5 weeks.
I have canned beets,[deer tore up several leaving the roots on the ground] and am picking berries and green beans and starting to harvest my yukon gold potatoes. the garlic will soon be ready to harvest and i don't know where I am going to put everything. My house is a mess with market preparations, canning, + trying to recupe from having company for the last 2 weeks.
I saw the fox kits 3 times on Weds. they are getting bigger but still pretty skinny. They are so cute and don't even run and hide anymore when they see me - they are so curious, they just watch me unless I get too close. I saw one chase a rabbit into the woods last week but don't know whether or not he caught it.
My 35th wedding anniversary is coming up next week followed by my birthday about 5 days later then exactly 2 weeks from my birthday is my husband's.
I am so exhausted I think I've got to re-think a few things and try to simplify my life a little more for next summer
this year's garden= - radishes, yukon gold potatoes, spinach, sugar snap peas, collard greens, Swiss Chard, salad greens, onions, shallots, garlic, sweet potatoes, kohlrabi, flat leaf parsley, cucumber, carrots, beets, green beans, black beans, tomatoes, rutgers, & health kick, peppers - sweet banana, Big Bertha, jalapeno, cayenne, anaheim, marconi, zucchini, yellow, acorn, spaghetti, & butternut squashes, baby boo, jack be little and lumina pumpkins, eggplant, basils, sugar baby & moon & stars watermelon, cilantro, dill, chamomile,
fruit= blueberries, black and red raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apricots
flowers - snapdragon, carnation, lavender, celosia, feverfew, calendula, lupine, echinops, zinnia, bachelor button, marigold, canna, baby's breath, yarrow, purple coneflower, day lily, lilies, gladioli, etc,
the grass weeds are so bad now in the garden, I wish I could just mow everything down and start over but we'll just have to get along the best we can for the rest of the season.
May 30, 2008 | 3:11 PM PST
Wow - here we are at the end of May already! Memorial Day weekend, my husband found one of the fox kits dead under some shrubbery near the corner of where our drive and our neighbor's drive meet. We were both very saddened by the discovery. And then we weren't seeing any of them around like we had been. For a couple weeks there, we were practically tripping over them every time we went outside and they had gotten in the habit of coming up on the back patio where we could see them from our kitchen window. I haven't seen either parent in awhile either but I can imagine mom perhaps having a serious talk with them about keeping a low profile so they don't end up like their sibling.
Anyway - I was feeling kind of lonely not seeing them esp. since hubby has had to be away from home more than usual now. Yesterday morning, I was rounding the corner and heading up the hill to my backyard garden when I saw one, then two, over by their den area. They are still here! I am so happy! I read that foxes can live 12 years in captivity but average only about 3 years in the wild. Kind of makes me want to domesticate at least one, but I know I can't do that. My neighbor told me earlier this spring that he had killed a juvenile who was raiding his chickens. So I worry about them - just want them to stay around here and stay safe.
We finally got the promised thunderstorms this afternoon and I happened to glance out the window to see one of my little foxes running for home [from the direction of the fox-killing neighbor - oh my!]
May 9, 2008 | 2:52 PM PST
Tag: Nature babies +Happy Mother's Day
I was rounding the corner of the east end of the house [pool wing] today when I heard a little yip. It was coming from under my oak leaf hydrangea bush up by the house. I looked over and noticed something furry about the size of a rabbit and when I went for a closer look, I found myself face to face with a little fox kit - sticking its head out of yet another hole! This one is right at the base of my hydrangea bush. I hollered at my hubby - "We've got babies!" But he didn't quite believe me until he was over that way a little later and happened to see 2 of them! I think fox babies are born sometime in March - so we are not talking newborns here.
I grabbed my camera and we sat over there for awhile hoping they would come back out but didn't have that kind of patience today since we were in the middle of doing stuff that needed doing. If the weather is nice Sunday, I hope to take camera over and "stake out the joint" and hope I can get some photos.
The goose family appears to be ranging farther and farther afield. They were around this morning but have disappeared since we came out and starting working outdoors. I have been trying to get some closer shots of the goslings but that is hard to do. My 300 zoom lens isn't that great and the photos I take with it not so sharp. I'd love to have a mega telephoto lens but they are so expensive! I do a lot of macro photography too - close ups of flowers mostly and do alright with the zoom lenses I have but think it might be nice to get one that goes even further for the tinier details. I've noticed some flowers that are sooo tiny!
We were taking a break on the balcony this afternoon and noticed a robin's nest in the big oak that sits catty corner from our house - being on the 2nd floor really gets you up there with the birds and we could see them feeding their young ones. Nice vantage point. IN fact at my computer I sit just inside looking out picture windows that look out over my balcony and yard to the bird feeder out front and the entire pond. A writer's dream office.
Since this blog is mostly about babies, I'll include something we observed for the first time last year and have never really seen before or since --a mama squirrel with 3 babies in tow, out on their home school "field trip" while mama taught them how to prepare for their lives out in the big world. It was so cute. Each one had to hop up on the stump we have our little lighthouse sitting on by the edge of the pond. There's something about stumps and squirrels.
We were in town earlier and I heard a little boy giggling and laughing with abandon -- it sounded so much like my little four year old grandson! [who lives in Montana] I peeked around the aisles and sure enough - this little boy was about the same age and his daddy was making him laugh. "Do it again dad" he'd say and then just belly laugh. It was infectious -- so cute! Made me miss my grandson. They grow up so fast and become worldly too soon and lose that kind of spontenaiety where they laugh like that - so that is something to be cherished while you can.
Oh - I just realized - Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, so I guess this blog is really appropriate for that. So Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!
May 8, 2008 | 8:47 AM PST
Tag: Kingfisher Poem
THE KINGFISHER’S LUNCH
The Belted Kingfisher is fun to watch
As he swoops and dives hoping to catch
A frog or a fish for lunch.
He chatters as he flies reconnaissance
No “radio –silence” for him
Then a dive and a splash – we turn to watch-
But he comes up empty again.
No matter, he’ll circle around
Like he’s got something else to do
As though’ he’d like to make it plain
He’s not really after you – little fishy
He’s not really after you.
Then when you least expect it
A dive and another splash
This time is a hit and he comes up with it
And flies to a nearby branch.
Now – if you watch through a scope
You can see how he copes
As he likes to prepare his meal
With a bam! Bam! Bam!
And a whack! Whack ! Whack!
To tenderize his kill.
Does that sound like Emeril?*
Then he’ll pause to check it out
Tilt it up and flip it round
Then bam! And Whack! With such clout
As he continues to pound.
With several inspections
(and several more times to pound)
The Kingfisher finally flips his catch
And expertly swallows it down.
(198 words) © 011106
Sherrie
*( Emeril is a popular TV Chef who likes to yell “Bam!” while fixing his culinary creations)
May 8, 2008 | 8:44 AM PST
Tag: HERON poem
THE HERON
The tall, skinny heron stalks the pond keeping a wary watch
With slow, deliberate movements – an exhibition of ultimate patience
For keen eyed fish and sharp eared frogs are not that easy to catch.
Whenever I walk the perimeter of my pond
Turtles spy me a mile away
And blip, blip, blip, they silently slip
To the depths where the pond fronds play.
Frogs of all sizes sun themselves on the “beach”
But long before you come near
They leap out deep with a yell that’s a screech
And it always startles me here.
I have to hand it to the heron for the patience he shows
And the utmost concentration with each step he takes
A practiced art because he knows
No meal comes with mistakes.
© 011106 Sherrie
May 8, 2008 | 8:18 AM PST
Tags: birds , fox , garden scare-away tactics.
May 8th - this date always stops me in my tracks - like I am supposed to remember something. It's because May 8th was my original due date for when my daughter was supposed to have been born - but she decided to come April 8th instead - a whole month to the day - earlier. So she just celebrated her 23rd birthday last month and I still have to stop and think what am I supposed to remember about May 8th. Weird huh? Anyway - it is overcast and colder today and wet from yesterday's rains.
The goose family is out walking around the front yard. I saw beautiful Indigo buntings yesterday and again this morning along with the colorful cardinals, goldfinches, rose-breasted grosbeaks and red headed woodpeckers. Oh Yes, the Heron is here this morning too. He is keeping his distance from the geese as papa goose tried to run him off the other day. He tends to favor fishing among the bush willows on the west side of the pond. Safer there, I guess. He usually tries to make a complete circle all around the pond, slow and deliberate. I'll have to dig up the poem I wrote about the Heron on here, and the Kingfisher poem too.
Everything is so lush from the abundant moisture we've had and the flowering trees everywhere have all outdone themselves this year. The lilacs are blooming now. I only have 4 coz my little bush is only 3 years old but in town all the flowering trees and bushes are just breathtaking. Anyway mine smells soo good mmmmm! I have to stop and take a sniff every time I pass by it.
I saw our fox coming "home" this morning, so I followed him - first from window to window as long as I could see him and then I carefully opened the door and peeked around the corner and sure enough, he had gone to the terrace garden. I'd say that pretty much confirms those holes up there are his "den".
Having all this "life" outside my windows almost feels like "family". I feel so blessed to live here among them.
That is until the deer and rabbits etc start nibbling my garden . . . Oh I still feel blessed but I want to be able to harvest what I have worked so hard to grow.
I haven't gotten my "scare-away" devices set up in my gardens yet but I know I'd better soon coz I have already harvested some baby spinach. I usually hang some CD's so they twist and flash in the wind. Originally I hung them from lines strung between poles but they have a tendency to wrap around and get all tangled, so I have taken to staking the lines down with garden staples to the ground. That way they still twist and flash but at least they stay put.
My husband got me some zapper stakes but they are kind of expensive and don't really cover much area. I accidentally touched one with my arm while weeding Whoa! that zap stays with you a long time! It is supposed to sear into the minds of deer when they touch it with their sensitive noses that they don't want to do that again [or go there].
I hang mesh bags of dial soap in my orchard trees along with strips of scented dryer sheets - it seems to work fairly well. The only time I've had trees damaged was when I forgot to do this to a couple new trees I planted - dummy me! One must be ever vigilant as they can be soo destructive! This year I am going to try the scarecrow thingee that has a motion detector and squirts water whenever anything wanders into the garden. I just hope I have enough water pressure for it to be effective!
I am hoping the fox will deter the rabbits this year. Last year we had a population explosion of rabbits so this year I'm sure the fox will help bring the balance of nature back in that respect.
May 8, 2008 | 8:01 AM PST
Geez, I was just learning how to figure my way around this site and you go and change it on me. This new format is not as cool looking as the old one = What gives?
May 5, 2008 | 7:41 AM PST
Tag: Earthquake 041808
Did anyone else feel the earthquake that happened along the New Madrid fault here in the Midwest on Friday, April 18th?
I was shaken awake and woke up to feel my bed moving and I could hear closet doors rattling and it felt like the whole house was moving. It had been very windy the day before but I was downstairs where the brick and cement foundations of our house are so I figured if the winds were strong enough to move the whole house like that it would be a lot noisier and most likely the top of the house would be gone. This was just a quiet mild shaking so I figured it had to be an earthquake. My husband slept through it and we both forgot about it after I told him, got busy and didn't even watch the news that day.
A few days ago I was talking to my son online and he asked me if I'd felt it and directed me online to info on the New Madrid fault - so there I had confirmation that I wasn't imagining things. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to pose the question on here and see how widespread the experience was.
I guess there have been some doozies from the New Madrid fault in the past. One quake occurring here in the Midwest actually rang church bells in Boston!
They say this one measured 5.2 around West Salem IL. epicenter. I felt it in NW Indiana. I am about an hour an a half between Chicago and Indianapolis [both ways]. Where did you feel it?
May 3, 2008 | 2:07 PM PST
We found a baby turtle in the back yard! Our pond is in the front yard. Anyway - we've seen the Mommy turtles before -- making their pilgrimages to lay eggs up in our yards, but this is the first time we've ever seen any young like this. My husband was so excited. He scooped up the little guy and gave him a lift down to the pond and set him on a sandbank. When the turtle saw the water he scurried toward it as fast as he could go. Or should I say "she"? males have red eyes and females have black eyes. I wasn't really paying attention to determining gender.
He looked around to see if he could find the nest hole - but no luck. This one may have really gotten lost.
We have a cold front hovering today - brrr! Several Rosebreasted Grosbeaks coming to the birdfeeder. The Heron showed up yesterday but Papa Goose made him feel unwelcome. No goslings yet.
My husband is trying to show me how to do photos on here. Got this one - yay!
May 3, 2008 | 8:34 AM PST
Tags: crazy mowing , labyrinth
Another cold front, strong winds and thunderstorms passing through. Couldn't leave my plants out yesterday to harden off coz I didn't want them to get whipped to shreds. I had the thought of creating a labyrinth out in my east pasture and was thinking about doing a 7 course design but by the time we got to figuring my 60" mowdeck width - it was going to be a little too large and too complicated so I decided to just find the middle of the pasture and mow in a spiral.
Personally, I don't have the time or patience [or physical stamina] to walk around in circles that large. Perhaps if I made a smaller one it wouldn't seem so daunting. Then too, if I'd done the 7 course design it would be even longer and farther to walk so . . .I don't know. I get plenty of meditation just walking about my property appreciating all the different areas so I guess I just don't really "get" the whole labyrinth thing.
In building one here, the paths have to be as wide as my mowdeck on my grasshopper coz I can't operate the push mower.
One year I mowed my east pasture in blocks, criss crossing paths and leaving unmown squares. Last year I pretty much left the whole thing go wild. I did meet someone who said my crazy mowing patterns had caught her attention. :) I need to get a better sign made to attract people in to the gift shop I am trying to get going in my garage to sell my dried flowers. Speaking of which - hubby is supposed to work on the doors for my shelves today.
I have a question. How does one post photos to a blog?
May 1, 2008 | 6:37 AM PST
Tag: birds
I guess I need to be more careful when leaving the garage door open, to make sure doors into the house are closed. I am taking plants in and out of the garage as part of the "hardening off" process and unbeknownst to me, that must've been how the little wren got in.
anyway, this morning, I walked into our upstairs M. bedroom and heard a rustling noise - then noticed a little brown thing jump onto the floor but it wasn't a mouse coz the next thing I knew it was flying at the window trying to get out -- it was a little wren! So I guess it has been taking a tour of my house -up through the stairwell into the sunroom and such. Now the question was - how was I going to get it out? I decided to prop open the back door then went into the kitchen where the wren had just flown. The bad thing about interacting with birds like this is that they are so flighty 'coz they get freaked. It kept flying at the kitchen window. I got a broom and gently coaxed it until it found the open door and flew out. Hurrah! Success!
While cutting wood about a year ago, my husband noticed a hole in one of the logs he'd cut and a hollowed out basin in the segment just below it. We stacked the 2 back together in the corner by our front door and last summer wrens made a nest in it. I thought that was a little odd being so close to a door we use a lot. So whenever we'd open the front door - the little wren would fly out and perch in the burning bush at the edge of the front flower bed and keep a lookout.
One year, not long after we first moved here, one flew in through the balcony door and was flying around the sun room. I am normally scared of flighty birds but I was actually able to scoop it up in my hands and release it back outside. [We don't leave the balcony door open except for going in and out]. I guess wrens are curious.
In other bird news, I saw the first Rose Breasted Grosbeak of the season at my feeder this morning. My birdwatcher friend says she's seen the indigo buntings already too. I've seen a brown thrasher but as I told her, I am too busy messing with plants to do much birdwatching. I saw a flicker which looked like she was feeding young through a hole in a tree by my garden tho'. Anyway -- plants are much easier to study coz they sit still and let you look at them. The indigo bunting are beautiful tho' - I have seen more birds for the first time since we moved here than ever. Things like a rufous sided towhee, indigo bunting, blue grosbeak, and this winter a snow goose landed on our pond along with 3 Canadian Geese. My bird book says it is rare to sight them east of the Mississippi so that was a real treat. I keep a notebook bird list by my computer which sits next to a large picture window overlooking balcony and pond and front yard birdfeeder. Most interesting is the migratory seasons coz we get different birds that are just passing through.
A few days before Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast a pair of cormorants showed up on my pond! In 2006 a pied billed grebe showed up and stayed for almost 2 weeks. That one took me a while to ID.
Right now a pair of goldfinches are at the feeder, papa goose is asleep in the front yard and mama on the nest. Robins are boppin' . . and its never completely quiet in the country once spring arrives for the air is always filled with bird song. Whether we are fully conscious of them or not, the birds add much to the experience of nature.
When my son was 3 years old, we took him on a hike through a forest in NY. We stopped to rest on some large rocks, common to the area and our little "sage" spoke up and said, "You know? there's always a song in the forest." Our jaws dropped as my husband and I looked at each other dumbfounded at the profundity of our little 3-year old. It blessed me so much - I have never forgotten it.
Apr 30, 2008 | 5:01 PM PST
Tags: frost free date , growing food indoors
Today is the last day of April so we should be frost free now for the rest of the season. The cold front that came through the last couple of days is on its way out now. Touch and go there the last couple nights tho'. Getting down to 31F. I prayed over my apricot, nectarine and peach trees and some research showed me they should be good to 28F so they came through ok. I noticed some of my potatoes got nipped tho -- I think they will bounce back - hope so. Last year we had a horrible cold front for 2 weeks that plunged us back into winter with lows in the 20's and so I didn't get any apricots. It turned my bleeding heart into mush and did a lot of damage everywhere. Nature amazes me with its awesome resiliency -- the bleeding heart came back with new growth and looked better than ever. Anyway - sure didn't want any repeats of last year. Its like one last reminder of winter before we plunge into the growing season and the impatient gardener can get a real set back if not careful.
My daffodils are on their way out and high winds blew all the magnolia blossoms off the tree but the red buds are looking their best ever - flowering quince still going strong and that Judd Viburnum- wow -- the scent will arrest you if you get within 10 feet of it. It smells so good! Full bloom now.
Mama goose is still on her nest tho' I expect to see goslings any moment now - it has been about a month. A male wood duck has been visiting the pond for the past several days. I'd like to see them nest here too. The male wood duck is a real work of art - such striking plumage! Saw the fox in the front yard again this morning.
This year I am growing a patio tomato in a pot, and I'm going to grow a pepper and a cucumber in pots too with the rest in the garden. Hopefully - I'll be able to bring them in - in the fall and keep them productive awhile longer.
Does anyone have experience growing food crops indoors? hydroponically or otherwise?
Apr 24, 2008 | 6:26 AM PST
Tag: Awed in April
I wrote a new poem yesterday!
AWED IN APRIL
(c)4/23/2008 By Sherrie flower
I am so awed in April
When everything turns green
And the morning sun
Across the lawn
Heightens the sheen.
And each new day
Through sun and rain --
Spring’s warmth
Reawakens life again.
Blink and you might miss
how everything
has grown another inch
what else might bloom today?
Tiny flowers along the sidewalk
Almost too small to see
And this year – oh how magnificent!
Is my magnolia tree.
There’s bloodroot in the forest
Spring Beauties on the lawn
Perennials sprouting everywhere
With each new dawn.
But, of all of Aprils thrills
Most glorious are
The Daffodils
Blooming en masse
At the edge of my woods.
Their bright cheery colors
So glorious to see
Are the “ icing on the cake”
Of April to me.
I am so awed in April
For all life resurrecting
From barrenness to fullness
Of all that Spring’s expecting.
Apr 24, 2008 | 6:23 AM PST
Tag: blooms/ fox
I did a walkabout yesterday and here's a list of what is in bloom here now April 24, 2008
Daffodils/narcissi/jonquils - along the woods and all around the house
+ paperwhites on the east side of the house. The bleeding heart just
opening blooms. Bloodroot and trillium in the forest. Dandelions,
Spring Beauties, chickweed, violets and pussytoes in lawn and meadow.
Magnolia tree still looking magnificent tho' dropping petals now.
Forsythia, Nanking cherries, apricot trees, nectarine trees and peach
trees = whoohoo! [First year for fruit =yay!] Flowering quince in terrace garden along with some
geraniums and red verbena I just planted [and more daffodils]. There
are also teeny tiny blue flowers on some kind of chickweed related?
weed in the driveway - I have yet to ID that one.
Speaking of the front terrace gardens - We think a young fox has made his den in the top tier. I walked out the
door yesterday morning and saw him run from that direction.
Interesting. We also found bits of skunk fur at the corner of the
orchard so he may not have wanted to share the neighborhood - at any
rate it sure looks like something did away with the skunk. [We found a skunk den at the east end of the pool wing - no mistaking that smell!]
We are at the stage where if you don't stay alert and observant you
will miss what is going on outdoors. The Daylilies are rising to new
heights every day - it is amazing how fast they grow! Peonies have
poked up and the hostas are unfurling now too. Everything is so
green! Looks like we may be getting thunderstorms on the way.
I planted a bunch of snapdragons and most of my statice and am now
praying they recover from their transplant shock. My mantis tiller
sprung a leak so that is out of commission until I can get it fixed.
Lots more to do in the next few weeks!
Happy Spring!
Oh by the way - the photos I posted of holes are the mom and pop home Fox den in my neighbors woods. ONe is the front door and the other is the back door. We think ours is a juvenile cast off from that den. We were thinking about getting chickens but I guess I'll wait awhile longer on that one. lol I think the fox is beautiful. The pix I posted of him was taken right out in my front yard!
Apr 21, 2008 | 9:31 AM PST
Tags: early blooms , critter control? and farmers markets
4/21/08 It is amazing how quickly everything takes off once the temperature warms a bit and the spring rains begin to green everything up. We are now at peak bloom for the hundreds of daffodils /narcissi blooming in our woods along the west shore of our pond. Our Magnolia tree is magnificent this year - better than I have ever seen it. It wasn't all that great last year but that was probably due to the late frost we got that killed off my apricot blooms too. The apricot trees are just now blooming and I am praying we don't get another freeze like last year - [that was horrible!] My nanking cherries just started blooming too and today I noticed the 1st tulip out.
We just planted our orchard 3 years ago so it is exciting to see blooms -coz that means fruit! if all goes well. Last year we got our 1st seven peaches off one of our peach trees. I am a novice orchardist so I am learning as I go and hoping I don't make too many mistakes. I am going to have to watch the Nanking cherry bushes tho' - Last year the birds got them all but I did get to taste one. They are very small but they tasted good. Since this is a wildlife habitat, we struggle with keeping our vegetable gardens protected from deer and rabbits. I am thinking I might try those motion detector water spray things this year. Anyone have experience with those to share?
I have already planted yukon gold potatoes, radishes [for market - I don't like them personally], peas, spinach and a variety of salad greens + a few carrots and beets. As soon as we get into May it will be time to start planting the rest of the garden. I am in the process of hardening off the plants I have started from seed. I started some snapdragon and hope to sell a few fresh cut flowers at market in addition to the drieds I did last year. Our market is small however, and we are hoping to attract more customers, so far I haven't really made that much money at it, but I am hoping things will start to pick up soon. Is there anyone else here who is doing Farmers markets from small acreage? What sells well for you?
