with feathers

We've had two more snowstorms which have been pretty to look at and certainly more comfortable to work in than several days of rain. Now the snow is gone, the rain has stopped for a couple of days, and we've even seen the sun.

But it's been very cold again - in the low 20s when I get up - and windy. 

Biting winds.

Here's a hungry chickadee, back turned to the wind.

Brrrrrrr.

 My birdfeeders have never been busier than in recent months. I haven't totted up how many pounds of feed have been purchased, but I consider the cost to be my Entertainment Budget. And well spent.

Goldfinches are such scrappy little birds. They'd rather argue than eat.

And now the goldfinches are starting to color up. Spring is near.

This little nuthatch was perfectly still for about two minutes.

Lost in thought?

Mourning doves are so colorful.

Understated, but colorful.

Speaking of color...

Fingers crossed the bluebirds will continue to visit a while longer.

~~~~~

blurreds

 

Back in early Autumn I was expecting a Real Winter this year, though I couldn't have told you why. And we are certainly having one. Even with extra tasks and occasional complications, a feeling of deep wellbeing washes over me now and then. I'm really enjoying this season, after all the recent years of relentlessly bizarre weather. It's a relief just to have a season, recognizable and timely.

~~~~~

free seeds

Years ago, a friend had a wooden bird feeder in the shape of a tray labelled "Free Seeds!" held by a cheerful cat. I thought of it last week when I was moving my bird feeders away from the spot where I've been enjoying them right next to my "working window," and into the small fenced-off Bird Safety Zone. In Winter, the spot by my window provided good protection from hawks amongst the hundreds of twiggy stems of Kerria japonica. But now that plants are just beginning to leaf out and the cats are spending many hours outdoors, the same shrubby quality of the Kerria becomes a liability to the birds, who may not see the cats coming. So, I've got the binocs out again and will be watching the feeders from a bit farther away.

long-distance action shot!

I still have two tiny suction-cup feeders stuck to porch windows, but only the boldest birds use them, and they are difficult to clean and fill, so they may soon come down in favor of window screens. But first I'm going to see if most of the birds will become comfortable using the feeders in the Safety Zone. With the trees not yet leafed out, that area probably feels dangerously exposed and many of the birds seem reluctant to make the transition. Time will tell.

~~~

We've had some interesting weather fluctuations lately.

Epimedium

Podophyllum peltatum - Mayapple

Sanguinaria canadensis - Bloodroot

And this afternoon it's raining. Heavily. Again.

Moxie, the gardening cat, has been helping me take down the yarn bean trellis and salvage the yarn for reuse this year, but we won't be doing more garden work today.

It seems a great many people who don't usually garden are planning to grow vegetables this year, which is great - I'm very happy to think more people are going to have their hands in soil and experience the thrill-ride that is gardening. But this unexpected increase in gardeners also means seed companies have been overwhelmed with orders and many have already sold out of some stock. Luckily, I already have most of my seed, saved from last year. But there are always a few special seeds or plants to order,  and even a month ago I was having trouble finding them. So my 2020 Gardens may be different from what I had planned, but that's fine - and in a way, it could be said every year.

One thing I will certainly plant this year is Candy Roaster squash.

Portrait: on the vine

In recent years I've experimented with planting Candy Roasters in various locations, in raised beds, in hills, amongst corn rows, and on arched stockpanel trellis. I liked the arches, and if I can manage to construct them, will add more this year.

Candy Roaster arch, 2019

"Free Seeds!" I have plenty of seed from my organically-grown 2019 Candy Roasters, and will be glad to send some to anyone who would like to plant them. Whether you are an Old Hand or a Brand New gardener, if you've got room for massive vines and a way to provide water in a dry season, why not give it a go? It's a winter squash, and needs to stay on the vine until Autumn frosts force a decision to bring them in, but then they keep for months and are excellent for baking, roasting (or course), soups, "pumpkin" pies or breads, all sorts of things.

So, if you would like some Candy Roaster seeds, drop me an email with your mailing address and I'll send some along. Don't be shy! I'd love to introduce more people to this squash, which I learned about several years ago from my blog-pal Tipper, over at Blind Pig and the Acorn. Forever grateful, Tipper!

~~~~~

thankful thursday

I hope you and yours are keeping well.

If you are able to stay home, I hope you feel "safe at home" not "stuck at home."
It is such a luxury to have the option.

If you are among the people working to keep people and animals healthy, supply chains functional, and everybody fed, thank you so much and please take good care of yourself.

I am thankful that all are well here.

The hens are providing organic eggs daily.

Eloise waiting for the Daily Apple.

~~~

The goats have enough good hay to take us through, with careful feeding, to first cutting. And a delivery from the feed store last week provided my usual Spring top-up of supplies, which my Occasional Helper very helpfully came by to put away for me. I've missed having him here lately, but we usually work together on projects and although he was willing to come, I could not justify the unnecessary risk. (To him, to me, to the world at large.)

However, unloading 50-pound sacks from a feed order is always a solo job, and the bonus since-you're-here task of shifting a dozen bales of hay out to the "distribution centers" saves me a heck of a lot of heavy lifting and dragging for a couple of weeks.

It's uncertain when I will have Occasional Help again,

but I'm certainly grateful for last week's visit.

And I'm not the only one:

 Violet, the eldest, tasting the new mineral mix.

Bud, the youngest, waiting his turn to taste the new mineral mix.

~~~

It's been quite cold lately, but unless it is raining,

Piper and I have been taking daily walks along our road.

It's a team sport.

I do the looking...

and Piper does the sniffing.

 ~~~

There have been many "firsts" in the past week.

The first wood frogs singing.

The first robin in the paddock, first pomegranate finch at the feeder.

And literally overnight, the goldfinches began to color up! One day all the finches at the feeder were the same muted green, and the very next day:

 ~~~

In other green and gold news:

the marsh marigolds are coming along:

I hope you are finding many things to feel thankful for these days.

It's a gift we give ourselves.

~~~~~

stormy monday

accurate colors of this morning

We are in the middle of another long bout of freezing rain, which began yesterday evening, went on all night, and got heavier just before dawn today. I am hoping very hard that the wind doesn't pick up and cause a lot of tree damage. There is still snow on the ground, which suggests to me that the air temperature must be hovering near freezing point. A sander truck went by earlier.

birds through a rain-spotted window

Yesterday the ice cleats came out for the first time this year. In a typical Winter, cleats are only needed on certain days, so I like to keep one pair of old boots cleated. That way I don't have to struggle with pulling cleats on and off my everyday boots every time I'm taking Piper for a walk along the road or driving somewhere or even coming in or out of the house while doing chores - cleats on flooring are both destructive and dangerously slippery. But this winter I don't have an old pair of boots to keep the cleats on, so yesterday I bought a pair of $30 boots just for this purpose. It was a reluctant purchase; the boots were made in China and I feel so miserable about not trying harder to find an alternative from Not China, that I may just return them unworn. At the moment they are still in their box in their shopping bag. For today at least, the cleats will stay on my everyday boots. Piper and I are going nowhere, and I'll try to pile everything needed for chores near the door so I won't have to come back inside until everything is done.

~~~

In other news, a return to a fiber-rich daily diet is about to commence.

Details will be forthcoming in January.

Expect many, many details.

~~~

I hope you are having a slightly-less-grey day wherever you are today!

Here's to the week ahead.

~~~~~

postcard from this morning

Falling.

And blowing.

I'm very happy when the occasional gust take some of the snow from the trees.

The less weight on the trees, the easier I feel.

Despite the dense snowfall, birds have been busy at the feeder since before daylight. Right now there are at least two dozen taking turns: woodpeckers, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, titmice. They are not even wasting time warning each other off the feeder - just eating as fast as they can.

I put a loop of 6-foot fence around the feeder a few days ago, to keep the chickens out from under it. They were ignoring their own bowl and eating up all the millet I put on a platform and on the ground for the wild birds. Bonus: the fence is providing lots of great perching opps. Not very nice to look at, but as a first attempt at any new experimental design, I always go for function over elegance ;)

I have doubts about how clear these images will be, but I'm not going to edit them. I want you to experience the full dim and murky effect of this, the third big storm in what seems, unbelievably, like only a couple of weeks.

It seems like it because it is.

Whew.

I don't mind telling you, I brought out the serious reinforcements for this one. Not just the extra hay and prepping the barns the night before. Not just filling water jugs in case we lose power.

No.

This time I went to the grocery store and bought:

creamsicles

chips

and ginger beer.

I also made a roast yesterday and cooked a pound of pasta,

because I am a grown-up.

But it's the ginger beer that will get me through.

Cheers!

~~~~~

quiet

It's that quiet, pre-dawn time when the world outside my window has very little color. Ordinarily, it is a view of very dark shades, with light gradually increasing.

This morning, it's reversed: nearly greyscale, with a strong emphasis on the light end of the spectrum.

 

The first birds - a cardinal and a titmouse - have caught my eye as a flicker of motion in an otherwise still, east-to-west panorama. The birds are silhouettes, swooping to the thin branches of shrubs now arched with a heavy burden of snow.

When there is this much snow balanced in narrow ridges on even the tiniest of branches, you can be sure there is quite a lot on the ground.

The goats will be in no hurry to start their day.

Nor am I, really, though Moxie and Della will have something to say about that.

But the wild birds have been busy at the feeder for a good while already.

And now it is light enough to see them as more than a silhouette. 

Good morning!

~~~~~

sunday snaps

Piper and I were determined to get into the woods today.

I packed water, snacks, and the camera.

And a special rawhide chew in case Piper was Extra Good.

It was very hot and humid. We didn't walk far.

Piper wasn't even interested in running way ahead.

Or running in circles around me.

Or running.

And as soon as I chose a spot and took off my pack,

she carefully chose a spot also.

Look at that draped tail.

Too humid to wag!

Not too humid to roll though!

After:

But just one good shake and she's re-styled.

We stayed on a slope by the pond for a long time.

So long, a few birds began to land in nearby trees.

 This bird perched high overhead.

I have no idea what kind of bird it is - do you?

 I think it may have been bathing,

and flew onto the branch to fluff and dry.

It took much longer than Piper to style it's look.

For that matter, it took longer than I do.

"Obviously! Just look at your hair!"

Why, is it full of twigs?

Because I've been walking though high bushes? 

I didn't take many, because it's such an important wildlife food.

But...I couldn't resist a few.

 Handfuls.

~~~

I hope your weekend contained some Extra Good bits.

As good as highbush blueberries.

And even better than rawhide chews.

Let's hold on to the good moments.

~~~~~