Almanac

Bama Breeze

The corn lilies are in full bloom, as are the seasonal breakdowns. Borked machinery is not my favorite part of farming, especially when I personally am expected to know where the Allen wrenches are.

I don't. 

So there.

Our 30-Acre Lot seems to have been recently enhanced by the addition of a multitude of cow pies....good fertilizer, you know.

Meanwhile, our meager three animals could not have produced such largess, and are still in their proper pasture....where I truly hope they stay....anyhow. I wonder whose cows got out......and how hard they worked to catch them.....

Next week is camp. This week is the week where I annually do two of everything. I am about done with the second Farm Side for the weekend we come home, but it is one I have been tweaking and twisting for quite some while. Frankly I am sick of it. Oh, well.

I have never been so slow about packing. Just can't seem to get in the swing. At least I am filling up the garden pond and putting in its needed enhancements, such as algae killer and water prep. 

There are going to be some ticked off hummingbirds though. I take the feeder down when I go away...no one to change the nectar every three days, you know. There is one we call Chatty, that is full of sound and fury and signifying outage whenever I clean it even now.

He...or she...I think it is a young of the year, chatters and chirps and carries on whenever it visits. If the feeder is gone there is a tumultuous uproar.

Sorry guys, I wouldn't want you to get sick on my watch. I'll be back a week from this coming Saturday and will fill your jar forthwith.

On a sad and sorry note, the days are already getting noticeably shorter....where is my summer going? 

Almanac

June is all about thunderstorms and flowers. With all the hay under cover, except that which is on the wagon with the borked wheel, the boss just spent the week mostly storing it. It is a slow process, as he has a lot of leftover misery from his injuries, but good Lord willing it will be done by the time it dries up enough to mow more. It is hard to watch him struggle to do stuff, but he is a tough cookie and will get 'er done.

We sure had some gully washers over the past couple of days and a little bit of wind and lightning too. So far no harm done. The gardens are drinking it all in...as are the weeds. I will sure be busy when it dries out.

Our beloved blue invader, chicory, has come into bloom at least a week early. Normally I can count on it for my Independence Day birthday, but this year it is raring to go.

Bird activity is slowing down in a big way. I actually got a little bored doing my daily assessment of what's happening on the Long Lawn and environs yesterday. Not much around but our trio of common warblers, a scattering of sparrows, robins, starlings, and the ubiquitous Cedar Waxwings. Been a long time since I've seen an ooh-ah bird and we are missing some common regulars so far, such as American Woodcock and Great Crested Flycatcher.....

Beating the catbirds at their own game

That being said, pretty much everybody that is around is working on a second...or maybe third...brood. Serendipitously, a gentleman who reads the Farm Side and enjoys the bird columns particularly, stopped by and got to see the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird fly his mating loop-de-loops right in front of the porch....something I have only ever seen twice now.

Good deal!

Solstice

 The Solstice is my kind of day. The summer one that is. The only good thing about the winter one is that the days start getting longer....far too slowly.

This full moon day, it was light enough to see outside at 4 when I got up...Good thing too, because I practically tripped over a deer....eating my beets dagnabbit. 

............Mikie B, I hope you are reading this!

I was worried about my folks, who lost power last night due to a tree down on wires. When they have no electricity they have neither water, nor cooking, nor cooling abilities and I was concerned about their safety and comfort.

Turns out it came back on at 11 last night but still.

We are all making the most of this lovely long day.

The boss went down for gas for the Massey really early and we unloaded the two loads of hay that he had baled, then he baled another and we threw that off too. Then a hydraulic line on the baler broke...to the tune of $78 bucks..... so he is debating whether to make one out of hose or buy one. As of a couple of hours ago the rest of the hay wasn't ready yet anyhow.....alas, since it is going to rain.

The kids are out getting some ground ready to plant. I suppose I had better collect up the tomato plants and get out there but we are enjoying orange floats right now and I kinda want to savor mine.

 A whole bunch of Red-eyed Vireos flying around.....how cool is that?

Almanac

I subscribe to the state DEC's Hudson River Almanac and I highly recommend it. The citizen generated reports are fascinating, some as simple as what is happening in someone's backyard, some as complex as the contents of fish sampling traps running down on the big river. Alewives to Black Bears, it's all pretty cool.

I realized as I read it this morning that this missive is a lot like that almanac, except that it covers a much smaller bit of territory.

So here is today's Northview Farm Almanac

This morning I was awakened by an owl....a Great Horned I think....didn't sound right for a Barred. I have been trying to count an owl for several years now, and even though I find signs all the time I simply haven't seen one. Two years ago one was hunting the barnyards every morning when the guys went out.....however, if I went out too it was never there.

I was excited about this one and jumped right up and went out, but the distant hooting was drowned by the noise of a train and Thruway traffic. No go for positive ID. Maybe it will be back.

The sunrise was worth it though, as sunrises often are.

Yesterday the boss went out just after dawn to mow hay and had his own story to tell of the deer. A different doe was coddling twin fawns when he got to the field. She sprang away and one followed, but the other lingered to stare in wonder. Mama quickly hopped out of the hedgerow and gave him a solid spanking with her head and then butted him out of sight.

Lessons learned the hard way even in the world of the Whitetail. Tough love.

The first load of hay went into the mow yesterday afternoon. What a comedy of errors. First I dropped my hay hook into the maw of the big elevator. We had to shut everything down to look for it....never did find it, so we'll have to be on the lookout.

Then a big pile of bales came crashing off the top of the load right into me. Back in the day I would just stand up to such as that, let them bump around me and crash to the deck and just go to unloading. Yesterday I was much buffeted and am sporting a nice new set of hay punctures on arms and legs. 

Getting old is not for weenies.... And that should larn me to wear long pants and a long sleeved shirt....and maybe football pads too....when pulling apart loads.....

But it won't.

In the fields fledgling Savannah Sparrows use the hay wagons for observation perches. Ditto Song Sparrow youngsters. At the house various birds are bringing the new hatch in to learn the feeders. A quarter of noisy White-breasted Nuthatches peep around all day, and the Purple and House Finches are both joined by tufted youth. The Chickadees mostly look as if they were run over by a train....I think the tidier, well-feathered among them are chicks of the year....

And so it goes. More hay today if all goes well.

Ghost bunny on the daybreak lawn