Finally! Monday, Jul 15 2013 

Projects acairfearann 14:36

They are finally managing to get the hay cut here, about a month late. I only need 80 bales, (they’ll get about 800 on this cut) but I need them to be good quality. Of course, so does everybody else….
Still, it caused me to finally get around to the annual* cleaning of the barn; a lovely combination of cat/animal/horse/hay/old-barn dust/vehicle exhaust… Very good for me, I am sure!

In other news, I did not need to see this: http://www.spiders.us/image/dolomedes-tenebrosus-5/
hanging around the kitchen door, complete with umpteen just hatched babies. And yes, this one was about the size of the one in the picture! She has gone away, I think…

*alright, I’ll admit…Biannual, I didn’t do it last year.

 

Sunset at the Flagpole Saturday, Jul 13 2013 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 13:27

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The flagpole, which was put up in 1999, has gone through a variety of forms, the first was the top of a Norway spruce, this one is basically a box. We can pivot it down to untangle the lines or do repairs. Originally, the drive had a turn around below the flagpole. That is long gone, but the area is the only well-draining, truly full-sun, garden. Well, mostly sun, with the trees and house to the east, it is in the shade until mid-morning. It is currently an arc of white Shasta daisies, earlier it was red Oriental Poppies with blue and gold iris; in the fall it will be mostly dusky pink and blue from NY/New England asters and Joe-Pye weed, with a touch of goldenrod.
The bench gives you a bit of scale. The large tree looming there is a bit of the big Cucumber Magnolia.

 

On education and reading Friday, Jul 12 2013 

Esperanza and Genealogy , acairfearann 21:27

From Fanny Morris Smith’s recollection of her grandmother Charlotte Calkins (Julie’s mother), born 1804-died 1874 in the mid 1860’s.
“There was no regular schooling on the frontier, but grandmother educated herself. She used to amuse herself learning poetry by heart as she lay waiting to die. I heard her repeat Pope’s poem on death to herself. Her beautiful voice and grandfather’s flute were a source of constant pleasure to the two throughout their long married life. One by one every good novel as it appeared in the golden Victorian Age, was bought and read aloud in the evening, by the light of an oil lamp, at first; then as the years went on a very expensive liquid known as ‘fluid’ and finally kerosene.”

Somehow, I just don’t see many people memorizing Pope’s poetry while ill. Charlotte died after a long illness, probably a series of strokes. She spent most of her life in upstate New York.

 

Poppies in the wind Thursday, Jul 11 2013 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 14:19

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Fire hose Wednesday, Jul 10 2013 

gardening acairfearann 17:11

with bath temperature water!
Aside from thunderstorms…
The green beans have finally gotten their act together, about two weeks later than last year, but better late than never. (I know they are late not because I wrote it down, but because I came across a carefully labelled freezer bag from last year for green beans that had a June date, the first ones this year have a July date)
Chard, lettuce, beets, beans, squash/pepper coming along; the peas are just about played out. A few jars of currant jelly, which I cannot take credit for. On the other hand, if I wanted to I could make gallons of tarragon and mint vinegar.
The daylilies are quite impressive, so far this year the thunderstorms have not struck that fence line; I’d prefer not to have lightning-fried daylilies again.

 

Meadow Moods Tuesday, Jul 9 2013 

Landscapes and Modern Photos acairfearann 12:57

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Wildlife Monday, Jul 8 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 15:30

Let’s see…
Turkeys: 3 hens, 10 nearly fledged chicks
Deer: one doe with new fawn at heel
Woodchucks
Owls
Bear
Red Tail Hawks
Skunks
Raccoons
etc…(small birds, rodents, etc)
Insects galore.
All seen, or heard, or saw sign thereof, in the last few days. Busy place.

 

Spigelia marilandica: Indian Pink Saturday, Jul 6 2013 

gardening and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 15:07

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This is almost certainly as far north as one can push this plant (erratic zone 5, technically zone 6 but capable of zone 4 winters). However, my small clump is slowly increasing by about a stem or two a year. It comes up Extremely late, so marking its location is critical. The yellow background is Ozark primrose, a very happy and useful plant.

 

On Fire Friday, Jul 5 2013 

gardening acairfearann 11:53

and gardens. I got to thinking about this while dealing with squash bugs, which had I not gone to check the winter squash yesterday, almost won this round. Thankfully, my nose has decided that the smell is tolerable (except I cannot get it off my hands). They may still win the round.
In any case, they probably overwintered in some garden debris on the slope that I didn’t adequately clean up. Cleaning up the garden is one of the most critical parts of keeping the bug population under control. Squash bugs, along with several others, do not die when sprayed with most of the insecticides that you can use and not kill off everything else. Clean gardens give one an edge on the ever growing number of bugs which cannot be controlled unless you use expensive amounts of chemicals. (or spend hours each day hand-picking)
Now the best way to clean a garden and its soil is fire. Channelling my inner medievalist here, I can come up with any number of illuminations for manuscripts that show the peasants burning off their fields. The Native Americans practiced fire agriculture on a massive scale, a continental scale. So did the colonists. So do farmers in most other countries.
Now, I’ll admit that playing with fire, is well…playing with fire. There are many areas of the US where it would be criminally stupid to burn off a field. More than criminally stupid, it might well be homicide. Anyone burning a field west of the Mississippi probably ought to be run out of town.
And yes, doing it on a massive scale in the rainforests is a bad idea. But that has more to do with using it to clear new ground. Going back to my medieval peasants, they were using it to clean intensively used ground in densely populated areas.
It would be nice if that tool in our gardening tool collection wasn’t completely off limits. Or as close to off limits as it comes. Yes, of course, you can get a burn permit for certain days (for a hefty fee) for a brush pile. But what you can’t do is burn a section of ground. We have developed a seriously weird mentality when it comes to fire in our society, an absolute terror of it. This terror may (I’m not qualified to say, but the argument seems sound) contribute to extremely hot and destructive wildfires. It probably also helps to create gardens loaded with disease and bugs in climates such as New England’s.
Not mind, you that our vegetable garden is not set up to allow it to be burned off (neither the peach tree, or the power lines…or that pesky thing called The House would appreciate it) so it is a moot point. Still, in New England, if I was setting up a big garden again, I think I’d like to build that option in, regardless of the legality.

 

Esperanza on July 4th, 1913 Thursday, Jul 4 2013 

Historic Photos and Historical Events , , acairfearann 09:10

1913001027

A parade by the various children visiting the house at the time. This was followed by a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and a short bit on it and the Constitution’s importance by William Webster Ellsworth.
I could probably, by process of elimination, figure out most of those children, but if any of the Amistad group reads this…I’d love a hand, since it is possible that they were here that summer?

Nothing like that here today. But still, give those documents a read if you have a chance.

 

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