Saturday, June 26, 2010

Farm and Garden Weekly - weeks of June 13 and June 20

The last two weeks of spring gave Windy Poplars Farm the annual joy of peonies, though they went from bud to full bloom to overblown in a matter of quick days. Sad that such loveliness can be so very fleeting. It often depends on the weather. Even though our plants are caged for support, there really isn't any hope for the poor flowers if a hard rain falls. They droop, they brown, they die. But oh, how beautiful they are while they last!



Ove the years of the blog, I've offered two peony poems. If you haven't read them, you may find one by Donald Hall and another by Mary Oliver. Both are exquisite.

Lisa left a note on one of the Farm and Garden Weeklies saying maybe the bluebird would be back, and I couldn't believe it after all the commotion that went on, but one day Tom thought he heard it, and then on Monday, the 14th I saw it on the wire near the birdhouse! Will there be a second nest?? No further sightings of the bluebird.

The air is full of robin song. The mother with the nest in the Dutchman's Pipe scolds us only as we walk by the nest onto the porch. Otherwise, she allows us to sit at the table eating with friends as we did on the first day of summer.

Matt saw a black bear down where the house is being built, and on Father's Day his mother and Margaret saw one heading up the road into the woods from our house when they were over here for brunch. Sadly, no photographs.

The wild turkey families have been closer to the house; right out front by the maple tree. Tom took this shot through the screen but you can still see how very adorable they are. I am so fond of wild turkeys, and feel such gratitude that they raise their families here.


On the 23rd I saw two moose out in the north pasture. Again the pictures were taken through the screen, and also with the zoom lens.



On Thursday, the 24th, Tom saw deer tracks up the road; a mother and a fawn. He didn't have the camera with him though.

The Zephyr squash is up!


As are two plantings of the French Gold yellow pole bean. This is the first time we've grown pole beans and are using these cages to support them.


One of my very favorite flowers is the mallow. I remember my mother saying it used to grow by the chicken house on her childhood farm so I planted it here on this farm. I love these which popped up amongst the daylilies.


And speaking of daylilies, the first of the 'common' or orange daylilies have opened. I believe that of all the beautiful colors I have, they are still my favorite.


The milkweed has opened with its incredible fragrance. It reminds me of the hoya plant we used to have. Very strong. It is growing alongside the spiderwort and globe thistle.



I am happy to report that the bleeding heart came back from the late frost and heavy snow, and is still blooming.


Once a year, the cedar waxwing comes along to eat the honeysuckle berries in front of the side porch. Such a welcome treat. Tom was lucky enough to be standing on the porch to catch this view of the dear bird.


We are still having quite a bit of rainy/cloudy weather, and hence the vegetables seem a little slow, but as soon as we get some sunny hot days they should really take off. The lettuce, onions, and leeks are growing just fine.

19 comments:

  1. Your garden is really coming along. we didn't get ours in until later so it will be a little slow this year. But that's ok - we'll enjoy it when it gets here :)

    My peonies are in full bloom - at least one bush is. The other one had buds all over and they died - all except one. Very strange. I have no idea what happened. It wasn't a frost. The little buds are black and dried up.

    Our air is full of robin song too - so pretty!

    My lilies are in bud but not blooming yet. And my honeysuckle is in full bloom.

    Isn't it a lovely time of year! Enjoy!

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  2. Nan,

    What terrific shots. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers; especially that color. The moose shots are terrific as well.

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  3. So much wildlife around your house and garden. It is such fun to see it all. I hope the moose and deer don't come to eat your veggies that are looking so good.

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  4. Thanks for sharing your lovely lawn and garden!

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  5. Oh my! Your daylilies are wonderful. I certainly love mine, though find myself tempted by those "exotic" new colors. Your description of peonies and their brief beauty is wonderful. And I just checked your profile and find that you enjoy Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, which I am currently rereading and enjoying all over again. Must look around more at your wonderful blog because your corner looks a great deal like my own.

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  6. Nan, thank you for sharing such a wonderful post with us! I love all the pictures from the peonies, to the wild turkey family, to the moose to the cedar waxwing (one of my favorite birds!). Have a wonderful weekend!

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  7. Your peonies are beautiful! I hope one day to have a yard where I can grow them.

    Also, I sent you an email. I hope it doesn't go to spam!

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  8. Wow1 Lots going on at the Farm. We have had moose in our yard, but not this year. And our peonies are almost gone. The roses are looking good, though. Thanks for the poems.

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  9. we are experiencing coolish damp here as well. Wild Turkeys have really grown in numbers around our place in the last couple of years, we have seen flocks as large as 50, and often see smaller groups. Beautiful photos today Nan, thanks for sharing :)

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  10. Island Sparrow, isn't that strange about the peony. I wonder what happened. Are they all in the same place? The daylilies just opened, and only right by the house. The ones further away are still in bud. We must have different kinds of honeysuckle because ours bloom in late May just about the same time as the lilacs. It is truly, truly lovely. Every day is so beautiful.

    Diane, that pink sure is bold, isn't it!! And I love moose faces.

    Lisa, no one ever eats our garden. It is fenced in on one side with a wooden fence and the other by the electric fence but I've heard and read that animals go through anything some places to get to vegetables. It might be the dogs that keep them away, or maybe because we are in the midst of woods and fields where they have plenty to eat and don't need to venture in for lettuce.

    Nan, thank you for coming by to see!

    Vee, I have quite a few other colors, too. And I do love them as well but there's something in me that is so fond of the common flowers like the orange daylilies, daisies, buttercups. If you want to see some of the colors, you may look on the sidebar under letter topics for lily of the day or bowl of daylilies. Thanks for coming by!

    Sherri, And I thank you for visiting!

    Trish, thank you, and I did get the email. I wrote back to you Sunday morning.

    Commonweeder, aren't they just the best poems?! I love them both. We don't often see moose, just their tracks. They usually stay more in the woods.

    Niki, I've not seen 50, but maybe 20. The toms are so funny when their wings and feathers are spread and they can barely walk. And those blue faces. I find them a real link to the birds of dinosaur times.

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  11. I want to sit on your back deck and just take in all of the beautiful wildlife that comes into your yard!!

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  12. I finally had some time to read through your garden report and just love your descriptive details...a pleasure to read. You actually remind me of Gladys Taber. Those were the type of details she would include in her descriptions of life at Still Meadow...so homey!
    You are right about the peaonies who can't handle alot of rain. I find that the white ones are exquisite but have an even shorter time for appreciation.
    Unbelievable that you have so much wildlife...a little paradise for you! As long as they are not doing too much damage.
    Birds adn blooms...two of my favourite things!
    Haave a great week and keep dry!
    Joanne

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  13. We both seem to be in the same place, Nan, with flowers and home work. Lovely photos - like going thru a second spring. We're already moving past daylily prime further south in the suburbs of NYC. And the off-calendar heat is just wilting everyone and everything.

    I admire Tom - haven't used a sander in nearly 30 years. Might get back to it though - started doing my own inside house painting. The work's not as professional - but the rates are cheap!

    Onward we go!

    - Jeff

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  14. You'd be most welcome, Staci, though we don't have a back deck. :<) Side porch and front terrace. Come ahead anytime!

    Joanne, somewhere I read that Gladys' work was very much like blogging. I read many blogs, including yours, which give me a feeling of her work and life.

    The wildlife doesn't hurt anything - we just take down bird feeders in April when the bears wake up, which we did too late in 2008!:

    http://lettersfromahillfarm
    blogspot.com/2008/05/
    bear-y-interesting.html

    Both rain and sun today. Amazing.

    Jeff, he really didn't find it hard. If you want more info, please email. And we have LOTS of painting to do. Some rooms haven't been done in over ten years. :>(
    And I hate painting. Oh, and by the way, we gave up our satellite dish so will have to wait to see Mad Men on dvd. But in a way I don't mind because of the great extras, and no ads. I can't believe your daylilies are all past. We have two months left of them.

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  15. Did I read it correctly? Bears? Moose? Wild turkeys? This all sounds so wonderfully exotic from my vantage point in the U.K. I love hearing about the flowers too, what a treat for us all to share your weekly bulletin. Thank you, and a medal to Tom for sanding those floors, I have done that job more than once, not my favourite one, satisfying, yes, but so dirty and loud.
    Carole

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  16. I love your header picture. Even more I love those moose photographs. I would give my eye teeth to see a moose, when I was up in the northern NH last year there were lots of signs along the roads and plenty of likely places along the back roads but no luck actually seeing one. I did see wild turkeys though:)

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  17. Carole, so wonderful to see your name here! When we rented a house in Forthampton, Gloucestershire in 1992, we took walks in the evening to the end of the lane and watched rabbits in the field. That was a little miracle to us. We rarely see more than one rabbit, and also rarely, foxes; animals you see over there all the time. We also saw peacocks. All exotic animals to us!

    You're right about the noise of the sander. Surprising they haven't figured out some kind of muffler. I'll be finding dust for weeks, I'm sure.

    Rowan, we don't see the moose all that often -mostly their tracks in the woods. They are so very big! Sorry you missed them. Sometimes traffic just stops along the road to watch them. Of course the scary thing is when they cross the road. Almost everyone knows someone who has hit one. And sadly, too often someone dies.

    The wild turkeys are a real success story. Apparently just a few were introduced near water, and they have acclimated themselves to live all over. I really do find them adorable.

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  18. Oh! The gorgeous color of those pink peonies! I love them. I have one bush and it has white flowers. I prefer the pinks and reds. Note to self: plant more peony bushes!

    I've seen wild turkeys (on our property when we lived in the country), but never their babies. What fun!

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  19. I'd like to plant more, too, Les. The only thing to remember is that generally they like to stay where they are planted. I'm having to trim back nearby lilacs to keep the peonies from too much shade. I'm actually very fond of my one or two white blossoms I get from a second plant each year. I'd like to plant another white one in a different spot. Those turkey babies are just delightful.

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