Farm and Garden Report/December 23 - Feeding the birds et al.

After 32 years we have stopped feeding the birds. It would be fine if it were just birds who came. We love the chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches, mourning doves, and woodpeckers. They make for delightful watching. Along with the birds come the chipmunks in the fall, and then the red squirrels. We've accepted them because they really are cute little creatures, even though I'm pretty sure I hear the squirrels running around in the ceilings sometimes. In recent years the deer have been coming to the feeders, and we have loved that. 

Bears are a problem only if the feeders are left up too late in the spring. 

However, the other night we looked out and couldn't believe our eyes when we saw this

Coyotes! We often hear them, but never in all the years we've lived here have we ever seen them. They were happily eating sunflower seeds we had scattered for the ground feeding birds. They stayed a long while that night. A day or two later we had deer visiting the feeders, and two hours later the two coyotes came. Sometimes just one coyote would come. When we saw this was becoming a routine, we began to be worried for Sadie. Yes, she is a big dog, probably outweighing a coyote by 50 pounds, but still, they could team up and go after her. We had begun taking her out on a leash - a leash! We live on 200 acres, and have a large fenced in lawn and field so she doesn't even wear a collar and runs free as she wishes. But our biggest concern was little Piglet, Matt and Margaret's pug who lives just down the road. There are stories of coyotes coming right into a yard and taking a little dog. Their dogs are also used to being free. They never go far from the house, but they are often out without people. 

We have been very concerned, wondering what to do. So last evening I went to the source of all things bird, my state's Audubon Society. I emailed them:

I've been all over the internet asking these questions and have received differing answers. If we stop feeding the birds right now, will they die? Are they dependent upon us for their survival? The birds that come are chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays, mourning doves.
You might wonder why I ask. Well, the reason is that we suddenly have two coyotes eating the bird seed. We've had deer around for years, but this is the first time we've ever seen coyotes. Our near neighbors have a small dog, a pug, and we are concerned about the coyotes getting her. We have a dog too, and aren't awfully comfortable letting her out now. We are out in the country on a couple hundred acres of land.
We'd really like to take down the feeders, but don't want to kill the birds.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 This morning I was grateful and relieved to read this response:

I am not speaking as one of the experts here, but I can tell you that the conservationists tell me over and over that taking down a bird feeder will not impact the birds in any way. Birds naturally feed in the wild and if someone takes down a feeder, they just go to their sources out in the wild or find a feeder elsewhere. I think you will agree that your safety and the safety of the dogs is of utmost importance. 

So, Tom went out and took down all the feeders. An era has ended. Yes, we will miss seeing them close to the house, but we can still see and hear them in the woods, and the benefits far outweigh the loss. I expect it will take a few days for all the seeds on the ground to be cleaned up, but soon, the coyotes and deer and birds will realize that this particular restaurant has closed forever.

Farm and Garden report - June 20

I think the last day of spring is a good time to write a farm and garden report.

Two days after the big snow, we saw the beginning and ending of life here at Windy Poplars. We were discussing the cutting of the branch which broke off the garden lilac. We looked out and walking along it was an Indigo Bunting; the first we've ever seen here. It was a male, and as it flew off, we saw another bird fly into the nearby honeysuckle bush. Fingers crossed that it was a female, and that she will raise little Indigo Buntings. [haven't seen them again] Then just a few hours later, Tom came back from the barn and said a sheep was down in the same stall where Daisy the donkey died. He shut the door so he wouldn't be disturbed. This ram was born thirteen years ago, and had been very, very skinny for months now, but still was eating hay and wandering the pasture. When Nebby the donkey came, they kind of hung close together. That may seem like anthropomorphizing but we've seen quite a bit of this behavior since our wonderful new Nebby girl arrived. Anyhow, he hung onto life for a couple days, without suffering, just quietly dying until we called the vet to come and put him down. He said some animals will just linger like this. He also said thirteen was a great age for a sheep. That's what happens when an animal lives here with the vegetarians. 

Now, I'll go back to Mother's Day and tell you of Nebby's first adventure. We did as we always do when we get a new animal - we put her in a stall for a few days so the animals could gradually get acquainted. Well, that was the plan, and Nebby was fine with it for two nights. But just before we were to leave for Michael and his girlfriend Esteé's house, Tom checked in at the barn. Nebby was OUT. She had jumped over the stall gate. 

It still gives us horrors to think of what might have happened.  But she was fine, she is fine. She just thought it was time to be out with her new charges. We decided that one of us needed to stay home to keep an eye on her, and since it was Mother's Day, I was the one who got to go. When the farrier came recently, he told us that if a donkey can reach her neck over, then she can jump. 

Since that day, Nebby has amazed us with her caring for the sheep and goat. She does what our late horse Bandit did, and what Daisy and Juno the late donkeys did after his death, she'll bray to round everyone up. It's as if she's saying, where are you? Time to come be together. Again, I'm not making this up. I'm not putting human actions onto an animal. If you saw it, you would know right off that this is what she's doing. She doesn't bray very often - not like Daisy who would welcome us home with her voice. Nebby is a quieter girl. She does a lot of looking.

You've heard time and time again about how no fence can hold Esther the goat. Well, it looks like Nebby followed in her footsteps, literally. We had this bright gaudy orange fencing between the electric fence and the barn so Tom could easily get into the pasture with the tractor. 

Esther has long known that she could just push it a bit and get under it and out. I guess Nebs was paying close attention because she followed Esther out a few times. But the concern was that she couldn't get back in the same way.

The first time Tom was home and he got her in. But the second time I was home alone. I was a little nervous because I know how donkeys make up their own minds about things, and I didn't know if I could get her in myself. I went outdoors and said, 'Well Nebby girl, can you and I do this?' I started walking toward the barn and she followed right behind me. I opened the door and she walked right in. Then I opened the upper and lower gates that go into the stall area, and she walked right in there as well. Nanny and Nebby - the A team! She is so docile. So gentle. A wonderful girl. So, Tom's first retirement project was a new wooden fence. 

It can be removed if he needs to get through, but Nebby cannot get out, though of course Esther can and does. Also a few chickens have been scooting under the fence and strolling around as well. 

The animals now go into the north pasture once or twice a day. Nebby's first time crossing was smooth, and now she is so at ease that she doesn't rush through the gate, but dawdles to munch a little grass. You can see she is shedding her winter coat now.

The bluebirds are back! As I wrote a couple years ago, we'd always had swallows in the birdhouse on the telephone pole. And then we didn't. Then bluebirds showed up to use what is, after all, a bluebird house. This year we saw a couple swallows drop by and leave. Just for fun, Tom went out and checked the house. He cleaned out the box, and brought in the nest which was so interesting - made of feathers and hay and moss. And within a few days, voila, the bluebird couple appeared. There is a phoebe nest in the barn as always, and there are at least two robin nests nearby. But the BIG news from Windy Poplars is the return of the whippoorwills! When we first moved here, in 1981, we heard that wonderful sound every night. And then after a couple years, nothing. There are studies going on in the state, and maybe even nationally about why the whippoorwill seems to be declining. We actually went out on an Audubon mission one night listening for them in a town north of us, but we heard nothing. But now, one is singing between three and four each morning. We've been in touch with Audubon via email to report the happy event. You may hear what it sounds like here.

We were very late transplanting the vegetable and flower plants this year with all the snow (!), then heat, then rain, and then an early June frost possibility. We did get the lettuce in and it is growing by leaps and bounds. We have salads nearly every day now. You always hear people talk about how the best tomatoes are right out of the garden. Well, I would say that's true about lettuce. I've stopped buying it in the stores. It is never, ever that good. We're going to try growing it under the lights next winter. 

Instead of Tom building four new garden boxes and putting them in the field, we decided instead to build just two and put them on the lawn next to the other 8 boxes. Pole beans on the left, corn on the right. The original pole bean garden now has sweet peas along the poles, and a cucumber cage inside. 

The ticks are terrible, terrible, terrible. I hate them. They almost spoil the spring. Years ago we didn't have any, and now I can't walk outdoors without picking up one. And poor Sadie is black so we can't see them on her. I find myself staying inside more, and isn't that just awful. And they're even inside, occasionally caught on a piece of clothing. I found one climbing out of the clothes hamper, and another climbing up the door of the dryer. I've read the washing machine won't kill them but the heat of the dryer will. When I find one, I put it in a kleenex and burn it in the wood stove. Tom's mother has had two tick bites for the first time in her 85 years. The doctor put her on antibiotics just in case they were carrying Lyme disease. Happily, they begin to slow down as summer approaches.

This is the season of blue/purple. Lilacs first, then an explosion of lupines, iris, mountain bluets, spiderwort, Korean lilacs, Baptisia australis, and aquilegia. And each plant's color differs just a bit from another's. 

Just as I was about to publish this, there was another little Nebby adventure. It was time to cross the animals from the north pasture back into their home pasture. Esther and the sheep crossed just fine, but Nebby thought, 'I wonder what is down the road.' Well, that is worrisome because it leads to the main road, and before that is Matt and Margaret's house with two dogs. She got as far as their house when she spotted the solitary red deer which has been hanging around lately. Then Lexi, the dog came charging after her. Nebby thought 'maybe this isn't such a good idea' and she ran back up the road to the barn. The deer ran away, and Lexi turned around and went home. Always an adventure at Windy Poplars Farm.

Farm and Garden Report - April 30

Gosh, it has been a long time since I've done a farm and garden report. The end of April is a great time around here. I know many of you have had warm weather and blooms for ages, but this is the real beginning for us here at Windy Poplars. The grass is greening. The bloodroot has blossomed, as have the daffodils planted so long ago under what was then a fir balsam tree. It has since been cut down and lilacs planted there, on the corner of the parking area, and those few daffs are still there with their cheerful burst of yellow. 

Esther the goat who never met a fence that could stop her.

There has been no color here since October. You may know how I love late fall and winter with their tones of gray and brown, but by now I am READY for color! The little scilla at the top of the blog have been out for a few days now. They grow in the grass next to one of the raised beds.

The main area of daffodils is up with a hint of the flowers to come. 

The little grape hyacinths, which share a garden with garlic are up. 

The chive plants are doing great, and it's a treat to be eating them again.

Last fall, we planted six peony plants in the vegetable garden beds. 

This one is called Nancy Nora. (how could I resist?)

We've dug out most of the orange day lilies from the front patio garden. They looked great but after they bloom, there is nothing there but cut down day lilies, so I wanted to diversify that garden a bit and extend the season. Much of my gardening is of the 'rob Peter to pay Paul' type. We took plants from other areas and planted them there - some bearded iris, different color day lilies, aquilegia. 

We've started some flower seeds under the lights and will put some of them there in a few weeks; stock, more aquilegia, and lavatera. I may put the parsley and basil seedlings there too. 

I don't know if I've mentioned that Tom retires in June, which means more time and less money. So, what better thing to do than to grow more of what we eat. We started many tomato plants: Martha Washington, Matt's Wild Cherry, and Peacevine, and sweet peppers for the first time in ages. The seeds we planted King of the North and Sweet Sunrise are supposed to turn red and orange in my climate, so fingers crossed. 

We also have a lot of onion and leek seedlings ready to go out in the garden. They've been sitting on the bench for a few days to harden off. 

Lots of lettuce is also ready. My new favorite is a variety called Pirat. I'm not a fan of the newish, sometimes sharp tasting greens. I like big green leafy lettuce, and Pirat suits just fine. 

When it warms up we'll plant the Garden Oasis cucumber and Zephyr summer squash. The French Gold pole beans have been such a success, I think we'll always plant them. We missed sweet peas last year, so have packets of April in Paris and Mary Lou Heard. The spinach, Renegade, and peas, Green Arrow will go in now the soil has warmed up. And the corn will be planted at the end of next month. The Sugar Pearl white corn has been delicious and successful for a couple years now. I've got a packet of Rainbow mixture carrots. I love all the new colors. Last year's seeds didn't come up, so I hope these will grow. 

With our adding of more vegetables, we must increase our raised beds, so Tom is going to build four more out in the area past the garden. And the other day I looked out and he had piled some rocks in a circle and built a fire pit. 

He's already made a fire of last year's cornstalks and hollyhocks. Which brings me to the hollyhock situation. I so loved them last year, but haven't planted any seeds. I think I'll wait a year before planting again. They say that last year's seeds might come up. We'll see.

View from fire pit looking back at the house.

Here is the list of what we started under the lights:

In mid-March, planted in 2 small flats/40 cells per flat:

40 cells Cortland F1 Hybrid onions (High Mowing) and 40 cells Baby Primor Leeks (Renees) 

On April 14, planted in 3 medium flats/28 cells per flat:

12 cells King of the North sweet peppers (High Mowing)

7 cells Sweet Sunrise sweet peppers (Johnny's)

5 cells Martha Washington tomatoes (Johnny's)

2 cells Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (High Mowing)

2 cells Peacevine tomatoes (High Mowing)

8 cells Large Leaf Italian basil (High Mowing)

8 cells Giant Italian parsley (High Mowing)

6 cells Granny's Nightcap aquilegia (Hart - bought at Aubuchons in 2012)

3 cells Beauty of Nice stock (John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden)

3 cells Ruby Regis lavatera (John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden)

4 cells catnip (John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden)

24 cells Pirat lettuce (High Mowing)

We moved the grow lights out of the butt'ry area of the kitchen to the adjoining laundry room. When we plant the lettuce outside, we'll start new seeds under the lights, and keep doing that all summer. I love lettuce, and as you may know, eat it plain like a rabbit.

Soon it will be time to mow. We've got a rider mower that Tom uses and a new, but old-fashioned push mower for the small areas of lawn. One of the summer projects is to restore this sidewalk.

Years ago, we put in small stones for a gravel path, but they were uncomfortable to walk on, weeds and grass grew up, and it ended up looking awful. We have some leftover pavers from the patio, and plan to make a new sidewalk. Eventually the area right outside the kitchen door will become another patio, but that's a project for another time, and just as well says Sadie, since this is one of her favorite napping places.