A rabbit has become a regular visitor at our front door where it nibbles on tender young shoots of Dwarf Korean Lilac.
Upon following tracks across our front porch, it is evident that the rabbit's visitor status has transitioned to permanent resident.
Underneath a weatherproof tarp, straw is mounded along a wall of our exterior basement entry for insulation against the cold of winter. What a cozy winter home our rabbit has found!
In my childhood, we watched Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Bonanza on a black-and-white vacuum tube television...when it was working.
On cold winter evenings, my family would cluster in our small living room to watch T.V. while shelling dry soup beans that we had grown and harvested from our large garden plot. Recently, our youngest daughter, Jessie, came for a visit. To shell beans from my garden and experience a memory from my lifetime so long ago. It was a tender moment in time.
Sitting upon a shelf in my pantry, is a small jar of beans... shelled from pods growing on vines planted many years ago on my parents' farm when they were a thriving, viable source of nourishment for a family of twelve children.
Although a light covering of snow blanketed the ground for Christmas Day, it wasn't until two days later that our first heavy snow of the season provided the beauty that we anxiously anticipate each winter. The kind that hangs heavy on trees and shrub branches and isn't whisked away by the wind for days.
The tendency, during autumn cleanup, is to cut perennials back in preparation for spring regrowth. However, I choose to leave the stems and dried heads intact to provide texture and form to the landscape rather than a barren tundra. The dried blossoms catch and hold the snow forming fluffy tufts that are reminiscent of peony blooms. There will be time in early spring for trimming old growth.
Throughout the winter, I continue to add fruit and veggie scraps to my two compost tumblers. Even though their frozen state prevents decomposition, in the first warm days of spring, the process begins anew. Nothing is wasted and so much to be gained in the rich, black soil that is created.
Each autumn, there is winter prep to be done. That is just the way it is in the Minnesota climate. Some tasks are of the proactive type to prevent water pipes and septic systems from freezing and to maintain a source of warmth throughout the house. Other winter prep tasks make spring's arrival so much easier when there is much to be done.
Cleaning my potting shed was one such task. I began by sorting items into categories so that I could better realize the scope of clutter. Next, after eliminating broken, unusable items, I set aside what I decided was a reasonable number of duplicate items to keep, then I discarded the remainder by recycling, repurposing, donating, or placing in the garbage. What remained was easily organized in my potting shed and will make finding seed starting and seedling repotting supplies a breeze.
The season's harvest has been gathered and the garden space tidied. Tarps, secured with bungees to prevent the brisk north winds from whisking them away, are draped over the greenhouse. Animals in the surrounding woods know, too, that winter will soon arrive, so they are, likewise, scurrying to store up food...some of which came from my garden, finding new homes, or cleaning and insulating their old ones. It is now time for the land to rest.
A farmer planted our field for many years. But he got old. He decided it was time to retire. Dick and I knew, that when that day came, we would plant trees where once buckwheat, triticale, clover, and winter wheat had grown.
To give us a jump start, we started with three burr oak trees that were maybe 4-5 years old. For the remainder of the field, I ordered 50 tree seedlings from the Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District, during their January 1-February 28, 2018 tree sale. They were available for pickup at the Northland Arboretum in Brainerd (Minnesota) on May 11 and 12.
Contained in a garbage bag to keep the roots wet, we immediately began digging the 25 red oak and 25 balsam fir tree seedlings into the ground. The organic farmer's rotation of carefully selected crops had transformed our sandy soil into rich loam making digging a cinch with the aid of a planting bar I borrowed from the DNR's forestry department.
Throughout the year, I save newspaper pages so that I can make newspaper pots for spring planting. I discard pages with colored ink which leaves basically the crossword puzzle/cartoons, obits, and employment/want ads. Sometimes the rolling and tucking results in sweet, unexpected surprises like these two pots printed with "Lakes Area Growers Market" and Plant Sale" imprinted upon the page.
With a quarter sheet of newspaper and a simple metal can emptied of such contents as diced tomatoes, pinto beans, or pumpkin, a seed pot is formed.
Generally, the pot will hold together on its own, but, if necessary, a paper clip can be used to secure it then removed after filling with soil. For instructions, Renee over at "Hip Chick Digs" provides precise video instruction.
http://www.hipchickdigs.com/2009/03/video-newspaper-seed-pots/#more-1031
A fence surrounds our coop to keep the chickens safe at night. It provides extra security from invaders like raccoon, skunk, fox, and hawks. Fence door latched. Coop door locked. In the daytime, as our chickens roam freely about the yard, they are not bothered. But, at dusk and beyond, the stalkers prowl. The fence needs repair, but winter preparations last fall left no time. Now, spring planting has taken priority. Sadly, there will be no chickens this year. But, look!
We have wild turkeys that come to visit each morning just outside our living room window! Nine of them! The surrounding woods is their home the remainder of the day. They also stroll into our field to dine on spoils leftover from last autumn's grain harvest.
A tarp secured with bungees to outmatch the force of wintry winds covers our greenhouse, emptied rain barrels are turned upside down, late season veggies have been gathered, and dried vines removed. With the closure of this year's gardening season, it is time to celebrate the harvest measured by what our garden has provided to carry us through the winter months.
We have four hefty heirloom Sweet Meat Hubbard Squash, a bushel of predominantly large-size purple, red, and white potatoes stored in a quite dark, cool basement entry, and four overstuffed gallon bags of sliced green tomatoes in the freezer for pies. I was so hopeful of an abundant dry soup bean harvest, but deer jumped the wooden fence surrounding my garden space to eat all but the uppermost vines hanging out of reach upon the trellises they clung to. It is counterproductive to think that we inhabit the earth in isolation or have dominion over the creatures that inhabit our space, so, in the spring, we will install an electric fence above our garden posts to deter the deer. My rhubarb was spindly this year, so there was not enough to freeze for winter consumption. I will add compost and manure, gleaned from cattle raised properly, around our rhubarb because the plants have faithfully produced for many, many years in the same location, so the soil's nutrients have been depleted. Possibly transplanting to an alternate location is prudent. Although large in size, with prized deep orange flesh, the low yield in relation to space required of Sweet Meat Squash must be considered if garden size is limited. After sprawling across available garden soil, my vines trailed onto nearby bean trellises. I may consider a designated arched support to maximize available space. Alongside successes, one must evaluate failures. That is how we learn and become better at our craft. By devising solutions, we become less frustrated with wildlife and find peace in coexisting. Over time, soil amendments exhibit substantial results. We steadily increase our yield using space and time more efficiently. There is comfort in knowing that we are not alone in our struggles, as Kurt Timmermeister candidly documents in his book, Growing a Farmer, which I am presently reading. Farming, whether it be large or small scale, is hard work. Sometimes the rewards are less than hoped for, but nonetheless satisfying.
A commonly expressed comment in these parts is, "Only in Minnesota." It refers to how our climate pays little attention to the calendar. True to form, during the overnight and continuing through the morning hours, a blanket of snow covered the landscape on this first day of May. Although it brought our greenhouse construction and autumn leaf raking to a sudden halt, it was the most beautiful sight...and it came with a most unexpected surprise visit.
In the mid-morning, I nonchalantly began freeze-framing this moment in time by shooting a photo of our backyard, catching a corner of our 1890 RR passenger car and woodpile, just off the back porch. Walking alongside the RR car to the opposite end, I chose the view facing our pole building that is positioned next to our garden plot. Pay particular attention to the draping tree branches behind the snow-covered blue chair. Look closely in the left photo below and you will see a surprise visitor that dropped by seconds later.
Click on the photo for an enlarged view. Do you see? Remember my recent post regarding attracting orioles and how crucial it is to pay attention to the timing of their yearly arrival? Dick immediately sliced an orange to fit into a suet feeder that I retrieved from my bucket of bird supplies. After attaching an s-hook, he hung it on the branch where, moments ago, the oriole had briefly perched. Long enough to communicate to me, "I am here! I traveled far, but I am here!" And so are we. We will feed you oranges, grapes, and seeds. We will provide a water source and nest building material. We will welcome your young babies. You are home pretty bird. Esmeralda. That shall be your name.
Last July, I decided that I'd entice some orioles to my feeders, however I was doomed to fail at the starting gate. "Start early. Your best chance of attracting orioles is when they first arrive in the spring (early May in Minnesota)." http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/bird-nesting/how-to-attract-orioles/ I can verify the May arrival because I took the photo of the oriole sitting on a tree branch in my central Minnesota yard on May 14, 2008. So, back to last summer, I put some grape jelly in a dish. I had been careful to compare the options. Smucker's Concord Grape Jelly: concord grape juice, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid, and sodium citrate (preservative). Smucker's Natural Concord Grape Fruit Spread: concord grape juice, sugar, concord grape puree, fruit pectin, and citric acid. Polaner Concord Grape Jelly: juice concentrates (pear, grape, pineapple), concord grape puree concentrate (water, concord grape juice, concord grapes), fruit pectin, citric acid. All that I attracted were bees. No orioles. Not a single one. Likely, this was because it was July. Fast forward to this year, I'll set the jelly out at the beginning of May instead. Then, I began to think. I know that it is common to feed birds grape jelly, but I just don't feel right about it.
There must be a nature-derived alternative that would supply the energy (carbs) required for orioles to rebound from their long spring migration through the nest building stage, "which takes up to twelve energy-zapping days to construct their pendulous sac-shaped nests on the ends of slender deciduous tree branches," http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/bird-nesting/how-to-attract-orioles/ and protein to feed their young. Online research led me to the answer. "Orange halves (Photo: http://www.audubon.org/news/make-orange-feeder-orioles), ripe dark-colored fruit (darkest mulberries, reddest cherries, and the deepest purple grapes) served in a shallow, bright orange container that is placed in the open so it can be seen overhead when birds are in flight. They'll ignore green grapes and yellow cherries even if they're ripe." https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole/lifehistory Also, plant fruit bearing trees on your property for a help yourself buffet, furnish a water source, aid their nest-building efforts by supplying yarn and string Terrain's Bird Nesting Cotton Ball (Photo: http://www.shopterrain.com/product/nesting-cotton-balls)...a gift from my daughter, Jessie, and offer mealworms for a protein source after eggs hatch. Orioles forage on their own, too, eating "a wide variety of insects, including beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, and flies, as well as spiders, snails, tent and gypsy moth caterpillars, the larvae within plant galls, and other small invertebrates." https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole/lifehistory
So, why is feeding grape jelly detrimental to a bird's health? "Birds developed the way they did by adapting to the environments in which they lived and the foods that sustained them. We do our best for them when we stick as closely as possible to their natural diets." http://blog.lauraerickson.com/2007/04/is-feeding-jelly-really-okay-for-birds.html To summarize the article's main points, jelly's high sugar content will satisfy hunger but not nutritional requirements and birds may exert less time foraging for their natural diet of foods in the wild. I know there will be many that will stalwartly stand behind their tried-and-true grape jelly offering, but it's all about choice, my friends. Grape jelly versus orange halves, the deepest purple grapes, darkest mulberries, reddest cherries, berries growing on bushes and trees, mealworms, and insects. Hmmmm...let me think on that.