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Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 9:30 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, raining
We just came in from picking strawberries,
something that is
usually done during the hot part of the day so they will
be infused
with natural sweetness brought out by the sun. There is
little chance of
sun for the rest of the day, although we did enjoy some
random rays when
we first started to pick. With rain in the forecast every
day until the weekend,
we thought we should gather what berries are ripe or they
will simply hang there
and rot with mold. We were just about finished with the
two beds, a yield of ten
quarts of plump red berries, and the sky opened up with a
chilly downpour. We
carried on picking in the rain, and what a difference;
wet leaves clung to our hands
and made it difficult to locate the ripe fruit. My specs
were streaming with water, so
I was effectively blind anyway. More than one greenie is
draining in the colander, but
there are enough berries for another twenty jars of ruby
red preserves and more freshies
for our cereal and yogurt. I just checked the radar
online, and there may be a break in the
rain later, a good chance to collect more garlic scapes.
I have already pulled some baby
beets and greens for our supper, so the morning will be
filled with the pleasant task of
cleaning the beets and making jam, with perhaps another
mad dash outdoors to cut
scapes. There is much to do this time of year, but it is
never monotonous, never the
same task twice even though the results are often quite
similar. The jams and jellies
come out pretty much the same year after year, but the
gathering and processing is
a brand new experience every single time. Here’s a
tip that I just learned and ap-
plied to the last batch of strawberry preserves: put a
small amount of butter in
the jam as it boils, and foam will not develop on the
surface of the finished pro-
duct. I hope this works with jelly as well as preserves,
as the foam (while tasty)
is unappealing in the jar. I used to save the foam on a
plate, and our kids
would scoop it up with their fingers, a sticky treat on a
summer day.
And now, off to the cellar to collect some jars.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, June 29, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
60 degrees, windy, partly sunny
A steady breeze punctuated by stronger gusts of
north wind has
helped to spread the clouds a little thinner than they
were at dawn.
Small patches of pale blue are growing every moment, and
it looks
like we will have a fine steamy summer day in no time. We
took ad-
vantage of yesterday’s beautiful weather to pick all
of the strawberries
that were ripe, eleven quarts in all. I sent some home
with a friend who
had kept me company to speed up our task, and most of the
rest were
made into preserves. I make preserves rather than jam
because I like
whole strawberries floating around in the sweet thick gel,
rather than
the crushed fruit that comprises jam. There is also a
bowl of sliced
berries lightly sweetened with a shake of organic cane
sugar to bring
out the juice, to enjoy with our morning yogurt. We got
ahead of the
weeds (for now), and mulched the tomatoes with sawdust to
keep the
moisture level even; this helps prevent cracking. We
picked a few dozen
garlic scapes to enjoy fresh, and I will snip about half
the remaining crop this
morning to share with friends at work later in the day.
By Wednesday I should
have the time to try pickling a few jars of the pungent
flower stalks, to see how
that works out. I plan to follow our dilly-bean recipe,
using scapes instead of
beans. The rest will go into the freezer, cut into inch-long
pieces, blanched in
boiling water for about two minutes, and enjoyed
throughout the winter in rice
dishes and stews. Since the scapes must be removed anyway
to promote
better bulb development, we might as well get full
enjoyment of them
during their brief harvest season. The sun seems to be
out to stay;
I do believe a second cup of joe on the back porch is in
order.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 28, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
70 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
This will probably be the best day of the upcoming
week,
or so the weather pundits would have us believe. We will
pick
all of the strawberries that are ripe later this morning,
and hope to
get a couple of pauses in the rain this week to keep up
with them as
they continue to ripen. The jam kettles and jars await
their fragrant sweet
cargo, and the house will be filled with wonderful steam
as we process the
fruit. There is nothing like a smear of strawberry
preserves on a piece of home-
made wholegrain toast to make an ordinary weekend
breakfast special. And of
course, what is peanut butter without jam, that sweet
counterpart to the slightly
salty goodness of the nutty spread ? It looks like
conditions will be perfect for
any outdoor ventures today, with a nice breeze to keep
smaller insects away.
Deerflies don’t seem bothered by wind, and the best
we can do to thwart
their nasty bites is to cover up bare skin and wear a
head scarf that is big
enough to drape down over the nape of the neck. The only
thing I know
for sure about deerflies is that if you go hatless, you
will get bitten on the
head in many places. A deerfly bite is instantly painful
and takes a long
time to heal, with periods of itching, then oozing serous
fluid if you
scratch it too much. A bandaid loaded with aloe gel
placed
directly on a bite is soothing, and also prevents
scratching.
And now, off to enjoy this beauty of a day !
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 27, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
59 degrees, windy, overcast, mist
Not dense enough to be fog, not falling like rain,
so I guess mist would best
describe the action outside on this damp and chilly
morning. It isn’t slowing down
the multitude of songbirds that are delighted by the
moist ground and its bounty of
earthworms coming up for air. Our cats went outside for
five minutes before deciding
to come back in to the comfort of the warm kitchen, and
will no doubt spend much of
the day dozing and dreaming of past adventures. We trod
the meadow paths yesterday,
reveling in the tall hay that will soon be a memory; the
next dry spell will see heavy equip-
ment mowing the fragrant grasses and packing it all into
enormous bales for storage at a
friend’s farm. I wonder if anyone still makes old-fashioned
sixty pound bales any more ?
When our stored mulch bales run out, will we be able to
find some more in the North
Country that don’t require a fork lift to transport
them to the garden? We admired the
potato patch on our rounds; many of them are beginning to
blossom, and this signals that
small tubers have begun to form underground. One word
best describes my joy at seeing
those first flowers: YUM! Distant thunder started to
rumble as we walked, and I stretched
out full-length in the soft grass by the corn patch to
listen and feel the cool breeze pick up.
Tiny raindrops spattered my face and bare arms, and the
whole experience was entirely
pleasant, until the rain increased in intensity and I
grew chilly. We got some very hard
rain late in the day, and more during the night, but
never felt the full fury of lightning
and hail that struck counties to the south of us. The
beans and carrots that we planted
yesterday will be watered in and our strawberries will
ripen very quickly now. So far I
have picked only three quarts, and we have gobbled them
up as is, a study in naturally
sweet simplicity. Tomorrow will be a jam day, with maybe
a pie in the works as well.
We eat so many strawberries during a one month period
every summer that we are
never tempted to buy them at any other time of year.
There will be enough in
the freezer for sundaes and cereal year-round, but there
really is no
comparison to a just-picked plump juicy berry still warm
from the
noontime sun, when the natural sugars are at their peak.
Have a sweet day,
Daisy
Friday, June 26, 2009, 7:00 a.m.
64 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We didn’t get one drop of rain from all of
yesterday’s storm warnings,
not even a rumble of distant thunder. It was a very hot
and humid afternoon
following a relatively comfy morning. We were walking
after breakfast a couple
of miles from home when the sun finally came out, and
that brought the steam along
with a hoard of deerflies. I have a couple of good welts
where the little suckers blindsided
me; thank goodness the dog’s hair has grown in
enough so that he wasn’t bothered by them.
We sped up to get home quicker, and of course that made
sweat flow like a faucet and attracted
even more flies. Once out of the sheltering trees, a
strong breeze swept away both the bugs and the
sweat from my brow. This morning is very windy, and there
are some pretty impressive dark clouds
to the south. We could use some rain, but I guess I
should be careful what I wish for. I picked our
first strawberries yesterday during the height of the sun
when the sweetness is at peak. There are
scads of green berries, and I think in a week’s time
we will be calling friends to come help scoop
them all up. Strawberries always start slow, a little
tease for the bounty that nearly always follows.
And now, off to enjoy some heaped atop a bowl of Kashi.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
69 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The cool night air lingers, but is slowly being
swept away by a
southwest breeze that is fragrant with the scent of new
mown hay from
a neighbor’s field. Our own meadows are ripe with
grasses that are seven feet
tall in some places, the beautiful purple heads of canary
grass towering over the other
legumes and grasses. Walking the meadow paths is a bit
like traveling through a dense forest
lately, only the visibility is practically nil within the
thick tangle of grass and wildflowers. Yesterday
the fields were teeming with goldfinches, hundreds of the
beautiful yellow and black males all vying
for the attention of a few dozen dun-colored females who
pretended aloof indifference at the aerial
antics of the menfolk. They were very noisy, emitting
nothing even remotely resembling a song,
more like shrieks for attention, each trying to out-chirp
the other, like a town meeting gone
amok. I have seen some spectacular goldfinch gatherings
before, but yesterdays topped
them all. They kept it up until sunset; I wonder if they
will have the energy for a repeat
performance today. So far they are not yet on the scene,
with robins of all ages being
the predominant species this morning. We walked for a
while last bight during the
purple hour before true dark, and were awed by the
thinnest crescent of a
waxing moon just before it set, bright against the
deepening clear sky.
Look for it again tonight, a bit fatter but I’ll
wager every bit as lovely.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
74 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
It is a perfect summer morn, already a little hot but
with a fine breeze
to cool things down. All three sticks on the old
clothesline are occupied;
the old adage birds of a feather flock together is
not true in this case.
There is a purple finch, a young robin, and a sparrow,
each pretty much
minding its own business. We used to have just one forked
stick hung
astride the rope, and that one had appeared naturally
after a windstorm.
We left it there to see how long it would last, and it
remained on the line for
nearly five years before blowing off and snapping off one
of the balancing twigs.
We hung it back up, but without the second long arm it
blows off more frequently
now. When we were cutting firewood a few months ago, we
each found a branch
similar to the one that had been balanced on the line and
placed two more next to it;
often they are all in use at the same time. Along with a
dozen beanpoles and posts
that hold the tomato trellis, merely by increasing the
number of perches that are
out in the open and afford good visibility I believe we
have drawn even more
wild birds to our property. Try it yourself; stick a few
good perches around
your property and see what happens. Yesterday we hilled
potatoes, drawing
soft mounds of dirt up over the plants to provide a good
place for the tubers to
develop. If left to ripen where sun can get at them, they
will turn green and become
not only inedible, but also slightly toxic. Under their
shelter of dirt, they will grow into
fine big spuds in just a few months time. Some plants
have flower buds, and it is possible
that we will see this first small potatoes in less than
two weeks if the weather cooperates.
If we get rain tomorrow as predicted that will certainly
help speed things along.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, sunny
A cool clear night has given way to a very lovely
morning,
windy and bright with summer sunshine. The hay is
beginning to ripen,
and shows golden tints above the deep green undergrowth,
dotted liberally
with a rainbow of wildflowers. It is all in hypnotic
motion with the urging of a
capricious wind, which seemingly comes from every
direction at once. We are
getting ready to hill our potatoes, the plants a good
size and (so far) bug-free. Since
we grow enough spuds for a small army it is fortunate
that we have a tractor and hiller
to do most of the hard work, but the weeding hasn’t
been easy; that is still done mostly
by hand. Now that we have had enough rain to get the
crops well started, the weeds
are taking advantage of the good conditions as well.
Later I will go up and down the
rows thinning seedlings and roughing up the weeds as I go.
The new lettuce will go
right into a lunch salad, finer than the most expensive
mesclun that ever was sold at
the market, and some of the marigolds will be
transplanted to different spots in other
gardens to help aid in pest control. There are a few
volunteer sunflowers that should
be moved as well, to avoid the tillerman when he makes
his rounds later this week. It
is not too late to make a final planting of sunflowers,
to extend the blooming season
for this favorite of all cut flowers. Another row of
carrots should go in this week,
and more beans, always room for more beans. I will pause
just long enough to
admire the purple finch looking in the window at me, then
off to play in the dirt !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Monday, June 22, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
58 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
The north wind and dearth of sunshine make for a
pretty chilly morning.
Our coffee cooled quickly on the porch, but then the sun
would appear
for a few seconds and so we stayed put for a little while
longer, enjoying
the lingering heat while the clouds closed back in. Low
heavy clouds obscure
the view of the Adirondack Mountains, and small mist
explosions are eye-catching
along the nearby hedgerows. As soon as the meadow edges
release their sweet moisture,
the wind sends it aloft with a swirling flourish. I would
suspect the moist vapors that gathered
overnight flow down to the mown path, where they no
longer encounter much resistance from
the tall grass and are suddenly borne aloft by gusts.
There are a few patches of pale blue sky
slowly being revealed, and it looks like the day may
eventually fair up. A single hen turkey
just strolled up the roadside, pausing only once to peck
through some newly mown lawn
clippings, totally ignored the baby lettuce in the garden
(yay!) and proceeded to continue
on up the berm. When last seen, she was passing the
neighbor’s horse paddock at a good
pace. I wonder if she has lost her flock, or is just out
for a morning stroll. I hope she knows
how to fly, as the neighbor has a couple of good bird
dogs that are often in the yard. Mean-
while, the birch tree next to our strawberry patch is
loaded with cedar waxwings, just
waiting for the first hint of red to grace a berry. Last
year we placed deer netting over
the entire patch, which worked well to keep the birds
from raiding the sweet crop.
After one last weeding, we will roll out the unwelcome
mat once again. How nice,
the clouds are really on the move now, and there is more
sun than shade !
Have a fabulous day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 21, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, overcast
Morning fog has given way to distant haze on this
first official day of summer.
The first full day will be tomorrow, as solstice arrived
at 1:45 this morning, leaving
almost two of the wee hours stuck in spring. So far we
haven’t seen much in the way
of summery weather, but that is due to change with some
very warm days lined up by
midweek. Yesterday’s rain parted over Gomer Hill and
we only had a few drops spread
over the daylight hours, with one small shower just after
sunset. much of the area has had
too much rain during the month of June; this, combined
with uncommonly chilly tempera-
tures, has led to failure to thrive for tomato plants all
over the county. Ours are doing fine,
but will need that extra push of heat to really get going.
We are headed to Constableville
later this morning for the annual Craft Fair and Antique
Auto Show at Constable Hall.
I am happy it is still fairly cool outside, as the last
place we want to be on a sunny 80
degree day is in a shadeless meadow full of cars, their
metal reflecting both glare and
heat from the sun. The cars don’t interest me nearly
as much as the garden, filled with
old-fashioned herbs and perennial flowering plants and
shrubs. It is also a good place
to meet up with old friends and make a few new ones among
the vendors and other
visitors. For directions, check http://www.constablehall.org/
. For now, I look outside
and see that the yard is full of young birds, five
speckle-breasted robins, dull grey star-
lings by the dozen, and little turkeys meander up the
meadow trail in the wake of their
three hen babysitters. Goldfinches are just beginning
their crazy mating flights, and pur-
ple finches are lined up on the rim of the birdbath to
plan their day. Hummingbirds have
finished pairing up and one couple is building a secret
nest deep in the shade of our privet
hedge; try as I might, I can’t find this tiny nest,
even though I know exactly where the birds
have been carrying the raw materials. The wind is picking
up, and for some reason the fog
has reappeared. It looks like another unpredictable day
in the North Country;
keeping us guessing must keep Mother Nature from becoming
bored.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 20, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, fog
Fog covers the whole hilltop; a friend who has just
arrived from the
village reports that the flats are clear, but mostly
cloudy. Storms will be
moving into our area later this morning, so we will try
to get a good walk in
before the rain arrives. Everything is very wet from
Thursday’s long soak, and
yesterday we received showers off and on throughout the
day as well. A late day
hike around the meadow trails to check our nesting boxes
left us soaked to the waist
and all squishy in the sneakers. We have a box of five
swallows just about big enough to
flee, and another a few days younger than those.
Bluebirds have built a nest in a previously
empty house, and we will keep a close eye on those, as
the birds will probably be ready to
fledge at about the same time the meadows will be mown
for hay. Tragedy struck one of our
families of swallows; when I went to check the young, I
saw a fluster of feathers from an adult
bird by the cedar post holding the box. It must have been
the mother, as the nest held two stiff
birds about a week in age, apparently starved to death. A
raccoon would have probably been
the culprit, reaching inside the entry hole and snagging
the mother and other three nestlings,
consuming them right on the spot. Raccoons hunt at night,
and so mom would have been
inside keeping her young snug, a living blanket. I have
been faithfully checking every nest
for insect infestation, but there is no sure way to
prevent raccoons from making such
deadly raids. There are baffles one can build on the
posts, but I have seen videos of
coons easily hoisting themselves over the stoutest of
barriers. The best we can do is
catch any coons foolish enough to go after the fruit in
our Havahart trap and relocate
them far away from our property. It is a bit like playing
God, deciding which critters we
will nurture and which we will banish. In a perfect world,
no living thing would be prey,
and peace would reign over all. Realistically, we all
have a place in the food chain,
and the choice to consume other living beings is a
conscious one in humans alone;
for the rest, it is pure instinct whether to eat plants,
meat, or a combination of both.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 19, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The rain stopped shortly before bedtime last night.
I was driving home from a late meeting and could have
sworn the air was filled with snow flurries as I came
through
Talcottville, but it must have been swarms of small moths
out testing
their wings after the rain stopped. It was an odd sight
for sure. It could
have been fuzzy airborne seeds, but they were all going
every which-a-way,
more random than windblown fluff. This morning seems to
show some promise
of sunshine, but for now the clouds oversee the Hill,
showing off the multitude of
different green hues that dominate our view. We are
darned close to the first official
day of summer, and indeed, the pale yellow-greens of
spring have given way to the lush
true emeralds of summertime hardwoods; combined with the
deep forest green of balsams
and bluish cast of spruces, the overall effect is
beautifully staggering in its richness and variety,
a palette worthy of the greatest master of all, good old
Mother Nature. Good job, Mom !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 18, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
52 degrees, windy, fog, rain
We have it all going on this morning, a real honest to
goodness deep soak
of a rainfall, with fog so thick the rain is nearly
invisible and wind swirling the
mist into waves and ripples just like an airborne sea.
The cats begged to be let
out at first light, but after five minutes I saw them
huddled underneath a car, and
they dashed back in as soon as I opened the door. Now
they are all lazing around
the wood range, which will probably have a small fire in
it all day long. Yesterday was
a perfect day, breezy with big picturesque clouds
overseeing our work, bug-free and cool.
I had time for a bike ride late in the day, and found
several long drifts of wild columbine at
the side of the road. These (along with daisies) are the
prevailing wildflower that really catches
the eye along certain stretches of back roads. The
smaller forget-me-nots are nearly done, with
a few random little flowers atop stems filed with
seedpods, where two weeks ago there were
masses of blue, pink, and white showy clusters. My
intention was to ride to a patch of wild
sweet williams on the Smith Road truck trail, but to my
dismay, the entire area has been
invaded by burdocks, stunning in their own right with
those huge velvety green leaves,
but they have smothered out all other plants except for
taller ferns. If anything should
be mowed down right now, it is burdocks, before they go
to seed and become even
more prolific. on my return trip, a pair of ravens
swooped alongside me foe a moment
or two, hollering some news which I could tell was
important, but the meaning was lost
in translation. Perhaps they were merely pointing out
that they had a youngster in the area,
and to keep an eye out for it. They came as far as our
meadow, then veered off back into
the forest. Young birds of all species are everywhere
right now, herded about by their
folks, testing their wings and getting ready to take care
of themselves. I find it
amazing the things birds can learn in just a month, while
some humans
never quite achieve their complete independence after a
lifetime.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
62 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
After yesterday’s fog burned off the day was
summery-warm but not
uncomfortably muggy. Along with the sun came the first
deerflies of the
season, pesky biting critters that don’t give up
easily. You can smack one
and it falls to the ground, shakes itself off, and then
begins to circle around
your head once again, leaving you with not only a nasty
bite but a vivid pink
handprint as well. You can’t outrun them, not even
on a bicycle. It is a good
idea to wear a bandana under your helmet, or else they
crawl up under the
plastic rim and have a snack at your hairline while
zooming down a hill at
20 mph. Normal insect repellants don’t seem to work
for deer flies, but
anything that is strongly mentholated (like Tiger Balm)
seems to minimally
work. It is breezy enough this morning that insects may
be swept away,
otherwise remember to put down the weeding fork before
giving your
neck a smack. I am sure deerflies play an important part
in the food
chain; if only the birds were a little more selective and
ate them first,
followed by mosquitoes and then black flies for dessert,
Tug Hill
would be a little more user-friendly this time of year.
Now, where did I put that Tiger Balm ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, fog
It is so foggy that I can barely make out the
beanpoles thirty paces from the house.
Birds have been drifting in and out of sight, and when
they are perching on the line
outside the window I can tell their species only by size
and silhouette, as all colors
are muted by the mist. Just after sunrise the sun was
strong and the sky a gorgeous
blue, then fog rolled up the hill with amazing speed and
seems to have settled in for a
while. Now that most of the vegetable crops are in, I can
spend a little time straighten-
ing out the flower beds. We have one perennial wildflower
garden that has been invaded
by tall grass, but it isn’t witch grass and is
fairly easy to pull out one stalk at a time. This is
tedious at best, but oddly calming, and it really does
make a huge difference in the way the
whole bank looks. After the recent rain, the wet earth
should release weedy roots with ala-
crity. There is also woodbine to yank out of the privet
hedge; no matter how thoroughly I
think I have eradicated it, there are always some little
bits of root left behind and it returns
in full force every spring. I believe that after the fog
burns off it is supposed to be fairly
warm for the rest of the day, giving a boost to the corn
that has just started to emerge
from the ground. I love watching fog come and go, it is
never the same no matter
how you view it. I can tell the sun is bright above it
all, as this particular morning
mist is gleaming like stiff-beaten egg whites up where
the fog meets the sky.
The wind is picking up, must be a change is near.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, June 15, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, showers
It is a cool damp morning, so I lit a small fire
in the kitchen range,
which has acted like a magnet for every living thing in
the house. We
relocated our porch chairs indoors to enjoy our first
coffee by its warmth,
and the tile floor underneath is still littered with cats
soaking up the radiant heat.
Our little dog had the small scatter rug all to himself,
through some silent agreement
reached years ago. A couple of rain showers are slowing
the progress of the town mower,
who is trying to cut back the roadside growth, which
unfortunately includes some beautiful
wildflowers. I wish they would delay the annual mowing
until September, so we could get
our fill of the native landscaping before it is whacked.
That is one reason we maintain walk-
ing paths through our meadows all summer long, to enjoy
the daisies, clover, vetch, yarrow,
fleabanes, buttercups, meadowsweet, black eyed susans,
and milkweed blossoms that are
so prolific here on Gomer Hill. Yesterday we enjoyed the
best weather of all sorts. We be-
gan the day with a sunny morning and a stiff east wind,
which was perfect for hanging out
laundry to dry. When the wind shifted 180 degrees and the
sheets began to blow the other
direction, I knew a storm was imminent, so I gathered in
the dry stuff and headed over
to help finish planting corn. We wrapped things up in a
warm rain shower, paying close
attention to the thunder and lightning that scuttled by,
slightly to the north. We caught just
the edge of the storm; our corn should get a good start,
well-watered as it was. We also
planted cucumbers and winter squash, as we determined the
soil to finally be warm enough
for those seeds to germinate. I planted broccoli and red
cabbage seeds in flats to set out in
mid-July; those crops do best if allowed to reach
maturity in autumn, rather than the heat of
summer. I would say that 90% of our gardens are planted,
and all that is left are the succes-
sions plantings of greens and beans that we will keep up
right through July. Our first row of
spinach is nearly done, and I will plant beets in their
place; the second crop of spinach is just
putting out their true leaves, right on schedule. There
is much to keep track of this time
of year, and even after years of experience there are new
challenges every season.
We have chosen a lifestyle that is never, ever boring,
that’s for sure.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 14, 2009, 8:45 a.m.
64 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
We finally have had enough rain to make a
difference, and the gardens
are still soaking in the surprise showers from yesterday.
When I walked up
the road after a late supper, there was lightning to the
north and I could barely
hear some distant thunder throbbing along with the
flashes. It would seem that was
the last gasp of storms as they moved on out of town,
after leaving us with a nice slow
drench. Fireflies were out in full force last night, some
flying very high in their enthusiasm
to spread the light. I walked away from the yard lights
to better enjoy the show, and was
quite a distance up the road before I realized I had
forgotten both a flashlight and a big stick,
in case of an up-close encounter with a raccoon. We have
seen droppings around the property
lately, and even after getting rid of four of the pests
earlier this spring, there seems to be an un-
limited supply of them since the government has been
spreading bait filled with rabies vaccine.
At least rabies kept their population under control in a
natural way; now there is a better chance
that all of the young will live to become future breeding
adults. If one raccoon has six young, in
just two years time that has the possibility of becoming
over fifty little bandits, assuming half
of each litter is female. This is the time of year that
momma coons are teaching their young
to gather their own food, and sometimes that brings them
very close to human habitat, rich
with trash cans, compost heaps, garden goodies, and bird
feeders. They are fiercely protect-
ive of their young, and it is best not to bump into a
family of them in the middle of the night. If
you walk after dark, at the very least carry a big
flashlight to scan the roadsides, and perhaps
a stout stick just in case. Many of our wild Tug Hill
critters are nocturnal, and it is best to
make a bit of noise as you walk, sing a song, whistle,
just to let them know you are afoot.
Last summer I nearly came toe-to-toe with a big porcupine
on a midnight stroll; my dog
alerted me to the danger, and we both retreated to a safe
distance. I love the rich
sights and scents of the Hill after dark, and
wouldn’t trade them for anything;
after all, I have just as much chance of being bitten by
a spider while snug
in my bed as I do of being assaulted by a wild thing
while walking.
Have a fine day and awesome night,
Daisy
Saturday, June 13, 2009, 7:15 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A northern oriole is the centerpiece in the
morning scene,
hanging out atop one of the weather sticks on the old
clothesline.
He must just be getting his own breakfast, as he swoops
to the nearby
poplar foliage just long enough to snatch a tasty bit,
then returns the stick to
munch it. There is no mistaking the bright orange breast
of this stunning bird;
we have had at least one pair nesting nearby every year
since we moved to
Gomer Hill. This male is such a deep shade of orange that
at first glimpse we
thought he might be a scarlet tanager. The female is very
dull by comparison;
she may not leave the nest much while there are young
within, and even if she
were to sit on the line next to her spouse she may be
mistaken for an evening
grosbeak. The beak is what to look for; a grosbeak’s
is short and fat, and
the oriole has a longer tapered bill, light grey in color.
It looks as if the
sun may soon bust apart these clouds and warm things up
later;
yes, there are the first rays now !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 12, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, fog, drizzle
We finally received some rain overnight, about a
half inch, which is
better than no rain at all. Not too far south of here
more than two inches
of water showed up in the rain gauges, but for some
reason most storms have
been giving the Gomer Hill area a wide berth this spring.
At one point yesterday
afternoon we heard distant thunder, and scurried around
closing windows and shut-
ting the barn doors, but that event never got any closer
than that one faint rumble.
Things are due to warm up soon, and then we will see the
corn leap to life and
beans putting on their deep green leafy gowns that herald
the first tiny buds that
will eventually bloom and give us beautiful young tender
beans. Ah, the pleasure
of those first beans, showing up as little potatoes beg
to be robbed from the side
of their dirt-mounded hills! Look, there, outside on the
clothesline, a pair of blue-
birds is perched side-by side, feathers fluffed to dry,
although a fine mist in the air
makes it a futile gesture. The male is as bright as ever;
even in the dim morning fog
his wings and back glow with deep cerulean hues. The
female has lost most of her blue,
and would not be recognizable except for her pale orange
breast and pristine creamy white
belly. Their young have started showing signs of blue in
the tiny feathers of their wings; it is a
good week before they will think about leaving the safety
of their snug nesting box, and much
of that time will be spent growing feathers for their
first flight. The adult birds spend most of
their waking hours carrying food in to the nestlings and
hauling waste material out. All but
one boxful of tree swallows has hatched, and that last
brood will probably bust out today
or tomorrow. As soon as the rain stops I will inspect
each nest to make sure that no blow-
flies have laid eggs in the box, which hatch into gross
maggots that feed on the soft under-
bellies of baby birds, often killing the entire brood. It
is an easy enough thing to remove
the maggots and rebuild the nest from soft old hay and
dried grass clippings. I assem-
bled a nest repair kit last week, including a large pail,
dry hay and grass, an old
spatula for removing the fouled nest, and a towel to
place atop the pail while
the nestlings wait within for their new digs to be shaped.
Young songbirds
can be handled gently with no consequence, as the parents
cannot
detect human scent. The fine mist has morphed into a soft
shower, maybe we will get enough rain after all.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 11, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, overcast
It looks like we could be in for a little
precipitation at some point today.
We could use a good soaking rain; so far the big storms
have detoured around
our neck of the woods. Yesterday I traveled north to the
Chaumont Barrens to walk
the paths with friends. The prairie smoke was at its peak
of feathery perfection, vast drifts
of it spreading on either side of the trail. Many other
wildflowers lent colorful accents to the
smoky carpet, with ragwort’s small daisy-like heads
gleaming with a golden glow everywhere
we looked. There were regular daisies there too, and wild
roses in many shades, from deep rose
to softest baby-pink. Small red columbine practically
vibrated with its rich hues, the shorter cousin
to the wild columbine we have here on Tug Hill in purple,
pink, and white. Pink herb-robert peered
shyly at us from the shade of the deep woods, and fading
yellow lady’s slippers are nearly done for
the season but still eye-catching in their rare elegance.
There are many flowers blooming in all shades
of the rainbow, and since I forgot my field guide, I will
have to rely on some photos I snapped to
identify them later, when I have a moment to spare. We
took our time on the trail, a long lazy
ramble, stopping often to admire a particularly stunning
natural bouquet, or a gross-looking
bug that we thought might really be one bug eating
another, as there seemed to be too many
legs for one insect. We admired some eastern towhees as
they posed prettily on nearby tree
branches, their sharp clear tones lingering long after
they finished the tune. Several smaller
birds flitted about, no doubt some species of warblers,
but they wouldn’t hold still long
enough to allow a good look. A little wren did a flyby,
and left nothing but a cheerful
song in his wake. The weather couldn’t have been
more perfect for our outing, cool
and partly cloudy, with hints of sun breaking through
near the end of our hike. Visit
this link
for more information about this lovely local
treasure, and this link to view
a recent short channel 7 news video about the Barrens.
Better yet, take a road
trip soon to check out this beautiful and unique nature
preserve for your own self.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 7:00 a.m.
52 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
It is cool, cloudy, and breezy, perfect for our
cold-weather crops but
not so good for the tomatoes and peppers. Basil plants
are hanging in there,
but not looking too happy. Today will be perfect for
exploring Chaumont Barrens,
a truly unique environment unlike anything else in the
North Country. Check tomorrow
for the full report on that outing. For now, I have the
great news that daisies are blooming
on Gomer Hill at long last! They have certainly taken
their time this year, and after a few
tentative blossoms appeared at the side of the road,
acres of the cheerful little flowers
have taken over an old nearby hayfield. Summer
doesn’t arrive (in my mind, anyway)
on any particular fixed date in June; rather, it is a
simultaneous appearance of daisies,
fireflies, and new-mown hay that presents the full
picture of official summer to me. It
is breaking a sweat while checking the nesting boxes for
baby birds, and hearing the
soft hisssssss of waxwings as they eyeball unripe
strawberries. It is becoming over-
stuffed with spinach and eating tiny beets before they
are ready, and letting asparagus
go to seed instead of eating every tender spear. So, even
though legal summer is
still over a week away, I officially declare it to be so
here on Gomer Hill.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
65 degrees, breezy, overcast, fog
We had some nice gentle rain showers overnight,
good for feeding foliage,
but I don’t believe it soaked into the ground too
much; the dirt underneath
our vehicles is bone dry. We need a good long rain to
really get the crops
going. Strawberries are starting to set fruit, and they
can use a lot of water
during the next few weeks. Fog is very thick this morning,
another handy
way that plants absorb moisture. I know when I go to the
salad garden
today, I am sure to find the lettuces nearly doubled in
size since Saturday.
I thinned the beets and added those tasty little greens
to a pot of black-eyed
peas and ham, a sweet surprise that tasted faintly of
beetroot and added interest
to the pottage. We are a soup-loving crowd in this house,
and this time of year most
of the stockpot creations have some kind of greens added;
dandelions, lamb’s quarters,
garden thinnings, and spinach can turn even ordinary
chicken soup into something a bit
more exotic. Spinach, lemon juice, and new garlic slivers added
to slow simmered
lentils evoke a Greek island vacation, especially when
sprinkled with crumbles of
feta cheese and served with rough crusty bread. Our
favorite is stone soup, where
every bit of leftover this ’n’ that from the
fridge is cooked in a pot with plenty of
onions and a splash of red wine, with a smooth egg-shaped
stone added to keep
it from sticking to the bottom. I stash ends of roasts
and hambones in the freezer,
just waiting for the next pot of stone soup, no two
batches the same. It is a good
way to get full use of leftovers, and a tasty way to
stretch your food budget.
If your final product seems to be lacking something, add
a pint of zesty
salsa, serve it over rice, and call it sopa de piedra.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Monday, June 8, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, windy, sunny
The north wind cuts through the sun’s warmth
when stepping
around the corner of the house; after basking in sunshine
for a little
while on the back porch, the breeze came as a bit of a
shock. I hope
the plants we set out yesterday aren’t set back too
much by the chilly gusts.
It was a perfect day for planting, although we never did
get any rain to help settle
the roots; we hauled a lot of water in pails for that
task. The major crops are finally in,
with a few needing to be planted anew in two or three
weeks so as to prolong the harvest of
fresh veggies well into autumn. We plant beans every two
weeks through the middle of July.
We just ate the last bag of green beans from the freezer
last night; the timing is nearly perfect.
They were frozen when young and whole, and after a brief
steaming we tossed them with a
bit of olive oil and some fresh snipped basil. Yum!
Spinach, baby beets, and asparagus will
grace our supper plates until the first of the fresh
beans are ready by Independence Day.
Corn, broccoli, and diced beets from last year are still
plentiful in the freezer, and yester-
day I took the last six good carrots from their storage
bin in the cellar, not sweet or ten-
der enough for eating raw at this point but mighty tasty
roasted with butter and honey.
Last night I walked with the dog after absolute dark had
descended, hoping to catch
sight of the full moonrise. It was too cloudy to see the
moon, but at eye-level and
beyond the first fireflies of the season had begun their
lovely starry dance,
bringing a laugh to my lips and an added spring to my
step. Is there
anyone on this earth that does not feel like a young
child again
when seeing the lightning bugs of summer ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 7, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, cloudy
The plan for today will be largely dictated by the rain
headed our way.
We would like to till up the rest of our garden soil and
get the tomatoes and
peppers planted, as it will be neither too hot nor too
cool, but just right to quote
a famous little blonde girl. The sooner the better for
the day’s tasks, I would say.
I will share a poem of the season and step away from the
computer now.
Have a great day,
Daisy
The Ordinary
by Kirsten Dierking
It's summer, so
the pink gingham shorts,
the red mower, the neat rows
of clean smelling grass
unspooling behind
the sweeping blades.
A dragonfly, black body
big as a finger, will not leave
the mower alone,
loving the sparkle
of scarlet metal,
seeing in even a rusting paint
the shade of a flower.
But I wave him off,
conscious he is
wasting his time,
conscious I am
filling my time
with such small details,
distracting colors,
like pink checks,
like this, then that,
like a dragonfly wing
in the sun reflecting
the color of opals,
like all the hours
we leave behind,
so ordinary,
but not unloved
Saturday, June 6, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
62 degrees, windy, sunny
The morning is clear and breezy and absolutely perfect in
every way !
One couldn’t ask for more. After a wonderful
night’s sleep with a near-full
moon bathing the Hill with its pale magical light, I feel
like I could do just about
anything today. Yesterday the first batch of sweet corn
went into the ground, along
with some sunflower seeds and a few short rows of
ornamental corn. In two weeks
we will plant another block of sweet corn, and that will
be it for this year. We have
decided to scale back the size of our garden for some
things, especially corn and
tomatoes. The potato patch is as big as ever, but our
Irish and German roots won’t
allow us to skimp on spuds at all. We are still enjoying
last year’s crop, kept fresh in
a spare refrigerator in the barn. We haven’t had to
buy potatoes for over thirty years.
One time I was visiting friends and had to purchase spuds
at the store, and was appal-
led at not only the price but the poor quality of the
tubers, spotted with brown patches
and overly starchy. A properly stored potato will remain
firm and sweet even after be-
ginning to sprout a few eyes; refrigeration slows down
the sprouting if placed in the
chill by the end of March. The rest of the winter, our
cellar is just fine for keeping
most of our produce, carrots, onions, apples, potatoes
and garlic each in their
separate bins. It is a bit too windy to plant tomatoes
and peppers this morning,
and the ground should be tilled where they will be going,
so that task will pro-
bably wait until tomorrow, which carries with is a chance
of late day showers
to help water the plants in. And now, off to enjoy a
second cup of coffee
on the back porch before getting on with today’s
work.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 5, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
44 degrees, calm, starry
I seldom have to work the early shift, but that
explains the time
of this entry. I have been out with the dog for a short
walk, and it is
very peaceful here on Gomer Hill at this hour of the day.
We are looking
forward to a bit of summery weather, and I have much to
do in the garden
when I return home at noon. Yesterday we were walking
along the mown
meadow path and a brace of redwing blackbirds exploded
from the tall grass
with a loud squawk, so I took a look at their exit point.
There was a tangle of
fuzzy baby birds snuggled together in a nest well-hidden
by green grass. The
parents kept up quite a ruckus as I snapped a couple of
pictures of their new
family, and then I moved the grass back as it was,
perfect camouflage. I won-
der how many similar nests we pass by every day at this
time of year without
even realizing it. I hope our cats don’t find it; I
believe it is situated beyond
their normal hunting range. All three cats are gathered
at the door,
wondering why I haven’t let them out, but it is
still too dark.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 4, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
53 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
As we move further along into the first month of
summer, it does seem
a bit odd that we are still having such chilly weather.
In fact, there is a frost
warning posted for tonight; although it will probably
occur in the valley and not
on Gomer hill, it is time for things to warm up, dontcha
think? I was out strolling
with the dog at 10:00 last night, and we had to pick up
the pace to generate a little
heat. Even the little mutt was shivering and no doubt
wishing he had his winter coat
back. Too late, all of that shorn hair is now nestled in
between the rows of garden
greens to deter deer. I must say the fire in the kitchen
stove feels mighty good this
morning, and I am very glad I still have not set out our
more tender vegetable plants.
The broccoli is doing quite well, even though I expected
last Sunday’s wind to rip it
right out of the ground. I need to water it today, as the
soil is drying out from wind,
not so much from sun. I never did get much done in the
gardens yesterday, opting
instead for a day of hiking, taking pictures, and a trip
to Little Falls late in the day.
We passed entire meadows at lower altitudes filled with
daisies, red clover, buttercups,
and vetch, and drifts of tall phlox have naturalized
everywhere. Our return drive was at
sunset, and there is no sight in the world as lovely as
the Mohawk Valley rimmed by the
silhouettes of low hills against a vivid pink and blue
sky. We have a couple more weeks
until solstice, and all the time in the world to
appreciate the late lingering light that fills
our days. Even though the official time of sunset is
still well before 9:00, it is still light
enough to see until nearly 10. The days are longer in
summer, I believe, so that we
can make full use of the light, and store it up a little
bit each day to release during
the long dark nights of midwinter. living at northern
latitudes as we do, we barely
have enough darkness at this time of year to get eight
hours of sleep, and I think
we need less of it in summer anyway. Winter is the season
for dreaming, snug
and toasty under layers of poofy comforters, maybe even
playing reruns of
slow strolls enjoyed during sultry summer twilights.
Although there was
nothing sultry about last night’s chilly breeze, the
smell of new-mown
lawns and sweet lilac blooms combined with the rustle of
wild critters
in the tall meadow grass and faint whiff of skunk from
afar
generated some mighty good scripts for future dreams.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
A bit of a southwestern breeze has served to keep
black flies and
mosquitoes from the neighborhood (so far) for the early
part of the morning.
I hope it keeps up, as there is much to do outdoors on
this beautiful late spring day.
We have some new tenants by the garden; I looked into the
bluebird box and there are
four (maybe five) little beaks all open wide, expecting
food, not some monster peering in
at them. When bluebirds are newly hatched, they are all
mouth, top-heavy with bright yel-
low bills, tiny nearly-naked bodies sporting just a hint
of fuzzy down. Mom and Pop watched
me silently from the big forsythia bush, making no ruckus,
probably a pair that has used our sum-
mer rentals before. Swallows always get agitated when I
check their nest, not only the mated pair,
but all of the aunties and uncles as well, swooping low
to hiss at the air over my head as they do
their fly-bys. The swallows at the other end of the
garden have not yet hatched, but bear watch-
ing as that mom started to brood her clutch at about the
same time as the bluebirds. We welcome
both varieties to our property: the bluebirds for their
stunning colors and the swallows for their amaz-
ing ability to snatch hundreds of mosquitoes out of the
air every day, little bug-zappers with wings. I
can finally plant some of our annual flowers out today;
yesterday the north wind was too stiff. I bought
some mimulus plants this year, also known as monkey
flower. They are a bright golden yellow with a
few tomato-reds for accent, and are supposed to do well
in the shade. I have planted Sparky mari-
golds and Persian Carpet zinnias directly from
seed into rows, and in a couple of weeks they will
be big enough to transplant to various locations all
around the yard. If you are looking for small
colorful flowers in all shades of red, yellow, orange,
purple, and cream in every combination,
then Persian Carpet is a perfect choice, blooming
well into autumn. Peonies and iris are just
beginning to bloom, as lilacs and white coral bells start
to fade. Columbines’ complicated
heads nod in the woods as well as in our garden, all
shades of purple, pink, white, and
yellow. Daisies have opened up in the valley, and will
appear any day now along
the roadsides of Tug Hill. There is almost too much to
look at this time of year !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 7:45 a.m.
52 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The morning sky is bright but filmed with pale grey
clouds,
and a soft northwest breeze stirs the grasses into a
slowly swaying
ocean of green. Now that the weather is warming, I need
to make the
rounds of our bluebird trail nesting boxes to check if
any eggs have hatched.
It is just about time for one clutch of bluebird eggs to
release their tiny naked
contents, and the tree swallows by the garden aren’t
far behind. Sometime next
week I will check the other three swallows' nests; those
mommas started to brood
last Monday. One nest holds six eggs, the other two five
each. Two of our boxes
remain untenanted, and one had a wren nest started, so I
cleared that away and
will leave the box open for a while. Wrens are cute, but
they are so territorial that
they will destroy every other nest in the area, pecking
apart the eggs and even carry-
ing baby birds out of the nest and flinging them onto the
ground to die. Meanwhile,
I believe it may finally be time to plant some corn. This
year I will grow some
ornamental corn as well as several varieties of sweet,
and that can go into
cooler soil. Most sweet corn germinates best when the
soil is sixty degrees,
and perhaps we shall see that by the end of the week. For
sure I can get some
more bean seeds into the ground. We already have one row
of bean plants pok-
ing up and getting their true leaves, a successful early
planting of Provider which
will tolerate cooler weather than our favorite variety, Jade.
It is also time to plant
some flowers... marigolds, zinnias, bachelor buttons,
sunflowers, and dahlias,
so we can have a feast for our eyes as well as our bodies
as the summer
unfolds. We have a busy week ahead of us; best get going
!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, June 1, 2009, 7:45 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
The wind has finally died down and now we can get
on with the business of June.
Yesterday was cold and blustery, and hard to believe that
it was the last day of May.
We donned our cross-country ski togs to go hiking, and
although I planned to stow
away the fleece hat and gloves as soon as we entered the
protection of the woods
I stayed winter-clad for the entire trek. Just before we
set out we noticed a deer
behaving in a peculiar manner in the tall meadow grass
across the road. She was
hunched over and after a few minutes of seeming paralysis
she twisted around
and licked her hindquarters, then bent to the ground to
nose at something there.
Ten minutes later, she and her brand-spanking-new fawn
moseyed across the dirt
road into the hedgerow; we saw the tracks as we passed by,
the smallest hoofprints
ever. The fawn had a hard time crossing the ditch; momma
waited for it to catch up, and
finally went back to give it a nudge. A friend on the
East Road witnessed something similar
near her house last Friday, so I guess it’s time to
start looking out for all sizes of deer along
the roads; when one crosses in front of you, assume there
will be more following. When we
used to mow our meadows for hay, it was very common to
come across a fawn lying stock-
still just where the mother had left it; we kept our eyes
wide open with every pass of the
cutter bar. Now we have a friend come harvest the hay in
July, where baby bobolinks
are the biggest casualty of his huge rotary mowing
machine. Our old equipment moved
slow enough that birds had time to get out of the way
back in the day; now fields are
mown in high gear. The tractor moves so fast that it
barely has time to hit any wood-
chuck holes, the wheels just fly right over them.
Speaking of woodchucks, our little
dog came face to face with one yesterday for the first
time. Fortunately he was on
a leash, or there might have been a tussle. They both
stood up on their hind legs
and stared at each other across the bare soil of the
potato patch, before Chuck
gave a high-pitched squeak and disappeared into the
woodlot. There are all kinds
of critters afoot this time of year; protect your smaller
pets by keeping them under
your control at all times outdoors, lest they run afoul
of a porcupine, coon, or other
animal protecting their territory. What would you do to
protect your own family
if you felt they were threatened? Take heed this time of
year; even a bigger
dog can be ripped up pretty good by a smaller animal on
the defensive.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
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