~
Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
60 degrees, windy, partly sunny
We were greeted by a vast expanse of clear sky at
sunrise, but big dark clouds
have been moving in from the west, at first white and
friendly, but now they are slate
grey and look like they mean business. Last night was
very cold for the end of June, setting
a new record at the Jackson Hill weather station at forty-three
degrees. It wasn’t quite that cold
up here, but the flannel comforters came out, and the oil
furnace kicked on during the wee hours.
All thing green and leafy love this cool and rainy
weather, and tomorrow heads will roll, quite literally,
as I cut a dozen firm crispy iceberg lettuces and
distribute them to friends. I need to plant more lettuce
today, as the second sowing is nearly ready to thin and
eat. We sure don’t lack for salad fixin’s
during
the growing season up here on Gomer Hill. I can’t
wait for the tomatoes to ripen; they are loaded with
pretty yellow blossoms, but it will take quite a bit of
heat and sunshine to being them to bear. I think a
morning walk is the order of the day, now that the dog’s
injured paw is mostly healed, he is raring to
go and so am I. Too many days of bending over to pick
berries and pull weeds has left me yearning
for some activity that allows me to remain upright for a
few miles. Although, if the fraises du bois
along the roadside are ripe, I may have to spend part of
the trek hunched over like a troll.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
61 degrees, mostly cloudy, windy
The morning seems out of character for late June,
chilly and damp with summer’s stifling
heat hiding in the wings, at least for today. We will
return to bright sunny days by the end
of the week, at which time many of the strawberries will
be slightly beyond ripe. I believe
I have picked, preserved, and frozen enough for our
purposes, but I hate to disappoint
friends who may not have yet had their fill of the sweet
treats. I have enjoyed them every
day for a couple of weeks, mostly atop cereal or yogurt,
but also fresh, warm from the sun,
every time I pass by the patch. I noticed a few pink-ish
red raspberries; after the weekend heat
wave, we will no doubt be swimming in them this time next
week. Starlings have flocked to the new
mulch around the squash patch, picking the leftover oats
out of the straw. It must seem like we have
laid out a fabulous buffet just for them; they look like
they are enjoying the heck out of the feast.
Cedar waxwings have been ripping apart the oriole’s
nest that hangs outside my window. It has
been very tough to pick apart, tightly woven and firmly
attached to the branch. I guess they are
using the recycled materials to build a nest of their own.
The hay in the meadows is so tall that
we haven’t been able to determine if fawning season
has started, but we have seen several
does crossing the road, and there are no little ones
trailing behind. I heard a hen turkey
clucking at her brood, so the hatch must have been recent,
but I have not seen any
poults walking the paths. Yesterday a quail passed in
front of my car as I drove to
work, with a line of babies following in single file,
just like a Disney cartoon.
Every living thing on the Hill is very busy, humans not
excluded.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
69 degrees, windy, cloudy, drizzle
Humidity is very high this morning, clogging salt
shakers, filming our foreheads with
a thin sheen as we sipped coffee on the porch, and
causing the computer mouse to behave
badly until I took it apart and blew into it with the low
setting on the hair dryer. I just watched
the funniest group of five young starlings try to balance
on the clothesline, flailing their wings to keep
from tumbling off, blown every which way by the wind, and
of course, as one bird struggled for balance
the others were affected by that. It reminded me of
trying to walk on a slackline several years ago; the
youngsters who had set it up at a festival made it look
so easy, but if I made even three consecutive
steps along the rope I felt a huge sense of
accomplishment. That rope was only a foot above the
ground; to see a short video at a much tougher venue,
check this out.
At any rate, the starlings
were eventually intimidated into leaving by the
appearance of a catbird, who perched on one of
the sticks that is hung over the line and simply stared
at the young birds until they fled. Yesterday
was very summery, hot and humid, but as long as there was
a breeze we worked in relative comfort.
I picked strawberries until the air grew still and black
flies became a nuisance, then came in and made
a couple of dozen jars of preserves. We hoed the rows and
put down straw around the tomato, pep-
per, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, and squash plants, so
now most of the hardest chores have been
done for a while. Beans are in bloom, and broccoli plants
have the faintest buds in their centers that
will soon be beautiful firm heads, especially if the rain
keeps up. It rained very hard last night,
and while there was lightning a-plenty, no thunder at all.
Showers are in the forecast for
much of the day but the sun has just come out, so maybe
things will dry out a bit.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 27, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
The lawn is full of starlings, seemingly caught up
in some kind of disagreement,
but on closer inspection it is merely adults feeding
their young. All of the birds are
about the same size, but the adults are shiny black with
yellow bills, and the young are
not as glossy with bills of black. The commotion occurs
when two or more adults try to
feed the same kid at the same time. Occasionally the
young pluck their own morsels out of
the wet grass; it is a bit like being at Thanksgiving
dinner as a young girl, after having eaten a
full plate of everyone’s best special dishes, and
having various aunties and grandmothers urging
me to eat, eat, you’re so thin... Our cats
have been pummeled by the starlings so many times
over the years that they give them plenty of room, but
the adults still raise a huge hue and cry
when any of our pets enter the yard. A pair of bluebirds
is showing interest in the nesting box
by the garden, which was recently left vacant by a tribe
of tree swallows. I cleared away the
old nest and found dozens of blowfly eggs underneath;
fortunately the birds left before they
had a chance to hatch into hungry maggots. Two more
groups of swallows are in the pro-
cess of fleeing the coop, and the batch of bluebirds
across the road has another few days
before they are ready. Today will be hot and humid, the
right kind of weather for blowflies
to hatch, so I will be extra sure to check that nest
before the day is over. It seems like it will
be a good idea to get the hard work out of the way before
the sun gets too high, leaving the
afternoon free to pick more strawberries and maybe just
chill in the shade for an hour or two.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 26, 2010, 9:15 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
Big clouds have filled in most of the blue sky patches
that greeted the day.
I think our time in the sun is over for a while, as these
clouds look like they carry
not only the promise of rain, but the actual rain.
Conditions have been great for beets;
in just a few days the roots have grown from barely there
to jumbo-egg size, and the tops
are still tender and tasty too. A plate of beets and
greens is as good as a trip to the Betty Ford
resort, as it is an excellent natural way to detoxify the
liver. Even if we no longer party like rock
stars, there are still plenty of contaminants in the
foods we eat, certain medications, and even
the very air we breathe that can create overload for our
body’s cleansing mechanisms such
as the liver and kidneys. Plenty of water also helps
flush away impurities that can accumulate
without even being aware of them. Have a few plates of
beets this week, and see if you don’t
feel more energized after a few days; I am sure they are
just now becoming available at farmer’s
markets all over the area. Soon we will be enjoying fresh
broccoli as well, which is also valuable
in maintaining a healthy liver. For more information
about natural detox, visit this site
How fortunate that the very things that will keep us
healthy are also tasty !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 25, 2010, 9:15 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Wow, did you all feel that high pressure blow into
our neighborhood yesterday afternoon?
As I drove home from work, I could see the huge black
wall of clouds being swept right off
the menu like yesterday’s cold gravy. By the time I
exited my car the air had a wonderful fresh
chilly tang to it, and even though the temperature was
still in the 60s I lit the wood range so I
could fry up some potatoes and let the splatters fly. By
the time we sat down to dinner, that
little fire felt just right. The sky was clear as a bell
when the nearly-full moon rose, and it rode
across a starry sky with a lazy voluptuousness that is
the signature of June, the honeymoon month.
The fireflies were out in legions last night, and it
seemed as if we were surrounded in all directions
by magical beings of light, a gazillion sparkling
tinkerbelles and we didn’t even have to clap our
hands. The morning is as brilliant as the midnight, with
a heavy dew intensifying the bright sun on
every surface, deepening colors and adding a subtle
shimmer to the whole view. What a perfect
day to pick strawberries and watch the goldfinches as
they continue their month-long frolic !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 24, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
68 degrees, windy, cloudy, rain
We have had an awesome amount of rain since just
before dawn, some ferocious
downpours, real gully-washers as my grandpa would
have said. Our crops have greatly
increased in size since the rains arrived a couple of
weeks ago, and the combination of water
and heat has been very good for tomatoes and peppers in
particular. We walked over to the
potato patch yesterday afternoon, and several varieties
are in full bloom, looking more like
ornamental hedges than food crops. Some of the vines are
waist high, and so far we have
seen only a few colorado potato beetles. I think that in
ten days or so I will be able to sneak
a few small potatoes out of the yukon gold rows,
they are usually the earliest to produce. We
are still eating last year’s winter stored spuds,
and they have only just begun to sprout. Because
most of the sugars have converted to starch, they are
especially good fried or roasted with herbs
and olive oil, becoming crispy on the outside while
remaining creamy within. I know that pasta
and rice are trendy these days, in fact we sometimes
visit a restaurant that doesn’t have pota-
toes anywhere on the menu. But in my mind, when I have a
fine thick pork chop, or a juicy
roast chicken, the only side dish that makes any sense to
me at all is potatoes, fixed any
number of ways. Pasta is what I make for supper when I
have forgotten to thaw meat,
and then it is the star of the meal, not the side dish. Vive
la pomme !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, fog, drizzle
This cool misty morn is just perfect for carrying
scents on the breeze, roses and
peonies, strawberries and valerian, sweet red clover and
the faint whiff of fresh-spread
manure. “Tonight is Midsummer Night's Eve, also
called St. John's Eve. St. John is the patron
saint of beekeepers. It's a time when the hives are full
of honey. The full moon that occurs this
month was called the Mead Moon, because honey was
fermented to make mead. That's where
the word honeymoon comes from, because it's also a
time for lovers. An old Swedish proverb
says, Midsummer Night is not long but it sets many
cradles rocking." (The Writer’s Almanac)
I mention this because we have just discovered that our
big maple tree by the barn is full of honey
bees, which is a true blessing for the gardens; we
won’t be harvesting the honey, but we have no-
ticed that there have been many bees in our flowers, and
this spells success for our crops that
require pollination by insects rather than by wind. Years
ago a beekeeper kept hives on our
property, and we had more cucumbers and squash during
that time than ever, as if every
flower had set a fruit. I hope this colony sticks around
for the whole growing season.
As more and more bees take advantage of natural hive
spaces, perhaps we can
reverse the effects that colony collapse syndrome has had
on our orchards
and return our little buzzing friends back to their more
natural state.
Have a bee-utiful day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
70 degrees, windy, partly sunny
The last couple of nights were indeed the shortest of the
year,
but I suppose I can make up the lost sleep later in the
week. Maybe
it was the way that Mother Earth shifted gears so her
axis could begin the
tilt to the opposite direction that disturbed my usually
restful sleep. I watched
lightning bugs flit among the tall meadow grasses for a
long time, and heard a catfight
(ours were safe indoors), listened to a barred owl, and
followed the neighborhood dog
telegraph network; some dog in town barked at a skunk or
whatnot, and the news traveled
all the way up the hill and beyond, with our little dog
picking up his head, uttering a polite whuff
and then going back to watching out the window with me. I
heard a deer snort very close to the
garden, but our dog hair clippings and grated soap
barriers seem to be doing their job, keeping
out the big critters that are capable of wiping out
entire crops in one night of nibbling. What I
didn’t hear was any traffic, not one car, pickup
truck, or quad all night long. I am happy that
I had, at least, a restful night, if not one filled with
actual zzzzzzzs. We are off to the berry
patch, to pick all of the strawberries that ripened
during yesterday’s beautiful sunshine.
We have a bumper crop this year, not the giant
frankenberries that you see at Wal-
Mart, but surely the sweetest and juiciest that I have
ever wrapped my mouth around.
Have a berry nice day,
Daisy
Monday, June 21, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
This is a good morning to open all of the windows to
allow the fresh north breeze to sweep
any leftover mugginess from the nooks and crannies. We
had some great hot weather over the
weekend, and were blessed with a gentle breeze both days,
but nights were also warm and rainy
enough Saturday night to build up some steam when
yesterday’s sun came out. The weather was
perfect for the Constable Hall Father’s Day festival,
and it was wonderful to see folks that had
been missing from my granfalloon (Cat’s Cradle,
Kurt Vonnegut) for a while. After we arrived
home I picked strawberries with some friends. It was our
first picking, and we got a respectable
ten quarts from 3/4 of the patch. I will pick the rest
this morning to take to work for clients, and
I reckon by Wednesday I will have both jam kettles
humming right along. We enjoyed a heaping
mound of sweet slices on our morning cereal, and no doubt
lunch will be topped off with a sundae,
frozen vanilla yogurt, berries, and whipped cream. Oh!
Banana splits! Now there’s a plan, all of
the food groups plus the added anti-oxidant benefits of
dark chocolate grated on top of it all.
Have a sweeeet day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 20, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
A few thunderstorms moved through our area just before
dark last night and
continued throughout the night, delivering some rain to
our freshly weeded and
tilled gardens. Strawberries are ripe and ready to pick,
but they need to dry off
first, so that will be a pleasant task for later in the
day. We are headed over to
Constable Hall for the annual car show and craft fair; we
haven’t missed one
of these since we moved up here thirty-six years ago. One
of the best attractions
is the old fashioned formal garden, which is always at
its best this time of year. By
the time we have chatted with old friends and taken a
gander at all of the cars, the
berries should be ready to pick. I’d better make
sure I have enough sugar and
pectin to make a few dozen jars of jam. Of course, many
sweet plump berries
will go directly into our mouths, warm from the sun,
nothing like it !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 19, 2010, 10:00 a.m.
75 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
We are having a lazy morning of coffee and basking
in the early rays of a hot June
sun on the back porch. I expect I got enough vitamin D
for a whole week, and now have
sunscreen on for the rest of the day. We have been
keeping up with the garden weeds, except
for the asparagus bed which has gone all over to
lamb’s quarters. Fortunately, this is a weed that
pulls easily, and I think I can clear the whole bed in a
half hour or so. I thinned our third planting of
lettuce and harvested some chard for supper, which was
outstanding sautéed with garlic scapes, porta-
bella mushrooms, and a bit of bacon. It has been many
years since we grew chard, and I am happy we
added it back into our repertoire. It is much heartier
than spinach, and stood up well to cooking; the stems
stayed crunchy and the leaves didn’t cook away to
nothing. We have an insane amount of spinach, enough
so that I will put most of the first crop into the
freezer to use in dips and sauces during the winter.
Yesterday
we checked out the nesting boxes, and one bluebird egg (out
of four) had just hatched. The baby tree swal-
lows are growing fat, but one box out of three had become
infested with blowfly maggots, so I had to clear
that out and rebuild a new nest from straw and grass
clippings. Those birds were nearly two weeks old,
and it was hard to fit all five back into the box, kind
of like a wriggly jigsaw puzzle. Chances are they
will be leaving the nest during the next couple of days
anyway, but at least I was able to spare them
the pain of being nibbled to death by maggots. Ugh. The
other two boxes were bug-free, but I will
keep an eye on them. Two boxes have their doors propped
open, as I couldn’t keep wrens from
trying to build their nest of sticks and twigs. I would
rather have no tenants at all than wrens, as
they will kill the baby swallows and bluebirds; I have
seen video of this, and it is gruesome
indeed. Today is hot but windy, so anything is possible
as long as the breeze keeps
things stirred up. Maybe we will have some rain later,
that would be refreshing !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 18, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
74 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
What a perfect day to catch up with laundry; the breeze
is warm and from the west,
so that everything I hang out on the line should blow
smooth and wrinkle-free. A pair
of ravens were very vocal this morning, making harsh
sounds I had never heard before.
I can only assume that they were both trying to keep
their young safe from harm, as they
repeated the same low growls and gargles several times
while circling low over the meadow.
Some smaller birds were dive-bombing them, but I
don’t think they were the main source of
the larger birds’ agitation. Birdsong of all kinds
started very early today; by 4:15 dozens of
birds were singing to their mates, their offspring, or
just for the joy of making beautiful
music on such a fine morning. When is the last time you
threw back your head,
opened your throat, and just let the music of your heart
come streaming out ?
Have a lovely day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 17, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, windy, cloudy, sprinkles
A little light fog mixes with the drizzle and all is
stirred by the north wind,
making this seem more like early April than mid-June. We
naturally have a fire
burning in the kitchen range, and not a small one either.
I am amazed how much wood
we have burned in the past week, sometimes just to take
the morning chill off, but last night
we had a real blaze going and it felt darned good. We are
supposed to see a high in the eighties
tomorrow, which would be good news for the warm weather
crops. Our cucumber seeds have
not germinated well at all, and we will replant them
tomorrow. They need very warm soil to get a
good start, and the past couple of weeks just
haven’t been all that summery. The lettuce, spinach,
beets, and chard have been in their element, and if my
skin doesn’t have a green tint to it by now,
it’s not for lack of trying. The rain has been very
beneficial to the maple and beech trees that were
denuded in early May by the snow and wind; most of them
have put out a second growth of foliage
and are nearly caught up to where they would normally be
for this time of year. Cedar waxwings
have arrived in droves, and sit perched in the birch tree
by the berry parch, but after a few tries
at the fruit and encountering the nearly invisible
netting, are becoming disappointed and hiss their
disapproval every time I walk under that tree. I hope
they give up and move on to some other yard,
as their tuneless sibilance detracts from all of the
other songbirds with more dulcet tones. We started
using a net last year, and it really works. For some
reason, they are never interested in the red rasp-
berries, but have appeared every year to pick at the
strawberries, often taking a single bite from
the biggest and best, rarely eating the whole thing. When
we pick them, if we encounter any
that are overripe or damaged, we hurl them out onto the
lawn, where they are fair game
for any bird that wants them. Robins and thrashers are
quick to snatch up the culls,
and we are happy to share. I’ll bet tomorrow’s
warm sun will ripen hundreds
of the tasty berries, our first real picking of the
season. Yum!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
58 degrees, windy, cloudy
Rain is in the picture for much of the day, so it is a
good thing we were able to hill our spuds yesterday.
The soil was still quite moist from the weekend rains, so
we did the job after I returned home from work
late in the day. There was a fine breeze that kept
insects away, and our big tractor made easy work of a
task that is backbreaking when done by hand. We use an
antique horse-drawn disc hiller, and I play the
part of the horse, perched atop our biggest tractor. The
plants are just beginning to bloom, and so far we
have only seen three colorado potato beetles. That’s
three too many, in my opinion. So now the potato
patch is as good as it gets, lush green foliage, no weeds,
and as yet no bugs. In a couple of weeks
we should be able to find the first sweet creamy baby
spuds nestled snugly in their mounds
of dirt; is there anything better than steamed new
potatoes?
We are off to Utica for appointments and errands,
a great way to spend a rainy day.
Enjoy your day,
wherever it takes you,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
67 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
The wind is from the east and brings with it not only the
sound of the end-of-class
buzzer from South Lewis Central School, but also the
whiny shriek of a monster wood-
chipper, in use for a road project connected with nearby
property improvement. We are
not sure, but it seems that land set aside for Snow Ridge
Ski Resort vacation property is
finally being developed; we first heard of this back in
the early 70s, and here it is, a mere
forty years later, that a road is being made into the
area. If we are lucky, the increase in
available high-end housing will draw people with money to
spend up to Turin, who enjoy
downhill skiing and will visit local restaurants and
taverns, bringing some much-needed rev-
enue to the town. For now, we hope that the woodchipping
won’t last too long; it drowns
out the beautiful birdsong that has become our morning
anthem for the past couple of months.
Today we will hill the potatoes for the second and final
time, assuming the soil has dried out
enough. We had a very heavy dew last night, and
everything is as wet as if rain had fallen.
I’ll bet every living thing appreciates such a
gentle freshening, a total moisture delivery
system without the trauma of being struck by heavy
raindrops. Today is a good day
for outdoor work; very soon we will be organizing berry
picking parties. The first
dozen sweet ripe strawberries appeared yesterday, with
thousands more to follow.
Have a berry sweet day,
Daisy
Monday, June 14, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
66 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
I was awakened towards dawn by the sound of water
streaming from the eaves
onto the tin of the sunporch roof, a sharp tapping that
switched into a steady metallic
hiss as the volume increased. I got up to close the
windows, but the sky was filled with
stars, and there wasn’t any rain in sight. I guess
the dew was heavy enough to condense
on the metal rooftop and flow freely, a function of
temperature and gravity, not actual precip-
itation. A brown thrasher has been busy this morning,
flying in and out of the forsythia hedge in
a flash of ginger-cinnamon feathers. I’ll bet if I
looked hard enough I would find a nest with some
new hatchlings tucked into the dense thicket of twigs.
Annual pruning of the hedge has created a very
tight environment, one in which most birds would be safe
from just about every predator; snakes and
weasels could probably navigate the close fit, but cats,
raccoons, and birds of prey could never get past
the leaf and twig barrier. A weekend visitor was amazed
at the wealth of birds up here on Gomer Hill, but
there is much in the neighborhood to attract them.
Hundreds of goldfinches show up every year to feast on
sow thistle seeds and line their nests with the fluff as
well. The privet, rugosa rose, and forsythia hedges give
shelter to many species of birds, from the fat white
throated sparrows to the big brown thrasher that is cur-
rently peering in my window. Blue spruce trees host
scores of birds at all times of the year, and of course,
nesting boxes draw both bluebirds and tree swallows to
the area. It is amazing how even a simple thing
like bean poles in the gardens will attract many perching
species, affording an excellent lookout spot
from which to survey the land for both prey and predators.
This is a busy time of year for our
bird friends, and there is always something to look at
right outside our door.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 13, 2010, 9:30 a.m.
62 degrees, breezy, fog
A thick curtain of fog dims the lush summer colors of the
scene outside,
but now and then the goldfinches lift off in a sunny
yellow chatter that shines
through even the murkiest of mist. The view is a little
brighter than an hour ago,
and I believe that the fog will soon be lifting. There
are flowers to plant and weeds
to pull, if the gardens are dry enough to tread in. The
weeds should just slip right out
of the wet earth, I guess I could thin out the sweet corn
plants today as well. I hate to
do it until the kernel has been absorbed; if I were to
leave small plants lying between the
rows with the seed still attached, it would act like a
crow magnet... hey, look what a tasty
snack you can find if you pull up these little things! We
have had great luck the past few
years, with birds ignoring the young corn seedlings,
whereas in other years we have lost an
entire crop after the first two weeks’ growth. We
plant the seeds a little deeper now, and
I ask the crows to return in September, when they can
feast on the ears we leave behind.
For now, those sweet tastes of summer are still months
away, but tonight we will enjoy
more seasonal treats such as baby beets and greens, and
garlic scapes sautéed in butter.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 12, 2010, 7:30 a.m.
58 degrees, windy, overcast, raining
The air is chilly and damp, smelling of rich wet
soil and peonies, a wonderful combination
of sensory delights to greet us on this June morning. A
day of rain awaits, perhaps carrying
some thunder, lightning, and strong winds in its grasp. I
will dash out before the storms get
here to pick some lettuce and spinach for our weekend
meals, and perhaps rob the onion
patch of some long green stems to add interest to the
salads. Our perennial oregano is at
its best right now, and indoor basil plants lend their
aromatic leaves to nearly every dish.
We had some whatcha-got soup yesterday, (which is
basically everything leftover from
the week’s meals cooked together with a jar of
tomatoes) and fresh herbs made it seem
like a gourmet luncheon instead of an exercise in
refrigerator-clearing. Now the air
has grown utterly still, not a leaf or blade stirring,
and the rain is gone for a bit.
Now is my chance !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 11, 2010, 8:45 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
This is the best kind of summer morning, warm-ish,
breezy, and boasting a sky that looks
like something one of the Hudson River School artists
would have painted. The blue is deep
and pure, and the clouds are snowy white, moving with an
easy grace across the vast dome above.
Montana is the official Big Sky venue, but Tug Hill must
run a close second with its huge expanse that
stretches all the way to the Adirondack Mountains forty
miles away. I believe our sky is made even more
alluring by the lush greenery of deciduous trees and
early summer grasses in the foreground, lending a depth
to the scene that I have not seen in the parts of the
west that I have visited. There is plenty of activity in
the
sky up here, as birds have hatched all over the property.
The oriole nest has had a lot of traffic, and it is not
unusual to see the bright orange backside of the male up-ended
as he pokes food into the deep woven cup
for the brood. All of the tree swallows have hatched in
three different boxes, and the sky is filled with ex-
tended family members hauling tidbits and protecting the
nests from all who venture too close. I checked
the boxes for parasites yesterday, and the birds flew at
my be-hatted head, making wicked hissing clicks
as they came within millimeters of actually striking me.
All nests are clean, but as the temperature rises
that will increase the liklihood that blowflies will lay
eggs under the nests and the larvae will feed on
young birds, draining them of blood with fatal results.
If for no other reason that this, it is important
to have easy access to your nesting box contents during
the breeding season. If you purchased one
that is screwed shut, remove the screw and replace it
with a thin nail, so that you can open the box
easily. If you put up nesting boxes, it is your
responsibility to monitor the activity for the whole time
they are up, from cleaning out the little deermouse nests
that appear over the winter months to
keeping an accurate count of nestlings that fledge (leave
the nest). We currently have eight
boxes on our property, which is plenty to keep track of,
but I plant to make four
more and put in our farthest meadow for next season.
If you build it, they will come...
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 10, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Well, it really is mostly cloudy, not partly sunny,
but when the sun does make a brief appearance
it is the only thing I notice, illuminating the fresh-rinsed
scene with such a pure light it brings a lump to
my throat. The few patches of clear sky that show between
the huge shiny grey clouds are a deep virgin
blue, the color of my true love’s eyes and a
mountain bluebird’s back. The breeze is from the
northwest,
and the barometer is slowly rising, so this might be a
change back to sunny skies for a couple of days.
Warmer temps are predicted as well; we have had the
kitchen range burning for three straight days,
keeping most of the house comfy and dry. Our new
plantings have been well-watered, and we
managed to pull quite a few weeds before the skies opened
up yesterday; the gardens are in
tip-top shape, for now anyway. It is always amazing how
quickly bare soil can become overrun
by weeds if left untended for even a few days. Now that
we have had ample rain, we will spread
some straw and sawdust around the long-term plantings
such as tomatoes, peppers, broccoli,
cabbage, and all of the vining crops, both to retain
moisture and to keep the weeds at bay.
Oh ! it is so lovely outside, off we go for a quick jaunt
around the meadows.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
52 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
It looks like the sunny part of the day is over;
clouds moved in directly after a dazzling
orangey sunrise that painted the whole view with a warm
wash of color. There was a frost
warning for last night, but we didn’t drop below
forty-four degrees here on Gomer Hill. Yester-
day we planted more corn, carrots, and cukes, and in the
middle of making the furrows the sky
opened up for a ten-minute shower that made the whole
venture into a muddy one. At least the
seeds are well-watered, and by the weekend warmup they
should be off to a good start. We
were entertained all afternoon by hundreds of goldfinches,
who would perch on the tops of
sturdy grasses looking like beautiful yellow flowers, and
as we passed by they would explode
into the air all at the same time, as if the very
buttercups themselves had taken to the skies. They
must be feeding on the ripe seeds, or perhaps gathering
dandelion fluff to line their nests. I plan to
get out before today’s rain arrives to weed a few
rows, and then walk up the road to see if I can
find any sign of the bear that has been spotted in the
meadow next to ours. I hate to think that a
bruin would show up just as our strawberries approach
ripeness; no netting in the world would
keep out one of those hungry foragers. Maybe if we hang
our critter-cam out by the compost
we can catch a glimpse of whatever has been sorting
through our vegetable scraps;
we assumed it was a skunk, but perhaps it is something
much larger.
Have a bear-y nice day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, partly cloudy
A little past 5:00 this morning we had an amazing light
show in the eastern sky;
there was a layer of clouds that was lit up by an as yet
unseen sun, the color of molten
lava and shimmering like the coals left in the aftermath
of a huge bonfire. The actual arrival
of the sun dimmed the scene and was almost anticlimactic.
Although a fresh northwest breeze
swept through the yard, I was quite warm in the shelter
of the back porch as I watched and listen-
ed to the day unfold. A mother robin has been teaching
her young to sing; she repeated the familiar
phrases many times before finally satisfied with the
results, which sounded pretty good to me, not as
loud or confident as Mom’s, but definitely robin-y.
The annoying sibilant hisssssss of cedar waxwings
prevails as the strawberries form fruits; they just
can’t wait for the first hint of pink, then they
will be all
over them. We will soon cover the berries with netting,
which keeps birds from grabbing most of the fruit.
The tree swallow eggs that were left orphaned a few weeks
ago have been successfully hatched by a sur-
rogate mother, and there is a whole tribe of aunties and
sisters that are protecting the nesting box from all
who approach, more vigilant than usual because of the
previous tragedy. We also have two nests of blue-
bird eggs, and another of swallows that should hatch any
day now. Two boxes have been left with the
doors propped ajar, to discourage the wrens that have
tried to move into the neighborhood. After the
bluebirds and swallows fledge, then I will open up the
property for anyone, but wrens are famous
for killing rival hatchlings, stabbing them to death with
their long pointy bills; they are not wel-
come at this time. Today we will take advantage of the
cool breezy morning to tackle
more weeds, and perhaps take a short hike in the woods to
see what’s new.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, June 7, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
58 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
This morning is as crystal clear as yesterday was dim and
foggy. The wind is out of the north,
so I was still fairly chilly on my morning stroll until I
rounded the corner of the house and became
directly drenched in sunlight. The early light that
shines on newly washed meadows is so pure and
bright that every detail seems supersaturated with color,
all crisp edges, deep shadows, and glowing
highlights. The tall meadow grasses undulate like swells
on the sea as the wind ruffles the seedheads
and causes the whole mass to sway in synch. Rain has
helped the maple trees miraculously sprout
new leaves after most of the crispy brown ones had been
stripped away by wind. I haven’t been
up the Smith Road lately to check on the beech trees, but
I hope they have also recovered from
the freezing winds of early May. We have three sunny days
ahead of us, and when we aren’t
managing our bumper crop of weeds that the rain has
brought forth we will be putting in
succession plantings of corn, more beans, and cucumbers.
Tomato plants have pretty
yellow blossoms on them, and our earliest beans look
ready to form flower buds as well.
It is wonderful what such a simple thing like a good rain
can do for Mother Earth’s children.
Have a great Day,
Daisy
Sunday, June 6, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
53 degrees, windy, overcast, raining
The last time I was able to put that beautiful
word (raining) in the weather line was May third.
Sure, there were a couple of days with flurries,
and one drizzle, but this is the first time that
we
have had actual rain falling at the same time I write My
View From the Top. Last June was cool and
rainy for the most part, so I guess I should be careful
what I wish for. At this point in their development,
strawberries require an inch of rain a week in order for
the berries to ripen properly. There are hundreds
of tiny green berries just waiting for a couple of warm
sunny days in order to burst into sweetness; perhaps
by this time next week we will have enjoyed the first
true taste of summer. We are overrun with baby lettuce;
if I could find a way to work some into an omelet we
would be eating it three times a day instead of twice.
It wasn’t that long ago that I was jonesing really
bad for fresh greens, and now we have our fill and
beyond. One of my favorite ways to eat lettuce is piled
high between two slices of fresh
homemade bread with peanut butter on one of the slices.
Yum !
have a fine day,
Daisy
Saturday, June 5, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We received another half inch of rain last night,
and our gardens look very happy indeed.
The first planting of spinach is so big that only two
plants provide enough for a huge salad;
the second sowing has just sprouted its true leaves, so
the timing on that was pretty perfect.
A third crop will go into the ground by the end of next
week, then we will take a couple of
months off and do it again in early August. It won’t
be long before iceberg lettuce forms tight
crisp heads, and the other lettuce varieties have doubled
in size since the rain appeared during
the past week. I recently planted some celery seedlings,
and soon I will be able to pluck a fresh
stalk now and then, if I can keep the earwigs out of the
clumps. We hilled our spuds yesterday,
a job made much easier than usual because this year we
placed the rows a little farther apart,
so that I could use the big Case tractor, with power
steering and a reliable motor that didn’t
stall out in the middle of every row. I love our old
Farmall H, which is older than either one
of us, but it is a bit temperamental at times, as might
be any geezer who has worked hard all
his life. We still use that old buy for hauling wagons
and moving firewood, but it has earned its
retirement after so many years of making hay and
harrowing fields; the newer tractor now does
the hardest work of plowing new ground, snow-blowing, and
moving big logs. The soil turned up
neatly around the lush potato plants; we use an old horse-drawn
hiller pulled behind the tractor,
two massive thin metal discs that slice through just
about any kind of dirt and gently fold it into
long straight slopes on both sides of the row. Hilling
can also be done with a rototiller and
a furrowing attachment, or the old fashioned way, with a
hoe and a strong back.
I believe that we will be able to have some small new
potatoes on Inde-
pendence Day this year, something to look forward to for
sure !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, June 4, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Clouds are the main characters in this
morning’s tableau. Some are white, some
are grey bordering on black, and all are poofy and on the
prowl across a true blue sky.
The barometer is on the rise and the air is fresh and
clean-washed from Wednesday night’s
downpour. Only a few sprinkles showed up yesterday, and
the day was cool and cloudy, so I
think our neck of the woods got all of the benefit of
that rainfall and lost very little to evaporation.
More rain is certainly needed, and is indeed in the
forecast for most of the weekend. Our neighbors
up the road have been hauling water for several weeks, as
their well can’t supply the amounts needed
to care for their horses. Meager snowfall last winter and
a dry spring have put the Gomer Hill water table in
peril. Dry wells are one reason that small farms in this
area moved off the Hill in the ‘40s; any exploration
will
show scores of homestead foundations, complete with barn
bridges to nowhere and stone-lined fruit cellars
dug into the clay. Next time you are on Tug Hill, look
for day lilies, boundary trees (usually maple) and
myrtle; chances are, a closer look will reveal an old
foundation or three. Stone walls denote old mea-
dows or pastures, even though they may contain some
pretty big trees now that the hay is no longer
cropped. There used to be whole communities up here, each
with its own schoolhouse and little
church. There is an old map of the area on display at the
Turin Village Library,
and it is worth a look-see if the history of this area
interests you.
And now, off to hill the potatoes, if the soil is not too
wet.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, June 3, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A huge wall of clouds swept down the valley earlier this
morning, two shades of grey
advancing with amazing speed, and me with a dead camera
battery. Now they are slowly
lifting to reveal a fresh-washed scene, greener than
green and dappled with tentative rays of
brilliant June sunshine. Last night we received nearly an
inch of rain, with the first drops starting
just after sunset. Fireflies had just begun their lively
display, and the rain sent them undercover. A
gentle shower accelerated into a thundering downpour at
around 3:30 a.m. which lasted for about
fifteen minutes; I was concerned for new plants that had
just gone in the ground over the weekend.
A brief inspection earlier today showed that my fears
were groundless, although I had to dump out
an inch of water that had accumulated in the plastic
nursery trays under the annuals that have not yet
been placed into their flower boxes. Everything else
looks quite refreshed by the rain, which was much
needed. Even the maple trees that had undergone such
trauma in mid-May seem to be regenerating some
of the leaves that Jack Frost had flash-frozen. We spent
some time yesterday pulling weeds, replanting beans,
and thinning beets and carrots. Last year’s dill had
reseeded over much one of our plots, but I yanked out all
but a few dozen and corralled those into more orderly
rows. I don’t believe I have had to purchase dill
seed
for many years; it is a reliable germinator, even if I
don’t properly harvest the seeds in the fall. I save
bean
seeds from year to year, and one of the varieties that we
replanted yesterday seemed to have only about
a 75% germination rate. I don’t know what the
official taxonomy is, as the original seeds were carried
over from Italy earlier in the last century. We call them
Grandma Rosa’s Beans , a pole variety that
is delicious as a fresh shell bean and outstanding dried
for winter soups and casseroles. Most of our
other beans are doing well, as we watered them during the
dry spell and they have been loving the
heat. More clouds are rolling in now, gone is the lovely
sun; perhaps more rain is in the picture.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, June 2, 2010, 7:30 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, sunny
We received a little more rain yesterday, and
although the sum total was less than a half inch,
it has done the gardens a world of good. Of course, now
the weeds have had a good drink as well,
so that is on today’s agenda, coaxing the less
desirable plants to give up their grasp. I need to thin
out
the first crop of beets as well; they are big enough to
provide a fine helping of steamed greens to serve
with tonight’s main dish. Last year’s dill crop
has reseeded itself all over the bean garden, so I will
pull
out all but a few dozen of those little feathery
seedlings, a domestic crop that has morphed into weed
status. I am still plugging away at the perennial bed in
the rock wall, trying to tame it a bit, but if that
doesn’t work out, I will simply continue to call it the
wildflower garden ; indeed, many of the
weeds have beautiful flowers later in the season. Beauty
is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.
Have a beautiful day,
Daisy
Tuesday, June 1, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, breezy, cloudy
I wish I could add raining to the weather line
above, but fact is, after a couple of hours
of wonderful steady light showers during the night, the
front appears to have moved off to
the north. Rain remains in the forecast for much of the
day, but unless the whole shebang shifts
our way we will once again get the fuzzy end of the
lollipop. The overnight splatter of rain on the
roof filled my dreams with visions of thirsty garden soil
absorbing the moisture like a dried up sponge,
swelling and glistening with an abundance of water.
Reality is, the space under the cars is still dry, sig-
nifying only a trace of accumulation. Still, it is better
than no rain at all, and I have to believe that our
meadows and forests benefit from having the rain wash
over the greenery, in much the same way a
cleansing shower or bath refreshes us. Still, we need to
drink water, to take it internally every day
for optimal health; so do plants, sucking it from the
ground via roots, to nourish the whole, not just
the surface. At least it is cloudy, so what rainfall we
received shouldn’t evaporate too quickly.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
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