~
Monday, August 31, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
51 degrees, gentle breeze, partly sunny
It is a pleasant cool morning, with not much of a
breeze to
shake the remaining raindrops from the leaves. Yesterday
was
not a washout, in fact it was stunningly clear when it
wasn’t shower-
ing either water or rainbows, and often both
simultaneously. We were
able to pick an abundance of cucumbers, and should have
tackled the
beans as well, but we didn’t beat the rain. Our
onions are laid out on
an old hay wagon bed to dry, and we must have rolled it
in and out
of the barn half a dozen times. This whole week is
supposed to be
dry and sunny, so we are planning to wrap up the big jobs
like dig-
ging potatoes and tilling in buckwheat in the fallow
garden. Today is
a good time to change the bedding over to flannel sheets,
and air out
the winter quilts to be pressed into service on the
chilly nights. These
last few nights, crisp cool cotton percale bedding just
didn’t cut it for
comfort, more suited to summer’s balmy swelter which
never arrived
this season. We could still have some steamy days and
nights, but
I’m changing over to flannel bed linens today
nonetheless. By the
time that is done, the beans should be dry enough to pick.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, August 30, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
After a mostly clear start to the morning, clouds
are speedily
drifting in from the southwest and it looks like there
may be a shower
or two before the day is over. Even though it has been
markedly cooler
the past few days, I am optimistic that there may be more
cucumbers ready
to pick, and we are headed over that way soon as part of
a hike around the
property. In that same garden, deer have mowed the
cabbages and late broc-
coli down to the ground, so it looks like we will not be
eating fresh slaw this
autumn. Our early summer broccoli plants are huge with
lush foliage, but very
few heads have formed; the odd weather this season has
created some mutant
strain of a standard variety (fiesta) that has
served us well for years until now.
Our sixth and final crop of lettuce is forming nice heads,
a variety of romaine
and buttercrunch with some ruby reds and speckles for
color. Fedco Seed
Company has two varieties of mixed lettuce seeds
available, one for spring
and one for summer; both are bolt-resistant, even during
the hot spell we
recently went through. Most of our homegrown produce can
be frozen,
dried, canned, or held in the cold cellar throughout the
long wintry months.
Fresh greens are truly seasonal, and we enjoy them daily
while they are
available. It would be worth setting up a small window
greenhouse
with lights just for the salads we could enjoy year-round.
Something to think about, eh?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, August 29, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
57 degrees, windy, overcast, rain
Rain fell off and on all night long, and continues in
that sporadic
fashion into the morning. This will probably be the
pattern for the
rest of the day as well. The rainy spell is just what I
need, giving me
a chance to do some basic household chores which have
been pushed
to the back burner during the beautiful harvest days of
last week. Now
that we are caught up in the gardens (for now) I can
tackle the indoor
tasks of sweeping up cathair tumbleweeds and chasing
cobwebs from
the corners of the rooms. By the end of the day the house
will sparkle,
and the kitchen will smell like chocolate cookies. One
week from yes-
terday the moe.down music festival comes to Turin, and
our village
library has a bake sale under the big tent to feed the
crowd as well
as our coffers. I hope the weather is good for the event,
which brings
a lot of jobs to our little town for just three days, not
to mention
some awesome national talent. for more information and to
purchase a ticket, go to http://www.moedown.com/
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Friday, August 28, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
53 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
After all the dire patchy frost warnings for last
night, it was, in fact, warmer than the night before,
with a low of fifty degrees. It was a wonderful night for
sleeping with the windows wide open, snug in flannel
jammies with the comforter pulled up to my ears. Just
after midnight I was awakened by a horrible sound nearby,
a frantic barking followed by the high yodel of what
sounded like a coyote. The wails were linked and seemed
to come from one critter, so I can only imagine it was a
coyote in big trouble. It stopped after a few minutes;
either the animal got free or gave up the ghost. It was
the kind of dreadful caterwaul that made me glad I had a
roof over my head and good strong walls; in a tent, it
would have been too much like the plot of a Wes craven
film. It is unusual to hear just one coyote, and the
sound of the pack has become very scarce as the beautiful
animals have been almost hunted right off the Hill. The
increase in the number of field rodents this summer has
to be directly linked to the disappearance of their main
predator. The delicate balance of nature has been
disrupted by the hunters that think there are too few
deer, so the solution (to them) is kill the coyotes. So
now Tug Hill is overrun by rodents of every kind, and
guess where they will try to go when the weather gets
colder? Better get your mousetraps oiled up, and seal all
those tiny cracks in the foundation. Better yet, get a
cat or two from the Humane Society. Our three furry
friends do a fine job of keeping our home pest-free
during the long winter season.
Have a purrfect day,
Daisy
Thursday, August 27, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Our overnight low was 47 degrees, but I hear the
flatlanders
dipped down into the thirties. Anything below fifty stops
tomatoes
and peppers dead in their tracks, and we will need to see
some more
good hot days and warm nights before they continue to
ripen. Beans are
once again ready to pick, and we anticipate at least two
large pailsfull, with
an afternoon spent cutting and blanching them for the
freezer. Once we hit our
quota of fifty large bags, we will make dilly beans,
packing the green spears into
quart jars with dill, hot peppers, and cider vinegar
brine. We never get tired of
eating green beans, and grow literally hundreds of row
feet of them every year.
Yesterday we trimmed up all of our garlic, cutting the
tops off at an angle and
snipping the roots close to the base, then peeling off
the outer layer along with
most of the dirt. The bulbs still require another two
weeks to dry before being
packed into bins in the cellar, or shipped off to distant
friends. Every year our
garlic crop gets bigger, and yesterday’s work took a
few hours. We listened
to NPR while we snipped and peeled, and one of the
programs was about
gardening and the benefits it offers both materially and
spiritually. This we
already knew, but it was nice to have our convictions
broadcast to the world.
It was a rainy morning, and the barn’s tin roof sang
backup to the radio; when
the sun finally came out it streamed in through the
cracks in the old silvery siding,
blessing us and the crop we tended. I hauled the tops out
to the compost heap and
the air was so still that I heard the soft rhythmic whooooosh!
of air throbbing from a
low-flying raven’s wings. That soft sound, the
otherworldly light, and the scent of sweet
new mown grass combined to make a perfect moment of bliss,
and I raised my arms
and whispered thank you to the powers-that-be. It
was chilly enough that I could light
a fire in the wood range to cook last night’s dinner,
which was rich with fried onions
and garlic; the actual meat itself was secondary to the
sweet caramelized veggies.
The best memories are olfactory, and the only thing that
evokes more home com-
fort than browned sticky onions is apples and cinnamon in
any combination. I be-
lieve I just might wanderaround the hill later and see if
any apples are getting ready.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, cloudy
It is humid this morning, but fortunately not very
hot. I don’t need
to look at the barometer to tell a change is on the way;
my head feels
inflated and a little achy behind the eyes, my very own
weather station in
search of a bit of steam to chase away the balloon-y fat-headedness.
A few
dabs of Tiger Balm, a little acupressure, and a good
session of dish-washing
should fill the bill. Our onion tops fell over while we
were out of town last week,
so yesterday we pulled them all and laid them out to dry
on our homemade drying
cart, which is basically a length of wire fencing on top
of an old wagon bed. First we
had to move all of the garlic, which is nearly (but not
quite) dry enough for winter storage.
The onions will take at least a week of dry breezy days
before they can be topped and then
spread out indoors to finish their cure. I have been
cleaning up the garlic, which involves clippers,
scissors, and a lot of picky finish work done by hand to
each bulb. Some folks store hardneck
varieties of garlic with the tops on, but we have tried
it both ways and for our conditions top-
less works better. We grew four varieties this year; music,
german white, summit shock,
and danube rose. All produced fine firm bulbs except
for the danube rose; I had to toss
out at least a dozen soft moldy bulbs. I guess it may
contain more juice than the other strains;
perhaps it was pulled too soon. Our potato vines are
starting to die, and when I rooted around
under some of the dry stems I found huge solid spuds, not
too many per hill but oh my goodness,
one potato could mash up for a family of four! I
can’t wait to see if all of the varieties have
become
gargantuan, or if it was just the caribes. I
believe we will dig all of the potatoes tomorrow, as it
is
supposed to be a cool dry day, perfect for that back-breaking
task. This is a busy time of year
for the home gardener, but the end result is so rewarding,
not to mention the physical benefits
of being outdoors and using just about every muscle in
the body helps keep one young.
The fountain of youth might very well be as close as your
own back yard.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, fog
The window screens are decorated with tiny beads of water,
courtesy
of thick fog which swirls and dances outside, backlit by
a promise of sunshine.
Greenery right next to the house shines with the luster
of emeralds, while the hues
fade into shades of grey and even nearly black as the eye
travels down the slope to-
wards the hedgerows, which are totally engulfed in fog.
Starlings by the hundreds come
and go, in the air more than on the ground as they
practice their take-offs and landings
for their big exodus next month. It is a good morning to
have ones head in the clouds,
literally as well as figuratively. Things slow down in
such a mist, and when the
sun eventually breaks through we will appreciate its
power even more.
Paul Simon had it right:
Was a sunny day
Not a cloud was in the sky
Not a negative word was heard
From the people passing by
twas a sunny day
All the birdies in the trees
And the radios singing song
All the favorite melodies
Sun, fog, rain: never boring here in the North
Country, that’s for sure !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Monday, August 24, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
65 degrees, light breeze, mostly cloudy
Thick fog blankets the valley and we are stuck
underneath low dark
clouds for a while until the sun clears the various
layers of mist away.
We arrived back on Gomer Hill late Saturday afternoon,
and since
rain was imminent we went directly from our nine-hour
drive to picking
beans, cucumbers, and broccoli so we could process it all
yesterday. We
found several ripe tomatoes as well, with many more
changing color every
day in the moist summer heat. Weather was oppressively
hot in Maine with
high humidity; thank goodness there was often a breeze
that swept across the
cottage porch. Our hiking activities were definitely
curbed by the heat wave, so
this was a true vacation in the sense that the lazy days
drifted along with the tides,
with no real plan or pressure to do more than read, doze,
visit with friends, and en-
joy watching the boats coming and going from the harbor.
It must have been season-
ably warm here as well, judging from the leaps and bounds
that flowers and vegetables
have made in just a week’s time. Weeds have also
flourished, and as we pick and sort
through the rows and hills we must yank out the galinsoga,
purslane, and amaranth that
are trying to take over. We picked about half of the
beans that were ready and they are
in the freezer now; as soon as the dew dries we will pick
a few more bucketsful to pro-
cess later today. Raspberries are beginning to wane, but
there are still many left for
snacking; friends picked several quarts while we were
gone, bringing the grand total
to 66 pints harvested this season, not bad considering we
cut the size of the patch in
half. The week’s weather looks good, and we should
be able to get all caught up with
the lawn and gardens without getting bogged down by mud
or stifling heat. In fact,
a cooling trend is moving in for Thursday; a long bike
trek is a distinct possi-
bility at the end of the week if we can get the veggies
under control.
Yes, vacation is definitely over, but there is still time
to play.
Have a great day,
Daisy
An Instant Vacation:
Relaxing at Home from Daily
Om
Throughout our lives, most of us are led to believe
that relaxation is best pursued outside of the home.
As a result, we spend months anticipating weeklong
vacations, seldom fully appreciating the leisure time
we are blessed with on a more regular basis. It is
possible, however, to re-experience the same utterly
relaxed state you slip into while on holiday within your
home’s walls. The feelings of serenity you enjoy
during a vacation are a product of your outlook rather
than your locale. You give yourself permission
to enjoy yourself and unwind while on vacation. Granting
yourself the same privilege while at home
allows you to experience complete relaxation, even when
surrounded by routine.
Our homes can be distracting places as most survival
tasks are addressed there. Reviving the
tranquility you felt on holiday is as easy as creating an
atmosphere that helps you relax. First, divest
yourself of the notion that messes must be cleaned up
immediately and reaffirm that relaxation is as
vital as physical nourishment. Then, set the mood. Music
that reminds you of a beloved vacation
destination can put you in a vacation mind-set. The
exotic flavor of a tropical beverage or the
spiciness a favorite ethnic dish can transport you to a
more restful mental space. Finally, put
aside your projects and commit to doing only what you
consider truly pleasurable. Your res-
ponsibilities will wait as you put up your feet and revel
in peacefulness that comes from within.
If you find it difficult to ignore the temptation to
simply fall back into your usual schedule, consider
that relaxation should occupy a prominent place on your
to-do list. You deserve to take "you time"
and to care for yourself, even during life’s busy
periods. While you may not always be able to
get away from it all, you can still nurture yourself and
regain your peace of mind.
An Instant Vacation:
Relaxing at Home from Daily
Om
Throughout our lives, most of us are led to believe
that relaxation is best pursued outside of the home.
As a result, we spend months anticipating weeklong
vacations, seldom fully appreciating the leisure time
we are blessed with on a more regular basis. It is
possible, however, to re-experience the same utterly
relaxed state you slip into while on holiday within your
home’s walls. The feelings of serenity you enjoy
during a vacation are a product of your outlook rather
than your locale. You give yourself permission
to enjoy yourself and unwind while on vacation. Granting
yourself the same privilege while at home
allows you to experience complete relaxation, even when
surrounded by routine.
Our homes can be distracting places as most survival
tasks are addressed there. Reviving the
tranquility you felt on holiday is as easy as creating an
atmosphere that helps you relax. First, divest
yourself of the notion that messes must be cleaned up
immediately and reaffirm that relaxation is as
vital as physical nourishment. Then, set the mood. Music
that reminds you of a beloved vacation
destination can put you in a vacation mind-set. The
exotic flavor of a tropical beverage or the
spiciness a favorite ethnic dish can transport you to a
more restful mental space. Finally, put
aside your projects and commit to doing only what you
consider truly pleasurable. Your res-
ponsibilities will wait as you put up your feet and revel
in peacefulness that comes from within.
If you find it difficult to ignore the temptation to
simply fall back into your usual schedule, consider
that relaxation should occupy a prominent place on your
to-do list. You deserve to take "you time"
and to care for yourself, even during life’s busy
periods. While you may not always be able to
get away from it all, you can still nurture yourself and
regain your peace of mind.
August 18, 2009
Ben by David Budbill
You can see him in the village almost anytime.
He's always on the street.
At noon he ambles down to Jerry's
in case a trucker who's stopped by for lunch
might feel like buying him a sandwich.
Don't misunderstand, Ben's not starving;
he's there each noon because he's sociable,
not because he's hungry.
He is a friend to everyone except the haughty.
There are at least half a dozen families in the village
who make sure he always has enough to eat
and there are places
where he's welcome to come in and spend the night.
Ben is a cynic in the Greek and philosophic sense,
one who gives his life to simplicity
seeking only the necessities
so he can spend his days
in the presence of his dreams.
Ben is a vision of another way,
the vessel in this place for
ancient Christian mystic, Buddhist recluse, Taoist hermit.
Chuang Tzu, The Abbot Moses, Meister Eckhart,
Khamtul Rimpoche, Thomas Merton—
all these and all the others live in Ben, because
in America only a dog
can spend his days
on the street or by the river
in quiet contemplation
and be fed.
August 17, 2009
Counting Thunder
by Robert Hass
For several weeks the weather has been mild
And we have wallowed in this picnic sun,
(Our baskets stuffed with bread and wine) beguiled
By a string of buttered days, which one by one
Have lulled us into such complacency
That any thought of rain or want or cold
Would seem killjoy to a mind disposed to see
A clump of daisies nodding by the road.
But lightning flash upon the ridge portends
A sudden change of weather is at hand.
Caught unaware, we face the rising wind
And count the interval before the sound
Of thunderclap announces the return
Of darker times we had soon forgotten.
The dog cowers. The weather vane turns
Wildly, and we scramble forth to batten
Down the shutters banging out their warning.
No use pretending storm clouds won't draw near.
They're certain now. The anvil head is mounting
High above the things we've held so dear.
We light the lantern as clouds obscure the sun,
And gather frightened children in our arms.
The lightning flash and thunder merge at one,
And we hunker down beneath the raging storm.
August 15, 2009
Woodstock by Joni Mitchell
I came upon a child of god
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
Im going on down to yasgurs farm
Im going to join in a rock n roll band
Im going to camp out on the land
Im going to try an get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe its the time of man
I dont know who l am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
By the time we got to woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devils bargain
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
August 14, 2009
On the Grasshopper and the Cricket
by John Keats
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper's--he takes the lead
In summer luxury,--he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
Thursday, August 13, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, sunny
The valley is filled with fog but we sit high and
dry here on Gomer Hill.
It was a good night for stargazing, clear and filled with
activity from the
Perseid Meteor Shower; we saw many shooting stars while
walking up
the road just before moonrise. After we retired,
something put the neigh-
borhood dogs on alert, and many of them kept up a chain
of barking for
quite a while. Our little guy kept watch out the screened
window until long
after bedtime. We didn’t get any rain yesterday, but
we could see several
storms moving up the opposite side of the Black River,
and heard distant
thunder late in the day. Our green beans are just getting
a running start,
and I picked and processed a spackle bucket full for the
freezer. We
enjoyed the first crispy cucumbers, sliced in a peppery
vinaigrette with
our supper, and it won’t be long before there are
enough to make sweet
fresh pickles. Now that hot weather seems to have settled
in, we look
forward to tomatoes and peppers along with all of the
other miracles
that have been springing from our good dirt. Friends will
be staying
here during the next week to enjoy our harvest while we
relax
on the coast of Maine; stay tuned, we have some good
stuff lined up for you here at the main page.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
65 degrees, calm, foggy
This fog rolled in at about 4:00 a.m. and blotted
out the beautiful
Perseid Meteor Shower just as it was reaching its peak.
We got a
preview just at moonrise around 10:00, when we walked the
dog before
bedtime; a dozen or so bright meteors flew through the
air, many of them
quite long-lasting; the sky was inky black and studded
with stars and planets.
I set my alarm to wake me at 3:45, and when I crossed the
road into the west
meadow I saw five very bright shooting stars within the
first minute. Even though
there was moonlight, the meteors were clearly seen, and
it was a fine show. They
continued to streak hither and yon, and after fifteen
minutes I came into the house
to tell Gomer what a great event he was missing.
Wouldn’t you know, as soon as
he stepped outdoors high clouds moved in and only a few
meteors could be seen
through the mist. The clouds sunk down to ground level,
and the show was over
for the night. Tonight is supposed to be clear, and there
are always good meteors
for a couple of days on either side of the surge. Get out
before moonrise, which is
about 10:45 EDT tonight. Dense fog continues to cover the
entire view, messing
with my plan to get the laundry hung out early. It is
supposed to be a warm day
with clear blue sky, not too hot and steamy, a great day
for picking beans. We
got another 10 pints of raspberries yesterday, bringing
the season total to fifty
pints, which is amazing considering we cut the size of
the patch in half.
There are still pink and green berries galore, what a
season !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 8:15 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
There are a few clouds moving in from the west,
but so far the morning is
warm and a bit steamy as vapors rise from the
supersaturated ground. There
looks to be a small cell of rain directly threatening
Turin, so I will finish up indoor
jobs this morning, such as processing beans for the
freezer that we picked during
a lull in yesterday’s showers. The heat should bring
cucumbers into ripeness, and
zucchinis have tripled in size seemingly overnight. If
time allows, I can strip all of
the good leaves from the spinach trees that have
flourished in the monsoon, and
after chopping and wilting them pack the greens into
small freezer bags to use
in casseroles and dips this winter. The annual Perseid
Meteor Shower is in full
swing, and it is thought that there will be quite a show
at about 4:00 tomor-
row morning, a great way to start a summer day. Set up
your lawn chairs
before you go to bed, and have a thermos of coffee ready;
get out to
enjoy Mother Nature’s fireworks. As many as 200
shooting stars
an hour are expected to take the main stage. Hopefully it
will be a
clear night; the Magic 8 ball gave a definite yes
to that question.
Keep looking up,
Daisy
Monday, August 10, 2009, 8:15 a.m.
67 degrees, overcast, windy, raining
We saw the sun for about an hour late yesterday before
clouds
rolled in and the rain returned. Intermittent overnight
sprinkles have
morphed into hard pounding rain driven by gusty west
winds. I fear that
the raspberry crop is taking a beating; I should have
picked them yesterday,
but it was too wet, and now the rain will dash the ripe
and ready ones to the
ground and turn them into fermenting mush. Beans should
have been picked
over the weekend as well, but if you mess with beans when
the foliage is wet
there is a chance for fungal disease to move into the
plants. Once again the
forecast is for the temperature to move into the eighties
this afternoon, but
I’ll believe it when I see it; yesterday’s high
was only 69. Who comes up
with these predictions, anyway? I could do a better job
with a Magic 8 Ball.
Here, try the cyber-version yourself. Today
marks the last day of official work
at my part-time job until September, and it looks like a
lot of my free time will be
spent playing catch-up in the garden, for the rest of
this week anyway. The rasp-
berries may be a lost cause, but the beans are certainly
thriving, and cucumber
vines are filled with tiny little nubbins that will grow
quickly if it ever gets
hot outside. The Magic 8 Ball says Wednesday should be
good.
Have a magical day,
Daisy
Sunday, August 9, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, overcast, misty rain, fog
Dampness has seeped into every corner of the house,
and even in a fleecy vest I remained chilly. I finally
lit a small fire,
with the understanding that if it indeed grows sunny and
hot later, that
might prove to be a poor choice. However, for now, the
heat generated
by the old Kalamazoo wood range feels just perfect. Our
little chickens are
still under a brooder light; even though they have their
first feathers and should
be able to thrive under normal ambient summer
temperatures, we will leave the
heat lamp in place for at least another week, just in
case. The hay that so recently
enchanted us with its daily swaying dance in the constant
Tug Hill breeze is now en-
tirely gone. Yesterday it was all tucked into gigantic
bales and removed from the mea-
dows, loaded onto flatbed trailers with a wicked looking
set of tractor-mounted prongs.
We arrived home from our errands in the Valley just in
time to catch the end of the job,
and this morning we have a fresh new view to greet us,
with young turkeys taking center
stage as they forage in the stubble. Last night a large
flock of starlings entertained us as
they touched down and lifted off a hundred times,
feasting on the insects and seeds left
behind. Now we have a clear view of the gardens, and can
see if any deer are sneak-
ing up on them to nibble the beets and spinach down to
the ground, or uproot carrots
in a feeding frenzy. So far we have kept them at bay with
liberal sprinklings of soap
shavings, dog hair, and old kitty litter, but in the
blink of an eye deer could wipe out
months of effort, as they have in summers past. Last year
we had a big dog staying
with us for a while, and she discouraged all kinds of
critters from having their way
with our crops. We do what we can, and trust the deer to
at least have the good
manners to wait until after we have harvested what we
need to glean the leavings.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, August 8, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
This is a cookie-cutter morning, nearly identical
to yesterday with
its warm sun and cool breeze. The overnight low dipped to
46, but
the day is shaping up to be pleasantly summery. With rain
in the forecast
for tonight, I think that today’s view will soon be
choked with pollen as our
mown hay is pressed into huge rectangular bales, so I am
going to cut and run
to the Valley to try to avoid the flying allergens.
Yesterday I fought through the
tomato vine jungle to prune the bottom leaves and twist
the main stems around
the supporting strings. There is a mulch layer of sawdust
under the entire tomato
row, but just to be on the safe side, I removed any
leaves that touched the ground,
to lessen the chance of transmitting soilborne disease. I
was delighted to find what
I thought were two red tomatoes hiding in the leaves,
until I picked them and rea-
lized that it was one single fruit that had twinned;
conjoined tomatoes, attached
at the stem, just another mutant vegetable in this season
of botanical aberrations.
I expect to find more than the usual amount of weird
carrots shaped like mannikins,
spuds that resemble Charles de Gaul, and onions with five
or six bulbs sharing one
stem. As long as they taste good, it doesn’t matter,
it all ends up the same anyway.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, August 7, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
An overnight low of 49 degrees has left some
chilly pockets
of air in shady spots, but in the sun some heat is
building. Yesterday
we never hit seventy degrees, and we cooked supper on the
wood range;
the additional warmth felt just right. At the end of the
morning I beheld a beau-
tiful sight: the buzzsaw dismantled in the yard. It is
oiled up and ready to put away
for two years, until we need it again. We finished
hacking up the last load of hardwood
slabs before lunch, to use for kindling fires; we reckon
there is enough to last at least two
years. While near the woodlot, I visited the black
raspberry bushes and every one had
been picked clean. There was a well-trampled path around
the patch, whether human
or four-legged critter I couldn’t tell. I had better
luck in our tame red raspberry patch,
bringing the total to 40 pints picked so far, with plenty
of unripe fruit still to go. We
have been enjoying broccoli as well, but most of our
plants are odd mutations this
year, with many main heads forming instead of one from
the center. It is normal to
cut the center head and then harvest the numerous side
shoots as they develop.
This crop seems to be going right to side shoots,
producing large central heads
in only five plants out of thirty. It is the same variety
that we planted last year, so
we think the almost daily rainfall and cooler summer
temperatures have had an effect
on the basic structure. Yesterday we were walking over to
the potato patch, and saw
a turkey in the new-mown hay, motionless; we feared she
had been a casualty of the
giant rotary mower blade. When we got within a few feet
of her, she exploded into
the air, scattering a dozen or so brand new fluffy chicks
hither and yon, and
she came at us with all the fury of any mother defending
her babies. This
is late for turkeys to hatch, but then again it seems
that the standards
for normal are shifting here on Tug Hill,
especially this summer.
Have a better than normal day,
Daisy
Thursday, August 6, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Clouds have gathered and the temperature has
dropped four degrees
in the last hour. Earlier the sun was quite warm, and we
got our daily ration
of vitamin D as we sipped coffee and admired our newly
expanded view. The
ripe hay is now laid out in flat rows, and we can see the
entire deer wandering to
the spring to drink, where before we only caught glimpses
of the tips of their ears.
Seagulls (more correctly called farmgulls; I doubt these
birds have ever seen an ocean)
showed up out of nowhere to follow the tractor and huge
rotary mower around, gulping
down displaced meadow critters. When we made our own hay
I was always grossed out
at the sight of a gull grabbing a vole the size of its
own head and swallowing it whole. I could
see the little thing struggling in the gull’s throat
as it slowly choked the living rodent down. What
a way to go! If you are reading this on your lunch break,
I apologize; the ways of the natural world
aren’t always pretty. There are much more pleasant
things to observe, such as the abundance of red
raspberries that hang like jewels from their canes. I
picked another five quarts yesterday, and will
start a second batch of wine this morning. The first lot
is slowly turning into a stiff little cordial,
alive with bubbles as the sugar changes into alcohol. In
another week it should be ready to
cork into bottles. There are still plenty of unripe
berries, and we should be able to enjoy
them well into the month of August. Later this morning I
will head over to the woodlot
and pick more blackcaps; perhaps there will be enough to
make a small batch of jelly,
just like my Granny used to do. She provided all our
family members with a year’s
supply of sweet toppings... elderberry, black raspberry,
strawberry, quince,
and cherry preserves from her own tree. That duty skipped
a generation
and has been passed on to me, a loving legacy that brings
that won-
derful woman to my mind’s eye every time I fill the
kitchen with
fragrant fruity steam. This is a perfect day for anything,
indoors or out; best get busy!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
What an excellent summery morning ! The sun is hot,
the wind is cool,
and the main event of the morning seems to be a starling
convention in the
area of our garlic patch. Since we dug all of the bulbs,
there is a vast expanse
of insect-laden dirt just waiting to be pecked through, a
handy convention center
for the local blackbirds to gather. There must be two
hundred birds swooping around,
wheeling and turning on a dime, all at the same time. It
has been a while since I posted
this link
but it is certainly worth revisiting. Turn up your volume;
this is a great show.
Our flock on Gomer hill isn’t nearly this large, but
it moves with the same graceful
choreography, courtesy of good old Mom Nature, master
artiste extraordinaire.
We appear to have a streak of fine weather ahead of us;
perhaps this is the week
our hay will be shorn. We have been enjoying the
transformation from lush greenery
to golden faerie fronds swaying in the wind, strewn with
wildflowers, lovely garlands for
Queen Mab. What a coincidence! As I was putting these
thoughts into words, the phone
rang; it was our friend giving us the heads-up that he
will be around later this afternoon to
mow our meadows. When we return from a quick trip to the
DMV to renew my driver’s
license (hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa! a quick trip! I
crack myself up!) we will have to
take one last ramble along our lovely paths and bid them
farewell for another year.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
Peace and quiet are the watchwords of the morning, There
has
been very little traffic, and even the birds are silent.
The wind doesn’t
hiss through the leaves, and nobody within earshot is
working their fields
with heavy equipment. The gentle who who whoooo of
a mourning dove is
the only sound around, and it is a fine morning to be
here on top of Gomer Hill.
Yesterday morning I picked red raspberries; they are just
beginning to be abun-
dantly ripe. The ground underneath the canes is sticky
with berries that have been
knocked off by hard rain, and the fermenting juice has
drawn wasps to the patch,
so care must be taken not to rile them as we pick. A
couple of fat toads hang a-
round the understory, causing a gasp of alarm when they
make a hearty hop; I
never get used to the toads and snakes that are harmless
yet startling when they
suddenly appear. If only they would bark, or wear a bell.
There seem to be more
snakes than ever this wet summer, especially on the
meadow paths. Our dog is
smart enough to leave them alone; even though there are
no venomous snakes
in this region, they can still inflict a painful bite in
self defense. We had one big
garter snake that would bask on the wooden bridge that
spans the drainage
ditch, and we got pretty used to seeing it there on sunny
days. When they
widened the ditch a few weeks ago, they must have scooped
up that snakes
home, as we haven’t seen it since. There are beans
to pick this morning, and
it looks like I can finally plant the late broccoli and
cabbages if I hurry.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, August 3, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, sunny
Fog lingers in the low spots of the Black River
Valley,
but Gomer Hill sits above it all, drenched in beautiful
sunshine.
All of the windows are open to allow the west wind to
waft the fresh-
washed scent of milkweed flowers and sweet ripe grasses
throughout the
house, rustling the spider plants in their hangers and
tickling my neck with a
few stray hairs that have escaped from their barrette.
Hummingbird wars have
ensued around a clump of bee balm blossoms, as many as
five birds competing
for the same nectar. There is bee balm all over our yard,
and why they are having
such a bicker over one spot is beyond me. Perhaps there
are young birds nearby,
and the parents are protecting their brood rather than
their food. If it were earlier
in the summer I would say this is mating behavior, but in
this neck of the woods
they breed between Late April and Early June. Of course,
this has not been an
ordinary summer, either; the last hatch of bluebirds we
had in our nesting boxes
has never extended until the end of July until this year.
It looks like a wonderful
morning to pick raspberries and beans, and if the rain
holds off tomorrow I
should be finally able to poke the late broccoli and
cabbage plants into their
garden homes. Tomatoes should be pruned again, removing
most of the
flowers that have not yet set fruit; this will give the
little green tomatoes
more energy to ripen a little quicker. We had some fresh
home-grown
tomatoes from Rochester over the weekend; oh! what flavor!
Now
our appetites have been whet for our own perfectly ripe
fruits,
warm from the sun and fresh off the vine. All we need is
a
little hot weather, but I know to be careful what I wish
for.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, August 2, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, calm, overcast, rain
I hear thunder but the air is absolutely still; that
seems unusual to me.
The rain started just after sunrise, squashing
today’s plan to finish picking
raspberries and get the late broccoli planted. Yesterday
was an awesome day,
and we spent most of it with friends at their cabin by
Lake Bonaparte, about an
hour north of here. There were cliffs to dive from, a
fine boat with which to tour the
lake, a jet ski and tubes for the kids, and loads of good
food and conversation. We
admired an osprey as it dove and came up with a fish
every time. A loon passed by,
riding low in the water with its long graceful neck
leading the way; we left before twi-
light, at the onset of its awesome song. Lake Bonaparte
is a lovely small body of
water, with cliffs along one edge and a shallow sandy
portion at the opposite side.
There are many full-time residents as well as seasonal
camps packed along the
shoreline. Several small islands boast cute cottages as
well. The water has been
invaded by Eurasian Milfoil, an aquatic version of the
native milfoil that grows
faster and has taken over much of the shallower portions
of the lake. The Lake
Bonaparte Conservation Club has been taking measures to
control the weeds
by increasing the amount of a species of weevil that is
already present. To
read more about this effort, check out this link.
The wind has started
to rise, and thunder draws closer; time to unplug the
modem.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, August 1, 2009, 10:30 a.m.
71 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Today’s entry will be brief, as folks have arrived
to pick raspberries
and there are a few other loose ends to tie up before
heading to Lake
Bonaparte for a day of fun on the water with friends. We
had expected
a hotter morn than this, and the beginning of the day was
foggy and cool,
causing much speculation whether we had heard the right
weather report
on the morning news. The air has finally cleared, and a
stiff west wind
blew away the mist, but I believe I will pack a
sweatshirt just in case.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
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