We have a dozen sponsors this morning. Some louder than others. Some more prolific than others. Black-capped Chickadees are busy flitting back and forth from the cedars to the sunflowers. American Goldfinches are feasting on dried dill seeds. Glad I didn't clean up the dead dill plants yesterday. It takes a long time to know who likes what.
Here's who the Merlin app and I heard this morning.
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Yellow Warbler
American Goldfinch
Northern Cardinal
Red-eyed Vireo
Song Sparrow
American Robin
Blue Jay
American Crow
Red-shouldered Hawk
Common Grackle
As I was taking pictures of the Goldfinches in the dill plants, I heard the sound of stuff falling out of the cedar trees to the west. There's a squirrel up there, harvesting the cedars' seeds. They already dropped dozens of spruce cones a few weeks ago. Today it's cedar harvesting day. They are true planners.
Two-step process.
Drop the food.
Store it.
In the wood pile.
I'll need to harvest more elderberries next week. Maybe our nature-loving grandkids will help me. This week's treasure of 7 small jars of Elderberry Juice are on the shelf in the basement.
We still rely on a bit of RoundUp here and there. Ted is hoping to stop that by laying down landscape cloth on the paths and then covering it with dust and chips. Sadly, he has not been feeling well enough this summer to take on that huge self-imposed challenge.
Years ago, Lindsey gave me this beautiful bowl. I made the mistake of forgetting to bring it inside one winter and it started to deteriorate. I gave it a new home on a stump of a dead ash tree that Ted cut down next to the pond. It's been there for a couple of years. Just sitting there, waiting for something to happen. Well, this past month something did happen. Look at that fungus! And it even matches the bowl.
Nature does its work, if we allow it.
Also near the pond, is my long-awaited Redbud tree. It seems to be very happy in the shade of the woods. I have a very short wish list of things that I would like to own. RedBud was on that list. Hmmmm.... now that I think of it, there is nothing else on that list. I can't wait until it blooms. Hoping I will still be living here when it does.
Jewel weeds have enjoyed the increased sunlight created by the loss of all the Ash trees. You win some, you lose some.
So, as I was admiring the Jewelweed, I noticed this interestingly plain yellow flower. Glad I checked it out: Nodding Bur-Marigold. I love wildflowers. But, this one needs to go. My life is too short to be spent picking out tenacious seeds that stick to everything. Sorry Nodding.
Moving around the pond, I spotted a missing frog. Yesterday, there were no large frogs. Today, all three of them were back and this one was.....
..... surveying its kingdom. Glad we created its kingdom. It gives us as much pleasure as I am sure it gives its king.
And, this is what it was also looking out at. More RoundUp-killed plants. Ted used a very diluted mixture. He is hoping to use the same things around the pond as on the walkways. Landscape cloth and dust & chips. We'll see how it goes. It may never happen and that is fine too. In this season of our lives, we tend to take each day as it's give to us with thanks and not expect too much from the future.
Last year the left compost bin was filled with plant matter - to the TOP. The resulting black gold is now ready to wheel to the gardens.
Some of the rocks are becoming nicely covered with mosses.
And, the ones that were moved in place around the ponds two years ago are now looking like they belong. I expect mosses to find them in the coming years.
Ted has a mental bucket list of things to do around the place. One has been to erect a protective shelter around the two rows of blueberry bushes. A few years ago we got a car-garage-sized shelter from a neighbour who was ditching it. The structure has been calling to Ted to be made into a covering for the blueberries. This week, the project was started. Lucky blueberries.
Lucky us. MMMMMmmmm... blueberries next year.
Back to the vegetable garden, the root crops are still happy.
And, my experiment of starting a later mixed salad crop seems to be working too.
We haven't attained a complete balance between the natural, native world and our hybridized, edible world, but I think our sponsors are happier each year with the changes we've made. There are more birds and insects and animals living on or visiting our space now. That can only be a good thing.
🍁
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
🍁
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