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Mornings have been chilly – down in the 60s – and I was very surprised to find a bright green caterpillar on the rim of a tub outside. Having recently researched caterpillars for another post, I knew this was a special caterpillar, and I wondered why it was motionless, out in the open, covered in dew. Was it even alive?
Continue reading “Growing Things: Raising An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly”
Now that it’s Fall, sunrise occurs later, which provides me with some time in the morning to read, write, attend to indoor tasks, or simply think while it’s dark and quiet…before I need to go out and tend the animals. It’s a welcome period in days that sometimes feel like I’m racing the clock.
Continue reading “Haiku: Quotidian Quietude”
A strong storm blew in yesterday – the kind that made me wish I’d shut the solid coop door (often open for airflow this time of year, with the chickens safe behind a wire-covered “screen” door). The rain pounded the earth in slanted sheets, and the trees’ limbs flailed in the whipping wind. Thunder rattled the glassware in the china cabinet and I steered clear of the windows, wary of the brilliant flashes of lightning.
Continue reading “Haiku: Mercurial Mammatus”
With Autumn upon us, flowers like Queen Anne’s Lace have mostly bloomed and gone to seed around here. While the goldenrod is still going strong, another “weed” is alive with insects seeking nectar. It’s so popular, in fact, that the bushes buzz with the sound of the industrious creatures.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Busy Bees And Working Wasps”
I must confess that I’ve taken the grasshoppers and crickets here for granted. Pastures teeming with the insects seem to imply that their populations are healthy…but, on a larger scale, they’re not. One day – soon, even – they may disappear.
Continue reading “Haiku: Ghost Grasshopper”
The largest sunflower, a volunteer that defiantly sprouted from a seed that the chickens either missed or couldn’t reach because it bounced outside their run, has reached the point where it’s ready for harvest. While I’m always delighted to find these kinds of volunteers, I also discovered a surprise growing amidst the other sunflowers that I had intentionally planted. What kind of surprise? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “Around The Farm: A Small Harvest…And A Surprise”