Fall is in the air. No need to look at the calendar; there are signs everywhere.
Harvested at the end of July, my garlic has dried enough to cut, clean, and store. One drying screen almost done. One more to go.
Seed saving begins for many of my lettuces and leafy vegetables. This is Chinese Cabbage. Tiny little things, aren’t they?
This is one plant’s worth.
I like to collect enough seeds to also have some to trade on Seed … Read More
Alex, the gray parrot, and Washoe, the chimpanzee, (both recently deceased) are back in the news in this month’s National Geographic Magazine, in an article about understanding the animal’s mind. In it, the newest kid on the “smarts” block is featured. Are you ready? Yep, a Border Collie named Betsy, who knows more than 300 words. Look to being hearing lots more about her.
In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this New York Times tribute to Alex and … Read More
Can you see him? He’s in the middle of the two clumps of trees. (Sorry the photos aren’t clearer. He was all the way across the pond, toward the ridge. Even with the digital 12x zoom, it was hard to get a good shot from this distance at dusk.)
I called out to say hello, and he turned to look. He’s such a big boy now.
This coyote and I go way back. All the way back to a field … Read More
I’ve lived on or near water my whole life — ponds, rivers, swamps, lakes, streams, you name it. And I’ve spent a good deal of my life swimming, sailing, and skating on it. So I’ve learned a lot about how wind, water, and ice work.
When it comes to ice safety, there are several factors that can affect ice stability. Like the size of the body of water (a pond will be safe long before a lake). How deep the … Read More
Sometimes the day races by before I get a chance to get outside. Kiera doesn’t care what time of day it is, she just wants to make sure that, at some point, we get in our three mile walk. You see, Kiera has taken it upon herself to act as my personal fitness trainer. She doesn’t care whether I want to go or not — in her mind, not going is not an option. In the past eight years, we’ve … Read More
I’ve always loved watching birds. Once you know how to decipher their signs, they have a lot to tell you about what’s going on around you. For instance, if you’re sitting in the woods, and all of a sudden you see a flush of ground birds (robins, pheasant, turkey, etc.) fly up, you’ll know that a predator of some kind is in the vicinity. Or if the insect-eating birds (i.e. swallows) are flying lower to the ground, it’s because the … Read More
The wood’s stacked, the leaves raked, the lawn mowed one last time, and the tools put away. We’re ready for winter.
But my Maple trees? They’re still busy putting on their last hurrah.… Read More
