New Blog

As I'm sure many of you have noticed (if any of you still check the blog), Nora and I have pretty much abandoned the Sleepy Dog Farm blog.  First, this was only intended to be a year long venture 'cause you all know Nora and I aren't exactly known for our focus and staying power.  Second, Google has all but abandoned the blogging platform we are using for this blog. 

However, I have started a spin-off blog.  No promises as to how faithfully I will post, but it began as my garden journal, as well as my place to rant against climate change and the systematic destruction of the ecological balance on this planet.  Venture in for a read if this entices you at all.  Nora remains enlisted -- much to her chagrin -- as the resident photographer.  You can find it at https://wildlifegardenerblog.wordpress.com/

Why You Should Garden Organically

It's tempting to reach for the chemical sprays or powders when your walk into your garden and find your favorite rose overrun with aphids or Japanese beetles, or find your cauliflower beset by cabbage worms.  After all, what harm can a localized spray possibly do?

The answer is quite a lot.  The fact is 90% or more of all insects are beneficial and harmless, and no matter how "localized" the spray, the chemical will kill all insects -- not just the "pests."  A diverse collection of insects in your garden/yard translates into good pollination and fruit development, and a natural, non-toxic check on the growth of "pests." We need insects in the ecosystem.  The alternative would be hand-pollinating our fruit and vegetables to continue our food supply.  Clearly not a viable or reasonable alternative.

And beneficial insects, if allowed to flourish, will curb the spread of pests.  The two most effective ways to encourage beneficial insects is to avoid using all chemical sprays and fertilizers in your garden/yard, and to plant with beneficial insects in mind.  In other words, create mixed borders and gardens by planting various types of flowers, shrubs, herbs and vegetables together.  A rose under-planted with other enticing flowers will suffer fewer Japanese beetles, then will the traditional, formal, mono-culture rose garden.

The same ban should apply to the use of synthetic fertilizers, such as the ever popular "blue stuff"
(i.e., Miracle-Gro), or the various types of fertilizers used to produce the perfect, weed-free lawn so favored by suburban America.  Each of these poses dangers to water (seeping into ground water or flowing into streams and rivers, which then carry the chemicals into the ocean creating the algae blooms that have become an increasingly significant pollution issue), wildlife, and humans. 

The alternatives are easy and so much healthier for us, our local wildlife and the planet.  First, use compost instead of synthetic fertilizers to feed the soil and your plants.  Even if you have a small urban or suburban yard, you can easily create a compost bin in a discreet corner of your yard, or buy one of the bins that can be easily rotated (available at most garden stores).  Toss all vegetable/green matter, eggshells, coffee grounds, and yard clippings onto the pile (avoid adding weeds, leaves, or woody material unless your compost pile maintains a high internal temperature).  Flip periodically, and eventually it will decompose and create a beautiful, rich compost that will add nutrients to your soil.  It can be as simple as that!

My solution for the perfect lawn is to "get over it."  You can have beautiful "green space" without worrying about the perfect lawn.  Learn to live with different types of grasses, dandelions and clover.  Personally I prefer the imperfect green space with its low-lying wildflowers that provide additional food for bees, and a much more hospitable environment for insects and grubs, which in turn provide toxin-free food for the local birds.

If you've always used pesticides and you suddenly stop, you likely will see a small explosion of aphids and other pests.  This is temporary, until your garden/yard can re-establish a natural balance.  Be patient and don't succumb to non-organic means of control out of frustration.  While you wait for your landscape to re-balance itself, use methods such as handpicking pests and dropping them into buckets of soapy water, applying nematodes in spring and fall to your soil to reduce the slug and Japanese beetle population, hosing aphids off plants and/or laying down rings of crushed eggshells or spent coffee grounds around the base of plants to prevent slug and snail damage -- each of these methods allow for control of the pest populations without wiping out the beneficial insects as collateral damage.

The "Arbor to Nowhere" is no more

And that is because it is now the "Arbor to Somewhere". A while ago I posted about Lynn's penchant for arbors Arborlover. And I pointed out that she had Jim construct an arbor that appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever. After three years, this now leads to somewhere. Thanks to the great efforts of Lynn's brother Jim. He and the beloved Kubota worked hard to clear a path straight out into our woods that connects to an existing logging road. He trucked piles of rocks to serve as filler to plug up some big gaps. He also had to manually clear one portion that was pretty thick with brush.
Why is this so exciting you ask? Well, we now do not have to walk 600 feet through three gates to walk in the woods. Awesome!

This path is about 300 feet in total I would guess and connects directly to the logging road

This shows how thick the brush was that Jim had to cut through to clear it.

And I thought I had no sense of direction

Last week I noticed a bird who looked different than any I had seen around the property. He would hang out by the feeders and hop along the ground. Always alone, and usually hanging around the same group of trees. So I took some pics and googled him. He is a Bronzed Cowbird. The thing is, they are from Central America and go as far north as Louisiana. Well, we are pretty far north from that so it is a mystery how he got here. Perhaps he hitched a ride with a moving van. I saw him yesterday, and our temps are dropping so I hope this little guy can make it through one of our winters. And just so ya know I did report the sighting on ebird which I believe is run by Cornell.

First cardinal of the season

and her hair is a damn mess. Gosh, girl go and get that fixed now.

Do yourself a favor and take a walk in the woods

That is exactly what we did yesterday. We had two nights in the 20s which is unusually cool for this time of year. As a result, the leaves on the trees started to shed. So I was anxious to get out and capture some of the fall beauty of the woods. It paid off as I was filled with awe. That is, until it started snowing. Yeh, we had a random snow squall blow in. Weird but cool.

Random pics

Good morning moon

Perfect Corgi pose

Rain catcher

If only we could all look this cool after our bloom is spent

A special night lives on

If you recall, (and even if you don't) our crew of crazies paid homage to Monty Python's Holy Grail to welcome the new year. Click here to refresh your memory . The rabbit burned successfully and has been sitting atop our burn pile ever since. Lynn and I decided that the effigy should live on. Yesterday, Jim and I relocated said rabbit across the yard into a rock area. It is Lynn's turn to work her gardening magic and cover the wascal wabbit with greenery. I can't wait to see how it looks in a year or so.

A chill day

Our weather has been really strange as of late. Over the last two weeks we had windy and hot days with temps in the 80s and winds at a steady 15-20 mph. And an unfortunate deep freeze one morning, that did a number on some plants. Not our usual May that is for sure. I think Mother Nature is experiencing wicked mood swings.
We got some very welcomed rain yesterday and more today. It is about 50 degrees right now and breezy with showers on and off. A perfect day to just chill and relax. So that is what Mags and Tilly have decided to do.

Earning their keep

Some of the girls are out today helping Lynn weed the blueberries.

Chickens and ducks can be pretty helpful with the removal of garden pests. You really want to limit them to mature plant areas. They disturb the soil too much for newbies.

And some are just posing

Signs of spring

This has been a crazy spring weather-wise: one day pushing 90 degrees with evenings in the 60s and next (like today), highs of low 60s with the nights grazing the freeze zone....and little rain over the last couple of weeks.  Nevertheless, spring has arrived and the garden is coming alive with color.

Forget-me-not

Allium aflatunense "Purple Sensation"

Crab apple in bloom

Bearded Iris "Hemstitched" 

It's due time for some color

Spring morning shots

This is one of those mornings after a rain. I love it so I took some random pics. 

I think Spring may have arrived…

Sunday was sunny, in the mid 60s and glorious.  Yesterday was breezy and in the mid-70s!  Too warm for my taste in early April, but can I really complain?  We opened the windows and allowed the wonderful spring air to push out the staleness of winter.  Sunday was all about outside clean-up: gathering the detritus that winter leaves behind, pulling pine boughs off peony beds, and gathering the many branches pruned from the fruit trees and shrubs.  I also spent a fair amount of time on Sunday in the mixed borders, gently pruning and pulling dead leaves and stalks from the top of the burgeoning perennials.  Green was peaking out everywhere – the Lady’s Mantle and day lilies were already forming mounds of lime green leaves and the tops of tulips, daffodils, and alliums poked up through the warming soil.   The wood line and yard were alive with the sounds of birds, hens and ducks – even the occasional sheep baa’ing from the pasture. 

Spring had finally arrived.  I could feel it in the warmth of the sun, the cool breeze that smelled of damp earth, the sounds of life re-awakening after the winter slumber.  I could feel the energy of the animals and plants as everyone collectively stretched unused muscles, breathed in the warm air of spring, and welcomed the stirring of a new beginning.

And as if that weren’t satiating enough, in the evening, as dusk arrived, so too did the raucous chorus of the peepers.  They were back!  The true harbingers of spring in my mind.  Nora led me to the door and opened it with a big smile, knowing how thrilled I would be to hear them for the first time this season.

What a marvelous couple of days.

April Chores

Before reaching the beauty that is late May, there are a host of April chores to be done.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I got a decent start yesterday.  Although not apparent from the snowy photo, the ground was almost completely bare of snow yesterday.  A couple of days in the 60s and a couple of rainy days did the trick.  Although disappointing to wake up to snow this morning, it will be partly sunny today with a high of 38.  Doesn't sound warm perhaps, but it will be enough to melt the 1" of snow we received last evening.

Anyway, snow or not, spring chores are in full stride.  I have close to 200 seedlings growing in the house, including: hollyhock, echinacea (coneflower),  lavender (Hidcote), anise hyssop, foxglove, sweet rocket, canterbury bells, nigella, salvia, globe thistle, chamomile, lemon balm, valerian, chives, red and yellow peppers, 4 different types of tomatoes (mix of cherry, plum and big, juicy slicers), and leeks.  Light on the veggies, because most of what I grow are direct seeded.

I have a ton of bare-root plants coming in mid-April, as well as onion and shallot sets and 3 different types of potatoes.  My favorite local nursery (St. Lawrence Nurseries) for berries, shrubs and fruit trees is closing shop after this year (well, they will be selling wholesale, but no retail).  The owners are 70, and have decided it's time to cut back on their work a bit.  So, needless to say, I felt compelled to stock up.  I purchased: 2 pie cherry trees, 4 ornamental cherry trees, 12 raspberry bushes, 11 winterberry, 3 manchurian (crab) apple, 2 red maple, and 10 rugosa rose.  I also discovered a local nursery that specializes in cold-hardy roses, so I ordered 8 of those the other day (4 different types of shrub roses, multiples of each since I've decided to follow David Austin's advice of planting 2-3 of the same type to make a more showy grouping).

In addition to getting the bare-root plants into the ground before they come out of dormancy, I have a bunch of clean-up to do in the mixed borders, as well some dividing and relocating of perennials. Then all beds need to be weeded, edged and mulched with compost.  I've decided to move away from use of wood mulches in the flowers beds this year.  Although great for cutting down on weeds, the wood tends to leech nitrogen out of the soil; nitrogen that is needed for plant health and growth,  So, instead I will use a mix of compost (made here) and aged manure (also made here - thank you sheep and ducks).  My intent is to make my own manure tea this summer as well, using poo/muck from the duck pond (the digging/building of which is also on my spring to-do list).

Also on the April list:
* replace 3 rotted fence posts in sheep pasture
* thoroughly clean out coops and sheep barn
* repair hen/duck fencing where rabbits have eaten holes
* prune berry bushes
* remove straw from garlic bed
* move strawberries to raised beds in veg garden
* build 4 more raised beds in veg garden
* flip compost piles
* weed and mulch base of young fruit trees
* trim sheep hooves and shear (late April, if warm enough)
* late April/early May -- plant cold crops in veg garden (peas, lettuces, kale, chard, etc.); direct seed forget-me-nots, poppies, etc.

Whew that's a lot.

Illusive Spring - oh, how you taunt me

Yesterday was in the 60s and sunny.  I came home from work and spent several hours outside cleaning up broken branches, removing pine boughs from the bases of my roses and other perennials, and pruning some shrubs.  It was marvelous, and wonderful to see the hens, ducks and sheep all outside picking at the ground and walking around.

This morning I wake up to this...

Another guest at the Duck Coop Hotel

This one just came for breakfast.

The quality of the shot isn't the best but you can see that one of them is not of the avian family. Here's another shot a little later.

Newest addition to the family?

This little girl or boy first showed up under the bird feeders a few days ago, around 4:30-5pm.  This is the first time I've seen an opossum out and about in daylight.  They are a nocturnal, slow-moving animal; the only marsupial in North America.  It is extremely rare to see them this far north in New York (another sign of climate change perhaps?).  They do not hibernate, and are sensitive to the cold; prone to frostbite on the tips of their ears and tails, which this little being has signs of.  They are opportunistic feeders, eating everything from carrion to berries and seeds.  Here, she is thoroughly enjoying the sunflower seeds thrown from the feeders by our pack of red squirrels and flock of blue jays.  She stayed for about an hour and then moseyed under our back stoop.  She continued to show up at the feeders for the next couple of days anywhere from 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Then, on Saturday, I saw her once again and then she disappeared.  I assumed back under the stoop for some shut-eye.  I headed out to the coops around 5:00 p.m. for the evening feeding and tuck in. I opened the big door to the hen/duck coop and there, hanging out in a bed of straw, is my little 'possum friend. "Well, hello there," I say.  "You're not supposed to be in here."  I stepped into the coop and tried to encourage her to leave.  She just sat there and looked at me.  So, I walked back to the house to grab my work gloves figuring she was going to require a more explicit re-lo program. Lorna and Tim were already at the house cooking the prime rib (to go along with the fab, colossal king crab legs Nora purchased directly from some place in Alaska - these things were almost 2' long!) for my b'day dinner, and Lorna was astounded that I was going to pick this animal up and move her out of the coop - not that I had a choice, she could not cohabitate with the hens and ducks.  When I got back out to the coop, she had not moved.  So I stepped inside again and slowly approached her, talking to her while I did so.  She continued to stare at me, but no hissing and baring of teeth.  So I figured what the hell, and reached out to pick her up.  She was, after all, not much larger than the numerous ferrets I've handled over the years, with not much sharper teeth and a seemingly more docile temperament.  She didn't resist at all, or turn to try to bite me.  I carried her back to the house, curled up in my arms.  Lorna met me at the back door and I asked her to grab some sunflower seeds on a plastic lid, which I placed under the stoop along with Miss 'Possum.  She just sat there not moving for a bit, not "playing dead" as they are known for, but not sure she should move either.  However, within 5-10 minutes she was up and eating seeds.

Oddly, I've not seen her out in daylight since Saturday, but saw signs of her tracks in the snow yesterday morning.  I hope she lingers here long enough to put on some size and then wanders off to her next locale before she gets big enough to potentially do some damage to the hens...because then I will have to relocate her back into the woods; a considerably more dangerous location for her from a predator standpoint.

Patience

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm trying to be patient.  We made it through February; my least favorite month of the year.  Although we generally remain in the deep freeze for another 2-3 weeks, March always seems more hopeful to me. It's the beginning of the gradual climb toward spring.  The sun feels warmer and the days grow longer.  Egg production steps up among the hens and ducks.

On a practical note, it means I'm able to begin sowing seeds indoors - at least those requiring a solid 10 week lead time (cabbage, cauliflower, lemon balm, valerian, hollyhock, etc.) - and to re-pot my dahlia tubers.  I also get outside to do some selective pruning in the orchard; in snow shoes if need be.  

Spring 2014

Last May's tulips in the front border.  A far cry from where we are at the moment.  -30 degrees this morning with the wind chill.

No one will be allowed outside today (other than dogs), which they will all hate.  But the young hens and ducks don't know enough to stay inside the coop, and I fear frostbite is a very real threat to them today.  The heat lamps will remain on in the coops over the next couple of days, and I'll spend some time this morning adding some additional bedding for the ducks. Everyone will get extra feed and grain today, which hopefully will be some consolation for the lack of freedom.