Sometimes we need a reminder of why we have animals in our lives

I'd say this shot about covers it for me.

Happy holidays!

What are they doing out there?

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.

Another guest at the farm

Lynn and I have been trying to get close to this little guy for weeks now with no luck. He has a highly developed fear instinct and bolts usually at the sight of us. We started leaving food outside for him and slowly moving that food into the barn, in an effort to get comfortable in there. My hope is that he sleeps in there to escape the elements. It appears as though he does.
So we leave food in the barn every morning and every night as well as leave the barn doors slightly open so he can find shelter. Not sure how we are going to handle winter with him. Leaving the barn doors open is not the best idea. I think we should put in a cat door, Lynn does not agree. What to do! Should I just pull a Nora and buy and have Jim install the cat door? Probably. Even though this little one is a major snot-head for not liking us, I feel responsible for his well-being. And obviously Lynn does cause she is the one who started feeding him in the first place. Damn we are suckers. Little stinker dude.

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.

and with a frost comes pics

First hard frost of the season

But the colors are still vivid. I really do love the fall. you can see the tracks in the filed. They are the result of the dogs running around in the frost-covered grass.

Last weekend's photos

Dahlia "David Howard" - a new addition to the hot border this year and I love it!  It supposedly can reach up to 6' tall, although mine is only between 3-4'.  I prefer the more contained height so I don't have to bother with staking.  But it has the most gorgeous bronze foliage set against spectacular bronze-orange flowers.  Truly a beautiful dahlia.

The beginning of the fall display; we produced a few pumpkins this year.  Halloween decorating still to come!

"Sweet Autumn" clematis (clematis paniculata) - a late bloomer, having only just fully opened within the past week or so.  Hardy and can grow up to 30' tall.  The above mass is a single plant.  

Thought for the day

“If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's.” 
                                                                                             - Joseph Campbell

It's been too hot to do much of anything

but although steamy, the fog was lovely yesterday morning.

Open view since we had to bring the diseased elm down; young lilacs have been transplanted along the
fence line to create a future hedge

Dew-laden handiwork from one of the local residents

Hints of fall in the tree line; drooping heads of giant sunflowers -- a special treat for the yellow finches

Faded goldenrod

Garden photos

Apologies for our lengthy absence, but life around the farm gets very busy in the summer. Unfortunately, summer peak in the flower gardens passed us by un-photographed, but year 4 of the garden was lovely.  We're in the late summer lull at the moment, waiting for the fall burst of color from the fall foliage, dahlias, rudbeckia, sedum and asters, and second bloom on the catmint, roses and a few others.  The vegetable garden/potager is in full swing and brilliantly colored from the sunflowers, cosmos, zinnia, calendula and borage.  Enjoy some photos taken this morning.

Potager - despite the wealth of flowers, there are actually vegetables in there as well

Herb bed

cosmos and origanum

One of our many bee friends enjoying the zinnia

A new addition this year: Graham Thomas rose (a David Austin creation)

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.

The vignette

I like to create vignettes in the garden.  When creating a new border, I conjure it up in my mind's eye and try to imagine how the colors and textures will flow at its peak.  Last fall, I planted just such a grouping of bulbs under a young crab apple.  I hoped the light blue of the camassia cusickii and forget-me-nots would blend with the vibrant purple orbs of allium aflatunense "Purple Sensation," the shades of which would be reflected in the light and dark pinks of the apple blossoms -- all set off by the brilliant yellows and whites of the narcissus at their feet.

It almost worked.  Unfortunately, the narcissus bloomed a week too early, whether from my miscalculation in species (early bloomer v. mid-spring bloomer) or the unseasonably warm temps, I don't know.  Nonetheless, there were 3-4 days when the pinks, purples and blues were stunningly complimentary of one another.  However, I missed the photo op, which was prematurely shattered when the strong winds of the last few days removed all of the apple blossoms.  Modification: once the leaves of the narcissus die back, I will dig up the bulbs and in the fall, they will be relocated to the orchard where they will be allowed to "naturalize."  I will replace them in this border with a mid-spring yellow tulip instead.

Note the spent heads of the narcissus and the lack of apple blossoms, although I still love the burgundy leaves of this crab apple.  The forget-me-nots are in their first year; still too small to show in this photo, but they are tucked in amidst the narcissus.  Next year, the blue and yellow of the forget-me-nots and camassia while look stunning against the yellow tulips. There is always next year.

"What is a weed?"

"But a plant whose virtues have never been discovered." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clearly Emerson hired gardeners and never weeded a day in his life!  

Nora and I spent days clearing weeds and straw mulch (winter covering) from the beds in the kitchen garden, and I spent another couple planting seeds and transplants.  As you can see, the garlic (planted last November), onions, shallots and strawberries are looking good.  We also have signs of life among the beets, carrots, kale, swiss chard and lettuces - all planted several weeks ago.  Recently sown: cucumbers, summer squashes, potatoes, green beans, black beans, marigolds, borage, chamomile, chives, leeks, edamame, cosmos, zinnias, echinacea, sweet peas. and calendula.  Still waiting in the wings for the last of the cold evenings to receed - 5 different types of tomatoes and 2 types of sweet peppers.

Hollyhock border

Always a work in progress, the mixed borders are coming along nicely this season.  Above is the "hollyhock" border; this is it's second year and already it has easily doubled in size - and not all as a result of my effort.  Hollyhocks, valerian, and poppies are all self-sowing plants - meaning they drop their seed in the fall and new plants appear in the spring.  Magical.  To help things along I added another 10 or so new hollyhock seedlings that I sowed inside this March/April, as well as a couple of valerian seedlings. Hollyhocks are biennial, so although a sizeable mound forms the first season, they will not bloom until their second year; then they are spent.  But if you have a decent number of plants, they will self-seed as mentioned above and you can continue to enjoy this marvelous cottage garden flower in your border for years to come.

The grouping of white blossoms above are Japanese Anemones; this plant sends out horizontal shoots much like bee balm, so also doubles in size every year.  In fact, like bee balm, it can quickly take over a border if its expansion is not contained by some well-considered removal of shoots. In the forefront are some bearded iris ("Hemstiched") and the flashes of red in the background are the blossoms of the coral bells, and the tops of penstemon.  The tripods are in place to support the clematis that will, if the bunnies don't get to them first, climb and produce a profusion of white blossoms within in a few weeks.

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

Lilacs

A sure sign of spring in the northeast.  We have several varieties blooming in shades of purple and pink, and at slightly different times.

The "old ladies" - these were here when we bought the property

These were relocated to the front garden in 2009

"Ludwig Spaeth" -- deep purple blossoms, usually opens in early June but our unseasonably warm temps have caused an early bloom

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"