RAIN AND SHINE

The rain was little more than a mist this morning as I hustled Parker out for morning relief. The ground was wet, and there was a slight coolness emanating from the North. Later the sun came out and it was warm. That is the rhythm of the weather now, some rain, cool then warm, sunshine and clouds.
I am sad to report that the tomato harvest is dropping off rapidly, the combination of shorter days, rain and cooler night temperatures is closing off that portion of the garden. I have replanted the lettuce beds for fall and winter harvest of greens, I am ready to also plant the garlic for spring harvest, and I see that cilantro that self seeded in the early summer is starting to grow, as are the larkspur. Some of the hydrangeas have missed the fact that winter is coming, producing new bloom just when they should be finished.
The little wren that skulks around in the garden every fall is here, the humming-
birds are not. I spotted a Palm Warbler in the back garden when I was sitting out on the deck with the dogs, along with a Blue Grosbeak.
The Eagles are into lots of activity in the woods by the river. They always take the opportunity this time of year to refurbish their nest for the arrival of the eggs in the winter. All manner of stick and twig are being moved in.
It is a beautiful time of year here on the farm. The stalks of corn are drying and rustle in the wind, some of the field has been harvested, leaving behind the stubble which opens up the views to the edge of the woods where there is the beginnings of a touch of color developing. The soybeans are still lush and green, but they are full of pods, and finished with the production of new ones. The process of drying is going to start.
I was sitting very still in the red chairs of wooded garden I have planted out the back door. A Kestrel must have missed spotting me and flew to sit on the hammock right in front of my chair. Just as quickly he realized his mistake and flew. It was great for that one moment to be eye to eye with one of my favorite birds. I am not sure who was more shocked.

PARKER

The day came for Puppy #2 to make his way to Puck's Glen Farm. With a face that makes you want to smoother him in kisses, he is the cutest little bundle. Gladly running after you as you walk down the lane, hopping, tumbling, and rolling in the grass. The morning dew has settled in, and he is very shortly soaking wet. That does not seem to stop his romp. Jake is indifferent, the pup sensing this keeps his distance, although the few times the puppy runs in between Jakes legs, there is no response from the big guy. Zoe has become the the target of the puppies play. Scampering in and out of her legs, jumping up to play with her ear. Zoe is not sure yet, and occasionally warns him off with a growl, she also engages in a little play with him. The beginnings of a friendship?
It is not all cute and adorable. There is the need for constant supervision, the whining for attention, and the trips outside in the middle of the night for puppy peeing. Part of the "joys" of raising a puppy
Parker will grow up fast, take his place in the pack, and settle into this house which is now his own.

MORNING LIGHT

There was a slight wind from the Northeast that rustled the dry cornstalks as we started down the lane this morning for our walk. This is the first morning since spring that I grabbed a sweater to protect my arms from the chill. The grass was saturated with moisture from the condensation. The sky was clear blue. Fall. I know this from many signs I see, but the angle of the suns light in the morning says it all.

HOME

I have been traveling.  First to Salt Lake for a family event, and then on to my heart's home in Northern California.  The dry grasses  have the familiar smell that never fails to stir a flicker of remembrance. I don't know if we ever lose our memory of smell. I walked the hills with my good friends and we talked, laughed and watched the birds. What could be better.

I came home from that adventure to leave for Maine.  This trip took me to the home of the young puppy that will soon be sharing the farm with us.  5 week old puppies, to cute to even describe.

So now I am home for a while.  I was greeted with much interested by Jake and Zoe.  They knew I had been with other dogs, and they were trying to find out as much about them as they could through their noses.

One of the guinea fowl met his demise while I was away.  Now a solitary little guy prowls the property.  It seems a little sad to me.  Although they were often engaged in battles, they were always together.  I wonder if he is lonely, I fear he must be.

The gardens are going to seed.  Cone flowers are now food for the gold finches. The daisies are completely gone, as is the penstemon.  There is some re-bloom on an assortment of spring bloomers, lavender, clematis, and phlox, but it is sporadic and much less than the first flush.The butterflies and hummingbirds, however, are being kept very happy with the salvias, scutellaria and antirrhinums which along with the warm season grasses are just coming into their full glory. Out the back door along the walk there is a full flush of bloom from the row of Cryopteris which I call butterfly alley.

The pears are almost ripe.  This is the first year we will have much of a harvest.  The figs are also maturing and starting to produce the fruit that is so sweet and good warmed by the sun, straight off the tree.

The sunlight is starting come later and leave earlier, but the garden will remain a delight for at least 2 more months.

PUPPY NEWS

Puck's Glen Farm is about to get a new inhabitant.  Little unnamed black male Standard Poodle has been born, and is thriving up in Maine, while we wait patiently for him to get big enough to leave his mother, brothers and sisters.   Jake and Zoe will have another little creature to attend to and learn to live with, it will be interesting to see how they adapt.  I think we are going to need some new rules, boundaries and limitations.

TIME PASSES

The Soybeans are rapidly filling in the bare ground left with the harvest of the wheat.  A small band of geese are starting to inhabit the field and ponds.  The corn is starting to tassel, and has grown tall and green.  Tomatoes are ripening.  All of this points to the march of time through the summer towards fall.  It is amazing to observe the changes in the fields and garden with time.  The cone flowers are completely open and starting to go to seed, I know because the goldfinches are abundant.  The brilliant orange tiger lilies (Cynthia's lilies) are 5 feet tall and opening blossoms slowly towards the top.  The grasses are shooting up about to extend their flowers into the air as well.  It has been dry, and even with the irrigation that I have put in it is still not as good as a real rain.  Perhaps soon.  Butterflies are becoming more abundant, skipping around here and there, from Vitex to the butterfly bush.

I rescued a little baby hummingbird off the hot stone of the patio, dipped him under a mister in the garden a few times and left him sitting on limb of the maple tree in the shade.  When I returned and lifted him up he spread his wings and flew up high over the pear trees by the pool, hope he made it home.

JUNE BLOOMS

The humid days of summer have arrived so sitting out in the thick air of the evening the pleasure of scent is abundant. The closeness of the air holds the smell of the phlox, sweet bay magnolias, and whatever redolent bloom wafts into and lingers in the ether.


The real reason to have a garden is the fresh cut flowers you can bring in almost every day. "If I was a rich man" I would have fresh flowers all over the house, and clean, pressed sheets every night. I will have to settle for fresh cut flowers in the months of bloom. Today it was a big bunch of white phlox, I also could not resist mixing some of the blue and white mop head Hydrangias together. So now as I sit in front of the window wall looking over the garden watching an array of birds coming and going from the feeder and the birdbath, I am surrounded by the sweet scent and beautiful display of these vases.
There is an abundance of blooms open in the garden now.

WATCHING THE DAYS SHORTEN

The rains have stopped, at least temporarily. The sun is bright and things seem to be drying out. The mornings and evenings are delightful, a little less so during the day because of the humidity, but nothing to really complain about. The corn has shot up during the rain, and is now also enjoying the sun.
I have put some chairs out in the wooded part of the garden, in the shade of the London Plane tree. With bird feeders close by that becomes a perfect spot to sit quietly and watch all manner of bird fly in and out of cover in the late evening.
Fireflies are lighting up all over the fields, particular to the now dry wheat crop on the East side of the farm.
Did you realize we have pasted the longest day of the year?

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

Our weather has been marked by an abundance of rain, and mostly cool temperature. What one would think of as perfect garden growing. The garden is rich and abundant, for sure, but underneath the beauty lies the dark side. There is a rust on the Amelanchiers, and the contorted Mulberry, the heat loving, water intolerant pentstemon, lavender, thyme , and salvia are lovely, but up under their leaves the mildew and bacterial rot has started to show up.
Through the drought of last year and the year before, many plants struggled to survive the heat and dryness, now the plants that loved that weather are struggling. I guess that is how the garden is. Perfect one moment, and then poof, disaster.
It is hard for me to tell how jaded my view might be. Perhaps if I could stroll through the landscape, purged of the idea that it is my garden, I would see less flaws and more perfection. But, as I can not walk on the paths without stopping to pluck out a weed that always catches my eye, I am also unable to see just the beauty of what the rains have brought, without seeing the impending damage as well.

ALL ABOUT JACOB

Still in High School, he came to visit Puck's Glen Farm with his parents and little sister. Just a young boy really. Still asking for his dad to "flutter" him when he went to bed, which is, from what I could tell, a movement of raising the sheet high above the bed and letting it float down settling on the occupant.
I ask him to climb the ladder to change a light bulb for me, and upon completion, I said your hired. "Really, could I come work for you!". It was a done deal.
He came to me that summer, totally disarming me. Here was this young man, who loved to sit out on the porch with these old folks in the evening and watch the world of the farm slip into darkness. He saw his first fire fly, learned to mulch, dig, hoe, the difference between a weed and a wanted plant and drive the tractor. He help build the first shed, and made a lasting friendship with the man I got him a part time job with. I don't know if I have ever met such an open person before. No defenses, no large ego, confident, but humble, not to mention thoughtful and sweet.
He is back for a repeat this summer. He is more mature to be sure, but not much else has changed. He is still that open lovely man that I got to experience the first summer. It is bittersweet in the garden with him this year, as I know his life journey will take him on a road that will not allow for these litttle summer detours any more. He will marry, finish college, go on to graduate school, you know have a life. For right now though, I can share the joy of him learning to drive Big Blue Bertha the dump truck, watch him learn to do some woodwork with Frank, and know he will leave behind a legacy, here on the farm, where ever he has moved a stone, planted a tree, or placed an urn.

HELP HAS ARRIVED

I guess I have been out in the garden working, and not in the house blogging.
Work is moving forward at a fast a furious pace, now that I have reinforcements. Jacob(my nephew) has arrived to help out on the farm and in the garden for a couple of months. There will be more about him later, but one note, Jake my beloved boy now considers me only if Jacob is not in the vicinity. When we picked Jacob up at the airport, Jake and Zoe acted as if they were receiving the King back into their myst.
The Peonies are starting to bloom, with the rain yesterday their big buds started pulling the plant to the ground, a few blossom removed, they were upright again with the kitchen being the beneficiary.
The Killdeer couple on the walkway has successfully hatched all 4 eggs. The little chicks were out of the nest, running around on the lower driveway within 12 hrs. of leaving their shells, tucking back in under their parent when they were cold and tired, then off to the races again. It served as great entertainment as we sat out on the patio at days end. This morning as the poodles and I left for our walk, we scattered all of them much to the consternation of the parents. One very small chick was scurrying through the wet grass with great difficulty. I carefully picked him up depositing his fuzzy little body back onto the more easily traversed drive, and then we were on our way.

MIST

The house had disappeared when I turned to look half way down the lane to the river. The mist is so thick I can't see the hedgerows, and the air has settled onto the grasses, making them wet. There has been day after day of rain, at times heavy with wind, at others light drizzle. But the grey, wet has been unrelenting. True it makes everything look fresh and new, the greens stand out more against the monochrome of the sunless sky. We do not let it dampen our spirits, Jake, Zoe and I. We can still walk the edges and marvel in the rapid growth of the forest canopy.

FIRSTS

A single Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and two male Orchard Orioles, appeared in the garden yesterday. First sighting this year.
There is a new Robin's nest being built in the cherry tree, right next to the deck, this is the replacement for the nest that was abandoned on the deck chair. I fear too much activity prompted them to start over somewhere safer, after laying 4 eggs and starting the incubation for about a week. Not so for the steadfast little Killdeer. They continue to use every tool to protect their eggs. I am the usual target, but Jake and Zoe also hear the wrath if they venture to close.
There are lots of buds forming in the garden, iris, peony, blue eyed grass, and Bay Leaf Magnolia. The best of all is the beginnings of a bud on my Gladiolus segetum. I planted this 3 years ago, with the caveat that is would need time to mature before it bloomed. It took its own sweet time growing up, and risk being destroyed by mistake every year if I forgot it was there. I have three, but only one is showing signs of a bloom. It better be glorious after all this time. The other bloomer this year (4 years in the making) is my Pseudocydonia sinensis(Chinese Quince).
I have received some of the plants that I ordered on line during the dark winter days when the garden seemed just dead. It is with great excitement and expectation that I unwrap and catalog each little verdure.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

Today was plant rescue day. We went to the edge of the woods where the bank restoration is taking place to dig some of the endangered wildflowers growing in the path of tractor tires. I got some Dog Tooth Violets, Jack in the Pulpit, and Mayapple which will move into a spot under my hydrangeas in the back. I have been adding lots of leaf mulch to the soil to get it ready to receive these wonderful little addition. I would never dig these little native if they were not threatened. When I lived in Michigan, a group of us formed our own little rescue organization, to dig natives that were in eminent danger from future construction. We had pretty good luck relocating Trilliums, Jack in the Pulpit, and Dog Tooth Violets, so I am hopeful about today's digs. I was struck by the change a week has made. The open light, is gone as the tall trees add on more foliage creating a lush shady stream bed, for the grasses along the waters edge have grown to a height of 2 feet in the abundant light of the spring.
The erosion has been severe in the past, as the land on the West side slopes down towards the glen. At some point, who ever was farming here decided to have tires dumped to slow the process. We are now pulling the tires out(hundreds of them), so that we can stabilize the hill side. Disposal of all those tires is going to be pretty costly, but we have decided to take this environmental disaster on. The destruction of the fauna is inevitable, but the plans include restoration on completion.

ZERO TO NINTY IN 60 SECONDS

We had spring on Friday, summer followed on Saturday. The spring buds are not even open yet and they are being subjected to 90 degree heat.
The landscape of the mornings has changed. Instead of the walk around the edge, we all set off at 6 AM for the river, I'm driving the truck, Jake and Zoë trot along beside. My shell, the Mary Nicole, is atop the rack, and as I approach the river I see the mirrored surface waiting to take the boat. These are the carefree, warm mornings, where the river is a gift full of osprey, eagle, heron and peace. The fish jump, sometimes thumping the bottom of the boat or the oar. It is in this early morning light on the glassy water sometimes covered in mist that I have the world to myself.
There is the exuberant greeting as I am spotted coming up from the bridge, running, barking, jumping. Time to return to the dock, dogs, house and the rest of the day.

6000 WORDS

FICKLE APRIL

Housebound because of rain for that past few days, I am now ready to take on the garden again. First thing this morning I am off to bring in a load of mulch. It is windy and cold with still wet ground from the rains, so today's activities will be mostly setting up trellises that just arrived, pruning some bushes that have become overgrown.
We have been seeing a few Warblers along the edge when we walk, and I saw a Palm Warbler in my birch tree this morning. Jack in the pulpit is flowering along the hedgerow, I will have to rescue some of them from the ditch bank restoration project that is occurring over there, for surely they will be smashed to oblivion by the tractor tires.
Jake and Zoë are considering my proposal that we adopt a new poodle puppy.

EYES WIDE SHUT

I have been walking that hedgerow everyday, and I missed them entirely. True, there are many of them still closed up as they push through the ground, but just as many are unfurled. How could I have been so blind not to see the Mayapples, large swaths of them. On close inspection the basal leaves of the Spring Beauties as well as the mottled leaves of the Dog Tooth Violets are also sprouting.
On the eastern edge of the farm along the woods, the Serviceberries are in full bloom. Their white blossoms stand as a stark contrast to the still bare hardwoods.
The day is bright and sunny, as opposed to the constant rain and grey of yesterday, but the price is a drop in temperature. If I dress warm and find a protected place to work I should make progress on the mulching of the east gardens.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Plants get to start over every year. It doesn't matter that the aphids ate holes in their leaves or mildew consumed them, they reemerge, all new and perfect each spring.
The Amelanchiers are blooming. Each tree will become ladened with the small blue berries that are so alluring that red-headed woodpeckers, cardinals and orioles risk the exposure of leaving the hedgerows of the farm to consume them. Right now the bees are swarming around blossoms clamoring for the first of the season's nectar.
The fields are getting groomed. Tractors pull the disks and plows behind turning under the cover crop left on the field last winter, and exposing the underbelly of ground and root mass. It is dark and reddish brown and now so perfectly preened. The corn will soon be planted and start its procession to harvest. Poor Zoë has lost her mountains of chicken litter that she loved to climb.
We have had a Coopers Hawk(identification by my friend Nels) stalking prey in the yard close to the house. Some of the chased end up flying into our front window wall, ending the hunt, netting the hawk a catch. It is a brutal event, necessary for it's survival, but an amazing sight to witness.

SEEDLINGS

Just briefly a reprieve from the bitter cold of the winds, then it comes back relentless. The sun is out, but the soil is saturated from yesterday's thunderstorms and the temperature is much colder. The wet cold penetrates to my bones as I kneel in the soft earth to get some seeds planted in the Kitchen garden.
How can little 1/2 inch high brussels sprouts make me feel so pleased as I peer at them in the protected cold frame? The pea, radish and lettuce shoots push strongly upward, too, and despite the unpleasant conditions I find enough pleasure here to make me continue my work. I mark out the rows for the artichoke, basil, and bulb fennel in the cold frame, carefully taking the seeds from the packets. So interesting how they vary, tiny black, elongated brown, these seeds will all need the protection of the glass to keep the soil warm enough for them to germinate. It was also a good day(at least for the seeds) to get some spinach, arugula, parsley, leeks and cilantro buried in the seed beds by the peas. Every one of them prefer the cool temperature of the soil as it is now. The beets will have to wait. The garden bed where I intended to get them started had to many small weeds sprouting, I cultivated the surface and will try agin in a few days.
Zoë comes to nose me, letting me know she is cold and bored, then she retreats to a spot under the dogwood to curl up hoping I come to my senses soon.