Category Archives: NATURE

Wonderful Fruit Season

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Mother Nature was very good to us this year on the farm. We had late frost but most of the fruit trees were in full bloom prior to the frost.

The apple orchard is full of so many different types. I’m really looking forward to the Wolf River and have already been busy with the Transparent for applesauce.
Transparent applesauce
I filled 13 Cool Whip bowls and put them in the freezer. I save all of my whipped topping bowls just for this.

We had sour cherries in abundance this spring as well and the Mr. got his favorite sour cherry pies.

Two cherry pies which turned out really well.

The red plum trees were loaded and I’ve also got lots of strawberries to snack on. If all goes well next spring I may have enough strawberries to make freezer jam.

A cereal bowl full at a time makes for great snacking!!
Red plums that were supposed to be green gages and these plums have a very unusual flavor. Sweet but with almost a banana flavor added.

And then the early peaches came in. They’re beautiful with a sweet rich taste but they’re not “cling free” so it took a bit of carving to get them off their seed. I canned 12 quarts and have white peaches that should be ripe in late August.

I love peach everything, peaches, peach ice cream, peach pies & cobblers, peach jam, peach tea, anything peach!!

The apples yet to be ready will help fill the cellar with apple juice, sliced apples for baking and for crisps and apple butter. Of course, my favorite Wolf River for pies and breakfast!!!

The blackberries are starting to turn and we got three gallon of black raspberries which went in the freezer. The grapevines are full and we haven’t had grapes for three years. The rhubarb was in abundance as well but I didn’t store any of it this year.

I love it when Mother Nature provides so much for us!! We still have a full summer yet to work and fill the pantries!

Bufflehead and Canadian Geese Visit

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I wrote in an earlier post about our new ducks and how much I’m enjoying their eggs. I now have a dozen of their eggs ( two each day) and plan to make some custard pies with them. I made a huge batch of french toast to share with our daughter last week and it sure didn’t last long.

But my post today is about visitors on the pond this morning. We have two adorable Bufflehead ducks and three Canadian geese.

We have a pair come every spring and makes me wonder if they have come to set and raise their young.

According to my “Native American Wildlife” book these birds grow in length 12-16 inches. They’re small ducks with a white head patch and in flight there is bold pattern on the male and a white wing patch on the female. Their habitat is ponds, lakes, rivers and sheltered saltwater in winter.

Buffleheads

In years past they’ve stayed around about a month and I’m hoping they stay around for awhile because I can watch them for hours. Our domestic ducks pay them no mind and vice versa.

The geese didn’t stay long with us this morning because Sadie runs them off when they start squawking. They are beautiful birds but they leave such a mess on the pond bank in spring and it’s not much fun dodging their droppings which are huge and lots of it. We let them swim and rest on the bank for awhile and then Sadie sends them on to a neighboring farm!!

They came toward the house yard until they saw Sadie and then flew back in the pond for about an hour.
Geese in flight and a Norwegian Elkhound named Sadie right behind them!!!

I also want to remind you that you might want to get your hummingbird feeds out and sterilized for they will be returning to our farm around April 15th which is 18 days away!! The hummingbird mix is a ration of 1cup white sugar to 4 cups of sterilized water, no food color, please!!!

These were our visitors in 2017 and we had so many all summer.

Look of Fall

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They had to be blown out twice a week and now they’re gone!!
We covered all of my perennial beds.
We filled all of the dog beds and I filled five of the largest leaf bags I could find. We’ll use them until they’re gone. They’re bedding in the chicken house and the duck house.
The fall color was lovely while it lasted.
But alas, they’re all gone now and we begin to fill the winter chill and hear the howling winds.

As usual I will use my summer photos and my seed catalogs to help me bear the winter!!

Peony

A Season of Change

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The green is turning gold and brown, the wild grass seeds are a very few and the wind has a bite to it. My body is not ready for winter chill and blast of wind but I fear it is upon us!

This morning while fixing breakfast I looked out the kitchen window and saw a beautiful sight.

The backyard, where usually a hammock is swinging in the breeze, the ground was covered with little birds of all makes and sizes!! This is my winter bird feeding station and from the looks of it I really need to add more feeders.   I filled and hung the feeders last week and have seen titmouse, sparrows, yellow finches, red headed wrens, cardinals, Carolina finches and so many more breeds of small birds.  There’s also doves, bluejays, red-headed woodpeckers, Downy woodpeckers and more.  BUT, this morning the ground was ever so active with small birds.  I love them!

I love watching the birds and they will make my winter just a bit easier to contend with!

Think About It!

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Long term power outage, I know I’ve posted about the things that we do to prepare for such a thing during storms,summer and winter.  I got to thinking about this in regards to our current situation with the coronavirus.  Of course the power grid can’t get the virus but those brave men and women that work for the power companies can get it!  Our local power company, Craig Botetourt Electric Cooperative, is awesome!  There is rarely a time when the power at the farm is off more than 30 minutes unless there’s a storm that has taken down poles, transformers and lines.  Our guys are constantly working to make sure we have power!!  This family appreciates everything they do!

BUT, what if something unforeseen happened and we were without power for hours, days, even weeks???  It happens in other areas of the United States all the time.  There’s always a “what if” situation and please don’t be naive enough to think it will never happen.

Miss Positive Britches here isn’t trying to be negative, I’m trying to be prepared for the “what if’s”!  Here’s a list of a few things that I think we ALL need to have on hand in the event of a “normal” off grid situation:

Flashlights w/matching batteries (update those ever so often), candles, oil lamps with lamp oil and wicks, radio or jam box with batteries (update those ever so often), stickup emergency lights, camp lantern and stoves with fuel, heavy duty garbage bags, duct tape, generator & gas (small ones aren’t that expensive and worth the cost if you have freezers), at least two heavy duty extension cords to use with the generator, filled propane tanks or charcoal for the grills (you will still have to fix food), full & complete first aid kits, cash on hand that’s only used for emergencies (doesn’t have to be much), emergency stash of socks and underwear, kitchen matches, lighters, hand sanitizer, canned goods, water (buckets of, bottled or your owned canned water).  This is just a short list and there’s so much more you can think of if you’ll take the time and ponder on it!

I know the last time that part of our county that’s not on Craig Botetourt was out for a couple days.  Panic and unkind words were the norm!  Power companies don’t just shut down to aggravate you, it’s an EMERGENCY.  They work as hard and fast as they can.  

Now some of the reasoning behind this list would be if that power goes out early in the evening you will need the flashlights and candles to find your emergency supplies.  If it happens before dinner is prepared or in the middle of that preparation, you’ll need another source of heating that food and that’s when the camp stoves, grills, etc. come into play.  The buckets of water are a necessity at my house for flushing the camode (no power, no way the pump can pump the water to flush).  Oil lamps and candles aren’t a necessity but a comfort if you want to do something like read or write letters, play board games, just look at whoever is with you and you can see who you are talking to!  REMEMBER, television isn’t the end all of our life!  I have friends that don’t even watch TV! Duct tape and garbage bags are a necessity WITHOUT an emergency, don’t you think?  That generator can be used to keep your refrigerated appliances from spoiling, it can run that water pump when you run out of water for cooking, drinking and bathrooms.  Radios and jam boxes are for entertaining but more importantly for keeping in touch with the outside world and the reasons for the emergency situations.

There are a few other items you may want to consider investing in for such emergencies and they are solar battery chargers (for cell phones, tablets) or a crank flashlight, radio and phone charger, butane stoves with extra tanks, a Mr. Heater with extra tanks. I hate to mention guns in this article but it really wouldn’t hurt to have some protection on hand for those bad guys that like to take advantage of situations like these.  Here’s a couple links to some of these items:  https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Flashlight-Survival-Magnesium-Compass/dp/B01MU55O1B    https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Power-Charger-Flashlight-Splashproof/dp/B07FDXDB3W/ref=sr_1_4?  https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Portable-Butane-Stove-Carrying/dp/B00FGPXVSM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21UAMG6WQS6W2&dchild=1&keywords=butane+stove&qid=1588699342&s=electronics&sprefix=butane+sto%2Celectronics%2C224&sr=1-1                                https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Corporation-MH18B-Portable/dp/B07Q82MG8S/ref=sr_1_2?crid=15EEPAJYIGC40&dchild=1&keywords=mr+heater&qid=1588699405&sprefix=mr+heater%2Celectronics%2C317&sr=8-2

There’s an article in a magazine called Acreage Life, February issue 2020, pages 17-19 that is really worth your time to read and be prepared.  We really enjoy this magazine and have learned a lot from the subscription.

Think about it, be prepared, make the most of every situation.  God is watching over all of us but we need to learn to take care of ourselves too.  A POSITIVE attitude goes a long way and makes bad situations a little bit more bearable!!

Last Day of January 2018

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Can you believe it’s the last day of January?? I spent the morning do normal indoor chores like, sweeping and mopping the floors, making the bed, two loads of laundry and other minor jobs after having breakfast with the Mister!  I got pork tenderloin out of the freezer for dinner and then saw that the temperature had risen to 40* and no wind.  OUTSIDE I GO!!!

We’re still in for some cold weather and hopefully some snow because our pastures, yard, hayfields, just the earth in general needs a good soak before spring really appears!  I knew I had some pruning to do on some fruit trees but the grapes needed it worst than the others.

A tangled mess of four vines that have been planted two years and I’m expecting big things from this year.

In order to get those beautiful grapes they need to be pruned each year.  Grapes grown on new stems each year!

This end of the arbor holds grapes that we started from an old vine on the farm. They are blue, not real big but so sweet. The vines usually provide a lot of grapes!

I use some wonderful little hand pruners on all of the small vines, trees and my rose bushes.  It’s very important to sterilize them and I use just plain old rubbing alcohol.  It took about an hour but they’re all trimmed and now we wait!  While waiting we pray for no late frosts to kill them.

Hubby thinks I scalped them but from past experience I know I’ll have more grapes and if Mother Nature cooperates they’ll be bigger grapes.

They’re thinned of their old bearing branches and the only thing left to do is tighten the arbor lines that we made from plastic covered clothes line. It tends to stretch each year but is easy to tighten.

After I finished pruning the grapes I went around the garden and trimmed suckers and water sprouts off the green gage, peach, pear and blue plums.  The big job will be trimming the apple trees which seem to get less attention each year but I’m going to get what I can from the ground and hope for some help with the higher branches.

I am so ready to start growing something!!!

 

The Beauty of Butterflies

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My butterfly bush was an especially beautiful treat today! Very few blooms at the moment but the butterflies stayed on it all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sedum was found with sweet nectar as well!

 

 

 

Everything blooming was covered with a honeybee preparing for winter!

Hornets_The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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Cooler weather is good and upon us and we’ve actually had a fire in the woodstove several nights to take out the chill and dampness.  Fall has crept in on us with the trees changing color and the shadows falling on the ground remind me of Halloween.  Pumpkins everywhere we go and bales of straw.  Scarecrows sitting in every nook and cranny!

With fall come the acts of nature that we overlook until you almost walk into it!  By this I mean, bee nests and I walked right under this one several times before actually seeing it!

I walk along this path several times a week as do the heifers when going to water.

Can you see anything hanging from the tree?  My first encounter was in July and I walked through that path about six times one looking for little chicks in distress because they couldn’t find their mom.  I never saw a thing while walking but that afternoon I was in the laundry room folding clothes and looked out the window and there hung a hornet’s nest the size of a volleyball!

It’s now about 18 to 20 inches long and about 15 inches thick!!!

We didn’t want to destroy them because as long as you leave them alone hornets are good!  They catch thousands of houseflies!!  That’s the GOOD!

The BAD is if I had walked into their nest and made them mad!!  I would have been stung several times before realizing what was happening!  The UGLY is those insects are black, big and build onto that nest all summer.  It’s huge now!

During the day the hornets are flying in and out of it and there are guard hornets marching all over it to protect the hive.

When I walked under it in July it was about seven feet off the ground. Now it’s so heavy and hangs about three feet off the ground.

I’ve found a new path around it so I don’t disturb them!

Along with the hornets we’re seeing lots of bumblebee’s which have a nest in the ground in my rose garden.  The rose garden is a mess now because I can’t get in it to weed.  The yellow jackets and sand hornets are all over the apples in the orchards but we haven’t found their nests yet.  All of the bees make great pollinators but  they do have an ugly and  mean side!!!