Our World......

[Glider]

I've been planting trees in one form or another for decades.  Back in the day the game commission and local gun clubs would buy trees for us boy scouts to plant.

Now granted,  I remember planting a lot of crabapples, multiflora rose, and asian honeysuckle plants.  So I suppose the good we did maybe was some what countered by the number of invasive foreign species that we planted.  Nowadays some of those sites are over run with asian honeysuckle shrubs, but hey, we were kids, and the game commission said it was a Good Idea.

I've found that certain crab apples and choke cherries are really tasty, and I've planted a fair number of those in the last few years.  They seem to strike roots and grow better than domesticated fruits, surprise, surprise.

If you ever have had trouble getting jelly or jam to set, try using choke cherries and following the recipes for regular cherry jelly.  You'll need a sharp knife to cut that stuff.

-G-

[laughingwillow]

If I remember right, you moved into your place about 10 years ago, eh glider? I bet you have planted a ton of stuff on that property in that time.

Anyway, the times, they are apparently changing....  I went into the local garden store for a little potting soil today and found their new organic section much to my liking. I was paying for the soil and another shopper (an old lady) struck up a conversation....

"What's that?" she asked.

"Happy Frog potting soil," I replied. And then nodding in the direction of the business owner and I said to the lady, "Ask him why the frogs are so happy."

The shop owner actually turned a little red as he cleared his throat and explained to the lady that the soil in question comes from a booming business in Humbolt county CA.

"Ask him what kind of business," I urged the old gal. But before he could answer, I couldn't help but reply myself, with hand to mouth as in a whisper. "its from the mara-JU wanna business."

"And now you know why the frogs are happy," the shop owner said.

"But where do I get some of whatever is making those frogs so darn happy?" the lady inquired.

SO I stood there with my mouth open for a second and it would appear that the last laugh was on me.

lw

[Glider]

You know, with the report and quote buttons so close together, I'ma gonna hit the wrong one sooner or later.

Happy Frogs come from California, eh?  I wanna lick one.....

Moved in here 7 or 8 years ago, and I've probably cut out more trees than I've planted.  It was a Christmas tree farm at the time....

I probably put in two dozen apple trees, fewer of peach, plum, pear and cherry.  Turns out that commercial fruit trees do poorly on soil that spent nearly two decades growing evergreens.  The soil is finally coming around to be able to support anything but acid lovers.  Which means that the blueberries, rhododendrons, and strawberries have done excellent thus far.  Pick your battles, don'tcha know?

Now I've got a number of fruit trees that are doing well.  This year we're putting seed grown peaches in, and hopefully a few pear / apple / cheery trees and some grape vines., all from seed.  Who knows what the fruit will look like, but in a few years maybe we'll get a surprise.

I had probably 150+ brugmansia in 2004.  Many of them grown from seed.  Sadly that gets expensive in terms of cash to keep them warm through a 40th parallel winter, and also in terms of time to prepare them for cheap storage.  They can mostly be cut down to sticks, stored in a bucket of water in a cool, dark area, and be rooted and ready to plant in the spring.  But that is a lot of time in cutting them down, labelling them, storing them, and then checking them periodically to make sure that soured water isn't going to rot the whole batch before spring.

-G-

[laughingwillow]

Took a little drive onto the prairie yesterday afternoon and ended up drag racing a wild turkey. She came out of the ditch on a gravel road in front of my truck, head down like a sprinter out of the blocks and soon hit her full stride, head up and sprinting hard before finally taking off and flying into the timber down in a bottom. I bet I was going at least 20 mph while following her. I see a few wild turkeys around these parts, but usually not on the gravel roads.

lw

[eccentro]

Went for a 10 mile mountain bike ride around a local lake yesterday. The weather was perfect and so was the scenery. All the snow/rain of the last several months has really made the wildflowers bloom in full force. Everyone was enjoying themselves biking, hiking, fishing, sailing, and kayaking. Riding through the canopy of trees with the smell of honeysuckle was fantastic. There was a small festival for children and they seemed to be content feeding the ducks, fishing, and eating funnelcakes. I kept a watch out for cacti and only saw a small patch of prickly pear all by their lonesome in an open field.

[Glider]

Lilacs are out in force here, along side the dandelions.  No honeysuckle here for a little while yet.  I think it is in the next round of blooming.  Wild turkeys are all over the place, but usually crossing the road, not flying along side it!

[laughingwillow]

Where you at, eccentro? Sounds like colorado to me.

glider: That turkey wasn't flying along the road. She was a runnin'. I bet I paced her for at least 50 yards. Then she got up and flew back into what I consider turkey habitat. (a plowed field in the timber about a quarter mile from anything.)

lw

[Glider]

Wow.  Better cook that one a little longer than usual!

[laughingwillow]

Running has become a survival mechanism for pheasants here on the prairie, as those that fly, usually die. Maybe this is anew evolutionary phase of prairie turkey. Btw, shooting a turkey out of season or without a license is potentially big problem here in Ioway, as turkey is the only animal we have that is officially considered "big game" believe it or not.

lw

[laughingwillow]

....which reminds me of a funny story...

One day I was out pushing deer for a bow hunting buddy. I was ready to shoot ducks and photos. (Shotgun and camera.) Anyway, I was sitting on a log in cammo and a big gobbler came out with a jake to eat grasshoppers along the creek. I shot a few pics before spooking the birds. The tom ran away as fast as he could and the jake flew right past me. I actually got a coupel of photos of the bird flying a few feet above my head. And later when I left, that damnable jake was sitting in the timber right behind me and scart the living piss out of me when I almost stepped on him and he flew off. The friend later told me the toms hang with the jakes and show them the ropes, so to speak, leaving the jake to predators while tom gets away.

lw

[Glider]

Heh, sounds like an effective strategy.  Of course an inexperienced jake might also draw predators, but que sera sera.

Rabbits are out in force this year.  I can hardly step into my lawn in the morning without seeing half a dozen or more cottontails.  It'd be cute if they weren't already eating themselves out of their brush and into my shrubbery.

[laughingwillow]

Took a drive/walk onto the prairie today and saw two bald eagles. (or maybe one, twice. hehe) I'm guessing both birds were young. The first was climbing thermals above a plowed field, like he was lifting off from a feeding. Then about an hour later another eagle crossed the road right in front of my truck at tree top level on its way to the river.

lw

[eccentro]

G...speakin of rabbits. I was adding a flower bed last spring and as I dug my first whole, I found a 'nest' of baby cottontails without their eyes open. I read up online and found that you could move their hole up to 10 feet & the mother would return. My wife & I carefully moved the babies and their nesting material into my newly dug hole and sure enogh the mother returned and they grew up and hopped off. The flower bed has done amazing and she and her children leave it alone as payback!

[Glider]

Wow, I never tried moving a rabbit nest before.  I wish I'd thought of that.  Last summer there was a nest of cottontails under the swing set, and while I tried to let it be, I believe the young rabbits got driven off the nest about a week to ten days earlier that what should have been.

It makes sense that they'd leave the area immediately around their nest mostly untouched.  Eating away your cover is probably not a winning survival strategy.  I'll have to look into ways to convince mama rabbit to nest in my shrubbery rather than lunch in it!

[laughingwillow]

I'm betting you fellas don't have cats. The only reason rabbits come in our yard is because we feed the birds. Feeding the small birds brought large predatory birds onto the property as well as rodents, but the cat patrol really keeps things in balance, imo.

lw