Fox Haven Journal

Beau October 30th, 2010

The days come and go…  I seem to remember one of my grandmothers, while visiting her in a nursing home more than a decade ago.   She kept repeating, “Time and tide waits for no man…”   

And she would smile when I asked how she was.   “About as fine as could be I suppose…  Time and tide waits for no man…” and she would laugh a little.  She was 99 years old, and passed away a few months later.  She had a remarkable memory for verse, poem and song.  One of these days I’ll share some of them.

 We decorated around the house the other night… it was fun.  Putting up spider webs and lights.  I don’t remember such festivities for Halloween while growing up, but that’s okay. 

It was also the first “freeze” of the fall season the other night.  I went around getting the house and a few other things ready this week, and then picking green tomatoes and bell peppers… sad to see the garden fade away, and there’s even some lettuce and beans still growing.   The chickens are having a great time pecking through the litter- they’ll be great to keep the garden area mulched.   A few of the plants were hit pretty hard by the frost. 

Everything changes…   but it looks like the week ahead will be nice still, so we’ve had a gentle transition to colder weather this year.

It’s fun to wander around to see how different the landscape looks.  The leaf colors have given way to browns and yellows.   A lot of leaves on the ground, but the majority are hanging on.  The boy loves to play and the dog is more than willing to accomodate his spirit…

I’m still working on a few things at home that have focused my attention elsewhere this year.   I just haven’t had time to get around and visit, or even get outside as much as I would like.   That will change too eventually!  I hope you are all doing well.   Enjoy the season and have a Happy Halloween…

And late entry,  isn’t this great!?  I strung one of the webs where he wanted it in front of his room. The spider theme was his own idea…  makes for an interesting hallway at night! :)

• Family and School , Gardening , Seasons
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Beau October 15th, 2010

Autumn changes are happening even faster now.   The beauty of the landscape always amazes me… I love watching the seasons change as a physical reminder of how we too change and grow.

Across the decades we can embrace that change and shape our lives.  With that change looking outward, there’s always change within too, and it’s time for me to ponder such things.  I’ve taken a break from writing and sharing my thoughts here at Fox Haven, but I hope to be back soon. In the weeks ahead I look forward to catching the leaves that have started falling, jumping in leaf piles and playing the kind of games that we often leave behind as the years pass… games inspired by the imagination of a child, and in this case, a young boy.  I trust you too will enjoy the fall season wherever you may live…

• Seasons
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Beau September 18th, 2010

I have to ask.  Does September seem like a really busy month to everybody?  For some reason I seem to be running around in circles trying to catch up with myself.   Classes and elbows trying to get things done, if you know what I mean :)  I can hardly contain myself with all the things I’d like to do.   Ah, like writing a little more.  This has been a slow year for the written word, perhaps a year of change.  I’ll get there, and my friends I hope you’ll go with me…  this is the start of such a beautiful season!   

I see change all around, and feel the pace of insects and birds hurrying a bit more, gathering all they can before the fall begins.   Another season of color…

A few days ago I was enjoying watching a few of these Yellow-collared Scape Moths (Cisseps fulvicollis) flying around the goldenrod and this white flower in the Aster family.    The moths were very slow flying, almost like helicopters, and the wings opened up wide just before take-off.

I finally remembered the plant is called White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) and is tremendously abundant at this time of year, along with the goldenrod, which is great for the bees and other pollinators.  So far I’m excited about the season in terms of pollen and nectar for the bees.   We’ve had a few rains, but mostly warm sunny days for the bees to forage, which means a nice fall nectarflow so they can really work to strengthen their hives.  

Last year we had so much rain in autumn that I couldn’t feed the bees enough to carry them through winter.   But now, things are looking up! 

In the picture below a bee is carrying a white colored pollen into the hive (and another one along the bottom-left corner of the picture).  I thought it might have been from the snakeroot flower, but I didn’t see a single bee gathering pollen from that plant- it may only have been something from which they gathered nectar.

Later I realized with a Doh! that the bees were getting the white-colored pollen from our very white Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora), which is growing all over the shed next to the chicken coop.  

Sweet autumn clematis is very easy to grow and has an amazing fragrance with a profusion of white flowers.  I watched the bees fill their tiny pollen baskets with white pollen and fly right back to the hive a hundred yards away.     Each year when the clematis is finished flowering, I cut it back within just a few feet from the ground.  All that growth is just one season!   And I even cut it back a little in July to try and train it around the top of the shed… alas it has a vigorous, wild nature!   It’s covering one window and half the door…

This year I plan to cut it back a little earlier so that I can paint the older shed to match the chicken coop, and fix the rickety old door.   I need to repair and paint our brown garden fence as well.  Some of the cross bars have rotted where they join the posts.  Maybe I can salvage it for a few years more with a little stain/paint and not too much expense?

Sometimes it seems as if everything needs fixed!   Well a lot of them do… and it’s time to get that weedeater out again and really take some of the brush and weeds down, clean up the garden, work on the engines, clean up the barn and garage, organize the desk and downstairs, decorate a little, etc.  

And you know what?   I feel really lucky… really blessed, to be here…  to be able to be in good health, to have so many things to do that need done.   Simply to wake up and watch the sun rise.   Here’s wishing you a great week ahead!

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”

– John Updike, September

• Beekeeping , Seasons , Wildlife, Insects and Pets
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Beau July 10th, 2010

Isn’t it amazing how the first half of summer explodes with growth everywhere and its hard to keep up with everything?   As we head towards midsummer, the vivid green foliage slowly matures  and begins to dry out to darker colors and browns throughout the landscape.  We’re not there yet, but I’m ready for the grass to slow down a bit more!

Driving home the other day I took this picture just because the clouds looked interesting.  I love the depth of the clouds, and it reminds me of driving out west.  It foreshadowed the rain we’ve received over the past couple of days.  We needed it, and I’m glad it will keep the clover and other summer flowers blooming a little longer for the bees.

It began raining as I worked around the pond, trimming brush and weeds and enjoying the coolness.  But I called it a day after a half hour when I realized the rain wasn’t letting up…  I like seeing the rain around the watershed, and watching it fall on the pond in summer.  A few years ago it we barely received any rain for months and the pond dropped five feet very quickly.  Last year and this year however, the rain has topped it off every few weeks.

Last night there was an enormous rainstorm though, close to 2 inches of rainfall before it finished.  With that kind of rain I worry about erosion and the pond flows out the spillway.  I imagine a lot of insects and organic matter are washed into the pond, and it clouds up for a couple of days and then settles out.

The boy had just climbed in bed with the sound of falling rain outside his window, and then the intensity changed… it became heavier and heavier, drumming on the roof and the gutters began overflowing.   It was amazing really and he said, “I want to see the rain!”   To the kitchen we went, and turned on the outside lights… all the gutters looked like waterfalls, unable to keep up with the volume of water on the roof.

I said, “Do you want to go out there?”  half kidding, and wondering if he would, but he jumped at the chance!   No lightning or thunder, just a good ‘ole fashioned downpour.  He threw on a light windbreaker and went dancing barefoot through the storm…

I watched as he giggled and ran under the gutters, drenched from head to toe.  Just a few minutes of summer fun, and watching him I could remember playing in rainstorms myself as a child.  I almost went out there with him…  almost :)   He was back inside drying out with towels and asleep fifteen minutes later.

This morning the sun is shining and the air is cool… once again the landscape is refreshed, growing and bursting with life.  It’s time for me to head back out  and see what I can do about it!

• A Boy's Life , Family and School , Seasons
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Beau April 9th, 2010

I love morning in spring… everything is so cool and refreshing, and the sounds of the birds are amazing.   Life is scrambling everywhere it seems, and I feel that energy to start things that Iv’e been waiting for all winter.   The sun’s light quickly colors the landscape and the redbud trees are beautiful…

And there are other blessings too, or at least cute ones. Somehow I’ve always wanted to raise a few chickens. But I never said much about that, at least seriously. Then the boy comes along and tells me he wants to raise chickens. His mom not so much… but she at least thinks they’re cute, and likes looking at them- as long as I take care of them!   So I figure we’ll have a little project for a few years or more.   I’m not getting any younger- and the boy is growing older fast, so this is the perfect time.   I’m excited to introduce our new friends… a host of little chicks that will grow up to lay eggs.

So it seems I have another project to add to the list…. building a coop! They are doing well though, at about 2 1/2 weeks old. These little guys (girls!) are funny- they snuggle together to keep warm, and then chase each other all around when one of them appears to have something to eat that the others want.

There’s seven pullets and three from a “straight run” batch, or “pan fry special” where it’s a guess as to their sex. Overall for the hens I picked up three red sex-linked chicks which were cited as a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a Delaware (or other white) hen, a New Hampshire Red, two Buff Orpingtons and a “rainbow pullet” which looks like a Leghorn. The other three are made up of two Barred Plymouth Rocks (which I think are hens…), and a black colored chick which is anyone’s guess. I’m hoping it’s a rooster, as it just had that feel to it. The two Barred Rocks could be roosters as well, but by the coloration my guess is that they’ll be hens.

Aside from taking care of them,  the biggest challenge may be to keep them safe from predators- including our dogs and cats to begin with. The little shiba dog sat nearly drooling as he watched the little chicks running about for exercise the other day. I’ll have to build a stout coop and run for them. But we’ve got foxes, coyotes, racoons, owls and hawks of all kinds around the area. I’m looking forward to watching them grow, and sometime next fall we should have some healthy eggs.

With effort and a little luck, the peeps should grow up to have a good, happy life.  Ah yes, we’ll see.   But I’m not quite ready to count my… well, you know.

• Chickens , Seasons
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