Happy Harvest Blog
Dorian
What’s left of Dorian is about to hit us here. I don’t think the forecast is very catastrophic at all, but everything is canceled and dire warnings abound. Quite a lot of rain for one day, but we’ve had it before. I definitely expect that power will be knocked out everywhere; that happens with any stiff breeze. Perhaps the internet will go.
An unexpected guest for dinner
You again!? If rabbits are joining us, I’m leaving. I guess she got over it and decided to share. I’ve seen this rabbit around more recently than the pictures were taken, and she seemed hugely pregnant, with her belly dragging on the ground. So no wonder she was too hungry to wait for the chickens to go to bed to glean.
A conjoined cucumber
I got a fused cuke. That’s never happened before. Of course, I didn’t think to take a picture before giving it to the hens. Inside, two seed cavities. It’s like a double yolk egg, only a cucumber.
A Bee of unusual size.
I saw this bumblebee on the goldenrod so large I had to get my camera. It was as big as the first joint of my thumb. For perspective, the adjacent honeybee. Oh, this totally doesn’t show how large this bee is. She spent the night in this spot too, on the goldenrod.
I've always wondered where all the helium balloons go
What goes up must come down. Turns out they do come down in the woods. I found this shredded remnant of a balloon hanging in a tree, randomly. Still tied with the gift ribbon. Actually, I’ve been told (by a marine biologist who’s seen them) that they much more often come down in the ocean. They rise, catch an air current, and are carried out over the ocean before the helium degrades and they come down.
Velvet and Ghost
The co-mamas.These are the first hens to successfully hatch babies in the large coop. Right through the heatwave, they sat on eggs, and I brought them water. They would even switch eggs, so it makes sense that they're one family now. They only spent two days in the chickeries, maybe three, before release and integration. Nosey visitor, They still had unhatched eggs, one each (they did not hatch late, they gave up on them), so the hatched chicks had a nice slow transition).
Well, I left the bag of dirt on the porch.
What? Nothing to see here. I’m brown. I almost didn’t see her at first; she was holding still. Set down a basket for two seconds and it draws a crowd…and a fancy caterpillar.
We have different cultural ideas about how we should look after a bath.
We had rain! (Blessed rain!) Dust baths are closed, mud baths now available. I was pretty surprised to find this little enthusiast digging in. Really digging in. Naturally, onlookers.Because when you’ve planned to go to the spa, you go to the spa.What? Some people pay good money for this. The Colonel included for dirtiness comparison. Yes, the Colonel is still the big boss, my v first rooster from my v first collection of chickens.
These two are dating
These two guineas are dating. Or bonded for life; I can't tell what stage they are at. Probably post-commitment ceremony somewhere on the continuum, maybe still honeymoon. It's been nearly two months. Here they are running away from the paparazzi and seen here jumping out of the bath after privacy invaded: You wouldn't know that these are the tamest guineas I've ever had and let me get quite close. It's been hard to get a picture of them together, although they are ALWAYS together.
Early morning perching practice
The fuzznuggets have started perching. They all keep the same schedule; I’m so used to seeing moms raise their chicks now. First, there’s very close to home chickergarten, where scratching is strongly emphasized – Mom shows them vigorous scratching in loose material, clearly for practice. Good fling. Look at how well Daisy is kicking. Second, comes explorer time, where the moms take their chicks off, to some distance, for I don’t know what, world acclamation, and exposure to strange and unusual things.
A magnificent wasp house
I really wish I'd been taking a picture every day of this wasp nest. It would be an amazing timelapse. They build at least a layer on it every day. Their increasing wasp-power makes an accelerating build speed possible. This is the right corner of my woodshed. And I think this is great because, after this year, I'm not going to have to worry about any wasps in the vicinity (they'll probably build on the soffit of the house next year).
Bees in the goldenrod
I have a field full of goldenrod. Mowing and discing it a couple of years ago benefited the goldenrod more than anything else, and now there is less grass, clover, and diversity than before. I'm ok with that, for now. I have a bee forage field now, and it seems like the bees are coming from miles around for it. I barely saw any bumblebees all spring and summer; I was worried.
There may be no keets this year
Ugh, it’s always awful logging in and seeing how long it’s been since I last posted. Almost a whole month!!! I will try harder! It’s been an action-packed month though. Major personal changes, and a whole lot of dental work. The toothache I’ve been “toughing out” (not a recommended course of action) for months, outlasting the waiting period for my dental coverage, needed a root canal so that finally happened this week, sweet relief!! but there’s more to do.
My chickens are scaring me today
It's hot, and there are chickens littered around, tipped over. They're faking me out, because they can look very dead, unless they hold their heads up. Gah! Oh, phew. She's politely retracted her leg from the path. You shall not...oh, yeah, you can pass. New dirt bath.
Keet care share
The keets have been around more; they even got walked nearly to the house. I hear their cheeping like tiny bells (they will grow into klaxons). They already have dart-and freeze-in-the-grass skills, scratching, dozing, and following skills. Little beings the size and weight of ping pong balls, walking, eating, pooping, thinking. They're so cute I can hardly stand it. They are already surprisingly independent, with a noticeably larger radius of dispersion than two days ago, and the flock moves faster.
An extra puffy tail
The little (lone) Silkie chick has just had one extra puffy tail sprout out today, along with a tiny head crest and tiny feet feathers on those little black legs. Looks especially good with evening back-lighting. It's funny what a transformative difference a day makes - chicks grow so fast. Feathers just pop out here and there, and they go through some pretty funny stages. This poor little chick is now only one third the size of its nestmates, which are bigger than some of the other chicks get before their Moms move on.
It was very unpleasant
I got poison ivy on my face. As my friend asked, "Did you fall [face first] in it?"Well, nearly. We had a lost person search happen locally that eventually lasted days and involved teams from all over the province, but the first night, it was just a half dozen of us in the dark, and we built a fire, in the dark, while waiting for the go-ahead to launch our canoes.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
