Feathers, fungi and toads

    My sons and I went on a hike up our mountain today - just to have lunch and see what we could see.  (Think of the song, "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" and you'll get the idea of how much planning went into this - none.)    We saw toads galore, and  had hot dogs roasted over a fire. This made the hot dogs, the BEST  EVER, according to my youngest - since they were  cooked and smoked at the same time!
   We saw a bunch of toads, and  several newts - which we did not touch due to the bug repellent we were wearing.  We meandered.  We looked at different paths we  did not usually take.  We found an owl feather, and what I suspect is a turkey feather, but my son swears is a feather from a falcon.
    We saw LOTS of fungi making me wish, once again, I had a degree in mycology.  I took photos of some of the fungi we spotted. I am always stunned at how beautiful some of them are!  If you know what  they are - please feel free to comment.  I would like to know what is  safe/poisonous to touch or eat.  If anyone knows of a  class being offered in mushroom and fungus identification, please let me know.  Thanks.

These are fungi

very delicate, very beautiful

A gorgeous grouping - wish I knew what it was

The  just poked up through the leaf mould

Many specimens had been nibbled on

the feasting gave us lovely, textural views

The probable culprit for the gnawed fungi

This is a gentle cup shape

one of my favorites - so elegant 

these are a knobby dark brown - they look grayer in the photo

This is pretty small - the bright colour kept it from being trod upon.

one of the many coral-like fungi we saw

Another coral type

What ever ate this loved it so much it chewed a little heart right down the center!

The Hopeful Farmer: Berries

     Ah, July... the lilies are blooming, the roses are doing their rosy thing, and it is berry time around here.   Whether it is the currants and gooseberries I planted when we first moved in, or the black raspberries and red raspberries that were gifted to us by some friendly birds, or the blueberries that are still a bit green, we have a yard full of Nature's bounty.

    As with many things, we have some adjustments to make - I want to move the gooseberry bushes to the farm as the  chipmunks living in our rock walls tend to get the just before they are ripe.  (And they have taken over the upper garden - the bushes not the chipmunks.  Well...maybe the chipmunks, too!)   But today we had the perfect day for berrying - and tonight I will be  starting the  process for currant jelly - our favorite.  In a month or two we will make the grape jelly/preserves, and have some apples pressed for cider and  save some for eating.  But now is berry time.  Nothing is sweeter to me than seeing  children  with purple stained fingers and faces, after eating warm berries from the bramble.  

    Where ever you are, I hope you find some bird gifted berries on your rambles and are not afraid to pop them in your mouth, unwashed, still warm form the sun.  Happy summer!

The Hopeful Farmer - the Japanese Knotweed edition

    Here on Rivendell Farm we have inherited Japanese Knotweed.

 To inherit this means you have been given a never ending supply of it.  This invasive plant was imported to the US from Great Britain, after having arrived there in 1825 from Japan for use as an ornamental garden plant.  It has its ornamental side, and the flowers are well liked by bees, but just try to keep it in a garden! Like bamboo, which it resembles in height and segmented stems, knotweed  sends rhizomes underground, forming a dense web of roots which all have the potential for sending up more shoots.  Any bit of root left in the ground can start the entire growing process.  It is difficult, if not impossible to eradicate this plant. In Japan it has fungus and  animals which keep it in check, but this is not the case in its new host countries.  In the UK there are actual laws about it - if it is in your property, you must report it, and work on getting rid of it.  It will creep up through  your lawn, through pavement - and there are documented instances in the UK of it growing up through the foundation and into people's houses!

working its way into the lawn

Apparently there are chemicals (Roundup) that can help - but even with cutting and applying these chemicals to the cut off plant, it can take three or four years to kill it - and EVERY stem must be treated!  Every time it is cut back, it has to work harder to come back to full height.  Cows will graze on it, I am told, as will goat (but only under duress).  I want neither chemicals nor cows, so I am working on other ways to control it.
   
     Ater two afternoons of cutting out a five foot section of the invader, and disturbing  a bird with nestlings

(a problem when changing the habitat - even if it is to remove invasives), I decided I needed a different approach.

A very distressed bird

the reason for her great distress

     Knotweed is hollow, and very fibrous.

 Although I have taken a few year hiatus from it, I have been making paper for quite some time, and why not try this "weed" as a fiber source for it?  Being a plant that is very sturdy, I am trying different ways of breaking it down to get to the fiber.  I gathered a bunch of the dead stalks from last year, chopped them up and started soaking them in a bucket.

really nice fibers, once I remove the pith

 I also took some of the newly chopped stalks and did the same.  I suspect both methods will work, with a great deal of time for the rotting process.  I will also try to more expedient method of  boiling some of the new stalks, some with  soda ash, some without.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  The outside of the  stalks are green with a purply red streaking - I wonder if I can make dye from it?  hmm...
     Knowing how long this process may take, I am looking at other  methods of using this plant - like eating it.  I have eaten it very young, it is like s lemony asparagus - very nice - but my stand is too woody at this point.  So I have been looking at other ways to fix it.  Apparently if I peel it then boil it and puree it, I can use some of the mature stalks.  I have found recipes for pies (and I do make a mean pie!)  and crumbles, as well as savory methods of serving it. It is supposed to be a healthy tea, if made from the roots.  I tried this - it tasted rather like dirt - and honey did not help that much.  I think boiling the stalk itself for a lemony tea may be the better course of action.  I will keep experimenting and researching.  So if you come to my house for dinner, do not be surprised if it is on the menu!

knotweed root

Japanese knotweed root tea - 

You are beautiful!

    I can't keep quiet anymore.  I recently read a friend's post about how she might wear a sleeveless shirt this summer despite her "arm issues."  I hear my students saying how they are too fat,  too short, hate their skin, etc.  You are beautiful.  If we all looked the same, how boring this world would be?   Who has the right to tell you what you should look like?
    I know there are things we may all want to change - I would like to lose a few pounds.  So I'll lay off the ice cream for a bit and walk the dogs or  work  on more fencing at the farm - exercise and less calories, and I can achieve the change I seek.  But you know what, even at my current weight - I am beautiful.
     I teach a Stage Makeup class, and since my students must look in the mirror for every class, we begin the semester by looking at ourselves and repeating, "There is nothing wrong with my face."  Any time they whine about, "I hate my nose, (chin, skin, forehead - add the appropriate facial feature) I tell them to repeat it again - there is nothing wrong with  my face. If I say something negative about myself - usually my "bad hair days", they will throw it back to me - there is nothing wrong with your hair!  The best thing that happened this term was when one of those students had her photo on the campus web site and someone asked about the photo, which was not complimentary  She replied that she had no idea why they used that photo, "because it is a bad  picture, and I AM PRETTY!"   What a victory to hear a young woman say that and mean it!
     I constantly see photos of pathetic celebrity women who have bought into the Hollywood ideal that to be successful you must be young and wrinkle free.  They have  destroyed their natural beauty with plastic surgery, Botox, and silicone injections, and they look sad and unnatural.  What a shame.
     Embrace each wrinkle - they say, "I have smiled a lot.  Squinted on a sunny day.  Worried about someone.  LIVED."
     You are beautiful.  Believe it.

Babies at the farm

    The delivery of the lambs from two ewes has doubled our flock.  We are now the proud caretakers of ten sheep, (and thinking we were quite right in not breeding our third ewe).  Maxine gave us twins, and last Wednesday, Arwen dropped triplets, as we suspected.  The twins are male and female.  Thankfully, the triplets are all ewes!  The idea of culling our first babies was hard to swallow, but no farm needs a lot of rams. The trick with the trips is that they are white like their mom and dad.  Pippin has one defining mark - a small black dot on her hip.  Merry and Galadriel are both white - just white.  I am hoping one develops a slightly dustier looking nose or something allowing us to identify her without having to read her ear tags.
     Yesterday, we let the lambs and mamas out on the pasture for a bit - they loved it.

first steps outside the barn

I have an oak leaf!

      A few of neighbors stopped by to see the lambs, and Ted, an old shepherd himself, warned us to watch out for the eagles.  This had never occurred to me.  We have at least one mating pair of bald eagles living near by.  Ted said he has always been more worried about the eagles stealing his lambs than the coyotes.  We know the llama will help stave off a coyote insurgence, but what would he do with an aerial attack?

Time to rest for the 3 day old lambs

The big kids on the block playing King of the Hill.

      Babies on the farm come in all shapes and colours, including the new chicks.  We had our youngest go to pick out half a dozen new chicks (pullets all - NO MORE ROOSTERS!) and they are now in the basement in their brooder.

So Spring is happening as it should on a farm - new arrivals, some plowing, some planting and hopes for the right amounts of sun and rain.  As our friend, Ted, said when he saw the lambs, "You're in it for real now."

Firsts for the farm

   Last week we had the sheep sheared for the first time.  We were lucky to have a wonderful shearer named Nancy Meyers who was willing to talk to us and  give us tips, etc.  She said the sheep were looking good, and except for all the vegetable matter in their coats, the fleece was gorgeous.  We knew we had to set up a different feeder style so the hay doesn't sit on their necks and so the rams cannot sleep UNDER the feeder, making for hay monsters in the morning. Here is a quick look at some of the shearing.

Maxine, pre-shearing

Arwen - pre-shearing

Sam being sheared

Nice crimp in this fleece

Rosie was the least happy of all of them

Arwen shorn

Maxine shorn

scraps of fleece showing the colors of the fleeces

   After the shearing - as in three days later, Maxine gave us a beautiful set of little black hst twins.   Drew arrived for morning feeding and chores and they had just been born. The ram is Aragorn, and the ewe is Eowyn.  They are doing well - eating, gamboling about the pen, and sleeping well.  We put them in little sweaters as Saturday was raw and windy and we wanted to help them keep warm.  They are the remainders of a felted sweater I made slippers from this winter, but the sleeve remnants were the perfect size.  They are cut in such a way that it looks like they are trying to be super heroes.  I just call them Super Ram and Super Ewe. 

Just about an hour old

Aragorn

Super Ewe in the foreground and Super Ram behind

Eowyn is not going hungry

Arwen, still VERY pregnant - we are hoping for triplets from her, and a little worried it might be quads.

Our noble Elrond, always on guard

tired little lambs

King of his corner

                 A man died last night.  This statement can be made all over the world, and someone will smile sadly, or weep for him.  Here and now, it is my turn.  A man died last night.  He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a friend.  He was a quiet man of magic – chuckling when we were amazed by his entertainments.  He never failed to have a smile.  He never failed to have a magic trick in his pocket, or up his sleeve.

                 A man died last night; he was the father of my very dear friend.  He was my  “adopted” dad – who was there through the years of teenage giggling, and angst,  sleepovers,  boyfriends,  concerts, and Girl Scouts meetings. He could blow enormous bubbles.  He could hunt.  He could bend a penny.  He was a constant in the lives of many of us.

             He may not be remembered for doing some really big thing, but many will remember him for all the little things he did.  And for his smile.  And for his chuckle.  I will miss that chuckle.

Goodbye, Pa Noll