What's happening locally?

I forgot the trilliums! I love when they bloom.  The forests are just carpeted in white right now.  It takes my breath away every year.  Growing up on the West Coast we just never had anything like that as most of the forest are evergreen. I had heard about it but it was nothing compared to when I was actually here to see it.

 Yeah there's toads as well. I went out to our drainage pond yesterday and there were frogs and toads.  It's like a choir with all sorts of different voices.  I live on the edge of a marsh and the water comes right up the back of the property and then slowly recedes. Last year I was on the deck and it looked like the back of the yard was boiling and it wasn't until I took a walk that I realized it was all of them jumping around like crazy.  I expect the cranes will make an appearance soon.  They just spend their days walking back and forth feasting and driving my dogs crazy.   I saw a few dragonflies yesterday so know that the mosquitos are only a few days ahead.  Last year I counted about a dozen different types of dragonflies around my house.    It's pretty cool though, between the dragonflies and the bats they're never that bad around the house but walk back a hundred feet and yowsa! 

 I also saw a fisher for the first time ever.   Cool but not so cool since we have chickens.

I guess I was one of those farmers out in the dark.  I worked unitl 4 am the other night/morning and then had to work off the farm the next day.  Can't say I was very productive!

All kinds of peepers out around here.  I loved your description of driving with the window open Eliza.  That was exactly my experience on the way home the other evening.  The muffler is going on our little car and I could still hear them over the roar.

I stood around today in the rain trying to buy a tractor at an auction sale.  2nd auction this week I was out bid by a different dealer.  They can bid whatever they want and tack on a profit and way they go.  Our main loader tractor is pooched.  Even a moderate sized piece of crap is $10,000  If I want an actual decent one a used one it 15-20,000.  A new 50 HP one is close to $40,000.  Maybe it's all those old retired guys that want a small tractor to put around on I am competing against?

The thing happening here is we now have a 3 day old calf living on our porch.  It is the smallest calf I have ever seen still alive.  None of our cows want to claim it - so we don't know if it was a premature calf, a twin to a few that came in this week, or a cow we have been expecting to calve.  Anyway the poor thing is blind too.  It is so small I just threw it over my shoulder and walked up the lane with it.  Now I think I can claim to be sort of stronger than the average bear, but I sure am not that strong!   I'm about to go out and make it a calf shelter out of an old truck cap and some bales as it is really cool and nasty here and it is getting shivery.

Here's a link to a local story you might find interesting

http://nfuontario.ca/and-green-grass-grows-all-around-all-around

Boom Boom, I love the idea behind this thread.

Around here (in Winnipeg these days) Mayor Katz has wrapped himself around a homeless man who saved a teen from drowning after he tried to jump the span between two bridges - under which Mr. Farron Hill lives - and landed himself instead in the middle of a fast river. It's really a remarkable story, but it's also unnerving. I have my fears that all the public adulation and attention are going to create further stress for a man who has not had a very good go at life. He didn't ask for celebrity; he helped someone who needed help.

"I'll have to see if there's a gardening thread up yet!"

This year, I've resisted any temptation to chronicle the spring, thinking of you, Boom Boom.  Wouldn't want to rub our six week advance in your face.

But, the last of the magnolia flowers are falling off my small tree out front, and our lilacs are flowering now. 

It's been a wet spring here, lots of standing water everywhere so I expect a heavy mosquito season.  Best, I think, to go out and get bit a few times.  The worst bites seem to be the first ones. Maybe our systems need a wake up.

Anyway, remember that catnip, rubbed lightly on exposed skin is an excellent mosquito repellent.  And that the crushed leaves of the broad leaf plantain, rubbed vigourously on a mosquito bite will eliminate the itch, and stop the welt from growing any larger than when the plantain was applied.

I happened to see a Great Blue Heron fly over our plant here in London back in late January or early February.  Sent me scrambling for my field guide when I got home, to try to figure out if it was an early arrival or if they over wintered here.   The field guide says the rare one does over winter, but that the survival rate of those was pretty low.  Wonder how the thing fared through the rest of the winter and early spring.

Maybe it's all those old retired guys that want a small tractor to put around on I am competing against?

There may be something to that.  My friends up near Dundalk, who rent out their land, keep an old Czech Zetor to plow the driveway.  And my nephew has an old British tractor made just after the WWII to cut his grass-- about 4 acres.  Then again, I don't think either are implements a business could rely on.  Maybe the Zetor after some work.  Okay, maybe a lot of work.

Which makes me think, it's too bad there isn't a pool of labour sitting around idle in the cities that know a thing or two about welding, hydaulics, electrical, that under the right circumstances, (wink wink, nudge nudge)  could work cheap for some farmers.    You know, like if you had something broken under your table.

Actually, Rebecca West is the real gardner.  All I've done so far is weeding, and transplanting three dame's rockets that were growing in the wrong spot, only to have Rebecca discover that one wasn't a dame's rocket.  I put it back today.  Hope it survives the double transplant....

I have some maple saplings I really have to dig up and give away this spring.   And an oak seedling I should dig up and pot.  I have bad luck with oak, for some reason.  Oh-- not for some reason-- because of the fucking squirels.  And there's some elm I should look at trying to dig up.  Even if they don't make it, they can't be left to grow where they are.  Similarly, an ash tree has grown to a point where I have to make some kind of decision on it, and a walnut that I should talk to my neighbour about.    They're all fine trees, just growing in the wrong spots too close to the houses.  The walnut might be okay where it is. I've been hemming and hawing about what to do with it for three years now.

The oak tree that I left to grow out back grew more than a foot last year, and I noticed today that there's already two inches of new green growth from where it left off last year-- and the leaves are just now coming out.

Well, I don't know about locally but in my house I am pleased that my little mouse friend - Georgette - is back. I haven't seen her in a few months and was a little worried.  She just scampered across my floor with a little pause halfway through to check and make sure that I am seated in front of the computer and not moving.  Then she continued on to go behind the refridgerator.

On the gardening front, I have my seeds, have been told that it is better to buy tomato already sprouted (I was even told where I could get some organic ones!) for a new gardener and am waiting until the last week in May to plant my new found garden and see how it goes.  To bolster my confidence there are 6 tulips and 2 daffodiles growing in backyard.  I didn't even know they were there so it was a pleasant surprise, hopefully all the gardening will be so successful.

I think tommy you are correct,  we had 3 dogs and it did  not protect our chickens from a martin,  however I would advise getting Guinea hens, they are incredible watch birds, and when any preditor comes around you know it. They did more to protect our chickens than anything else.

Going to paint some fences today, it is bright and blue skied, the mountains, raisng in their majestic snow capped glory, are amazing this morning.

Though sadly the snow melted slopes ravaged by the pine beetle,  are depressingly grey and battered looking.  It is very weird looking at mountains that have no green on them.

No aqua coloured Jays here so far in the Big Smoke. Not even that field of artificial turf called the Grand-Theft Rogers Centre, or something like that. Nor do we have a trillium field as a sign of spring, but we do have one distictive urban sign. As soon as the snow banks melt, we can detect mounds of cigarette butts left by smokers as they grab a few moments relief around doorways.

Fortunately the acid rain has washed all that away by now, and the only things that pedestrians have to avoid (aside from the obvious unmentionables) are bicyclists, skate boarders, and reversing back hoes.

I mention the back hoe, since I live near the Bloor-Yonge corner ( main intersection of Toronto), which has several local happenings, or in one case, non-happenings.

The happening is the continuing tearing down of the sidewalks and roads along Bloor from Church to Avenue Road.  Sidewalks have been torn up, laid (if that's the correct term), torn up and then laid again. Back hoes have been pinning people against walls as they emerged from the Bay.

The non-happening is the 80 or 100 story condo that had people lining up overnight to buy, and is now represented by a vacant lot  right on the corner n the centre of Canada (we like to think.) They tore down Roy's Square, and because of the financial shenanigans of capitalism represented by the Lehman Brothers, we don't even have a construction site so far.

With these happenings, both real and illusionary, our corner looks like pictures of Berlin after World War II. So feeling whistful about the lack of natural phenomenon that some people are able to write about here, I had to try to use "humour" to cover up the sadness.

It was amazing, has anyone else ever observed a Robin acting like a bird of prey?

That's a first for me.  But I've seen Robins do unusual things.  I've seen them foraging for grubs in my lawn. The stand still, and then run over to a spot three or four feet away, dig and always come up with a grub.  I figure they must see some tell tale twitch of a blade of grass as the grubs eat the roots.  They never come up empty on a dig.

Another behavior people have noted about Robins is "dancing" for worms during dry weather.  I was told by my dad when I was a kid that the Robins jump up and down to simulate rain drops, which draws the worms to the surface. This never really made much sense to me.  But I've seen Robins dance like that.

A month or two ago, however, I watched a feature on the "Daily Planet" about "worm grunting"  or "worm charming".  People tease worms out onto the surface by generating low frequency vibrations through the soil.  Seems the vibrations mimic the vibrations of moles moving through the soil, sending the worms surfaceward to aviod the "mole".

I now surmise that the Robins are attempting to do this when they "dance". 

Back to ElizaQ's Fisher, I think trapping would only be a temporary solution.  Sooner or later, another one would come along.  They range widely.  And, besides cars, they are the only control on porcupine populations, which can be pests too.

I wonder if, say, the application of wolverine scent might send them packing?  I wonder if there's such a product avialable, and what hospital treats the people who harvest wolverine scent?  :)

It is an old Case/David Brown and it is time to let the old thing go.  Everyone else complains it is too hard to drive anyway.  I like the old girl but it is a bit ackward for some jobs.

I'm sure you know there's a market for old tractors as collector items.  My Nephew has had offers on his.  I wish I remembered the make-- apparently the company that made them had the Commonwealth Countries as a kind of prefered market for a while, as part of the plan to get British manufacturing back on it's feet, and part of the way Britain paid off it's war debt.

So, it still might pay to get it back in running order, if not working order.  It's sale to some semi-rural retired from city life rube might defray the cost of the replacement.

That must be disheartening at this time of year.  It may raise your spirits to know that a cold front came through here yesterday morning, and it's not been very nice at all since.  In fact, my furnace has kicked on just now.

Did some more reading up on our friend the nasty Fisher.  Although I ran into some contradictory information, it seems they prefer transition zones, such as forest to creek or river, or forest to meadow, for example.  And, they don't like open ground.  Keeping your chickens as far from tree or long grass cover as possible may help.  One site said Fishers are only nocturnal when they start to get close to humans-- they are active night or day in wilderness areas.  Another site said a motion sensitive flood light might help.

It seems that Fishers will den anywhere, but have a preference for hollow trees for raising kits.  With a ten mile diameter range, I guess one can't ensure no such habitat exists, however, I think one can take steps to ensure one is not the closest meal outlet for a den with kits by getting rid of large standing hollow dead trees, and perhaps fallen ones too.   Potential family dens should be easy to spot in a conventional woodlot in S/W Ontario.

No misss for this Robin, it snatched the moth mid air and went flying off with it. It was sitting on branch overlooking the front lawn and swooped down on it from behind. We were actually kinda stunned for a nano second, and then went running to the windows facing the direction it went, and it flew off through the trees with it clutched in its "talons" ;)  I guess to its nest somewhere.

I finished  a large section of the fence painting today, and got a wee red blush to my skin, while painting and listening to Dire Straights, and Fleetwoodmac, did a bit of dancing around too though. Now it is clouding over. :(

Yay, I have been posting articles on the protest here

http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/hope-people-can-keep-informing-us-tamil-situation#comment-1016215

Still closed!

Thanks for all the suggestions regarding the Fisher.   The chickens are safe right now as they are in a totally secured shed at night and in big outside pens during the day.  I do want to bring them outside of the pens to range on some of the pasture and will be getting some electronet fencing for that.   Tommy the back of my property is a transition zone right on the edge of a marsh and large forest.  It's pretty much an animal highway. I've started taking my dog for a walk twice a day along a made up perimeter line which hopefully will help establish some boundries.  One of the dogs I already have seems to have taken up guard duty all on her own. Our balcony looks up over the yard and overlooks the chicken pens and she spends most of the day just lying there watching now that they are outside.  One of the chickens actually got loose and wander away due to bad me leaving a gate open and she actually came inside where I was napping on the couch and woke me up to tell me. It was a real Lassie moment with her whining and running back and forth to the door trying to get me to follow.  :D    She was also the one that spied the fisher from her balconey watch tower in the first place.

Lets see. What's happening locally?

The feds and province announced funding for two interchanges on the Anthony Henday. A  rookie police officer shot a dude "known to police". A whole stack of violent crime in Edmonton. My ex boss is still a whacko crazy person. Babywood is making cute talkie noises and is getting cuter by the day.

It all balances.

I'm having air conditioning installed.  Just in my personal quarters of course.

thanks,

did you ever read Naomis 'Shock Doctrine' ?

Well the same principle has been applied to the family farms for probably more then a hundred years.

The farm I live on has been around since about 1850.  I think it started off, supplying grain, flower, meat and milk for the local community. I have come across bits of millstones to grind flower, hoists to lift cattle for butchering, and dairy equipment. There used to be a little cheese factory two mile down the road.

Try selling flower, meat and dairy products from any farm now.  Probably every time a death occured that could be traced to some food gone bad the 'Shock doctrine' was set in to remove a product from farm and local little processing plants into a bigger near monopolistic entity.  And it gets applied to ever more items. Eggs, chickens, maple syrup, honey, firewood, They keep piling on the restrictions and regulations, always it seems to the disadvantage of the small producer and to the advantage of the big processors.

Sometimes I wish they would do a real risk assesment on food safety.

Bubbles wrote:

Someimes I wish they would do a real risk assessment on food safety.

Agreed.  I wonder how much the actualy "danger" of farm food is much like violent crime involving strangers - reported so much and highly in the media that people think that their safety is at risk when in reality the chances of falling victim to a violent crime from a stranger are so low.

I would be interested to see a real risk assessment as well.

Bubbles wrote:

thanks,did you ever read Naomis 'Shock Doctrine' ?

Well the same principle has been applied to the family farms for probably more then a hundred years.

yep, though I would say, it has intensified since the 60's. It was a topic at my family's dinner table way back then. The desired takeover of the family farm for corporate industrial farming that is, and how they were doing it.

Quote:

They keep piling on the restrictions and regulations, always it seems to the disadvantage of the small producer and to the advantage of the big processors.

Sometimes I wish they would do a real risk assesment on food safety.

yes, there certainly is a segment of our society, even amongst alleged progressives, that want us all regulated to the point where we sit in our houses, do nothing, and consuming crappie industrial grown food. All for our own safety of course.

That's our Minister of Finance's Ridding, isn't it?

Well I started on my low cost / no cost garden today.

I have now planted my strawberries very firmly in old sheets and and an old robe with strofoam from the solar panels that I bought last year providing breathability for the roots.  I have an upside down water bottle filled with fertalizer and chicken poo.

I used an old tire as a planter with a garbage bag to prevent any water from dripping out.  Then I put in an old robe and filled it with styrofome.  I then added 2tbsp fertilizer and 1 tbsp chicken manure then another layer of cloth and strofoam followed by the fertilizer and chicken manure.  Then I planted the strawberry plants in them and put rocks on the top.  There is also a water bottle that I am using as water source/food source as an irrigation system.  Not including the plants I spent a total of 26.92 but have enough fertalizer to plant the rest of my garden and probably do me for I would say the rest of the summer (I may have to correct myself at some point) but 25 bucks for a whole season of gardening is pretty good if it does last!

Next I want to try the sock/pop can garden.  I have already been dumpster diving and collected a few cans so hopefully will be ready to go by next week (I think that is illegal in TO now but hopefully my 6th sense for the cops will be working!)  I think I will try the tomato plants in there, maybe the raspberry plant as well.

that last post refuge sounded like a GMO cross between stephen leacock's 'How I Built My House for $4.94' and 'velcro-ripper loose on site 41'.

you are never allowed near my plot, ever.

Its snowinggggggggggggggggggggggggg!