June 3-4, 2011

We have gone immediately from extremely wet (and flooding) spring weather to dry (and hot) summer conditions. It is amazing how fast the ground can dry out around here. There was no rain and unseasonably warm weather for the week, and I believe record highs were recorded over the weekend. At the farm we experienced low 90s Friday and saw the thermometer hit 95 on Saturday. June used to be very pleasant in Arkansas.

Mow

The tire in the mower held air and I immediately went to work -- wanting to get the back cut since we would be hanging out there. I also did down the road to the pond and in front of the barn. Everything else would just have to wait another week.

Set Blue Bird House

Since I had drilled a mounting hole (and nail latch hole in the lid) before coming out, I wanted to get this restored house setup. I took my post hole digger, shovel, pick, a short cedar post I found up in the woods, a hammer, and a nail down to the pond. I was sweating pretty good by the time I got a hole deep enough to hold the post up -- those darn rocks. Hopefully the house looks inviting to its intended guests.

While mowing earlier at the pond I had noticed this giant thistle coming up. So I dug it up and before bagging it, I thought I would include it in the photo by hanging it from the post. (I also found two more thistles up in the woods while looking for the post. Its unusually early for them to be out.)

On the way back to the house I saw a blue bird along Plume Creek. I told him there was a new house waiting for him over by the pond.

When I got to the turn where the blue bird house sits below the house, I pulled right up beside it and took it down without getting out of the 4Runner. This house had a nest but was showing no signs of occupancy. It also smelled horrible inside. I cleaned out the debris, re-nailed the bottom which was about to fall off, scrubbed it out with a brush, let it dry in the sun, and re-hung it Saturday.

Garden

Sally watered, I watered, Sally watered, I watered, and so forth for the time we were out. She picked most all of the bock chow (which was spindly and trying to bloom), found a few more radishes, pulled up one of the two lettuce plants (we'll see if the other makes through another hot dry week), picked a bunch of summer spinach for another quiche, found a few green beans large enough to pick, and pulled up one garlic and several onions. The smell of the garlic is really strong (I think it may have been one of the hot cloves Nina gave us). I strung the onions and garlic up in the basement at home.

Weed Eat

Sally brought her bike out and took a ride Saturday morning while I cranked up the brush whacker and did the road up the hill and around the cattle guard. It takes an entire tank of gas to get this job done. It sure makes the road look better, and its less creepy getting out to unlock the chain at the cattle guard.

Dam Leaking

When setting the bird house, I immediately noticed that there was no water coming out of the culverts but water was pouring through the dam underneath the culverts. I thought I had fixed this problem several years back when I dug up both sides of the north culvert. And then the beaver moved in and they did a good job of stopping the flow -- too good a job. Now its back to leaking badly.

I used the shovel and dug up some clumps of mud and grass and stuffed them under the mouth of both culverts where the water was flowing under. I then used a 4x4 to drive them in a bit. I was pretty sure the flow had slowed by the time I finished setting the bird house, and I was certain of it when I returned on Saturday -- the water level had risen and was now flowing through both culverts.

I know this is just temporary and that water will wash out my patch within days. Nicholas (who helped me break up the concrete poured around the mouths of the culvert, which I think caused the problem) said they used plastic trash bags in Guatemala to stop/slow leaks like this. I think I am going to try this, stuff plastic down the hole and follow it up with clumps of mud and grass. I'm sure I will have to follow that up by digging down both sides further down and repeating the process including adding bentonite clay.

Pond Scum

The filamentous algae is really bad. Most of it was blown up against the dam by the southwest winds. It extended out some 20 feet and was fairly thick. Not knowing what else to do at the time (and resisting my impulse to spray it with copper sulfate) I raked it Saturday. I would scoop it up with the rake using it like a shovel and then throw it back onto the dam -- reaching out as far as I could. I worked back and forth along the dam about 4 times. By the time I would get to one end the wind would have blown more back toward the dam. This picture is after I spent 1.5 to 2 hours raking. I doubt repeating this process will bring control, and suspect that chemicals will be required.

The grass is also still growing along the bottom, but none has reached the surface. In some areas I could actually see patches of bare ground, so I am hoping the grass carp are making progress on it. I saw 7 big carp cruising around (they seem to like to hang out together).

Pond management is a tricky process that I have yet to master.

Weed Black Berries

I spent more time pulling weeds around a few more of the black berries. I followed this up by spreading newspapers held down with cedar limbs. I also pinched the new canes coming out to get them to branch out. There are lots of little berries on the old canes and there are still lots of blooms.

Wild Raspberries

I saw a few ripe wild black raspberries and ate them. Not many, and they aren't too big. It looks like the wildlife find them first.