Blue Birds
We have eggs at the house at pond. This is the second set of eggs there, but
this time there is a raccoon guard in place which I hope will protect them and
the fledglings. The house out back now has a complete nest and I've seen the female
leaving the house. I also have put meal worms out in a box lid below the house, and
they keep disappearing. The bird house in the front remains empty, which has baffled us.
Garden
Nothing has really taken off since it remains dry – another week with no rain. We did harvest this garlic since it had begun to lay over. I think it was left in the ground by accident the year before and these sprouted from one un-harvested clove. The basil is still hanging on, but looks pretty pitiful. Sally is bringing flowering annuals out and planting them in the garden to provide some color: marigolds, Jupiter's beard, verbena, and a small climbing rose. The summer spinach is beginning to fill in, not minding the dry weather.
Mowing and Weed Eating
The only mowing I did was the front yard. I did use the brush whacker a lot: the hill out back, the hill below the house, behind and in front of the barn, and around the spring. Sally wanted it cleaned up underneath the large oak you pass on the way to the barn, so we pulled out the big limbs (ice storm) and I brush whacked that entire steep, thick area. It will need another going over before the wedding.
Pond
The pond is not looking good. I can't tell if the grass is dead or is growing. The fertilizer didn't seem to do anything, and now their is lots of algae on the surface. Sally authorized the use of chemicals, so I made three trips down there with my backpack sprayer and Cutrine Plus. I'm hopeful it knocked out the algae.
This was the second week in a row there has been a lone duck or goose on the pond. I need to look it up and see exactly what it is. Sally never got to see it.
Thistle
I spotted a bunch of giant thistle on one of my trips to the pond. This was all in a small area where I missed it last year and let it go to seed, so I had been looking out for it. I usually spot it once it blooms (big purple blooms on those tall stalks), but I got to this before it ever flowered. With no flowers or seeds yet, I didn't bother trying to bag it – which I couldn't have done any way since there was so much. Something else to burn.
Compost Bin
I still need to build the compost bin for the humanure. I'm planning on using a couple of pallets that were left in the barn plus the double one I took apart. Not much progress here, but I did move some of the rocks where I plan to put it.
Briars
The briars I had sprayed a week or two back no longer have shiny green leaves, and Sally said they have to go. I cut out this huge bunch growing on the hill behind the barn and rolled them down and behind some cedars. This was the biggest ball of briars I've gotten so far. I cut and rolled a second ball with in one of the pins by the barn – where I had stacked the cedar posts. There is still more briar removal required.
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