looking out the window
Out my window is a bluebird box and this morning there are bluebirds.
Flying back and forth.
Into the box.…
and then out again.
And then less than a minute passes and she’s (he?) is back again.
And only spending dozens of seconds inside before leaving once again.
I was wondering, ‘isn’t it early for chicks (if that is what baby bluebirds are called). And not only early. How is she managing to capture a steady supply of food so quickly.
I mean, I know that bluebirds aren’t much interested in grains.
Is there some place where she is digging up something like a mealy bug.? Some place right around the bird house?
And that’s when I saw, she wasn’t carrying food at all. It wasn’t hungry chicks she was so busy feeding.
It was building her nest.
She was flying back and forth, just as quick as she could, from a pile of straw that I had left at the base of a lilac.
Flying from the straw to the nest box and back to the lilac bush and the straw once again.
Picking up several pieces of straw and flying back to the box.
And now that I’m writing about it, she’s stopped building the nest, for the time being, and instead, perched up on the tree, a pecan I planted in the front yard the first year I started farming our CSA, is a blue jay.
I only have bad thoughts for blue jays.
Another story and another nest. It was outside of a side door. What? a cat bird, I think, (whatever sort of bird it is that will attack your cat in defense of its babies), had built the nest and not only would it dive bomb our cats when they went outside but occasionally would swoop down on people pecking them on the top of the head and then quickly flying away.
I remember that nest clearly though it was decades ago. And I remember watching it one day when the parents were away gathering food for the babies when a blue jay suddenly appeared, landed on the edge of the nest, grabbed one of the young and in seconds killed it and flew off with the body, possibly to feed its own young, hanging from its beak.
Right now the sun is shinning but its been raining off and on for almost four days now. We’re desperately waiting for it to dry up enough to continue planting.
Those almost 20,000 onion and leek seedlings we have waiting to go in the ground won’t wait much longer. Already they are starting to dry out. Even if we put them in our two storage refrigerators this sitting around isn't good for them.
Let’s hope the rain stops and the ground dries enough for us to get back to planting.
Other Farm news?
Asparagus. The Asparagus is coming up. In the past it has been first come first help yourself. this year we’ll do it differently. If you want to come out and cut your own asparagus first come out and help weed the asparagus bed. Besides the asparagus coming up the weeds are also growing. That and picking up the new rocks. (rocks also grow very well on our farm) if you want asparagus first half an hour of laboring in the asparagus bed. then we’ll divide up the asparagus.
Eggs. We are floating in eggs. For the next month these are still free to shareholders. Also, for the next month I’m going to be giving the excess eggs to a local food bank. If you want to contact your food bank and arrange dropping off our eggs, that works too.
Seedling day at the farm. For the past several years we have given our excess seedlings to the shareholders. That will be the case again this year only I’m not sure yet which week. It depends on how soon the ground dries out and how soon we can plant. Hopefully the weekend of May 9th or maybe the 16th. I will let you know.
Open Shares? We now have some openings. Also we’re adding several dozen more egg shares, if you are interested e-mail me.
Right now I’m in the process of finding tote bags for this year. The ones we have given out for the past several years (a real nice heavy duty reinforced cotton canvas bag with pockets) is no longer being manufactured. I've been shopping for a new one however it is amazing how many really cheap totes are out there. My motto though is cheap is, well, cheap. I’ve found that cheap not only means cheap in tote bags but it definitely means that for farm equipment. The number of times I've tried to save a few hundred (or thousand) dollars, only to be stuck with a piece of twisted metal after using it a few times.
Flying back and forth.
Into the box.…
and then out again.
And then less than a minute passes and she’s (he?) is back again.
And only spending dozens of seconds inside before leaving once again.
I was wondering, ‘isn’t it early for chicks (if that is what baby bluebirds are called). And not only early. How is she managing to capture a steady supply of food so quickly.
I mean, I know that bluebirds aren’t much interested in grains.
Is there some place where she is digging up something like a mealy bug.? Some place right around the bird house?
And that’s when I saw, she wasn’t carrying food at all. It wasn’t hungry chicks she was so busy feeding.
It was building her nest.
She was flying back and forth, just as quick as she could, from a pile of straw that I had left at the base of a lilac.
Flying from the straw to the nest box and back to the lilac bush and the straw once again.
Picking up several pieces of straw and flying back to the box.
And now that I’m writing about it, she’s stopped building the nest, for the time being, and instead, perched up on the tree, a pecan I planted in the front yard the first year I started farming our CSA, is a blue jay.
I only have bad thoughts for blue jays.
Another story and another nest. It was outside of a side door. What? a cat bird, I think, (whatever sort of bird it is that will attack your cat in defense of its babies), had built the nest and not only would it dive bomb our cats when they went outside but occasionally would swoop down on people pecking them on the top of the head and then quickly flying away.
I remember that nest clearly though it was decades ago. And I remember watching it one day when the parents were away gathering food for the babies when a blue jay suddenly appeared, landed on the edge of the nest, grabbed one of the young and in seconds killed it and flew off with the body, possibly to feed its own young, hanging from its beak.
Right now the sun is shinning but its been raining off and on for almost four days now. We’re desperately waiting for it to dry up enough to continue planting.
Those almost 20,000 onion and leek seedlings we have waiting to go in the ground won’t wait much longer. Already they are starting to dry out. Even if we put them in our two storage refrigerators this sitting around isn't good for them.
Let’s hope the rain stops and the ground dries enough for us to get back to planting.
Other Farm news?
Asparagus. The Asparagus is coming up. In the past it has been first come first help yourself. this year we’ll do it differently. If you want to come out and cut your own asparagus first come out and help weed the asparagus bed. Besides the asparagus coming up the weeds are also growing. That and picking up the new rocks. (rocks also grow very well on our farm) if you want asparagus first half an hour of laboring in the asparagus bed. then we’ll divide up the asparagus.
Eggs. We are floating in eggs. For the next month these are still free to shareholders. Also, for the next month I’m going to be giving the excess eggs to a local food bank. If you want to contact your food bank and arrange dropping off our eggs, that works too.
Seedling day at the farm. For the past several years we have given our excess seedlings to the shareholders. That will be the case again this year only I’m not sure yet which week. It depends on how soon the ground dries out and how soon we can plant. Hopefully the weekend of May 9th or maybe the 16th. I will let you know.
Open Shares? We now have some openings. Also we’re adding several dozen more egg shares, if you are interested e-mail me.
Right now I’m in the process of finding tote bags for this year. The ones we have given out for the past several years (a real nice heavy duty reinforced cotton canvas bag with pockets) is no longer being manufactured. I've been shopping for a new one however it is amazing how many really cheap totes are out there. My motto though is cheap is, well, cheap. I’ve found that cheap not only means cheap in tote bags but it definitely means that for farm equipment. The number of times I've tried to save a few hundred (or thousand) dollars, only to be stuck with a piece of twisted metal after using it a few times.
posted by Bull Run Mountain Vegetable Farm at 11:09 PM
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