Musings

During today’s Eradication Operation, I had to remove several larger plants (but still perhaps youthful and medium-sized)—sure enough, the roots resemble parsnips. Indian celery/rhubarb are other names for the cow parsnip. Yes, if you’re careful, there are edible parts. Don’t count me in, though.

These are garden lupines gone wild, so I guess they technically are an invasive species. Pretty, pretty, however. I’m told you can eat the beans, as with other members of the Fabaceae family. This type doesn’t make the large seeds called lupini in Italy—which I ate not knowing they were lupines. Interestingly, they are beans with no starch. Some people’s body find these and other beans toxic. But I digress.

Meet Bailey. I threw her floppy not-a-Frisbee over and over (she mostly returned it to my feet), waiting for her to tire. Then, I accidentally threw it in the PI way over in the corner of the yard, and that was the last time (I’m tooooo allergic). With no more tosses happening, she took a nap. Sweet Bailey. A great fetcher.

Posted at 9:18 PM | Comments Off on Sweet day

Perhaps a dozen times I’ve driven this route across the field…the first time there was no path—it was “virgin” grass. Each day, I’d drive it twice, over perhaps ten days. The grass height between the tires, where the tops are brushed by the underside of the pickup, is shorter than to the sides where it was untouched. Grass learns fast, it appears.

I hadn’t ever shot straight down on a lupine. [Got that out of my system, ¿no?]

I got this one right: it’s false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum). Edible; didn’t know that.

Dined outdoors at proper social distance with the neighbors. Great sky. We got a special invite because the hunter-fisher-gatherer-gardener had success out on the lake this morning, and they shared. 🧡 A walleye, sometimes called yellow pike. In Canada, it’s a pickerel—although it’s not taxonomically a pickerel.

Posted at 9:48 PM | Comments Off on Learning curves

I do enjoy these dewy mornings. Conditions weren’t quite right to foster a fog layer in the field…. Love the long shadows.

Of course, it meant that I got darned damp even with knee-high boots during my Eradication and Weight-Loss Spading Fun. It was clear yesterday, although I didn’t acknowledge it, and unavoidable today, that I will not finish removing the infestation. I did a good hour-and-a-half yesterday and today…hard push…just too many invaders. Ah, well, that’s often the way of invasive species removal programs; if I went for burdock and milkweed, too, I’d be…well, let’s just not go there.

Found this busy, noisy bee doing bee-business. On a pink-shaded lupine. Mid-afternoon.

I assume the feather is for luck, good winds, continued health, all that fine sentiment. And for safe travels. Our numbers here at the end of the road have dropped a notch again (safe travels!). Uptick expected Saturday—yay!

Posted at 5:33 PM | Comments Off on Critical assessment

See those broadleaves among the skinny vertical grass blades. My quarry. Hours of digging remain. This is what weed control can look like.

Enough work. Off to Gitche Gumee on this blue-sky day.

For I don’t know how many years, the mouth of Hurricane Creek has taken a hard bend (sometimes east, sometimes west) before flowing into the Big Lake. This year it’s just a straight descent over the dark rust-red sandstone.

We also ducked (haha) in to check the Refuge, although it was “the heat of the day,” not considered the best for critter-watching. We saw the usual assortment…swans, geese, ducks, and a few other feathered critters we/I didn’t recognize. Several turtles. Two work trucks, yet no tourists whatsoever!

Most swans were bottom-up feeding, although we did see two sleeping (head under wing), and managed to catch this pair heads-up.

Posted at 6:50 PM | Comments Off on Under a blue sky

I was in a strolling mood early, and walked down to the lake, already with lapping wee-waves. Nice distortion by the water of the bivalve shell.

Heading up to check the forest edge where I knew more cow warships parsnips await, I found this wildflower lovely, a jack in the pulpit. First I’ve seen this year, but probably mostly because I haven’t been looking in the right places.

I see that the northeast field edge has a robust CP settlement, probably take five daily shifts to eradicate them…or all of them that I can see now that the grass is pretty darned high.

I decided not to put off ring fort construction further, and began generic weed eradication on The Botanist’s Mound. Detailed clearing the last few years has tempered the grass infection, and it went pretty fast. I wanted to go through the soil one more time for contaminants, however, so I left planting for another time. This took sufficient energy that I avoided CP digging today. High this afternoon into the 80°Fs, so you know I wasn’t out there for hard labor after midday!

The barberries are noisy with visitors. I could discern at least four species, including a large orange/black striped bumblebee. They were all moving so fast from flower to flower, and the blooms are on the underside of the branches…making it difficult to get a good shot. This’ll do.

And I found nascent grape clusters. I think much of the lengths and loops of the vine are no longer alive. Another chore to prune back the deadwood.

Posted at 4:46 PM | 2 Comments »

The purple lupines are emerging.

The lilacs are coming along more slowly.

Insect lilac-admirer.

Trillium senescence continuum.

You know the phrase “the blues”? I’m suggesting there’s a similar mood/mental condition that can be called the purples. There’s covid. There’s death and protest. There’re plenty of people not wearing masks. Enough to alter your mood. Mine, anyway.

Posted at 6:00 PM | Comments Off on Having the purples

The Guru flew Droney over the orchard despite it being pretty darned windy this afternoon. If you look closely there are two(?) horizontal bands below the center that are slightly distorted because Droney was working hard to remain stable as the wind flipped it around. Doncha love technology—sometimes!

Chives are beginning to open. Ant aboard (dark, on left side between petals).

Fading trilliums can get a dark pink cast. In my ignorance, I saw some in the woods the other day and thought the pinkish ones might be a different kind. Nope.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Flowery spring

The buds are open on the high branches of the lilacs. Buds are pretty, though!

Here’s the working edge of the eradication program. I hope this is the densest spot, but I have to work my way along this edge of the woods to the farthest you can see in this shot. In nearly an hour of digging and hauling, I “cleansed” about 25×25 ft. I see the big broadleaves and think, “broad stems are easy handles, and it’ll go fast.” Nope. First, there are small specimens in between. And, roots make the digging difficult. And I try not to damage the ferns (too much). But, cooler today meant almost no blackflies, although the mosquitoes were not immobilized by the coolness and breeze. Always something.

After a rest, shower, and lunch, we took the wildlife drive at the refuge. Of course, we saw the big swans and Canada geese, and mallards, and maybe a golden eye. And a brown snake (best I can do—it was moving right along; that’s our second snake since arrival—the first was a copper-bellied water snake, of all things, and in the road…rescued by LaLaurel). We also saw this sandhill crane; neither of us could remember the last time we saw a sandhill at the refuge.

And turtles—one shiny-shelled one down by the water on the log, and several more up higher. The water level was rather high in the ponds, except for the one they’d drained. Deeeee-lightful visit.

Posted at 7:03 PM | Comments Off on Progress

Having taken two days off from the Eradication Project, and noticing the morning was cool-ish, and that there was a breeze off of the lake, I decided to sally forth with shovel and pickup. And a carry-bucket, a new addition to my tools. In the bucket is one and only one of the (larger) cow parsnips. And it is smaller than one I dug up later. They are aggressive growers!

I thought the lake-breeze would send most of the blackflies tumbling away. Wrong. And we’re in the peak days, so more than the last time. Ah well, I put in a short hour, and was glad I did not have to stay longer. Also I had sweated through my shirt-collar, so I did not feel guilty.

Love trilliums.

Posted at 6:56 PM | Comments Off on Continuity

I heard rain when I got up in the wee hours, but fell quickly back asleep and didn’t know how long it rained. The rain barrel had a damp film, but no drops, so it didn’t fall for long. But, here’s a drop, so a few lupines made a catch. Have no idea why the water seemed pale yellow. Probably some obvious effect known to physics and not to me.

Such lovely little flowers, such a delicate blue.

Spider hanging with two big birch buddies.

Somewhat large blooms for apple…as I recall, this is a Siberian apple (NOT a crabapple), good for blooming and lousy for apples…it was planted to pollinate, so I guess that bee knows where to find pollen! The apples are so unpalatable that the deer even (mostly) avoid them, the Botanist told me.

I seem to remember that the orchard has rows of pollinators; I have no idea if they go north-south or east-west. Vaguely I think north-south, but I may be making that up.

Posted at 7:37 PM | Comments Off on Another hot, dry day