Our Friends Are Still Here
Tags: Nature
The hummies, that is. The male hummingbirds departed for points south and west two weeks ago, leaving the females and juveniles to depart at a later date. Since the territorial males left, action at the feeders has been harmonious and not nearly so noisy. They also are much more inclined to feed from the flowers. Lately the numbers have been even scarcer, which would mean that either the females or juveniles have already left for the year. Which is the last group to migrate? We will keep nectar in the feeders for a couple of weeks after the last sighting, just to help the stragglers that are stopping to rest and tank up. I will miss them. Today is Labor Day and the birdies have nearly all departed.
Yesterday Michealette and I picked blackberries, then I cooked them into jam. They were big and plump on the canes in the backyard. By the time they were cooked down and the pulp removed, I ended up with slightly less than 3 one cup jars of jam. That's not a lot of jam for all the effort that went into them but it is tasty and home made. The jam will be a taste of summer on a cold winter's day.
We also picked wild chanterelles in the nearby woods. I cooked mine with yellow onion and chives, doused them with a little cream and brandy, then spooned them over steak at dinner last night. The leftovers went into a fritatta for breakfast. Euell Gibbbons would be proud of us.
The weather is lovely though breezy today. We'll be taking a cruise on the lake in a short while. Today is also a good day for gathering seeds from nasturtiums, sweet william coreopsis, rudbeckia and whatever else is providing seeds. This is turning out to be a pretty nice Labor Day.
The hummies, that is. The male hummingbirds departed for points south and west two weeks ago, leaving the females and juveniles to depart at a later date. Since the territorial males left, action at the feeders has been harmonious and not nearly so noisy. They also are much more inclined to feed from the flowers. Lately the numbers have been even scarcer, which would mean that either the females or juveniles have already left for the year. Which is the last group to migrate? We will keep nectar in the feeders for a couple of weeks after the last sighting, just to help the stragglers that are stopping to rest and tank up. I will miss them. Today is Labor Day and the birdies have nearly all departed.
Yesterday Michealette and I picked blackberries, then I cooked them into jam. They were big and plump on the canes in the backyard. By the time they were cooked down and the pulp removed, I ended up with slightly less than 3 one cup jars of jam. That's not a lot of jam for all the effort that went into them but it is tasty and home made. The jam will be a taste of summer on a cold winter's day.
We also picked wild chanterelles in the nearby woods. I cooked mine with yellow onion and chives, doused them with a little cream and brandy, then spooned them over steak at dinner last night. The leftovers went into a fritatta for breakfast. Euell Gibbbons would be proud of us.
The weather is lovely though breezy today. We'll be taking a cruise on the lake in a short while. Today is also a good day for gathering seeds from nasturtiums, sweet william coreopsis, rudbeckia and whatever else is providing seeds. This is turning out to be a pretty nice Labor Day.