 |
June 4-10 is "Pet Appreciation Week". Here are our two - Zoey & Roxy - eyeing the neighbors' pet chickens. |
Chickens
We're lucky enough to have next door neighbors who keep chickens. Lucky for a couple of reasons - first of course is that we get the benefit of farm-fresh eggs at $4 a dozen. The other benefit is that chickens, like pigs, will eat about anything, so all of our leftovers - stale bread/crackers/chips, wilted greens, past-peak fruit - are naturally "composted" and recycled by the appreciative hens. (Neighbor Vickie, the chickens' owner, says that about the only thing she will not feed them is leftover chicken, thus avoiding any serious moral debates within the flock).
The disadvantage this time of year, however, is that their one rooster truly does rise as soon as the sun comes up - 5 AM right about now - waking up our dogs, and thus forcing an early start to our day.
* * * * *
Weather
I know that I'm stating the obvious when I say that it's been a roller coaster ride lately, weather-wise. A teaser weekend of 90 degree days in mid-April brought out the summer clothes and dreams of visits to the local nursery to pick up some annuals and get started on the garden. Experience has taught me, however, not to plant my vegetable garden until Memorial Day - a practice that I started even when we lived in Connecticut, let alone in mid-Vermont.
Still, I couldn't resist picking up a couple of hanging baskets and potted flowers for the deck right around Mother's Day. Sure enough, what followed was a string of lightly frosty nights, so those flowers spent more time on our porch covered with blankets than they did outside. Out dog-walking with my friend Jane a few days later, we tried to convince ourselves that the white stuff blowing around in the wind were apple blossoms when in fact they were - yes, snowflakes!
Soon after, though, the days warmed up and the apple blossoms really did come out in full glory.....
 |
| Apple blossoms on May 13, before the frost |
But winter had one more trick to play when we woke up to a hard frost of 22 degrees on May 18 - just when the fruit trees in the region were at their peak bloom. The apple and other fruit farmers around here are keeping their fingers crossed that this year's harvest has not been too adversely affected, but the damage to trees is evident throughout (see news story - CLICK HERE)
 |
| The brownish leaves you see in these pictures are due to frost damage |
Fortunately, the little crab apple tree in our side yard was late to bloom - the blossoms weren't yet out when the frost hit - so it escaped the damage. I caught this picture of a pollinator at work just a few days later:
 |
| My bee-keeper nephew Christopher tells me that's a "Carpenter bee" - not a producer of honey, but an important pollinator nevertheless. |
With warm weather returning, I was finally able to put in my vegetable garden, but the weather continues to be a challenge for those young plants - from parched 90 degree days late last week, to winds and temperatures struggling to reach 60 as I write this....all topped by an air quality alert this morning (Tuesday 6/6) from wildfires in Quebec:
Smoke from distant fires, obscuring the view of nearby hills
* * * * *
Dandelions
I'll end with this - I know that many will disagree (my husband for one), but if you look closely, there is some real beauty and symmetry to a dandelion! More about the flower at THIS LINK.
