The house is soooo big, it's hard to get all of it in the picture! This is the view from the south.

Toads in the Road (from September 20)

From my nature journal: September 20, 2009

Driving home last night, I tried to avoid hitting all the toads in the road. Small hopping jumpers, their eyes reflecting red, the toads came out to enjoy the warm rain. Little carcasses showed where cars had been unable to keep from running them down. I slowed, glad to be alone on a country road, driving carefully to let these little ones live. Crane flies, looking like giant mosquitoes, fluttered in the air. However, the mosquitoes themselves seemed fewer than usual.

This morning, the scent of warm rich leaf mold permeated the damp air. My daughter rescued one last toad, removing it from the road before the bus came rumbling up.

Late August Morning

The mornings start green-golden, as we walk Faerygirl down the driveway to meet the bus. Heavy in the lazy fog drifts the scent of crushed walnuts. Sometimes, there is a hint of our musky skunk neighbor. Every day, there is more yellow at the edges of the forest, a few more leaves on the ground. The song is different, too, no longer the wild birdsong of spring. This music consists of soft cricket chirping, the gurgling cackle of a disturbed screech owl, the sharp keen of hunting hawks, and occasional cawing from angry crows. As the golden sunrise mist dissipates, a September-blue sky reveals itself and the cicadas begin their buzzing. Squirrelboy expresses disgruntlement with the burrs that stick everywhere - clothes, cats, blankets, soft toys: anything that comes in contact with the burrs that come in with us or the cats. Berries begin ripening; I see the deep blue-purple of Solomon's seal and the red of false Solomon's-seal. I anticipate a pawpaw harvest in the next week or so.

Sunflower Month

We have moved beyond the showy time of the lilies and are now in the season of sunflowers. Hints of gold touch the fields and trees. Pollen hangs in the moisture-laden air. Even though it's been unusually cool and wet this year, now the heat has arrived. Corn and zucchini fill the market stands, but everyone I know is having trouble with tomatoes. It's been too cold and wet for them to be happy. Perhaps now in this August heat they will take off. Already we are gleaning honey from Aphrodite and Beatrice. We look forward to a large honey harvest later on. We can see and feel how heavy the super frames are getting. I was also able to put up some beans. I love the Royal Burgundy bean plants, with their purple flowers, stems, and pods. So pretty, and so practical! We have found these purplish plants to be hardier than their green cousins, more resistant to disease and insect damage. They are tasty, too. When you blanch them, the purple goes into the water and the beans turn green. I grew dwarf sunflowers in the garden and big ones in front of the beehives. Their happy yellow faces attract beneficial insects and bring a smile to all who look at them. I hope that later on in the year, as the seeds ripen, we shall see flocks of goldfinches settling on their strong stalks. It is amazing to see how well the showy males are camoflauged when they are feeding on sunflowers - even their gaudy yellow feathers blend in!

Hive Notes

Started with Deborah this time. No queen was observed, and there was no evidence of fresh brood. We fed her, and hope that her queen is out on a mating flight. Next, we visited Cynthia. Now this is a really clean hive! All of the drawn-out comb is even and very beautiful. She is orderly and healthy. She is also quite compliant, showing us her queen on the second frame we drew from the hive body. We fed sugar water and pollen patties to both Cynthia and Deborah so that they can quickly build up more honeycomb and population. Beatrice was fussy. For a while, we thought she might be queenless because the girls were so grouchy. They weren't patient with us at all. However, we did spot a queen near the end of our session. Beatrice is busy drawing out her super frames. We fed her sugar water, too. Finally, we crossed the field to check on Aphrodite. She is our mother hive, and we have high hopes for a honey harvest soon. Not yet, we must be patient...but there are several super frames with capped honey! We have to wait until all the honey on a frame is capped before we can harvest. "Green" honey is not so good for you. It's amazing that the bees know exactly when stored nectar hits the right density, and that's when they cap the cells. Aphrodite is a messy hive. Crosscomb is all over the place, making it hard to move the frames and check on the bees. I thought I saw a mite on one bee's leg, but it moved before I could really check it out well. The rest of the hive seems quite hale. We observed the queen here, too.