Sunday, August 4, 2019

The Pleasure and Pain of Berry Picking, and another Turkey Curiosity


The raspberries are abundant this year.  I didn’t get time to pick them as I should have this week so when I picked this morning there were many that were overripe and many on the ground- a sad sight.  The deerflies are also abundant so there was a bit of bloodletting.



The strawbale and circle bed plantings are looking good – more on the garden and wheat harvest next week.
Ranger’s paddock and shelter gets moved every week or so.  This morning Kevin moved him right into the backyard.  What we call the Black Forest is a clump of trees that were planted in what was a garden area many years ago – “just for now”.  I am sure Ranger will enjoy the shade and chewing on the trees and some weedy shrubby things that have grown up along the edges. 

While Kevin was working on this project, I looked out the window and it occurred to me that there are some plants there that were part of a perennial planting along the edge of the old garden.  I quickly googled to find out if day lilies might be toxic for goats.  I didn’t find them on any list but found another problem plant – Lily of the Valley.  Oh dear.

I went out to check, hoping that they had maybe died down for the summer but there they were, thriving in the shade under the trees.  A beloved plant that reminds me of my grandma every spring had suddenly become a vile enemy and I got in there and started ruthlessly ripping them out and hurling them over the fence.  More bloodletting ensued but I got most of it.   
Ranger seems to be good with the new arrangement anyway.

So, can you stand to hear about the turkeys yet again?

You may recall that Peanut hatched these poults right around Memorial Day.  She kept them to herself and frequently took them out to the field.  After a few weeks she started keeping them around the farmyard more but kept them away from Penelope and Tom; if they came near she would defend the poults and chase them away.  More recently, all the turkeys are friends and they have melded into a flock.  The point is, Tom has had no part of the poult rearing – or so we though.

Last Sunday there were storms over a large part of our state – some quite severe.  We drove down to the cities right through a deluge for a family party and from the looks of things it rained pretty hard here at home too.  We got home after dark and I still had to milk.  I was milking Vinca (who was quite crabby about this disruption to the usual routine) when I noticed Tom roosting on the hay wagon – just a few feet away from me.  He had both wings spread out protecting three of the poults!  I could hardly believe my eyes, and no camera of course.  Kevin came by in a few minutes and I quietly told him to go get his phone; he was able to take this picture by coming around to the backside of the barn.  A couple of them had gotten down by then but you get the idea I hope.
 
I hope this post hasn’t gotten too wordy and long – thank you for hanging in there to the end.  Next week we will be posting about the wheat harvest.  Until then, be well friends.

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