After the Storm

The storm that hit us last night could have been much worse. We did get some hail and wind damage but nothing too serious.

 

The biggest casualty of the storm was a Blue Pearmain apple tree that I had planted along the lane 30 some years ago. The weight of it's heavy crop of apples, the saturated ground and the high winds proved to be too much for it.

 

Several Sumac trees also had to be cleaned up.

 

 

 

We were fortunate to not have more damage. I'm anxious to take my morning walk to see how the

Back40 weathered the storm.

 

 

 

 

Just Another Morning Walk

One of my highlights of my morning walk is a stop at the Vernal Pond.  With the continuing wet weather it remains a magnet for all sorts of wildlife.

 

I spied these fellows along the edge of the pond.

 

Dragonflies are some of the most fascinating creatures that call the Vernal Pond home. Ferocious predators they patrol the pond with the ease of a fighter jet. Here's a link about Dragonflies that you might find interesting:  http://listverse.com/2013/04/18/10-surprisingly-brutal-facts-about-dragonflies/

 

 

The Bluebird chicks are growing fast. Often times Bluebird parents are friendly birds that tolerate human presence but I've rarely seen this couple, mostly spotting them high in the trees our of camera range. However they seem to be doing a first rate job of raising their brood.

 

The Tree Swallow family is progressing nicely too.

 

I made the trip to the Chickadee box to clean out the nest and found the roof torn off. It was nailed on with 2 nails and I think nothing short of a bear could do that damage.

 

 

As I type this we are under a tornado warning so I'll be signing off and taking shelter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st Fishing Trip

Got out on the water today for the 1st time this year.  This is earlier than I usually start my smallmouth fishing but it was a nice day so thought I'd give it a try.  As I made my way down to the stream I ran into a Wood Turtle coming up the path.

The water was a little high but looked nice, but the bite was slow and an hour had past before I finally caught a pair of large Fallfish. At one point I was lucky enough to glance downstream just in time to see an Eagle flying away. I also saw a Cuckoo, either a yellow-billed or a black-billed I couldn't tell. Didn't get a pic of either the Eagle or the Cuckoo. Many people have never heard of a Cuckoo so here's a pic from the internet.

After a couple of hours my back was aching as I fished one last deep hole. Luck was with me and I had a hard strike on my plastic worm. The fish fought deep until I tired it out and  brought a nice fat 13 inch smallie to shore.

 

Satisfied with my mornings adventures I made my way back to the truck making plans to visit some of my other treasured fishing spots soon.

 

 

 

 

A Typical Morning Walk

Since I've retired I take a walk around the Back40 every morning that weather permits. I thought that I would take you along this morning.

The fruit trees are always inspected on each walk to look for disease and insect damage.  It looks like the apple trees will have a fairly good year with several trees producing for the first time, but my pear trees are barren.

The wild plums look to have a nice crop.

 

I also check on the limbgrafts that I made this spring most of which are looking good.

I put up a number of birdboxes this spring and have a few being used.

These Chickadees are just about ready to leave the nest.

I was having doubts about a bluebird nest. Although it had 3 eggs in it I had seen only the male and I feared the female might have been killed, but this morning I was pleasantly surprised as the female flew from the box and I found 3 just hatched chicks inside.

I had never been able to attract Tree Swallows to my boxes for some reason. This morning I had another pleasant surprise when I spied this fellow sitting on top of a box.

As I watched the female swallow flew into the box with grass in her beak. Hopefully soon I'll have a nest of Tree Swallow chicks.

 

This White Birch is some what of a mystery.  Although they are not native this far south in Pa. this one seems to be doing nicely and makes a lovely specimen among the native Black Birch.

 

This Cardinal posed long enough for me to get a pic.

 

 

Rabbits also usually greet me on my walk.

Well it was a wonderful morning, but now it's time to head home to do some chores. Thanks for walking along with me in my little piece of heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grafting Success

I've had great success with my apple & pear grafting so far this year. I managed to get at least one successful graft with each of the 31 apple varieties and 2 pear varieties that I grafted.  Here's my nursery.

Many are heirloom apples that have survived for 100 or more years with names like Black Twig, King David, Hog Sweet, and Hubbardston Nonesuch, But I also grafted some of the newer disease resistant varieties such as Florina Querina, Galarina, Enterprise, and NY 35 Bonkers.

I'm also having good luck with my limb grafts. These are grafts I've made to an existing tree mostly Antonovka (Russian) seedling trees, a long lived, cold hardy tree that is slow to produce fruit, that I planted 6 to 8 years ago.  I'm hoping that in 2 or 3 years these grafted limbs will be producing apples.

With insects, diseases, and the weather all trying to foil your carefully laid plans it helps be an optimist when it comes to planting fruit trees.

 

 

 

Just a Walk Around the Yard

With the apple blossoms at their peak this week I thought I'd take a walk around the yard and show off some of the apple trees that I'm enjoying.
On the lower side of the house is a Centurion Crab that I planted in 1986 the year we built our house.

In the front yard is a weeping crab.

Across the driveway growing in a ditch is a volunteer crab.

 

In the back yard is a Pound apple and a Snow apple.

Also in the back yard you can see the Emma apple. A volunteer tree that was growing there when I built Emma's kennel.

Down below the tractor shed  grows a Westfield Seek No Further apple tree.

If you walk down into the horse pasture you'll see the Sinkhole apple,

and several volunteer crabapples.

 

On the upper side of the house the Dolgo Crab dominates the view.

So it's easy to see why our bees are so happy.

On my walk I also noticed a Baltimore Oriole across the drive in the "wild" area probably looking for insects.  I'd guess an immature male by his colors.

I also noticed this moth trying unsuccessfully to blend into the house sidling.

 

Thanks for walking with me around the yard. Hope you enjoyed the fleeting beauty of the apple blossoms for all too soon they will be caught by the wind and be gone.