Or at least a real ranch. You’ll see what I mean.
Back to work on Tuesday: Some years ago, a tree in the pasture surrounding the barn had fallen, been cut into lengths, loosely stacked. The cows grazed there past and through the piles of wood, and the tree itself attempted regrowth in the form of many dozens of sprouts. We don’t know what type of tree, maybe you can ID it for us? The three of whatever they are still standing are quite pretty, and I think may have provided shade and comfort for the house they once sheltered. Before the house slumped to the ground and was taken down. Many years ago.
The stack of wood would have to be moved, eventually split, and stored in the barn. The happy convergence yesterday of good weather and permission by the county, led us to attempt a slash burn as well. Ha. The winter’s rainfall made a fire impossible, but we warriors with our ATV could at least stack the wood behind the barn, out of sight:
That stuff is as heavy as it looks! We managed a couple of ATV loads before the decision was made to wait until today to move another few loads. Plans altered when, surprise, this morning, the first cows of the year appeared in the barn’s pasture. They’re yearlings, maybe 20 of them. They’re funny, curious, rambunctious, and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to be working in the midst of them? Right. We’ll get back to the wood another time. But I do love having them here.
Larry had the misfortune several days ago of a phone hack. You’ve probably experienced this, but Larry lives digitally balanced between Comcast Xfinity and Apple. Despite the strangely pleasant job of talking to all the people on his contact list, he was cast into identity hell when none of his passcodes would open his devices, and he apparently became unknowable to either service. Hadn’t gotten any email for days and was finally driven to, well, drive into town to the Xfinity outlet for in-person help. To call 800 MYAPPLE for their in-person help. Hours of waiting in line for the next available. We’ve all been there. Ain’t fun! But it’s okay now, you can write to him.
The bees have survived the winter and their sound around the blossoming fruit trees is pretty rewarding. Working with a bees-expert at the local plant nursery, Larry has learned how and when to feed them sugar water in their hives. There’s a ratio of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, and the solution must be heated to dissolve the sugar. Not boiled. Boiling somehow renders the solution unusable for bees. So, 8 cups sugar, 4 cups of water in our largest soup pot, and a moment’s inattention led the pot to boil and there we were. You can’t just toss 8 cups of sugar out the window, but despite all my years in the kitchen, I couldn’t think of a reasonable application except just syrup. Wait a minute. What about hummingbirds? Can they enjoy boiled sugar water?
So after our banjo/guitar lessons this afternoon, we went to the bird shop in town. We’ve had hummingbird feeders before, though they’re long since disappeared in one of our personal migrations. Yes, indeed, we can use the adulterated sugar water. But not in the ratio of 2 to 1. Nope. Has to be 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. So we’d poured the stuff from the pot into canning jars, stashed them here and there in the pantry and refrig, and spent the time driving home doing head math. If we have 1 pint of the solution at 2 to 1, how much water does it take to achieve 1 to 4. We could be feeding those hummingbirds for generations. Be careful, the assistant in the shop told us, don’t put two feeders in sight of one another. There will be some aggressive male who claims all the territory and drives off the others. An aggressive male? Wow. Who knew?
We haven’t heard back from Phoenix Habitat, but are eager to see a plan. We considered planting enough white oak in the area around the house to replicate the savanna, pleased with ourselves to understand that at their rate of growth, they wouldn’t block the views from the kitchen in our lifetimes, so why not?
Thought I’d close tonight with a photo of the bees’ favorite tree. You can almost hear them:
See you next time!
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