3 Days Gone!

Oh where, oh where, have I been!?  Three days gone from the gardens and this is what I find upon my return!  The wheelbarrow was too small for this haul so had to cart it all.  The last couple of days have been catch-up.  The day before that was running around town taking, the soon to return to college, boy/man to appointments and shopping.  BUT the two days before that I was on a trip!  A wonderful, beautiful, amazing boat voyage around and about Penobscot Bay, Maine!  

It has been a while since I have left my Freedom home for an overnight anything.  The morning of the trip it occurred to me that it had been over two years since I had gone away and slept anywhere else.  Funny thing is, I hadn't really noticed that I haven't been away.  Guess this speaks to the wonderfulness of where I live!

Seven women with beyond perfect weather set out from Belfast Harbor, Maine for Isle au Haut.  What good company!  We all brought amazing food.  But the weather was unimaginably beautiful.  Words escape me so I will let the photos tell the story.  (this will be a photo rich post for all my far flung family that do not have facebook)

Our Vessel ~ that transported us on a dream voyage

Evening arrives and we weigh anchor off of Isle au Haut~~

In the morning me and one other fearless mermaid took a QUICK dip in the harbor!

Towed the kayaks for these ladies, who enjoyed a morning paddle...
While the rest of us took the dinghy into "town" for a walk.

My turn at the helm!

A bit of my garden goes to sea!

Wind blown, a bit too much sun, and weary from a late night of gazing at the stars but, content.  I am so grateful to the Skipper for inviting me to come on this little adventure.  We had so much fun, tons of laughs!  We all worked well together and I am sure we will smile when we recall the evenings anchoring activities!  Leaving you with the lyrics to the Gordon Bok song, Isle au Haut Lullaby~~~~~

ISLE AU HAUT LULLABY (Hay Ledge Song)
(Gordon Bok)

If I could give you three things,
I would give you these:
Song and laughter and a wooden home
In the shining seas

Chorus:
When you see old Isle au Haut
Rising in the dawn,
You will play in yellow fields
In the morning sun.

Sleep where the moon is warm
And the moon is high.
Give sadness to the stars,
Sorrow to the sea.

Do you hear what the sails are saying
In the wind's dark song?
Give sadness to the wind,
Blown alee and gone.

Sleep now, the moon is high,
And the wind blows cold;
For you are sad and young
And the sea is old.

If I could give you three things
I would give you these:
Song and laughter and a wooden home
In the shining sea.

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼

Bedraggled is the word that best describes me these days.  Working hard and a bit weary as well as grateful for an amazing garden year.  It has been a few years since I have experienced such abundance, so naturally, I have forgotten how much work is involved.  Oh! for those years when things failed and I could just go to the beach!  I could just leave it, I guess, but that is not my nature.  Waste Not Want Not is too ingrained in my psyche. I was very much influenced by Grandparents that came of age during the depression.  I sometime "hear" them urging me on into the night as I process my harvest.  Today, I had a bit of break, a dear friend came over with a nice lunch and helping hands.  She helped pick and I sent most of the pickings home with her.  We both felt fortunate!  She had a trunk full of organic produce and I didn't have to process it, plus, it was nice having company in the garden!  All I had left to deal with was a few cukes and beans....today!

Here is a little tour of today~

 Happy Quackers...my defenses seem to be working...no more duck losses!

 Been working on the Garlic top trimming...a little at a time to save my wrists.

 Waiting until I harvest the onions and leeks before tilling and cover cropping here.

Some wasps mating next to a butterfly.

 Elderberries nearly ready,...good thing I am on my last jar of elderberry syrup!

This stuff is my magic elixir...felt a cold (or allergy?) coming on ~ a few sips ~ CURED!

 Oats & Peas cover crop looking pretty!

Big garden in various states of bedraggled-ness and dishevelment 

Bedraggled

What rhymes with orange, purple, and other
words that have no rhyme?
Oranges rhyme with lemons,
purple with lilac.
Poetry amazes us,
brings us out of our expectancy.
We thought it dull in school,
something like a long sermon in church.
Now we know that
poetry can awaken our senses.

by Marsviking

---Shop News--- ☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ ~~~Gratitude~~~

My life is FULL of random abandoned.  Finding time to be here, blogging, is become more and more difficult.  Abundance calls and garden produce waits for no woman!  Right now as I type I am multi tasking.  I have dinner in the oven with a timer set.  Every few minutes I will be running downstairs to attend to things, then back up here to type a few words.  No complaints, it is amazing how much I can write in 5 minutes!  So my dear reader, please, bear with me during this busy time.  I will be here as much as I can.

 Some Days are like this

&

 Some Days are like this 

In Between all that the laundry needs doing, the meals prepared, before I know it all that wood will need to be brought in for the winter. This week I had just a wee bit of stress around all that needs doing.  The best cure for me from that kind of stress is a very productive day.  I am happy to say yesterday was such a day!  Everything in that wheelbarrow has been dealt with!

My sewing room and Etsy office are in disarray with many projects in progress.  Photos need taking, listing need doing, printing, tagging, bookkeeping....etc, etc, etc!  But I am very grateful, this month already I am averaging a more than a sale a day!!!  I counted up my sales in all 4 shops and they equal over 500 since I started with Esty in January 2012, not too shabby.

I had planned another "productive" day to get me further from my mental angst.  All started well with the reconstruction of my kitchen after yesterdays produce palooza ( got everything dealt with from the wheelbarrow...I didn't say I got the kitchen cleaned up...I am not super woman!)...when a very tall young man, who it still amazes me that he is actually, my child, came to me and asked if I would make lunch and watch a soccer game with him.  I hesitated, feeling that welling rush of stress, then he looked at me with doe eyes and said pleeeease.  He will be off to college in 2 weeks.  I enjoy soccer only because he has schooled me to enjoy it.  Without him I will never watch soccer again.  So lunch was cheese, crackers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and my famous eggplant relish.  We huddled together around his laptop and watched Arsenal barely beat Crystal Palace 2-1.  Good thing since the boyo is an Arsenal man.  And yes he is a man and I am his mother.  These moments are more rare than the perfect, purple, bug free, cauliflower.

~~~Gratitude~~~ Bounty! & Beetles?

Summer garden bounty has arrived!  Pretty much everyday there is something to put by for winter and, definitely, plenty to eat NOW! (yes! I grew artichokes again this year~fun!) Mostly freezing and dehydrating at this point.  Not quite enough volume for tomato canning just yet.  Slicing and blanching are the words for these days.  Other tasks continue as well...there is still the continued beetle battle....oh sigh.  I must say I am a bit weary of this particular chore.

Here is today's harvest of insects...some potato beetle too.  It is just getting yucky! I need to get out there each day and gather.  Pretty much collect the same number each time.  So morning or night when the air is a bit cooler I do my duty.  (if you try this in the heat of the day the Japanese Beetles will just fly away)

 Philosophy is needed to get going and finish.  So today I tried to think up beetle gratitudes.  Ok~~~here is what I came up with....  I am grateful I found a caterpillar nest in the hazelnuts while it was still just eggs during my beetle hunt, I may have missed it otherwise.  Japanese Beetles are not as gross to squish by hand as caterpillars.  When you squeeze a Japanese Beetle to death it's guts won't squirt you in the eye...this happens sometimes with large soft bodied potato beetles...seriously yucky!

When a JB falls into your shoe it doesn't bite...just a bit creepy crawly...at least you capture it!

 They are sort of beautiful in their own scarab beetles way~~~

The ducks are still devouring them with delight!

And then there is my Mountain Ash Tree or Rowan, by another name.  The beetles have really done a number on it.  This tree and I go back a bit.  It is the tree that I planted when my son was born.  Rowan was my secret girlhood name.  We had a Mt Ash in the yard where I grew up, I thought the tree had magical powers.  Maybe, I thought my son would love this tree like did as a child.  Well, his path is different than mine, as it should be.  This is my tree.  It has been through a lot.  When we first planted it it was attacked by borers.  After surviving that with my help, it became the favorite meal of a local sapsucker for a few years.   It was so weakened one year is didn't put out any leaves so we cut it to the ground.  From the rootstock  a hardier bush emerged. It did pretty well for a few years and even produced some berries once.  Then the Beetles came.  This year has been rougher than past seasons. The beetles munch on it's leaves and I shake it each night to try and help it out.  I thought this year is was a goner until a week ago.  I looked up one day and saw New Growth!  Nature has it's way!  I hope to live long enough to see the beetles find a balance in their new found ecosystem. In the meantime, I will take heart in the fact that nature is tenacious and resilient!  Like this tree I have had some hard times but new growth is always what comes from those experiences!

Wonder and Beauty Abound! 

Last nights Super Moon 

 ~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ Duck Defense

Monday late afternoon I lost another duck! Around 4:00 pm I had been out with Runa.  All ducks were present and accounted for.  About 30 minutes later, in the house, Runa started pitching a fit.  I suddenly thought I better check the ducks!  One white one was gone without a trace!  Bumming.  Alien AbDUCKion!  I suspect the "alien" is either a fox or a Great Horned Owl.  I have been hearing an owl hooting nearly every night and often during the day but, the sneakiness suggests a fox.  I can't bare to have my ducks locked up all the time plus, I don't think it would be healthy.  So I spent yesterday morning tightening up my Duck Defenses. I rummaged around the house looking for things I could use.  First was to string up a distracting fence.

I have a drawer full of old CD's I have been holding on to knowing someday I would upcycle into a project of some sort. I added some jingle bells that I got at yardsale (but they don't jingle much unless the string is disturbed)  I hope the flashing from the CDs will make the area less appealing to the predators.

Next I put up this owl decoy that I glued the head back on the night before.

I had a couple bird scare balls that I hung up.

My masterpiece though is my "scarecrow" ME!

I stuffed some clothes with hay and added a mannequin head that I paid a dollar for at a yardsale!  I plan to move her around a bit and add a flashlight at night.  If this doesn't scare them I don't know what will!?  Runa jumped into her lap and licked her face when I was finished!  Glad I had the camera handy!!  She hasn't got a name yet...any suggestion!?

One more thing I added...from our 2nd bathroom....the pee bucket I dribbled some our scent around the edge of the woods.  We lived off the grid in our early years so using a bucket is sort of a habit.  Human Urine is a great nutrient additive for the garden or compost pile. We use it in our gardens and every Time we use the toilet we feel a bit like we are squandering our pee....hope this isn't TMI!  

Just one more thing...I ordered one of these from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E51X8Q8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So except for putting the ducks in earlier and letting them out later this is about all I can think of doing.  If anyone out there has had success with predator control that doesn't involve killing I would love to hear about your ideas! 

At least Runa seems to like the new addition to the family!

Just One More Thing (I sound like Columbo...for those of a certain age...TV) We have been on a campaign around here to train Runa to bark less.  Icelandic Sheepdogs are pretty barky.  This may have been a mistake.  So while I was outside shoring up my defenses I encourage Runa to have a barking fest.  Wish me & my duckies luck!