FOY asparagus

 It's coming on slowly.  Paul has 3 beds. This is the first year of good size.

FOY: Asparagus

Paul loaded the bed with 6" of compost on Friday, a week ago.  Yesterday he noticed the first couple popping out, so he covered them up until this afternoon.
Delicious.

FOY: Asparagus

Paul hasn't lost his magic touch preparing asparagus just crisp enough. 

A ton of rocks for the weekend

No hummers yet...could our feeder be too bleached out and not enticingly red enough? They are over a week late.
No black snakes yet...but the snake picker that Hardwicks gave us for Christmas is ready to go.
No bears yet...but that's OK.
No chipmunks by Gambol yet...but Buddy found a rabbit nest and dispatched 3 babies (with Gambol's help) last weekend. (amendment: see below)
No morels yet either.(correction: 3 today)

On the other hand, cherry and apple trees are in beautiful blossom.  Grapes are leafing out on the  arbor.  Asparagus, lilacs and violets are just waiting for Elise to claim them as her favorite purple.  Peonies and lilies of the valley promise a great show in a few weeks. Chickens have responded well to the additional light by giving us 9-12 eggs a day. We heard the FOY cicada on May 5We picked a couple of (40# chicken food) bags of garlic mustard to burn and continued with the black knot eradication project, this time below the meadow. And only 2 tents in the cherry trees.

We still have a ton of rocks distributed around the forest and meadow so after taking out all the overgrown liriope that the chickens nested under last summer, we opted for a neater rock wall along the side of the house. It's just 4-5 rocks high now but holds the composted soil well, and as a work-in-progress, it will get higher. We used the bigger flatter rocks as a stepping path, narrow enough for the ATV to drive over, but high enough to keep us out of mud from the hose and hill drainage.
Next up is to remove the self planted elderberry and repair the lily wall behind the house after the lilies have bloomed.  The meadow rock wall is over 12" everywhere and only 30 feet from the turn to the walnut grove.   We don't seem to have diminished the rock supply.

Team Paul and Gambol 1; Rabbit 0
Team Gambol, Buddy, Paul and Leslie 0; chipmunk 1 (too much help isn't a good thing.)

FOY Asparagus

Lots more poking through the heavy compost cover.

Garlic in the ground

Garlic bulbs (Rosewood, German Extra Hardy, and Brown Vesper) from Wegrowgarlic.com are planted in two of the raised beds.  There is room for some shallots ( Dutch Yellow) from  easytogrowbulbs.com.  I spread a new load of compost  over the garlic beds and some of the other beds.
Since it is going to be wet and rainy here for a couple of days I put down a coat of fertilizer on the compost, as the compost tends to eat up nitrogen as it decomposes.  I cut down the old asparagus ferns and will have to do some weeding before I put down some fertilizer and compost to mound up over
the asparagus plants.  If the mounds are tall enough, next spring we will be able to harvest some white asparagus spears before they color up (purple or green).

Reading The Samurai Strategy ****Thomas Hoover Only a bit farfetched and written in 1988 so lots of the technology on which this was based was out of date, but a good read: A high-finance, high-tech thriller of Wall Street, murder, currency manipulation. A mysterious Japanese industrialist begins a massive 'hedging' in the US markets. Two weeks later, in Japan’s Inland Sea, divers working for him "recover" the Imperial Sword, given to Japan's first Emperor by the Sun Goddess. Can a lone American lawyer stop him from bringing down the US? (Kindle summary enhanced)

Asparagus

The asparagus garden is still going strong.  We've let some of the stalks go to ferns but we have enough for dinner several times a week, plus I have taken some in to the office to share.  It looks like we have about 60 crowns: 1, 2, and 3 years old.

Paul's award winning asparagus

Coat asparagus in olive oil.  Broil for about 5 minutes on each side at 450.  Spray with balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with large grain salt (Kosher)  and grated Romano or other hard cheese to taste.

Bear

Gambol and I collected 1/2 sunflower seed bag of garlic mustard (I weeded; he chased 2 turtles) in the meadow.  The soil is just right for weeding and the flowers are showy now.  I put the bag by the garage door, under the deck so it could dry for burning this weekend.  The next morning the bag was gone!  Paul didn't know anything about it;  he didn't see it on his dog walks through the day.  How could a bear carry off a bag that heavy...and wouldn't you think the garlic mustard would far out-smell residual sunflower seed odors?
I found the torn apart bag 50 feet from the chicken coop,  behind the stumps, mustard in a fairly neat pile, the only green stuff in that area.
Today a 2" diameter aspen near the coop was broken off at about 12" off the ground. No aspens in the meadow have been bothered (yet).
I guess Brittanys don't feel the need to warn us that bears are in the 'hood; we haven't heard a sound from them.
We've only had 2 small caterpillar tents so far.  We crushed a lot last year so perhaps our cherries will be healthier this year. We are noticing more seedlings in the forest.
Paul made grilled asparagus with romano cheese and a spray of balsamic vinegar to finish.  The purple color stays bright.  He also found FOY 4 black morel mushrooms under some may apples and sauteed them with onions.  A spring delight.
FOY scarlet tanager and 3 black rat snakes

Squirrel

Gambol brought me a dead but warm squirrel on Saturday early morning, a very nice present because I know how much they mean to him.  Then Sunday night he caught fur and has a bite on his mouth to prove it.  I watched this tussle;  Gambol was within 3 feet of the dang-blasted mammal 3 times but just couldn't quite do the deed.
Asparagus and ham fritatta planned for dinner but just as I opened the egg carton the electricity went out (and the generator went on but the stove isn't on that line) so we had the fritatta minus the egg.
Chicks are outside permanently now.  They are snuggled in the chicken tractor with a nice load of shavings. It was 65 last night and even though it rained a bit, they seemed happy with their space.
Easter flowers are blooming at the Barony.

 May apples (Podophyllum peltatum), neither in May nor apples but a sure sign of spring.

 Grape hyacinth (Muscari)

 Virginia Blue Bells (Mertensia)

 Daffodils (Narcissus)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

FOY: asparagus

The purple is ready for picking.  We each had 2 3/8" diameter, 5-6" long pieces for dinner. Bring it on.

Wood chips

The Envinity crew has been hard at work on several timber frames (Shaver's Creek and the Central PA Builders' Show) so they had a lot of wood chips at their shop.  Instead of using the standard 20 gallon plastic bags for the chips, I borrowed Jerry's large (40" x 40" x 48") plastic and nylon bag which was used to deliver 1200 pounds of wood pellets to his house for his wood pellet stove.  The guys at the shop filled the large bag with chips on a pallet so they could use the forklift to move it from the shop to my pickup bed.  The bag and pallet just fit between the rear wheel wells in the pickup bed.With the pallet and bag moved all the way forward I could use bungee cords to hold it to the front of the truck and to keep the top of the bag closed.  I drove the side roads on the ride back to the Barony, keeping to a slower speed so I didn't end up showering chips all over the highways. 
We are getting some fruit bushes for the backyard garden that like moist, acidic soil conditions so the wood chip mulch should work with them nicely.  The bushes include Honeyberry, gooseberry, and currant.  These fruit bushes will go in the garden where we have been growing veggies.  Since this area is just in back of the house, most of the year the veggie garden looks pretty ragged.  The bushes will look nicer throughout the year.  I'll be moving the veggies out to the meadow around our asparagus bed where I have installed 3 raised beds for garlic, potatoes, and onions.  I will be putting in a couple more of the raised beds as the weather warms up.

We added a 4th raised bed, filled it with soil and compost, and then spread 2 pickup truckloads of wood chips around the raised beds and the asparagus plot.  The wood chips should hold down weeds and make walking around the beds and plot a bit easier in wet conditions.  The rough wood chips are
supposed to discourage mice too.
Then we picked rocks from the big mounds: 2 tractor buckets full to extend the rock wall 6 feet.  We were going to pick those rocks from the piles or the meadow when they get spread out.  There are some fine fossils in that rock wall.

The weekend was beautifully cool but sunny so we moved the boxes that Paul built for the lavender garden and the bluestone slabs for the front and rear entry by the asparagus plot to function as raised beds.  Of course we had to pick rocks so we have 6 more feet of rock wall base on the property line.

First order of business is to plant some garlic and onions to winter over.  Then in the spring we'll try out growing potatoes. We have 3 beds and we can rotate our crops. Luckily we had 3 boxes to play with.  There is still room for one or two more boxes, perhaps for peppers and tomatoes and things.

The other big job was to plant 1.5 bushels (300 bulbs) of mixed daffodils and some muscari in the rock-free beds Paul prepared. They are from VanBourgondien, and come in real bushel baskets.  We need another bushel to finish off the beds.
Sir Rooster led his girls to help; Paul laid fencing on top to discourage them. He's a beautiful bird, except for his feet, but he's getting a bit too territorial and protective.  I watched him and a barred rock fight for over a minute.  Both had their capes raised and claws looking for blood.  She had him on his back for a second; he tore a beakfull of feathers.  They called it a draw until next time, I guess. He's beginning to put up his dukes at me, daring me to fight.  That isn't acceptable, Bird.  you may be seeing the inside of a crock pot before the winter is over.

Reading: The Perfect Crime **** by Peter Abraham from Stephen King's list of well written books he's enjoyed. (library book!!!!)

Walnut brace in the kitchen has been installed.  It's a decorative brace, only penetrating the walnut tree about 1/4" with 2 pieces of walnut laminated to simulate a limb with heart wood and sapwood.

Chris finished the trim around the hearth but will put some quarter round on the back splash tiles later.  This softens the edge and toe-stubbing factor.
Mike the painter has filled all the wood work nail holes and is now putting on the finish coats on the windows and the initial coat on the folding doors at the laundry.
Doug applied MinWax Spar varnish and stain to the cherry vanity, shelf, and trim for the powder room.  The pieces are drying up in the loft on the window seat.  The difference in the color of the local cherry and the Ft. Washington cherry is amazing.  We'll have to ask Findley about that. The varnish really makes the end wood darker and stand out so the dovetails show better.
Bill plugged the basement railings, oiled them, and caulked the trim baseboards at the landing.

John and Chris finished off the closet shelving and hanging poles: guest closet with one rod and shelves, laundry with bifold doors, and the master closet with 4 rods and floating shelves.

Scott and Julian have added some more 1 ft tiles in the shower, have applied  the 1 inch glass tiles to complete the 6 inch stripe around the remaining wall and inside the soap cubby as well as put a diamond of glass tiles on the bench seat.

We had a nice thunderstorm here around 1030 with some good thunder; Buddy was shaking so Paul sat next to him and he calmed down. 
Paul put out some fertilizer on the fruit trees and some of the thermal cover evergreens before the rains came and also threw down some buckwheat seeds next to the asparagus.

Asparagus and a romp in the meadow

We caught a break in the rain to harvest asparagus for dinner and a bouquet of daffodils for the table. Most of the white was tender but it's better to start eating at the tips and work into the woody part.

Buddy and Paul walked the meadow.  Buddy snuffles at every hillock and hole.  He didn't catch anything.  Gambol is as fast as a greyhound, as loud as a pair of Clydesdales clomping up the hill, and as fleet of foot as a gazelle. He can high jump or broad jump over a pile of logs or his shadow.  He took off after a scent in the lower walnut grove and I couldn't call him off it.  I didn't see or hear anything, but Gambol didn't believe for a minute that he was chasing nothing.  He knew he was in trouble when he finally did come back to me and walked a perfect heel all the way home.  So, Nature 2; dogs 0 tonight.

Spargel!! (Asparagus)

First tips tonight. White, purple, and green.

Mr and Mrs Snaky

From the Baron:

On Tuesday while I was working on some wire (anti-deer) cages for apple tree seedlings and Gambol was out running around the property, I heard him barking and he didn't come when I called. I decided I'd better check him out and get him to respond to my command to come, so I followed the sounds of his almost constant barking and walked from the house to the meadow. Gambol was just past the asparagus plot and my new apple tree grove, about 30 feet from the edge of the forest, standing in meadow grass and clover that was about 12 inches tall. My first thought was that he had cornered a groundhog or a field mouse, but as I got closer, I saw Gambol jump back and I thought he might be dodging a snake's strike--and that was correct. I got to Gambol and grabbed his collar. I could see a 4' coiled Eastern Ratsnake (Black Ratsnake)rattling its tail, much like a rattlesnake,as a sign of fear. Most likely seeing Gambol jump back and forth while barking was enough to startle the snake. Actually I should say snakes--this was a mating pair of Eastern Ratsnakes that Gambol had disturbed. They were coiled around each other: I could clearly see 2 heads and 8 feet of snake. While they are more protected inside the forest, they probably came out into the meadow to get some direct sunshine and warmth. I moved Gambol so he wouldn't get too close to the snakes--the Eastern Ratsnake can deliver a painful bite but it is non-venomous. As I returned to observe the pair (but not too close), one of the snakes disengaged and moved off through the grass towards the nearby tree line. This snake is a fast mover and it covered the 30 feet in about 4-5 seconds. The remaining snake was still coiled up so I nudged it with my shoe. It then moved off through the grass like the first snake, also moving quite quickly (I did too, but in the opposite direction). Of course, the sounds and sights of the snakes moving through the grass was enough to interest Gambol all over again, so I took him back to the house, all the while telling Gambol that he should "leave it" which is our command for him to drop something and come to us. Well, that didn't really sink in, and as soon as I let Gambol go off on his own again, he circled around and headed right back to the meadow. I followed and sure enough, Gambol was at the forest edge where the snakes had headed, and he was pacing back and forth looking for his two snaky friends. So we walked back to the house together again but this time he spotted a chipmunk and the snakes were, for the time being, forgotten. Gambol was off trying to coax the chipmunk out from a pile of construction material.

Village Green Market Dinner

As part of our effort to get to know our neighbors I volunteered to co-direct the Julian Green Market, a "eat local" effort in Julian that encourages local produce providers (fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, etc.) to sell their wares in our town square. To gin up interest in the market's startup later this month, we had a kick off dinner on Saturday -- people donated food and they sold tickets as a fund raiser. Since I would be in Syracuse for KatieP's graduation, I volunteered the Baron to cook up a batch of local mushrooms for the dinner. He got the recipe from the Penn State University (PSU) chef who lectured at Venison 101 class: sauté slices white cap mushrooms in butter, pepper, and a splash of lime or lemon juice. He uses Real Lemon juice. We get our mushrooms from the PSU Mushroom Lab that sells them once a week in 10 lbs boxes. So he was definitely using local produce. The most of the butter was from the PSU Creamery, but needed some additional, so I also used butter from Maryland. As a garnish he used organic curly parsley from a farm in PA. He sautéed about 8 lbs of the mushrooms Sat afternoon (started slicing mushrooms at 2:30 and finished cooking at 4:15 PM) and took them to the dinner for the 5:00 PM start. Food at the dinner was buffet style: appetizers of pesto and small crackers, BBQ pork and chicken donated by Hogs Galore, fresh greens and salad dressing, asparagus steamed in lemon juice and olive oil, rice and wheat pasta salads, bread, vegetarian pizza, several pies, cookies, and sticky buns from the Unionville Cafe, and a variety of cold and hot drinks donated by the Community Supervisors. The mushrooms got raves and were all gone. So I guess you could say that for Mothers' Day Paul was a stand-in for Leslie at the local dinner.

Spring!

Nothing says spring like Maibock, morels and asparagus. Otto's had all 3 on the menu tonight; just the right amount of food, just the right amount of heat and garlic. After a day cleaning up at Laurel Haven with WOCC, that was just the right dinner, too. Gambol came with us but stayed in the car. He'd rather do that than stay in his crate at home.
After painting the inside garage/classroom and fixing up the parking area at Laurel Haven, we came home to weed and hack out poke roots in the new vegetable garden and plant hops behind the chicken coop.
Gambol didn't get his normal morning run in deference to Spring Gobbler Season so he ran free all afternoon. Matt got a gobbler in our Walnut Grove. (Now if he'd only get a doe or 5!)
I gave the peeps their first taste of yogurt. That caused quite a commotion. They ate it off my fingers but also off the wall where I smeared it.
It was a beautiful spring day at the Barony.

Hummers are back!

The birds, not the vehicles. We put up the feeders this afternoon and one showed up at dinner time. I always expect them for Shannon's birthday.
The Baron brought home his 3rd truckload of compost today. He planted 25 more asparagus plants. Most of the purple variety didn't make it through the winter so he wanted to fill in the holes.
I went to TSC for grain and came home with 6 chicks--3 male and female Golden Comet. It was an impulse purchase so I didn't know that they are sex linked and that I could have had 6 pullets if I had chosen all darker chicks. Instead I got 3 dark and 3 light. Anyway, they are good layers and hearty birds that can take our winter. We'll have at least 3 chicken dinners next winter.