The Biggest Little Farm

The Biggest Little Farm has had an extended showing at our local independent theater for the past few weeks. I have been wanting to see it, but after-work hours are precious in the summer with a never-ending list of outdoor to-do items, so finding the time has been difficult. Fearing that this may be its last week, and since it rained most of the day, making the garden too wet for work, this evening was a perfect time to go to the movies.

I had heard good reviews, and thought that it would just be a pleasant movie to watch about two young city-dwellers who give up everything to fulfill a dream of owning a farm.It is that as Molly and John Chester left their comfortable lives of chef and filmmaker to become full-time farmers, but it is so much more. In addition to the magnificent cinematography, it is a story that evolves over seven-years and shows the evolution of the property from a conventional farm where most of the soil was bare and devoid of life, to a thriving living organism that supports an abundance of life. The realities of the journey that entailed failures and tragedies before successes are what make the movie exceptional and an emotional experience for viewers. If you haven't seen it already, I encourage you to find a local showing and become inspired while being reminded of the intricacies and complexities of the natural world of which we as humans can never fully comprehend, but can certainly appreciate and learn to accept.   

Blueberry Tea-Torte

I love going outside early in the morning and picking fresh blueberries to put atop cereal or yogurt. We are fortunate to live on a lot that has several high bush blueberry plants. And come July it is always a race between us and the birds for who gets them first. This blueberry torte recipe was easy to make and came out very moist.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups blueberries dusted with flour
1 cup chopped pecans 

Sift dry ingredients into large bowl. Stir in eggs, sugar and extract. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan and bake at 300 degrees F until cooked through, about 1 hour.

Pause Before Cutting

Now that summer is officially here, everything is growing like crazy. This includes not only flowers and vegetables, but weeds as well. Although it is easy to be tempted to get out the  weed wacker at every opportunity (particularly since I just got a new ECHO cordless trimmer), using manual tools will cause less harm to unintended targets. It is breeding season and if you aren't careful, you may inadvertently disturb a nest or destroy foliage to which certain species rely. This is what almost happened yesterday, when I went to remove a milkweed plant next to our foundation. Fortunately, I looked first and noticed a small monarch caterpillar. It was only about an inch long and would have been easy to miss. To prevent moisture buildup around the sill, we keep plants away from the foundation, but this one will be allowed to stay.

Common milkweed

Small monarch caterpillar

As the temperature heats up, salads become a perfect meal and are easy to modify based upon what is in season and what you have available in your kitchen. This recipe, adapted from Good Housekeeping, is packed with protein and was a breeze to put together.

White Bean, Tuna and Green Bean Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh green beans

1 15-oz can small white beans

1 5-oz can albacore tuna

3 hard boiled eggs

1-2 heads romaine lettuce

1 cup baby spinach   

1 Tablespoon pesto

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Fresh basil leaves

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half

Trim and cook the green beans until barely tender (3-4 minutes.) Rinse under cold water and set aside. Drain and rinse the white beans. Trim lettuce and tear into small pieces. Toss in a large bowl with the spinach. Add the beans, tomatoes and tuna. Make dressing by combine the pesto with the vinegar and oil. If too thick, add more oil and vinegar. Toss the dressing into the salad and top with egg slices and basil leaves.

 

Ferns Ferns Everywhere

Sensitive ferns

We returned from a two and a half week vacation the beginning of June. When we had left in May, Spring had barely started, but while we were away the plants really took off. The most noticeable growth was with the ferns. I love these feathery plants, but not want them taking over my perennial beds.

I recently purchased a pocket guide to ferns of the Northeast, Identifying Ferns the Easy Way by Lynn Levine.  The ferns in our yard provided me with a good opportunity to practice these identification techniques. The photo above shows a group of Sensitive Ferns (Onoclea sensibilis) in one of my planting beds. Their name is derived from the fact that they are sensitive to the first frost. The plants will turn brown later in the season. They prefer partial shade and wet soils, and the plants are often used as shelter by frogs and salamanders. This area where they are growing is not particularly wet, but it does receive some shade from a crabapple and white pine trees.  

Hay-scented ferns (Dennstaedtia punctilobula)

In another perennial bed, Hay-scented ferns have taken over. The Hay-scented ferns are great for adding to a bouquet of flowers. They grow individually and seem to grow anywhere. Here they enjoy partial shade under an oak and choke cherry tree. They are easy to pull up, so I am constantly thinning them over the summer. The book reads that Hay-scented ferns can interfere with the regeneration of hardwood forests and looking at the photo above, it is easy to see why. 

The Hay-scented fern can sometimes be confused with Lady fern, latin name Athyrium angustum (above.) There are a couple key differences. Instead of fronds growing individually, they grow in clusters. This cluster next to our foundation comes back every year. Another unique feature is that the stalk of the Lady fern it will be covered with dark long scales as in the photo below.

  

Ferns are a resilient and amazing plant in that they first appeared on earth 400 million years ago and have survived several mass extinctions. Ferns come in all shapes and sizes. While hiking in the White Mountains this past weekend, we observed this ferns on a large glacial erratic boulder. It was only about three inches long. I never cease to be awed by the variety and uniqueness of species in the natural world, and now, but learning a little more about them, I have an even greater appreciation of  ferns.

Wheat Berry and Lentil Salad

A nice side dish or serve as a main course.

Ingredients:
2/3 - 3/4 cup wheat berries
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lentils
2-3 carrots diced
Juice squeezed from 1/2 lemon
1 Tablespoon Sriricha or hot sauce of choice
1/4 cup shaved almonds
3 Tablespoons olive oil 
Cherry tomatoes halved for garnish
2 springs of fresh Parsley chopped 


Bring wheat berries and 5 cups of water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 1 hour, or until berries are cooked, but still chewy. Drain and cool. Mix olive oil, lemon juice and hot sauce and set aside. Bring lentils, carrots and 3 cups of water to a boil; simmer until tender 20 - 25 minutes. Cool in water for 15 minutes. Drain lentils and mix with cooked wheatberries. Stir in dressing and almonds. Garnish with parsley and cherry tomatoes. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

If there are morels, it must be spring!

Freshly picked morels

The saying, "April showers brings May" flowers has never rang more true than this year, at least the rainy part. Cool, wet weather, without sunshine has delayed many spring flowers, but this combination has been perfect for the early emergency of morels. Since discovering them nearby, they have become my second favorite food of spring, next to asparagus.

You don't have to be a mycologist to confidently be able to identify morels in the wild. A great book for assistance is Mushrooming with Confidence, A Guide to Collecting Edible and Tasty Mushrooms, by Alexander Schwab. It comes with many colorful photographs and a positive ID checklist.  Fortunately, morels are very unique in appearance with a pitted cap and a completely hollow stem and cap. Remember though, when in doubt leave it alone.

Morels have both a hollow cap and stem

Fresh vegetable stir-fry with morels

It was such a treat to find these outside this evening, and to add them to stir-fried vegetables for dinner. 

Bats and Birds in Texas

This past week, we flew to Texas to attend our niece's wedding in Bryan, and then to spend a few days in Austin. I have only been to the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas, so it was nice to see a different part of this big state. In a span of five days we experienced weather extremes from sixty degrees with rain and a threat of tornadoes to sunny and a near record high of 91. Since it snowed back here in New Hampshire while we were away, it was nice to enjoy summer-like temperatures.

Upon arriving at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport we were greeted by the sounds and displays of Great-tailed Grackles. Larger than the Common Grackle, these birds are not shy of humans and enjoy making a display of themselves. Their iridescent black color and yellow eyes are quite striking.

Great-tailed Grackle

Although Texas has some great opportunities for viewing spring migratory birds, we did not have time to do any serious birding. We did, however make a point of walking underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin to see the bats come out at dusk. The bridge, which crosses the impounded Colorado River, aka Lake Bird Lake, now hosts the largest urban bat colony in the world. When the bridge was redesigned in 1980, the crevices that were created provided prime nesting spots for the Mexican free-tailed bats that migrate to central Texas each spring. After construction, the bats immediately started arriving by the thousands. Irrational fears from the public, led to proposals for eliminating the bat population, including illuminating the bridge. At that time, Bat Conservation International moved their headquarters to Austin and educated city officials on the benefits of bats including the fact that each bat can consume of thousands of insect pests per night. Thankfully, the City listened, and viewing the bats from spring until fall has become a popular tourist attraction.


From the viewing platform underneath the bridge and on the water, visitors await the emergence of the bats.

While we were waiting for the bats to come out, birds were putting on their own show. Behind us, dozens of grackles congregated and made quite a racket before they settled down for the night. Then, across the river, hundreds of egrets landed in a single tree. Due to the distance I could not tell whether they were Snowy or Cattle egrets. Interestingly, both species of egrets and the Great-tailed Grackle are listed among six species of birds that have been identified as having "nuisance" heronries (nesting areas of colonial water birds) in Texas according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife publication Nuisance Heronries in Texas Characteristics and Management. Dealing with large populations of birds is another example of the challenges that occur when the human populated landscape intersects with wildlife. Although most people enjoy and are inspired by the beauty of seeing wildlife, they do not want wildlife to interfere with their daily existence. From the extreme of being a danger to air traffic at airports, to the nuisance of excrement falling on the family car, large congregations of birds may not be well tolerated by society. However, as scientists continue to learn how closely interconnected all species and how disruptions to one species can sometimes cause irreparable harm to entire ecosystems, we need to be careful how we address these issues. As a reminder, the theme for this year's Earth Day is "Protect Our Species." We all must act to curb the massive rate of plant and animal extinction that is occurring across the globe

Flock of Egrets along Lady Bird Lake

Thankfully, for the bats in Texas, organizations such as Bat Conservation International and Austin Bat Refuge are educating the public on how to enjoy and live with bats to help preserve their populations.

After the sun set, the bats began to emerging from underneath the Congress Street Bridge. My small camera was inadequate to capture a good photo, but seeing them in person was a sight to behold.  According to the Austin Bat Refuge, 814,000 bats took flight that evening. In August, that number may double when the pups join the air with the adults. It was surreal to look up in the sky and see a large black cloud, knowing that it contained tens of thousands of bats. It's an experience I will not forget.

It is difficult to see, but those black specks are all bats in the sky

References:
1. Bat Conservation International, http://www.batcon.org/index.php/our-work/regions/usa-canada/protect-mega-populations/cab-intro

2.  Sustainable Food Center, https://sustainablefoodcenter.org/latest/gardening/austins-bat-history-and-the-benefits-of-bats-to-food-gardeners

3. Texas Parks and Wildlife, Nuisance Heronries in Texas Characteristcs and Management, Second Edition, Ray C. Telfair II, Bruce C. Thompson, and Linda Tschirhard
https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0134.pdf 

4. Austin Bat Refuge, https://austinbatrefuge.org/congress-ave-bridge/