June 13, 2008

  inner last night was delicious! It is nice to be eating fresh items off the land again. I had a nice sized Rainbow trout from a local lake (a friend gave it to me), my asparagus, rice pilaf made with onions from here, as well as chicken stock from here and fresh bread. Leftover fish will be made into fish cakes tonight or tomorrow night.

It was +2C/35F at 6:30 am. Lots of fog rolled in around 8 pm last night. Lots of rain and thunderstorms mentioned on the forecast today. 

My lettuce and basils are starting to pop up in the greenhouse. This weekend I will try to get everything else out into the garden (weather pending) and work on the front pasture fence. I think I can get it done by Tuesday night (if I hurry between the garden and working), as I figured out a way how to avoid pounding in more corner posts, but also not having to back-track any work later. The gate is ready to go.

As I was doing chores this morning, I spied this large bird on my front porch. (S)he is a Pilliated Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America. This was not the largest one I have ever seen, but they will attain the size of a crow. It must have been working on the suet feeder most of the day (birds start moving around here at 4 am this time of the year), as most of it was gone. I will have to make some more up for it and the Oregon Juncos. It was pretty amusing to watch this one back up to the feeder and then cautiously hang upside down off it. It then went onto the roof or where it is at in the picture, wipe its beak off on the wood and then retrieve the suet it wiped off.

If you look carefully, the bird's tail is longer than the suet feeder which is 6" long. This bird is a little more than a foot from end of tail to top of it's red cap.

These guys are the very reason I put a suet feeder up. As soon as I did, they left off drilling holes in my cabin and did not reappear up by the house for a couple years. Ingrates! I get Downy's and a flicker or two, lots of sparrows, Juncos and little guys, but this is the first time I have seen a Pillated since I put the feeder up.

One of the eggs from under one of the broody hens (chickens) was out in the middle of the henhouse floor by some means or other this morning. The egg was very cold and I chucked it into the manure pile. It broke open and there was indeed a large almost fully formed dead chick in it. That gives me an idea of when the rest of them ought to start hatching. The brooder is ready for them. The hens are sitting on at least 30+ eggs.