Honeybees, Frogs and American Woodcocks

Wildflower Update: The Environmental Club at our high school will be starting wildflower seed for the Patriot (our high school mascot) Pollinator program tomorrow and process milkweed pods for seed.

Pollination and Wildlife: On Satruday evening, I took a walk down to Long Creek.  The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Wetland Project is next to our farm.  A few frogs were out making some noise at sunset ... the first croaks of the Spring 2015 ... perhaps a little premature.  On my way back to the house, several American Woodcocks were making their preent and buzzing sounds with some great flight displays.  Maybe another sign of Spring.  Our deer have forgotten about hunting season and stare at us from the fied behind our house ... picture above and below.

Work on the Farm:  It was 63 degrees F. on Saturday and warm enough to get in our hives and check our bees.  We had no deadouts and that was good.  All hives seemed to have good numbers so I fed them some sugar and left-over crystallized honey.  There appeared to be some honey in several frames.  I often spread a little honey along the tops of a few frames to take a look at the bees.  They line up like cattle at a feeder.  Pictures from one hive below ...

We support:
Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 112 years.
http://www.round-house.com/
Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.
http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront
FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!
https://www.roundstoneseed.com/
Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants
http://www.prairienursery.com/
Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.
http://www.kelleybees.com/
and these organizations ...
Xerces Society
Journey North
Monarch Watch
Sierra Club

Monarch Numbers in ...

Last week, Journey North released their Monarch count from the Mexico wintering area.  It was better than the all time low of last year but still not dangerously low.  Our pollinator project at the high school have seed to plant again this year.  We gave plants to several individuals and a few groups.



http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2015/update_population_size.html



Wildflower Update: We are continuing to put seed into our refrigerator for stratification.  Each time I take a walk, I take some wildflower seed with me to plant.

Pollination and Wildlife: We have lots of juncos visiting our feeders.  Last week, I saw a large group of robins.  I have been busy at school so have not been able to take a lot of walks but, every night hear our coyotes howling.

Work on the Farm:  We finished signing off on our seven acre conservation pollinator plot.  We have ordered our seed and will plant later in May.

We support:
Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 112 years.
http://www.round-house.com/
Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.
http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront
FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!
https://www.roundstoneseed.com/
Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants
http://www.prairienursery.com/
Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.
http://www.kelleybees.com/
and these organizations ...
Xerces Society
Journey North
Monarch Watch
Sierra Club

Sandhill Cranes back!

While at school Saturday/noon, I heard the distinctive sound of sandhill cranes circling overhead.  About forty were circling getting organized, gaining altitude and deciding which direction to take.  Finally after about five minutes they headed northeast toward Barren River Lake.  I could hear them longer than I could see them!

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/id

Usually, we don't see them return until around Valentine's Day ... second week in February.  Hard to tell what they were thinking ... hopefully a hint of Spring.

Wildflower Update: Seed in the fridge ... I meet with our conservation office tomorrow to finalize the contracts for our new seven acre wildflower conservation field.  It is a fifteen year set aside program ... planting this spring and should look great next year!

Pollination and Wildlife: During this warmup (60 degrees F) we have seen several flickers looking for grubs in our yard and the in field behind our house.  Lots of birds!  I saw a Cooper's Hawk raid one of our feeders this morning ... birds were scattering everywhere in a hurry.


Work on the Farm:  Checking beehives today.

We support:
Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 112 years.
http://www.round-house.com/
Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.
http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront
FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!
https://www.roundstoneseed.com/
Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants
http://www.prairienursery.com/
Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.
http://www.kelleybees.com/
and these organizations ...
Xerces Society
Journey North
Monarch Watch
Sierra Club

Wildflower Seed arriving

We had some of our wildflower seed arrive this week (all from Prairie Nursery, (http://www.prairienursery.com/  but, should have used prairie moon nursery instead)  ... milkweeds (3), Silphium (3), Echinacea (2) and many more.  I put several in our fridge for cold stratification.  We will plant them later in flats and grow in the greenhouse.

Our seed for our conservation planting has not arrived and has been ordered from Roundstone Seed (a Kentucky Company) ... we are using mix 3 for pollinators ...


https://www.roundstoneseed.com/

Walking Ferns, Christmas Ferns and Lichens

Wildflower Update:  Winter observations are limited to ferns, mosses and lichens.  Since this farm was used had free-range livestock for many years, these distrubed forested areas have an abundance of Christmas ferns. We have walking ferns (above, Asplenium rhizophyllum), on limestone outcroppings. Lichens are abundant.  My study of these plants and mutualistic organisms continues ...

Pollination and Wildlife:  On the last evening of 2014, I took a walk down toward Long Creek.  During my walk I saw several deer, two coyotes, lots of squirrels (mostly grey) and a barred owl.  Days will getting longer so there will be more daylight for walks and some cleanup jobs. 

Work on the Farm:  To finish up the 2014, we bought the seed for our our pollinator conservation plot later this year.  We will be using Mix 3 ... lots of wildflowers, including partridge peas, milkweed and purple coneflowers.  Most of the seed is from seed we collected, Roundstone Seeds and Prairie Nursery. We have put seven acres into this conservation program and will drill in the seed during May.

I put some sugar and peppermint sticks (from Christmas) in our hives on a warm day last week.  It was about 60 degrees and sunny.  Our bees were busy and several were outside the hives.  I plan to make some candy to put in the hives later in January.

We support:

Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 112 years.

http://www.round-house.com/

Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.

http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront

FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/

Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!

https://www.roundstoneseed.com/

Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants

http://www.prairienursery.com/

Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.

http://www.kelleybees.com/

and these organizations ...

Xerces Society

Journey North

Monarch Watch

Sierra Club

Allegheny spurge, bats and cedar waxwings ...

Wildflower Update: Uncle Glen said he saw some Allegheny spurge while on a walk.  I have seen some small purple phacelia while walking on some annual rye grass in one of our bottom fields.  After a polar blast, temperature is at or above normal.  Because the days are so short, I have not been able to take many walks in the woods.

Pollination and Wildlife:  Last week while taking a walk on our farm, I saw some bats  feeding at sunset.  I can't imagine there were many insects available after the polar blast we had three weeks ago but, they appeared to be feeding.  Lots of birds are our feeders ... especially cedar waxwings.

Work on the Farm:  I have finished walking on annual rye and winter oats on our waterways (soybean fields this season).  Lots of catalogs in the mail ... time to buy seed soon.


We support:
Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 111 years.
http://www.round-house.com/
Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.
http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront
FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!
https://www.roundstoneseed.com/
Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants
http://www.prairienursery.com/
Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.
http://www.kelleybees.com/
and these organizations ...
Xerces Society
Journey North
Monarch Watch
Sierra Club

Frost Flowers ...

Wildflower Update: With the polar cold spell this week, the only flowers to find were frost flowers.  There were hundreds from ironweed and wingstem stems.  As water moves up from the roots of these plants it cracks the stem open and ribbons of ice crystals form.  Frost flowers last only until the sun comes out and melts the ice cyrstals and they only form after the first few days of hard freezes. They were beautiful during sunrise.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/common-plants-and-animals/wildflowers-and-grasses/frost-flowers


Pollinators and Wildlife:  Our pollination season is over until next Spring but lots of wildlife on the move with this cold spell.  Deer hunting season started last weekend and the sound of guns could be heard each morning and evening.  The hunters that lease our farm are mostly bow hunters and have taken a few deer last week.  The population remains too high because I see several each time I take a walk.  It seems as though our coyote population is very high also ... they make a lot of noise each night.  I have loaded our bird feeders and there has been several chickadees and nuthatches visiting.

Work on the Farm:  The last few weeks, I have been feeding our honeybees sugar water (in ziplock gallon bags on the frames of the top super).  They seem to have good populations and substantial honey heading into winter.  Shaw Farms combined the soybeans on the second bottom land next to Long Creek.  I walked on annual rye and winter oats on the water ways to prevent erosion.  Folks in the community are still stopping by to pick turnip and mustard greens.


We support:
Round House, Jeans and Workware, Made in the USA for 111 years.
http://www.round-house.com/
Red Pig Tools, Garden tools, Made in the USA.
http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront
FEDCO, Co-op Garden Supplies, Seeds, Trees and Bulbs
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
Johnny's Selected Seeds and Garden Tools
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Roundstone Native Seed ... A Kentucky Company!
https://www.roundstoneseed.com/
Prairie Nursery, Native Seeds and Plants
http://www.prairienursery.com/
Kelley's Beeskeeping ... A Kentucky Company! ... at least for now.
http://www.kelleybees.com/
and these organizations ...
Xerces Society
Journey North
Monarch Watch
Sierra Club