by Briscoe White | Jan 27, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm, Wildlife |
Eagles live on the James River all around us here and we see them often from the nursery. They are beginning to get busy, as spring is not too far away. Pairs are together defending territory and building giant stick nests. As a parent of teenagers and young adults, I understand the pair’s conflicted feelings as they drive grown offspring from the nest. And I totally do not understand how, having raised one brood, they steadfastly set about raising another.
The eagle nest on our property has produced young for many years, I personally have seen nine eagles in sight at one time. It wasn’t too many years ago there were no breeding eagles here, having been decimated by DDT and locally Keypone, which was allowed to drain into the river. The eagles is proof of Nature’s ability to heal and repair old damage. We love watching all the bird life on the river; eagles are our favorites.
Want to learn more about how eagles are bouncing back from the brink of extinction? Check out this great documentary from PBS’s Nature: American Eagle.
Briscoe releasing an eagle that was tagged by biologists from the College of William & Mary last winter.
by Briscoe White | Jan 20, 2010 | Exploring, Flowers, Growing, Life on the Farm |
I planted these yellow flowering Campis vines several years ago. The gate is into our farm orchard, but the Trumpet Creeper was planted so that it would grow up and over the arch and imitate the vine encircling the pages of the first version of The Growers Exhange.com, which is based in the nursery next to this orchard.
Who would have guessed the web-store would grow faster than a Trumpet Creeper? The newer version sacrificed art for function so the vine no longer lives in cyberspace, but should reach the top of the arch this summer here in Charles City. Trumpet creeper grows so well here it can actually be a problem in some places, we chose a yellow hybrid to be a little different from the wild cousins growing in nearby trees.
The plan is to bind the vines to keep it growing a along the fence and up the arch over the gate. Each winter we wrap it with old baling twine to keep a neat column of foliage along the cedar post. Look for a picture this summer when it will be covered in Yellow Trumpet Flowers, which is also it’s name!
by Briscoe White | Jan 15, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm, Miscellaneous |
The Growers Exchange keeps a small laying flock out behind the office. We have a flock of mostly Rhode Island Reds with a couple of Sexlinks, Wyandottes, and two Speckled Sussex roosters. A mixed lot for sure, but very reliable egg layers. The staff takes turns collecting and taking home our egg bounty.
The few miscellaneous breeds mentioned above are actually the remnant of our last flock. The Rhode Island Reds were raised as replacements this past summer. As the accompanying photo shows, it is not just us interested in our laying flock.
This young Great Horned owl was inside our chicken coop this morning. I caught him in a crab net and released him outside. He is recovering his dignity in the picture. The good news is this young owl was very easy to forgive as he didn’t hurt the chickens! Usually, the chickens are not that lucky. Fortunately it is not often one of our neighbors finds a way in to the chicken coop. Proving again that “ good fences make good neighbors.”
by Briscoe White | Jan 11, 2010 | A Year in the Life.., Exploring, Gardening, Indoor Gardening, Life on the Farm |
The winter wind makes being outside an endurance test; one step outside and any thoughts of working the garden shrivel like body parts in a deep freeze. I admit that I do not like winter, and I hate being cold. So like anyone suffering with cabin fever, I have begun to dream about warmer times. No need to think about warmer places, because soon enough this place will be hot enough to have us wishing for winter.
My dreaming has become more like sleep-walking as I turn an old cold frame into a season extending covered garden. I hope to use this area much like a homeowner would use their deck, patio, or balcony to grow what ever plants possible.
Many crops are planned for this new garden, The Growers Exchange will document all that we grow. The beds in this picture will grow salad greens and the logs surrounding it have been impregnated with mushroom spores. Check in regularly to see what we have growing.
by Briscoe White | Jan 8, 2010 | Exploring, Growing, Life on the Farm, Miscellaneous |
I know that I have said more than enough about the cold weather, but since last time temps have dropped more and it is still really cold!! What it means daily is that some of us are spending more time inside than we normally do. Fortunately we have plenty of busy work sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings. Even with these activities to focus confined energy, the greenhouse crew came up with a new idea for our company garden.
Someone working in the greenhouse pointed out that the hardest part about growing Shiitake mushrooms is finding the proper logs; which are just like the one we heave in the wood-stove each day. We found some logs to our specifications and ordered some spawn online.
Yesterday we followed the instructions and inoculated some oak logs with Shiitake spawn. On a whim oyster mushrooms were added because the culture requirements were almost the same as for shiitake. Our logs are here in the greenhouse waiting for the first mushrooms to appear. Hopefully we will have some this summer, we will report our first shiitake mushrooms here!
The Growers Exchange limits itself to growing herbs for all uses: Ayurveda to Culinary. Our spring annual collection reflects our favorite selections of plants that perform well. Check out our collections and selections: herbs, flowering annuals for spring planting in containers and beds. The mushrooms are just us playing; they will go well with our salad garden!
by Briscoe White | Jan 6, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm, Miscellaneous |
Welcome to the New Year! I cannot wait until temperatures in this new year rise above freezing. Life on the farm gets tough: keeping the greenhouse going, feeding and watering the horses, cows, and dogs. On these frigid days, water is not such a simple thing, hoses don’t work and bowls and tanks freeze solid. Water must be delivered several times each day to insure everyone gets enough.
I keep telling myself: this is a Southern state, it has to get warm sometime soon? But I hear on the radio that it is cold almost everywhere, and the truth be told we are not near as cold as some places. All I know for sure is that every thing here is frozen and has been for days. We keep saying all this freezing is good for cleaning out insect and disease pest; they must be dead by now and we are ready for some more moderate weather
