by Kenan White | Aug 18, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm |
My son just brought this spring nest to my attention – the birds have fledged and are now moving freely around the farm. Their nest, a home that they shared for months, is all that is left. When you really look closely, you can see how industrious these birds really are.
Not far away is the pasture for my wife’s horses – inside the barn, where she grooms them, is an apparent Home Depot for building supplies. Upon close inspection, much of this nest is made out of horse hair – the hair from the tail and mane that is extremely durable and has been used throughout history for a number of uses: paint brushes, upholstery, musical instruments, fishing line. I paid a pretty penny for a great looking horsehair belt.
We think the nest was made by a Jenny Wren but can’t be sure … are any of you gardeners out there ornithologists? We’d love to settle some bets around the office.
by Kenan White | May 17, 2010 | Life on the Farm |
I have not made a journal entry in so long, I do not remember when it was. The reason is simple; I have been busy packing plants for shipment. When planting time finally arrives, everyone wants their plants now! And we understand because I have been planting my own garden by head lamp. So The Growers Exchange staff has been working overtime in high gear. Almost all of our boxes make it, to those few that don’t, we sent replacement quickly.
Now things have settled down; we are still busy sending plants but that initial spring rush is over. Our children have all pitched in at times to help us through the spring rush. My son Jesse found the snake pictured. He found it in the bottle brush buckeye next to the farm office. From the bumps in it’s middle it was obviously well fed. We were hoping the baby blue jays would fledge, but the snake had other plans. We catch the black snakes with various snake charmer skills. One thing is sure; you better be quick!
About the same time the snake was outside eating baby birds, my incubator was working overtime hatching lots of chicks. My wife said that the incubator costs as much as a set of golf clubs, but at least this hobby keeps me at work! So, Jesse and I decided to pose for a shot – a nice juxtoposition – the snake is probably a little happier than the chicks. They made it safely into the brooder, and Jesse took the snake a ways down the river bank before releasing him.
by Briscoe White | Apr 15, 2010 | Life on the Farm |
Lawn ornaments? My wife just keeps collecting horses – once our daughter ‘spit the bit’, so to speak, she wouldn’t let us sell her pony, ‘Dunkin’ Donuts’, so we just added him to the collection. Then along came this guy, Poco, who just couldn’t be parted from his pasture pal .. so that made three. Then, after 50, she decided she’d become a cowboy and went Western. That meant a different kind of horse? Here’s the upshot: they look pretty darn good in the pasture and they are really gentle and hey, I like animals so all’s good. These guys are in heaven … just look at the green pasture and buttercups. Yum!
Here is the gang – Lady, Dunkin and Poco! They are a good natured bunch, and mind their manners for the most part. Dunkin is a typical pony, so you never know where he might show up!
by Briscoe White | Apr 2, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm |
Baby bunnies cannot be considered varmints in the garden… Even though their Mama may be munching through your salad garden keeping the cute little babies fed. No, baby bunnies are considered cute critters until they venture out into the world and eat your basil plant one night. To a rabbit, a row of flowering annuals is a salad bar, throw in a few herb plants for seasoning! This is when cute starts to run thin.
Last year baby bunnies were born and raised inside the greenhouse. Mama rabbit slipped in a hole for pipes and made her nest among some large stevia plants. We had to delay shipping some plants until the babies had moved out. This year they were found in the remnants of our wood pile. We stacked some extra logs around them for protection from predators, they should be safe!
Every year we share our growing space with several species of the local fauna.Tree frogs, toads, lizards and snakes all share greenhouse space with our plants. We are growing herb plants for all reasons; therefore we see no reason to use poison when growing them. In our greenhouse we have many allies from beneficial insects to the above mentioned critters helping us keep plants free from harmful pest.
So here we have another reason to buy your herbs and flowering annuals from The Growers- Exchange.com. Not only do we ship you great plants at great prices. You will be helping the environment by providing habitat to all the critters living among our plants.
by Briscoe White | Mar 29, 2010 | Exploring, Life on the Farm |
We are busy packing herb plants and sending them south, where spring is well under way. Once again, when weather expresses itself and it does so in dramatic fashion. From what the news says, the pounding rain we received all night was felt along the entire Atlantic Seaboard! Just like the snow-storms this winter, a little does not seem to be enough.
Despite the poor Monday weather, Saturday was as beautiful as a spring day should be. I took this photo of our dwarf peach orchard in full bloom. On closer inspection one finds varying shades of light pink. Each cultivar of peach tree has been carefully bred for peaches, so the flower color is of no importance.
I thought about how as a greenhouse grower, I am mostly interested in the flowers and how well a plant can present them. The reason we grow a spring crop of flowering annual plants is because we believe herb gardening would be boring indeed without flowers.
by Briscoe White | Mar 24, 2010 | A Year in the Life.., Books & Design, Exploring |
We have always wanted a place where all the plants grown in our nursery could be grown out to full size. Now that all of our time is spent working from the nursery, we found the time to dig up the yard surrounding it. Because time is always hard to find for such projects, we have been taking our time. Shrubs were planted the first year and later a waterfall was added. Now we have laid out the paths and beds on the ground and will begin preparing the beds for planting.
It may be fall before we have them ready. Not being in a hurry, we want to dig deep and work plenty of organic material into the soil. Only when the beds are finished will we begin to add herb plants and some perennial flowering plants. Piecemeal is always the way to tackle a large job, so we will finish some beds before others are started. This way we will be able to grow some of our flowering annual plants. Cut flowers like zinnias and celosia will provide fresh cut flowers for the office. We want to demonstrate all the ways our plants can be grown.
Every step will be documented: from soil and bed preparation, planning and planting, to care and harvest. Check out The Growers-Exchange.com for all of our Year in the Life of a Garden updates.
