Thar's Gold in Them Thar Fields!

Travel the beautiful Ohio countryside these days, and you'll see a froth of gold on soybean fields. As the soybeans ripen in their pods, the plants will turn a deep golden hue right down to their dark green roots. 

The fields are in different stages of golding up. Some have just begun while others are already turning brown. Most, though, look like the field in today's picture. With goldenrod and brown-eyed Susans chiming in, these are truly Golden Days. And if prices are good, the farmers will be rewarded with gold of another kind. 

I plan to enjoy these days as much as possible, because as the poet Robert Frost observed nearly 100 years ago, Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay. 

Marcheta *having Gilt feelings

Flying Jewels, Humming Bird tips

Note: This post was scheduled to post on May 25th...I am not sure what the glitch was. Now my "perfect record" of posting every day is ruined!...well, not really, last winter another scheduled post did not show up, either. But believe me, I am staying focused on this goal even though it doesn't always work the way I plan. This teaches me that even when I am away from home for the day, I need to check the blog to make sure a post goes out when I ask it to :) 


Humming birds are flying jewels of summer.

At least, that is what I think. :)

Like annual flowers, humming birds grace our gardens for a season. They hangout in  our gardens until Autumn winds signal the time to move to warmer climes.

I love humming birds because seeing a little darter suddenly appear like magic from seemingly out of nowhere is always a delight and a surprise. It takes me away, for just a moment or two, of what was on my mind, giving it a much needed relief :)

It is no surprise to me that my favorite poet Robert Frost wrote this lovely tribute to humming birds. 

 A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springtime of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day,like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fullfill.

  

Humming Bird Species in Ohio  is a good place to get information on humming birds that come to our area. "Ohio residents have no trouble enjoying the many Ruby-throated hummingbirds that inhabit the state roughly from April through September, but hummingbird species in Ohio are very limited. There are only two other species of hummingbirds that have also been documented in Ohio, they are the Rufous Hummingbird and the Calliope Hummingbird".

Here are a few tips that will have humming birds love you as much as you love them:

Feeding

Please do not buy the humming bird feeder mix from stores that have red food coloring in them. The food coloring supposedly helps to attract the birds, but humming bird feeders do that job, and the red dye can be harmful to the birds.

And, really, making the nectar at home is easy. All you need is 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. You can boil the water and add the the sugar to help dissolve it, but sometimes I just use hot water from my tap. 

When the sugar is dissolved, pour it into the feeder, then put your feeder in a place you can enjoy it. I have one feeder outside my big kitchen window so that we can enjoy the birds while we dine.

Maintenance 

It is really important to keep the feeders clean, so check them often. If ants have invaded the feeder, toss the food and clean the feeder because chances are the birds will not feed if they see ants.

To clean the feeder, rinse with warm water. If it is really dirty or you see gray mold, fill the feeder with warm water, add a few drops of bleach, and swish with a bottle brush. Rise with fresh water and you're good to go! 

Plants

So what is the thought behind putting red dye in humming bird food? These flighty little creatures are attracted to red and orange colored flowers. That is why most humming bird feeders have plastic "blossoms" around the feeding holes. 

The World of Humming Birds website has section dedicated to planting a humming bird garden. Check it out here.

If you do not have the space, time, or money to devote to a garden, you can always place a hanging basket near the area of your feeders. Good ones to try are petunias and fuchsias. I've also had humming birds come to a good-old, hardy standby, the ivy geranium. This page on Birds and Blooms website has a list of plants and hanging basket ideas for attracting humming birds.

If you don't want to be bothered with watering a hanging plant or making a full-blown humming bird garden, another option is to put a few plants like zinnias or nasturtiums near the feeder.

When a bright jewel catches your eye at an unexpected moment, you'll be happy that you took the time to make humming birds welcome in your world.

Marcheta *color my world with flying jewels

Reflections on Country Neighbors

Not many people live on my stretch of road. It took me a long time to know the other people who live in the houses strewn along this narrow road because my own house sits back a lane. It's pretty isolated and private back here, which I like, but for many years I did not feel a sense of "neighborhood". 

 Since we have to drive to get everywhere we want to go, people mostly just wave "hello" to each other as we pass one another in our cars. There's no taking a break from work to talk to a neighbor across the fence like the poet Robert Frost so often depicted in his poems about country life.


Which I think is pretty sad, really, but eventually I got to know people.

Like any neighborhood, mine has its "characters", the few quirky people who make things interesting.

The man in the picture is one such "quirk" (and I say that in a fond manner).

I don't know much about him other than he lives alone in an underground house and never mows his property, he lets  his horse graze and do its thing.

He patrols the road several times a day, picking up aluminum cans. A few times last winter I found him walking into town on the highway, very unusual (and dangerous). In giving him lifts, I began to think that maybe he is in the first stages of dementia and talked to Jim about it.


Jim did some investigating and found out that my hunch is true. Our neighbor had his "wheels" taken from him because of his condition. His brother checks in on him daily and takes him places, so I haven't seen him on the highway lately, a good thing.


But it is no surprise to still see him walking along the road. What *did* surprise me yesterday is that he was not picking up cans, but whacking the bejeezus out of a dandelion.

I stopped my car to have a little chat with him, to ask how he's doing..how is his horse, and whatnot.

This is just small talk for most of us, but it means a lot to a lonely person whose brain is changing its think patterns.

The smile on his face as we were talking was more than enough payment for taking 5 minutes from my day.

"So.." I asked, "what's up with the dandelions?"

"Oh, I hate these things!!!!" he replied as he moved away from the one he had beaten to a pulp and started pummeling another innocent yellow "weed".

"Well, I see you have your day's work cut out for you, so I'll let you to it." He did not seem overwhelmed when he looked at the endless supplies of dandelions, in fact, his smile seemed serene...like this was his purpose and it was not going away anytime soon.


His behaviour gave me food for thought. This is what my mind has been chewing on...are people wired to have occupations? For instance, are we similar to bees in our genetic make up, that we have to have a purpose, a "something to do"?


For my neighbor, it seems like his brain has decided that his new occupation is killing dandelions. An odd choice, I think, because of the wide array of weeds and grasses that he has lived with for so long. I mean, wouldn't you think that bright yellow flowers would be welcome in his "meadow" of a yard?

Maybe they are. Maybe he's angry with the ones that grow in the ditches for leaving home.

This is what I do know. My neighbors are scattered and mostly aloof, but they are *my* neighbors and I care about them. Several of us are keeping an eye on our Dandelion Slayer, just to make sure that he stays safe.

And, really, the entertainment he provides is priceless....gives us something to talk about other than the weather. :)

As an after-thought, I snapped this pic of him from the car door mirror, to help me remember that day, our conversation, and to remember that the things that give us purpose also give us delight.

Marcheta *and like a good neighbor...  

Sugar Orchard Re-visited

Today begins the series about full-time country woman Sue Nelson, who owns and operates Nelsontrails with her husband, Bob. What better way to start than by waxing nostalgic with my favorite poet, Robert Frost? 

Bob Nelson stokes the furnace of the syrup evaporator.
He and Sue made about 42 gallons of pure Ohio Maple Syrup.

Evening In A Sugar Orchard

From where I lingered in a lull in March
outside the sugar-house one night for choice,
I called the fireman with a careful voice
And bade him leave the pan and stoke the arch:
'O fireman, give the fire another stoke,
And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke.'
I thought a few might tangle, as they did,
Among bare maple boughs, and in the rare
Hill atmosphere not cease to glow,
And so be added to the moon up there.
The moon, though slight, was moon enough to show
On every tree a bucket with a lid,
And on black ground a bear-skin rug of snow.
The sparks made no attempt to be the moon.
They were content to figure in the trees
As Leo, Orion, and the Pleiades.
And that was what the boughs were full of soon.

Robert Frost

 

Marcheta *content to figure in the trees

Favorite Things: Starry Sky

Orion, as seen from my country sky

 

 

The Star Splitter by Robert Frost

`You know Orion always comes up sideways.
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me
Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something
I should have done by daylight, and indeed,
After the ground is frozen, I should have done
Before it froze, and a gust flings a handful
Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney
To make fun of my way of doing things,
Or else fun of Orion's having caught me.’

The constellation Orion is a huge, magnificent sight to see as it rises over the horizon. To watch it is as awesome these days as it was during ancient times, when people referred to it as “The Hunter”.

To read Robert Frost’s story of what a particular farmer, probably in the 1920’s, did in order to have better views of his country sky, and what the star splitter is , go here . I know that you’ll enjoy Frost's wordsmithing, and the next time we have a clear sky, I encourage you to go have a look at the Mighty Hunter. While you are there, look for his dog, too. Hint: It contains the brightest star in the sky.

We country folk are lucky to have stars; there are actually people who live in big cities, like Tokyo, who've never seen star because of light pollution. Isn't that sad?

Marcheta *starstruck



Frost on Snow

Again, this morning I woke up to extra bling on the snow. Frigid temperatures are keeping the snow from looking dull and flat. I was slow to leave my warm house this morning, but before I began a day of errands, I took a quick round to my favorite nature spot to find a very quiet scene. By the time I was finished with my banking, grocery shopping, Barnes and Noble browsing, etc., I was cold and tired and just wanted to come home, and by-passed a second chance at nature photography for the day. Ah, well, there's  always tomorrow, eh?

Cold nights like these are good for reading, and what better way to ease into a reading session than a few poems?

I believe that one reason Robert Frost is a favorite poet is because his poems are rural and folksy. Even if you don't have a fireplace, you get the feeling of being cozied up by crackling flames as you read his words. Well, at least I do.

For this poem, I had to look up 'conie' because the only conies I know are hot dogs with chili (and God, how I love them!). It's always good to learn new things, and tonight I learned that 'conie' is another word for rabbit. Or, a rabbit like animal. How sweet!

A Winter Eden by Robert Frost

A winter garden in an alder swamp,
Where conies now come out to sun and romp,
As near a paradise as it can be
And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.

It lifts existence on a plane of snow
One level higher than the earth below,
One level nearer heaven overhead,
And last year's berries shining scarlet red.

It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast
Where he can stretch and hold his highest feat
On some wild apple tree's young tender bark,
What well may prove the year's high girdle mark.

So near to paradise all pairing ends:
Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends,
Content with bud-inspecting. They presume
To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.

A feather-hammer gives a double knock.
This Eden day is done at two o'clock.
An hour of winter day might seem too short
To make it worth life's while to wake and sport.

 

 Marcheta * if I make a conie stew, will my friends assume it is chili with hotdogs instead of hamburger?

 

This picture is clip art from The Print Shop 3.0 Professional, which I added my own touches to using Picasa software from Google. I like to use Print Shop software for making flyers, signs, labels, and other small print projects.  I like Picasa for quick and easy photo processing.

The poem is, of course, by Robert Frost. I am not sure what year Frost penned these lines, but does it matter? I think that they are timeless.