Buzzards - Nature's Roadkill Cleanup

There are three large black walnut trees located in one of our fields. When I first moved to the farm in 1994, I wondered why my husband’s grandfather allowed them to remain in the middle of an area otherwise occupied by crops – strawberries and cotton, mostly. After my first full summer of gardening, I understood. On a blistering hot day, it is usually ten degrees cooler under their shade. They make a nice cool oasis.

Black walnuts are the last trees to leaf out in the spring and the first to drop leaves in the fall. So, for half the year they are stalwart skeletons. And they are much beloved by our community of buzzards. We host two varieties of buzzards, correctly called vultures.  The turkey buzzard has a hairless red head, while the smaller black buzzard has a gray head.  The two species are frequently seen together.

Soon after sunrise, a group perches in my walnut trees. They stretch their wings, warming themselves in the sun. When present in large numbers, it gives one an Alfred Hitchcock shiver.

Like other birds of prey, buzzards are protected by law. You cannot harm them. They provide a public service by “processing” carrion that might otherwise provide a breeding ground for bacteria that are harmful to humans. Turkey buzzards have a great sense of smell and can easily locate roadkill. Black buzzards don’t share this acute sense, and tend to follow their red-headed cousins. Interestingly, vultures can help natural gas companies pinpoint gas-line leaks because they are attracted to the smell of the chemical that is added to make leaks more evident to humans.

Buzzards do not pose a danger to full size adults, but they may attack smaller animals. (Gag alert! Swallow your coffee before reading further!) Their only means of defense is to regurgitate. One of our dear, departed dogs was infuriated when buzzards roosted in her trees.  She would circle the trunks, jump, bark, howl, and say nasty things in her canine tongue. Vultures lack a voice box, but would respond to her insults with harsh grunts and spooky-sounding hisses. On occasion she would irritate a bird enough to be treated to a spray of buzzard barf.  (Keep in mind, they eat dead stuff.) This would always result in an immediate deodorizing bath for the poor dog. Their vomit is so acidic, it would cause harm if left untreated.  It is this stomach acid that kills bacteria and leaves them unscathed by salmonella and other such pathogens.

These large birds produce large, odiferous bird droppings, so it is wise to avoid the area under their resting spots.

A crowd of crows is termed a murder and a flock of turkeys are called a rafter but what is the correct term for a group of buzzards? Answer: When they are sitting, they are called a committee. When in flight, they are called a kettle,  and when they are feeding on a carcass as a group, they are called a wake.

A committee of buzzards

Evolution of the Mailbox

I enjoy watching classic movies. Many of them feature telephone booth conversations.  It’s a quick way for the viewer to learn the characters’ thoughts and what is happening unseen. It’s pretty rare to see a standalone phone booth now. (Where does Clark Kent don his Superman cape?) Another item that has diminished in importance is the mailbox.

To my grandkids: You can sneer at snail mail all you like. Some of us still post items. Mailboxes and adhesive postage stamps came into existence in the late 1840’s. Prior to that, all mail was hand-carried to the post office.  Free home delivery began in 1863. Carriers either knocked on the door, rang the doorbell (twice) or whistled to alert the homeowner that they had received mail. To save wear and tear on the knuckles, some carriers used a handheld wooden device to do the knocking.  The Smithsonian’s National Postal museum depicts all things postal, from stamp designs to collection box designs.  The slideshow begins with this link: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/current/customers-and-communities/serving-the-cities/city-free-delivery/household-mailboxes.html

By 1923 mailboxes were mandatory. The cost of mailing was updated to charge by weight and distance rather than number of paper sheets sent. The familiar road-side blue collection box design has changed very little in more than a century.  Home collection devices have evolved from door letter slots to street-side boxes to on-house boxes and back to street-side boxes. The older Van Dorn metal boxes make me think of ammunition boxes.  Some were painted bright red. After the public confused the red mailbox with red fire alarms and police call boxes, the Post Office decreed that mail receptacles should be painted dark green. Gradually the ugly iron boxes were replaced with lighter metals and prettier designs.

As I sat at my computer this morning, I snapped a photo of a check and magically deposited it to my bank account. I paid my bills on-line, using electronic transfer. I emailed a thank you message for a gift received. Super convenient; no snail mail involved. My Amazon search on mailboxes brought back more than 6,000 returns, so I think the public-servant container is safe from the fate of the phone booth.

Get Along Groups

There seems to be a lot of divisiveness in today’s world. Polite differences of opinion have morphed into open conflicts. There are two groups, I am pleased to report, where I have seen no evidence of this.

First is the Master Gardener program sponsored by US land grant universities. When I enrolled in the (Clemson University) Master Gardener education program in 2002, I had no idea how it would affect my life. Through the classes, the requisite volunteer work and ongoing membership in the local MG Association, I have met people of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic levels. I would never have encountered them in the course of my normal activities. Somehow a love of gardening and respect for nature levels the playing field and brings us all together. Differences of opinion still exist, of course, but shared goals enable us to work together without conflict.

The second group, which I have discovered only in the last two years, is the world of dog competition. My mixed breed dog and I will never compete in the crème-de-la-crème events of Westminster and the like. But we are having tons of fun on the local levels. Right now we are focusing on Rally events, with a dip of the paw into the Obedience pool. We are meeting owners and trainers from all walks of life. Yes, the events judge one trainer/dog’s performance against others in the same competition category. But everyone encourages their co-competitors. We cheer others’ successes. It makes a happier world.

Maybe Shakespeare had it right after all?

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance…”  Was Shakespeare’s Hamlet onto something? The answer is yes if you believe a study released by Dr Jemma McCready and Dr Mark Moss from the University of Northumbria, England, in 2013. And the National Institute of Health released a highly technical abstract in 2016 that lends some credence to the theory, but stops short of supporting the idea that Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) will help those suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  For every study released that endorses herbs or specific plants for disease treatment, there seems to be a counter study that says otherwise. I’m taking no chances. I plan to breathe in the scent of my potted rosemary every chance I have. Couldn’t hurt, right?

The rosemary pictured below is in a pottery container that is a creation of my sister, Linda, the artist in our family. My plant will remain indoors, but the herb is perennial outdoors in Zone 7-10. It will grow to the size of a shrub and have pale blue blooms that bees love. When sunshine falls on the foliage, it releases a delicious fragrance. Some describe the scent as pine-like, but it really has a distinctive resinous odor all its own. I love the flavor of rosemary leaves in tomato-based sauces or sprinkled on toasted ciabatta. Older leaves tend to be a little prickly, so use the young, tender growth in cooking.

Even though the bees love it, deer and insects leave rosemary alone. Anecdotal evidence says that planting it under roses will help keep aphids away. It likes heat, full sun and limited but regular water. It’s not an easy plant to start from seed, so either buy them at the nursery or start them from cuttings. Both upright and trailing forms are available.

I find that rosemary will be attractive for a few years before it gets woody and the center of the plant opens up. You can delay the demise by frequent, light pruning, but when it becomes ugly, just replace the plant. You can strip the leaves from the reject plant and include them in sachet bags in your closet.

Pee-khan or Pee-can?

This has been a good year for pecans on our farm. Pecan trees are infamous for alternate bearing, with a good crop year followed by a bad year.

Here’s the technical explanation of why this happens: Pecan trees are monoecious, which means they have male flowers and female flowers on the same tree. The blooms are wind-pollinated. Some trees are protogynous (female pistils open first) while others are protandrous (male catkins start shedding pollen before the pistils open). Pistils are borne on current season growth. Catkins are located on last season’s growth. (The catkins are those little twiggy things that make such a mess when they fall.) If there is heavy rainfall between the time the males release pollen and the females are ready to be pollinated, you can expect a poor crop of nuts. Some years the tree’s timing is off, with no good explanation. Since each tree has its own schedule, having trees of several different varieties provides a better opportunity for successful pollination. More than you wanted to know, right?

Here is something you DO want to know. It’s the secret for perfectly toasted pecans. 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 3) Spread two cups of nuts on the parchment. 4) Use a kitchen oil sprayer to spray all nuts with a fine mist of butter-flavored popcorn oil. Sprinkle with salt. 4) Bake 4 minutes. Remove from oven, stir and re-spread and lightly salt again. 5) Bake another 4 minutes. 6) Remove from oven and spread out on paper towels to cool. The nuts will continue to cook a bit after they are out of the oven, so wait until they’re completely cool to taste test. You can always add another minute if you like.  Yum.

Retro Christmas Tree, Part 2

It does not matter what I am searching for, my husband always seems to be able to conjure it up from one of our old barns. So, it came as no surprise when I was pining after the aluminum foil tree of my childhood and he said, “I think we still have the one that belonged to my Mom. It’s in the barn.”

Fast forward two hours, and you will find me sitting on the floor in the open area between our den and kitchen.  Years of extreme heat and cold in the barn attic destroyed the integrity of the box.  Every paper sleeve dissolved into dust in my hands as I unpacked and sorted the foil limbs by length. It was a slow process, as I tried to avoid breaking any of the fragile strands of metal foliage. The sales receipt inside the box was dated 1961. I sneezed and sneezed, then become a mouth-breather as my sinuses protested. My husband sprawled on the sofa, watching football on the den television. The room was growing dark with the approach of evening, but neither of us wanted to move from our spots to turn on a lamp. Suddenly, he sat upright and asked, “What is that awful smell?” We both jumped up to investigate. It didn’t take long to find the source of the stench. The interior crevices of the cardboard tree box were filled with stink bugs, a common menace of the south. The warm indoor temperatures prompted them to take their families out for a stroll – inside our home. 

Fast forward again, and you’ll see me outdoors, setting fire to a smelly vacuum cleaner bag and a dilapidated cardboard box. But the tree itself? The tree is lovely. The original instructions are explicit in forbidding the use of electric lights. But in 1961, holiday lights were the fat bulbs that generated tons of heat. A single burned out bulb made the entire strand go dark. From there, it was hunt and replace until the bad bulb was located. I decorated ours with tiny white LEDs and blue ornaments. Lovely.

Heavenly Hellebores

Hellebores, or Lenten Roses, are one of the few plants that bloom in winter. They are happiest when planted under deciduous trees, so that they receive full sun in winter (when no leaves are on trees) and are shaded during the heat of summer.

Keys to success:  Don't plant too deeply, or they will die.  Don’t allow mulch or leaves to collect over the crown, or they may rot.  Water them only until established. Wet soil is deadly. No regular irrigation, please.

Hellebores reseed readily, but typically do not come true. What does that mean, exactly? Seeds from a plant with purple blooms may grow into another plant with purple blooms. But it is equally likely that the new plant will have pink or green blooms. I consider this a bonus. (If you come from a software development background, consider this variability an “undocumented feature.”) And they all have different freckles and whiskers that give them individuality.

Use this Thrifty Gardener trick: Put a few plants at the top-most part of a sloping garden bed. Nature and gravity will work together to sow seeds down the slope. In just a few years, you will have a full bed.

To make your plants look their absolute best, keep an eye out for the emergence of new growth. When you see fresh green leaves coming from the crown, grab your pruners and remove all the old, ratty foliage. See the before and after photos, below.

Retro Christmas Tree, Part 1

I made my annual trip to the shopping mall today. Christmas is everywhere – decorations, music, home décor. I am amused by the retro trend. Aluminum trees have made a come-back. I was too young to remember, but family stories tell me that our family’s last “live” tree was a pine cut from my Granddaddy Brown’s farm. It stood in the corner of my parents’ living room, so that it could be seen from outside through both the corner windows. I’m sure that it was fragrant and beautiful, especially in contrast to the presents underneath. On one particular year, my mother wrapped all the gifts in shiny white paper. Gifts for men sported green bows; gifts for the ladies wore red bows. A few days after the tree went up, black dots started appearing on the white paper. What everyone assumed to be specks of pine resin turned out to be baby TICKS. As in blood-sucking arachnids. The warmth of the house brought them out of the pine bark, where they had been dormant for the winter. The tree made a rapid exit from the house and was replaced by the “tin foil” version, complete with the rotating color wheel. I loved it from the first day.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Day marks the kickoff of the busy Christmas holidays. It is easy to get caught up in the shopping/wrapping/party frenzy. I'm pausing today to be thankful for the many things I often take for granted: a comfortable home, plentiful food, good health and remarkable friends.

Forsyth Pot for Small-Scale Propagation

If you want to propagate a few of your favorite perennials or shrubs, please consider using a Forsyth Rooting Pot. This is propagation on a small scale. Follow the link below to view a YouTube video on how it's done. If you would prefer to have this information in written form, use my Contact page to send me an email request. I'll send you a return email with the instructions in PDF format.  Happy Gardening!      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsBv12O17MY

"Look-At-Me" Weeds

I’ll never forget the first time I understood what was meant by a specimen plant. I had always associated “specimen” with my annual health physical. I learned that it meant a “look-at-me” plant, shrub or tree. Japanese maples are commonly referred to as specimen trees because of their distinctive forms and beautiful colors. My favorite specimen in the New Hope Farm garden is a butterfly weed. Aslcepias physocarpa (recently reclassified as Gomphocarpus physocarpa) has the unflattering common name “Hairy Balls.” The blooms are tiny, white, and easily overlooked. The eye-catching fruits are a little larger than a half-dollar coin and look like, well, hairy balls. Mine have nourished a wide variety of caterpillars this year.  The narrow plants reach four feet tall in full sun, and have not needed irrigation. Indeed, Look At Me.

My Personal Fitness Program

There is no better home fitness program than owning an Australian Cattle Dog. Blue enjoys both AKC Rally and Obedience events. We are at the very lowest level of both, but we're having fun together.

The Royal Story

The Royal typewriter pictured on my home page belonged to my mother in law. She used it in the  office of Startex Mills in Spartanburg, SC, where she was employed for over 40 years. The carriage is oversized to allow insertion of  large forms used in recording data on cotton (weight, quality, source, etc.). My mother in law was a remarkable woman. In the twelve years I knew her before her death, I never heard her say a bad word about anyone. At worst, when confronted with an unpleasant person or poor behavior, she would sigh, compress her lips and shake her head as she said, "My, my."