New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

 

Looks like a nice sunny and warm day in the making today. My daughter Amy Martel came down to help me plant a few more things yesterday in the garden. A few hot pepper plants (for spicing up our dill pickles) and a few cucumber plants. I hadn't found the tomato plants I wanted to plant yet. I did replant my three rows of corn as there was maybe a half dozen plants up from my several weeks ago planting. Plus I did seed two rows of beans. So the garden is taking shape at last. Oh I did discover a nice fat radish that I quickly ate. So ready to start picking my own home grown vegetables.

 

A couple days ago my mom asked me to tell her "What are all those birds in my apple tree?". Well it was a whole flock of cedar waxwings. And they were eating the flower petals from the tree. That was something I had not seen before. She spends hours a day sitting at her sliding glass window studying "her" birds.  The air is filled with spring sounds day and night. Birds and frogs and frequently here a barred owl calls. I've had one calling several nights a week for a while now. Sounded like a whole troop of them whooping it up last night as the clock hands were almost straight up.

 

The wet weather has held the Yeaton's from chopping the hay across from my house. I bet I'll hear the tractors any day now. Their silage corn planted more than a week ago now has yet to show itself in the fields around my house. The soil has been so cold this spring that things are just plain slow to grow.

 

Although I'm seeing plenty of turkeys around I have not spotted a clutch of polts yet. They should be hatching out right now. Some of the song birds should be starting their second clutch any day now. I can't figure out why I have not seen more deer locally this spring. Not a bad winter for them. Usually I am seeing numbers in the fields as soon as they green up. For some reason that just has not happened this year. No doubt the young of the year foxes, coyotes and the like will soon be out and about from the dens. Pay attention and you might just spot them.  

 

I'm hoping we are in for some sun filled days ahead to get my garden and the local farmers crops growing. Although I grow what I can, there's nothing like sampling the local farm stands with their fresh produce all summer long. Oh come on summer!