Morels are here!

My garden isn't growing yet, but Zack found the season's first morel a few minutes ago. Now I really wish I was off tomorrow, because they're only good harvested in the mornings. Maybe I can just go in late...

Hillbilly Driving Directions

These could also be redneck directions...or it could be that my daughter just isn't that good at directions:

• Take road across from cemetery
• Will get to a 'y' in the road
• Go up the 'y' on Sweden Creek
• Will pass 2 1/2 bridges (1/2 bridge??? son scratches head at this one, wonders what the 1/2 bridge will look like...)
• House will have electric box and a pole thing
• House is on left, driveway goes slightly upwards

There, that's all crystal clear isn't it? Directions from my daughter to my son on how to find her at her boyfriend's house...

More Spring Photos

From yesterday's walkabout. These are all indicator plants for good ginseng habitat. First is a yellow trout lilly. They're called 'trout' lillies because of the mottled appearance on the leaves. Some have darker markings than this one and the flowers are almost finished. I was lucky to find one still clinging to the flower.

A second-year ginseng just beginnning to open. It was the only one I could find during my walk, but I didn't go all over the mountain, just stayed near the house. Hopefully there are more survivors elsewhere. I'm curious about the ginseng market and where it will open and end this year.

A grape- or rattlesnake fern just opening up (with a trout lilly leaf in the background):

And my favorite photo of the day, Christmas fern fiddleheads. I want you to know I got very very close to the ground, in fact had to lie completely down to get this shot. It was late afternoon and the sun was coming in from low in the sky. It made a nice setup with the lighting from this angle. It's a wonder I didn't get full of baby ticks!

Jealousy

No pictures, yet, but Gabrielle has made her brothers jealous again.

She went turkey hunting this morning with her boyfriend, Kylan. He called and she shot. She bagged her very first turkey.

This is just such strange activity coming from a girl who would run the blackbirds off before her older brother could shoot any with his bb gun. I recall nearly violent arguments about how people shouldn't be hunting animals when there's so much food to be purchased in grocery stores. Days of cold shoulder toward her brother for what she considered the unjustified killing of a deer.



Turkeys are very elusive and difficult to hunt. Kylan must have done a good job calling, and she must have done a good job shooting. When I get pictures to post, I will.

In the meantime, here's some of the others from Friday. The first is Zack on my grandpa's old tractor. He's moving the tire brusing rocks from one spot to another on the driveway. I need to order a load of gravel, and I'll do that in a couple weeks. Then he can move rocks with better results, I hope!

Here's a picture of Loretta:

And one of Garrison:

More Pictures

Cutleaf Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) is blooming right now:

Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is one of my favorite early spring flowers and today I finally have a picture of it:

Spring Pictures

Finally got around to snapping a few frames. My camera battery went dead and my card was full before I finished, but a few raindrops were beginning to fall anyway, so I guess I was out long enough.

Here's a patch of bloodroot. The flowers are almost done already. They're one of the first things to bloom in spring:
Wild plum blossoms are in full swing:

This old rock wall still looks pretty wintry, but the moss is greening up on it a little more:

These little violets are so common, it's almost easy to overlook them:

The peaches are just beginning to bloom:

Spring has Arrived in the Ozarks

Finally,everything decided it was time. Forsythia, Dutchman's Breeches, and Bloodroot all were blooming. Spring peepers have been announcing it, but until I see the blossoms on the county roadside, it isn't official.

Tomorrow I'll try to get some pictures.

Hell Freezes Over

Some people I know liken where I live to hell. It's closer to heaven to me, but for the fun of it I'm going with the hell analogy.

Today is the first day of spring, or at least I think it is. I haven't checked a calendar to make sure. All week we had the most beautiful weather, whetting my appetite for the weekend. I couldn't wait to get off and planned to get some outdoor work done.

That was before I found out what was in store for us. This morning has been overcast and chilly. Now it is raining, but at least not freezing yet. Tonight we should expect the white stuff to come down, and more than a light dusting's worth. A possible 10" could accumulate. What?? How can that happen after a week like the one we just had, with another one just like it scheduled to begin on Monday?

It seems unfair to work next week after this. Sooner or later, I guess the weekend will be good for outdoor fun. For now, I'll just clean house and write.

Nothing much

I don't really have anything to blog about tonight, just wanted to swap out my title picture for the aster one I took a few years ago. Just found it recently, hiding among some other files where it didn't belong.

There have been a few more signs that Spring is not far away. The roosters have started crowing regularly again, and sparring among each other. They're trying to establish dominance to see who gets to escort the main group of hens around. The battle was between the barred rock and the golden-laced wyandotte. The barred rock won and now the wyandotte has to settle for a few of the less desirable hens, I guess. I'm not sure what criteria roosters use to judge the girls, but maybe the ones who lay the most eggs are most desired.

The hens have started laying again. That was the other sign that Spring is near. Oh, and the skunks have been coming out of the woodworks, another signal.

Rain

Well, I thought we were going to miss out on our 100% chance of forecasted rain, but I was wrong. Just as Garrison and Cody left on the 4-wheeler to go down the road to a friend's house to explore and hunt arrowheads, the bottom dropped out. I'm sure they got soaked. They'll stay there now until the rain ends, most likely.

I changed the title picture to something greener. I'm tired of winter weather and would like to see the greening of the hills begin.

February Snow

These are some pictures I took along our driveway and county road, on my way to and from work today. It's been snowing all day, but not much is sticking to the roads, yet, which is a good thing. In the morning, all the mud will be ice and that's actually easier to get through sometimes than simply mud. We'll see tomorrow morning.

(Uncle Larry, if you're reading this, copy the pictures onto your computer (laptop?) or a CD if you can, and show them to MawMaw and PawPaw)

Driveway, just past the gate, going in:

The old schoolhouse where my neighbor's parents went to school:

Felkins Creek:

The bluff line by the big valley (Walton's property) on the way in:

My jeep after digging it out from under the snow:

The driveway where the creek crosses:

And by the way, if you haven't already heard, Zack is going to be a daddy. He and Loretta are expecting their baby in October 2010. I need to get a picture of Loretta, too. For now, here's one of Zack and his first 'baby', Chester.

Favorite Pictures

Gabrielle is going to be graduating this May and I was going through all the photos I have on disk. We're trying to pull some to use in the senior yearbook. Gary scanned and put everything we had on CD's before he moved and today I was very thankful for that effort.

Here's my favorite picture I found of Gabrielle. I like it because of the black night and white snow:

NAIS News - Good news!

From the headlines of the Business section of NYTimes online edition:


U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock

This is excellent news, but we need to stay alert for the 'new' plan they devise. Keep talking to your representatives.

Fun in the Snow

A little fun in the snow today.

This is not me, by the way - that's Garrison.

Garrison pulled out the old sled and talked me into trying it. That was a blast, but very exhausting! We'd be in much better physical shape if it snowed much around here because just the effort of walking on level ground is a workout. Walking uphill is a ramped up workout. See, that's the thing about sledding downhill. Going down is so easy, but coming back up is not.

The horses watched Garrison go by. They think we're nuts.

Forgot my favorite picture

Comanche's eye, with icicles. They don't seem to be bothering him at all. He and Shasta both have them all down their backs too. They can stay under the stall if they wanted, but they prefer to go outside.

4 o'clock and still snowing

Here's some more from this afternoon. I'm not going back out today if I can help it; my feet are frozen! The horses needed more water in their stall, so I did get to test out my freeze preparations for the faucet down there. It worked great. The faucet is on the ground, because that's where I cut it off when it froze during the last freeze. So I covered the end with a bundle of hay, then with a plastic layer, then with an old curtain and weighed it down with rocks. The whole assembly came off in one big frozen piece, but the water was not frozen. I had hung the hose so that no water would stay in it to freeze and become plugged, because in the past, even if I had water down there, the hose would be frozen and useless. That worked well, too. Here's a short video I took. I am not sure how to load this, but we'll see if it works. If it doesn't work, you'll just have to see how hard it's snowing by looking at the pictures ;) It was deep enough to go over the top of my shoes now. That's pretty deep for us! I'd guess about 5 or 6 inches now.

Blizzard

It's really snowing hard now, but soooo cold outside it's hard to stay out for long. I don't know if it's actually cold in degrees, but the snow is moist and the humidity is high, which makes it more uncomfortable. It's pretty, though. The horses have icicles on them, even.

Snow

It's snowing pretty hard now, a blizzard, even.

Ice and Sleet, and a little Snow too

The great winter storm of 2010 hasn't been too bad so far. The rain started freezing as it fell yesterday afternoon, resulting in the icicles in the pictures, but soon after it turned to sleet and that's mainly what precipitation we've gotten all night.

It is cold and windy, though! My fingers were freezing when I tried to take these pictures and my lense adjuster wouldn't work, so I didn't take very many. I'll go back outside later when I've thawed some to take more.

Since I was able to walk down the hill and back up again to feed the horses, I turned them out. I'd penned them up in case the ice was too slippery, but with the layer of sleet over the ice, its better footing.

We left the faucets running last night, and all is well on the water front. At work, I caught up on all of my samples, so although I might be able to make it in this morning, I'm going to take this opportunity to be home instead.

Seed Swap

For those of you in the area who might be interested, I just got this press release from Jennifer Held and promised to spread the word:

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Brian Campbell brianc@uca.edu (501) 450-3178 M-F,

Organization: Conserving Arkansas’s Agricultural Heritage (CAAH!)

Date: For immediate distribution

Headline: CAAH! Will co-sponsor Seed Swaps in Seven Arkansas Communities

Got Whippoorwills? Razorbacks? Red Rippers? Pencil Cob? Hickory King? Greasebacks? Turkey Craws? Want some? Come to an Old-Timey Ozark Seed Swap!

Grow Your Own Revolution:

CAAH! will Co-sponsor Seed Swaps in Seven Arkansas Communities

CAAH! Conserving Arkansas’s Agricultural Heritage

“One for the cut worm, one for the crow, one to share, and one to grow”

www.arkansasagro.wordpress.com

Spring is just around the corner and so are our seed swaps! In addition to the 3^rd Annual Ozark Seed Swap at the Ozark Folk Center State Park and the 2^nd Annual Faulkner County Seed Swap at the Faulkner County Library, CAAH! has collaborated with organizations all over the state to establish new Seed Swaps in five additional communities: El Dorado, Fayetteville, Jasper, Russellville, and Searcy. Arkansas farmers and gardeners have a legacy of heirloom seeds that are in danger of being lost, and the sharing of these heirloom seeds will encourage their production for posterity. Last year’s swaps were a huge success with hundreds of gardeners in attendance and a remarkable number of heirloom varieties exchanging hands. We invite you to bring some seeds and stories to swap with other Ozark seed savers and yarn spinners. If you do not have any seeds to swap but want to get started, attend a swap or two and mingle with gardeners and farmers who can help; if you would like, you may bring envelopes, plant cuttings or garden implements to share... We can conserve the heritage of Arkansas while we share good stories, beautify our yards, and of course, get free seeds. Refreshments and music (a pickin’-please bring an instrument if you would like to join in!) will be provided. No charge for admission.

Seed Swaps will be held at the following locations and times:

Mountain View

February 13^th 12-3pm

Ozark Folk Center, Administration Building

1032 Park Ave Mountain View, AR 72560

Contact: Tina Marie Wilcox 870-269-3851

Fayetteville

February 14^th

Fayetteville Public Library
401 W. Mountain St., Fayetteville AR 72701

Contact: Katy Deaton, katyd@ncat.org

El Dorado

February 20^th 1-4 pm

Barton (El Dorado) Public Library
200 East 5^th St., El Dorado AR

Contact: Nancy Arn 870-863-5447

Searcy

February 27^th 10 am-1pm

ASU- Beebe, Farms Classrooms
1000 West Iowa St., Beebe AR
Contact: Sherri Sanders 501-268-5394 SSanders@uaex.edu

Jasper
March 6^th 10am-5pm
Newton County Library, Community Room
Contact: D’Coda dcoda@ozarkseedexchange.com or Jennifer (870)446-2983

Conway

March 13^th 1pm-4pm

Faulkner County Library
1900 Tyler St., Conway AR 72032
Contact: Amy Campbell 706-248-2597 or awheeler1975@hotnail.com

Russellville

March 27^th 10 am-1 pm

Pope County Fair Grounds, old Entertainment Building

1602 SR 124 Russellville AR 72802
Contact: Crystal Bowne 479-567-5707 or cbowne@atu.edu

Now in its third year CAAH! Seed Swaps are sponsored by CAAH!, The University of Central Arkansas Department of Sociology, and the Ozark Folk Center State Park along with interested farmers and gardeners across Arkansas. The seed swaps would not be possible without the donation of facilities in each city and the hard work of our student and AmeriCorps volunteers. CAAH! is a project dedicated to preserving agricultural folkways. Through this project agricultural tradition is spread by saving seeds in a central seed bank and giving them to gardeners throughout Arkansas along with the stories and meaning that have become a part of their essence. The results of the this project are the collection of information on endangered seeds, promotion of a seed sharing resource, and the rejuvenation of traditional Ozark seed swaps and passing on of seeds (as is being encouraged by the University of Georgia's Southern Seed Legacy). For more information on the CAAH! project, our website address is: http://www.arkansasagro.wordpress.com