Dare I Say It?
So its mid July and I have something to share. I haven't said it before now because I didn't want to jinx it... but here goes: We have no grasshoppers. I have seen maybe a total of five all summer. We think it must be due to the severe lack of rain during a critical time in their emergence. So this is what it looks like to be in a no grasshopper year. Maybe that is why several days ago I found myself actually enjoying the summer. So much less stress. Also we have a lot less deer pressure than last year which I already wrote about. And this has meant we have more unimpeded growth. Even so, the Giant Fuyu planted on the west south swale died. It was not eaten at the base, it gets water, it had leafed out significantly and then died. Too much severe heat? Could be. These deaths with no discernible cause are frustrating but really highlight that sometimes no matter how great things seems to line up, trees die. With no grasshoppers and little deer this would be the perfect year for growth. But the Fuyu had other plans.
We moved the chicks to an outside pen. They were too big for the metal pen in the courtyard. I am a little concerned the weather is too hot but really we have to get them out there. The remaining flock of four hens seems to be getting used to their new rooster-less life. Dot has taken to crowing in her way. It sounds more like a rooster being strangled mid-crow but she only does it every few days and you can't hear it inside. Several of the hens who were bald in places and sunburned are now growing new feathers.
The photos below show the north swale, the garden, the water bucket hanging under the chicken coop, the new chicks' outside pen and the chicken runs "jungle".
And while its been great not having to worry about grasshoppers this summer, we have virtually no small pacific tree frogs either. Last year there were so many I could hardly walk in places. So the lack of rain devastated their numbers as well. It could be that they too are on a cyclic pattern like the grasshoppers. And yet even with the low water, the blue oaks seem to be in a mast year. We will have acorns.
We moved the chicks to an outside pen. They were too big for the metal pen in the courtyard. I am a little concerned the weather is too hot but really we have to get them out there. The remaining flock of four hens seems to be getting used to their new rooster-less life. Dot has taken to crowing in her way. It sounds more like a rooster being strangled mid-crow but she only does it every few days and you can't hear it inside. Several of the hens who were bald in places and sunburned are now growing new feathers.
The photos below show the north swale, the garden, the water bucket hanging under the chicken coop, the new chicks' outside pen and the chicken runs "jungle".
And while its been great not having to worry about grasshoppers this summer, we have virtually no small pacific tree frogs either. Last year there were so many I could hardly walk in places. So the lack of rain devastated their numbers as well. It could be that they too are on a cyclic pattern like the grasshoppers. And yet even with the low water, the blue oaks seem to be in a mast year. We will have acorns.
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