For the last few days, I have tried to post this but my Gmail account had, somehow, been hijacked by my NCSU account causing a situation where Gmail did not recognize me or my blog and I could access it but not write or publish.
Sometimes weird stuff goes on!
Well, my troubles are not over: Blogger now refuses to load my pictures. I guess this will be my first post w/o pictures. Not quite the same!
Ah, we're now back in the saddle. There is something to be said for a good reboot!
About three mornings ago, during my early morning daily inspection, I noticed that my corn, that had started to fill in nicely had been totally devastated, not by deer for only the kernels were gone. I know deer would have scarfed the whole thing.
My first reaction was to blame raccoons since they did a job on half my corn last year but it did not look quite right. Raccoons are way more brutal during their nocturnal feeding; they tear through everything. Here some of the ears looked like they had been cleanly picked by somebody with a napkin on their lap and then, there were sign that some had played with the empty ears that I found in different locations. Based on my neighbors' observations I had to conclude the job had been done by a couple of my old fox buddies. So much for liking those little creatures! They now have grown into hoodlums, forgetting that I gave them roof and shelter when they needed it; now they're back demanding dinner as well!
The second challenge was with my bees. I know that August can be a terrible month for them with very little pollen out there and not much more nectar.
Out of the three hives, one had honey, not tons of it but a good amount and both of the others offered the same scene when I opened them: hundreds of bees, butt in the air cleaning up the bottom of empty honey cells. They had nothing left to eat and they were, understandably in a pretty grouchy mood. (This is where the veil and gloves come handy, when you face 30,000 hungry females!)
The most interesting part is that the only hive with stores of honey was run by the old queen, (not to be confused with the White Queen!) the one that produced those aggressive bees last year and the one I had considered getting rid of. Instead, I moved her to a new hive with only a small entourage of nurse bees and frames of brood figuring that cutting her troops number might bring peace to the village. It did, and that queen, quite obviously has other, vital qualities, like producing good honey makers. The two weaker ones are run by young, inexperienced queens from a different source. (Something to remember!)
My only choice, one I do not like much ended up being sugar water feeding. I don't like it because sugar is no real substitute for honey when it comes to nutrition but, if it keeps my girls alive...! I must say to their defense that bees in the S E US are not used to all those drizzles and rains and hesitate to go out on rainy days, thereby reducing greatly their store on a year like the one we just had.
The third difficulty had to do with two days of rainy weather and its impact on my figs. Figs are born to bathe in the sun and the sun only; they love that last rush of heat before ripening. Their skin can take any amount of sun but totally falls apart when wet. We did not really get enough rain to brag about; it just continued drizzling just enough to melt those poor things. And then there is the clean-up, the day after, dealing with all that mushy mess. You can't leave them on the tree or it turns into the local fiesta for hornets, yellow jackets and huge green beetles: a mess. I collected enough usable ones to try and make some fruit leather. I'll let you know how it turns out.
On the plus side, this morning, after cleaning up the fig mess, I planted my fall crop of bush beans and onions.
The humidity and skeeters made it less than pleasant but starting the next crop for the new season is always exciting.
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| The crape myrtles are molting, ready to show off their new bark. |
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| Eel River melon |
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| Petit Gris Charentais |
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| Petit Jaune. I love the designs on those water melons! |
