It has been a long cold winter here in Southern Ontario this year but spring is finally here…. the Frogs are back! Last year they all but had seemed to disappear but they are hear singing in huge numbers again, their song is almost overwhelming 
. Saw some gardener snakes and a morning cloak butterfly, heard the piliated woodpecker.
April 25, 2011
March 7, 2011
A walk in the woods to start a new year, cannot think of anything better….
Our new friend was there to greet us again. Hanks dog is a friendly one, it sure startled Stephen at Christmas, saw it comming fast through the woods at him out of the corner of his eye, I think he thought it was a wolf
, the dog is certainly big enough.
March 7, 2011
Winter is hear. Snow is hear. Good to have the Family around at Christmas.
March 6, 2011
The Woods really open up when all the leaves are gone!
March 6, 2011
Time to catch up with some months. Planted a few tree nuts, maybe they will come up in the spring. Found a few small puffballs, I really should try frying them in butter someday.
August 12, 2010
Not a lot of time to visit in early August. The new trees are doing well although the weeds around them are starting to get away on us. But the summer so far has been hot and dry between the rains, I think the weeds are protecting these new trees. They appear to be holding the moisture in the soil and helping them to thrive. This is contrary to popular thought but I notice that the trees had become heat stressed after I had cut down the weeds in July. They seem to be doing well now. Mosquitoes and deer flys are still bad, this should improve as August rolls on. My Cecropia moth catterpillars that I released into the woods are doing well, I even notice a Promethia moth cocoon freshly formed on one of the cherry trees where I released the Cecropia caterpillars. A lot of monarch butterflies around along with some Giant and Tiger Swallowtails.
July 30, 2010
It is called just being too busy. When you run your own business, there just seems to be no time. We have not been able to get to the farm very much these last few months. Found some cocoons in the winter and have hatched some silkmoths, was able to get some Cecropia moth caterpillars started, decided to release them in the woods once they got about and inch long. Planted a few more trees, moved some sasafrass out from the woods, will see if they survive. Cut down the weeds once, will do it again in August. I think having the weeds protects the trees and prevents the deer from eating them. Good news, some of the trees that look like they died when it was dry are growing out from the roots with new leaves. The pilated woodpecker appeared to have nested in a big old dead tree. Check out the pictures.
May 10, 2010
May 3, 2010. Thankyou very much to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority and Stewardship Kent for the trees! We arrived to the farm on this beautiful sunny Monday morning and they were already busy planting trees in the few acres of open field on the north side of the property. We were thrilled with the help that we recieved from these two groups, it would have taken me forever, planting approximately 2500 seedlings in this area and they had it done in a day! Tulip, Red and White Oak, Black Cherry, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, White pine wind blocks, it will be interesting to watch it grow in over the years. Karen and I took a hike in the woods while they were hard at work, finally saw our first snake this spring and also discovered an unusual looking trillium.
April 27, 2010
A beautiful day after a rainy weekend, a lot of flowers blooming, no frogs seen, only a couple singing, quite a change from last year. Saw a tree with a dead racoon hanging out of it and a couple other decomposed racoons at its base. I wonder what killed them, must have been disease of some sort as the none decomposed one looked perfectly intacked. We made sure we did not touch the remains.
