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I didn't order a pizza! Now go away!

Avocado Ice Cream and Poppy's Pork Chop

The avocados that have been ripening on the counter were finally ready today. Time to make Alton Brown's Avocado Ice Cream (recipe link). It's a snap to assemble the ingredients since they all go into the blender, except for the heavy cream which has to be stirred in last. After blending the milk, sugar, lemon juice and avocado I put the Nickelodeon slime ice cream mix into the fridge to chill for a few hours.

While the green monster goo ice cream mix chilled, Derek and I spent some time out in the windbreak enjoying the warm weather. We burned some downed limbs, toasted marshmallows over coals, and talked...really talked. It was such a treat for me. As we talked about life, girls, and the future we were joined by an adorable and gutsy little screech owl who responded to our whistles. I'm sure he's the same owl I've been seeing in our duck nest box during the day. He was directly overhead and Derek swears he could see his little owl feet!

When the marshmallows were gone we headed back home. It's such a blessing to have a place in the trees where we can have a camp fire so close to home. I don't ever take that for granted.

I poured the chilled ice cream mix into the ice cream maker and let it churn for about half an hour. It's a lovely shade of pale green. Perhaps I'll paint the bathroom this color some day.

If you're a big fan of avocados (which I am) you'll love the flavor of this lightly sweet, fruity ice cream. The texture is the ultimate in smooth and creamy and definitely hits the "sweet & creamy" nerve. It's also a very healthy ice cream, if an ice cream can be considered healthy. Some of the nutrients in avocados simply can't be found in any other food. And the fact that the fats in avocados are "good" fats is a great excuse to eat this satisfying treat.

So what's Poppy's pork chop got to do with any of this? Nothing, really. But when Derek fed the kitchen scraps to the chickens tonight, our big Australorp hen, Poppy, got a hunk of pork chop. And she wasn't sharin' with nobody.

Owly Tenant

We have a green fiberglass duck box on the far edge of the pond. It's about 100 feet from my bedroom window. For the past few days, I've looked out to see this adorable little gray-phase Screech Owl napping in it.

At night when I'm outside I can usually hear Screech Owls calling to each other. The air is very still at night, especially during the winter, and the sounds of owls calling travels easily through the cold, thin air. I always stop what I'm doing and just listen. The trilled owl calls always make me smile!

If you remember last winter we had a regular owl visitor whom we name Oscar. I don't know if this is the same owl. I'm just glad to see these little raptors living on the Twelve Acres. It means our mouse population is being controlled by natural means.

Joanna informed me that I have to list 6 things that make me happy.

1. Being able to look out my windows and see nature in my own back yard.


2. Having no neighbors and living in the country where it's quiet and peaceful.


3. Owning my childhood home and having my son grow up here too.


4. Cooking nutritious, delicious food from scratch, sometimes using eggs or meat from my own chickens.


5. Owning a business that some day may support us completely, right here on our property.


6. Living in a rural town and knowing that the people are good, decent people.

Spring Sunset

It's a peaceful spring evening and I am outside on the back deck enjoying my new fire pit and a pretty sunset. The birds are singing their evening serenades and the bull frogs are tuning their banjos. I love this time of day when the creatures go to bed, the air calms and the colors wane. I am enjoying the crackle of a pine wood fire and the smell of wood smoke wafting through the air. My senses are calmed and soothed by such pleasurable surroundings. It's moments like this I thank God that I'm alive.

This afternoon I planted lettuce and spinach seeds. Since I don't have a conventional garden I decided to use them at the front of the flowerbeds as edging plants. Granted, lettuce and spinach make odd edging but once we've eaten them all, they will be gone. I also planted some tomato seeds at a corner of the back deck and placed a tomato cage above them. It's a hot location, something tomatoes are fond of.

A Bald Eagle flew over our field tonight and I just now saw a Red-Tail hawk soar just feet above it, heading to the windbreak to roost for the evening. How lucky I am to have so many large raptors feel this safe here on the Twelve Acres! How many people get to see a Bald Eagle fly through their back yard so regularly?

My cousins are out enjoying this lovely weather too. I hear them going around the family property on their four wheeler. I checked all the trees I planted and so far it looks like they are doing well. I lost a few that were planted last November, but they were free so I'm not upset about it. I planted 6 white birch trees yesterday before I went to work and I used them to replace those that didn't make it.

On a very sad note, Oscar was ousted from his nest box yesterday by Starlings. I was so upset! I put a bounty on those Starlings though, and rest assured, we will kill them. I am not worried about Oscar and his family. There are plenty of cavity nests all around the property. It's just that I was hoping I'd get to see him and his mate raise a brood so close to the house. I absolutely despise Starlings and I'd like to slap whoever it was that decided it would be a good idea to import them from England. They are a scourge to our native cavity nesting species!

So Many Critters!

We have so many critters,
This place is a zoo,
If you had this many,
What would you do?

Rocky the squirrel is doing really well. He's accepted us as his surrogate family. Like any baby, he is either eating or sleeping. Here my mom is pictured holding Rocky in one hand and a Black Australorp chick in the other. She made the cute curtains for the chicken coop which can be seen behind her.

The chicks are growing in leaps and bounds. They are one week old today. The girls have almost all of their wing feathers and are currently sprouting cute little tail feathers while the boys are still working on their wing feathers. I learned that this is one way to tell the difference between the two in some of the heavy breeds. As near as I can tell, I have at least five roosters out of 27 birds. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that they all turn out to be nice boys so I don't have to turn them into soup!

Oscar the owl continues to guard his nest box faithfully. Starlings can be spotted in the mornings at the entrance hole trying to scare him off. But he holds his ground and they give up quickly. He must scare the bejeebers out of them because I can see them flap their wings as if they're startled before they fly off. Hurray for Oscar! I love having a bad-ass owl nesting here!

I went out to check on the chicks this afternoon just as the sun was beginning to set. I interrupted a Sharp-Shinned hawk that had just caught its evening meal. As the hawk flew off, I saw a female Ring-Neck Pheasant run into the field, limping. It seems I came outside just at the moment that the hawk pinned the pheasant. If I had come out a few seconds earlier I might have gotten to see the hawk catch the pheasant. Seeing the pheasant was injured, I followed her into the field. She let me get very close and at one point I had my hand one inch over her back. Something stopped me from dropping my hand to catch her though. I decided to let things be and not interfere. I'm sure the pheasant has been finished off by one of our many resident raptors. Sometimes it's better to let nature take its course. It's hard not knowing the outcome, but at least I know that the pheasant will not go to waste out here.

Oscar Sightings

I've seen Oscar, our Eastern Screech Owl, in both nest boxes. But lately, he's been in the smaller one just inside the windbreak. I wonder if he's chosen it over the larger wood duck box in the fence row? It's very easy to find owl pellets of varying size beneath the smaller box. I found one that was about an inch long and two that were large enough to come out of a Great Horned Owl!

The sun was going down yesterday and I was on my way to work when I glanced out at the nest box in the windbreak and saw Oscar's cute face poking out of the entrance hole. I ran inside and grabbed my camera. Oscar seemed to be watching two things simultaneously; me in the office window and the boys throwing a football in the front yard. The first photo shows him looking at me, the last one shows him looking at the boys. I hated to leave because I really wanted to watch Oscar for a while.

I wonder if there is a nest of babies inside with Mrs. Oscar brooding them? Time will tell!

Meet Oscar!

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was look through the spotting telescope at the wood duck box at the far end of the field. There was Oscar, his cute little gray face visible inside the entrance hole! Hurray! He decided to stay! He is ignoring the screech owl box in the open part of the windbreak. Perhaps we should add a mesh wire ladder to the inside. Or maybe he just likes the roominess of the wood duck box. Who knows what owls think. I'm just thrilled he is still here and has chosen a nest site that we can see from the house.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I grabbed a pair of binocs and my digital camera and headed down the road. When I neared the nest box I entered the windbreak from the road, which made a bit of a crackling noise. I tried to be quiet and stealthy but sneaking up on owls is impossible, so instead I tried to be quick and as unintrusive as possible. I got within 100 feet and propped the binocs up on a tree branch to take some quick pictures through them. Then I put my camera in my pocket and indulged in a few moments of staring at Oscar through the binocs.

He's a lovely little gray phase Eastern screech owl and I am completely smitten with him! Just look at those cute little ear tufts as he stares at me with squinty eyes. I don't know how he can sleep with all the racket the blackbirds are making out there. They are pairing up for spring and all you can hear are various species of blackbird calling, whistling and trilling to each other! Poor Oscar, I hope he can get some rest when they go to bed.

I have no idea if there is a Missus Oscar yet but I feel certain there is. These owls are residents here year-round. I like to think that when they saw the lovely nest boxes we provided they decided to give them a try and liked them enough to stay. I've heard these little owls at all times of the night, as early as sundown and as late as 3 a.m. I hear them in the orchards and in the windbreak calling to each other. I've found their pellets and droppings in the windbreak. And now, finally, I've seen them! It's very likely I've walked past them many times without ever knowing because they are so perfectly camouflaged.

Updates on Oscar and his family will be posted regularly. And you can be certain that any owlets I can see will be photographed come hell or high water!

What a thrill!

Screech Owl Tenant

I came home from work this morning to discover that an Eastern screech owl had claimed the nest box Jim and I built last fall. My heart leapt when I saw his adorable face peeking out of the hole, dark eye brows furrowed on a gray face. I wanted to try to get a picture so I trodded up the hill and took a shot from the top. Not satisfied with such a long-distance photo I decided to try to get closer. I walked down the hill toward the nest box and when I looked up again the owl was gone! Oh no! It's true that owls are silent fliers because I never heard his wings at all.

I gave up on the owl photo shoot and went to bed. When I got up this afternoon I looked out the bedroom window to see if he was back in the nest box, but he wasn't. Rats! I looked down the length of the field at the wood duck box mounted in an ash tree 650 feet away in the fence row to see if anything was going on and, lo and behold, a little gray owl face was poking out of the entrance hole! So...he left the box with the pesky neighbor (me) and opted for the larger condo with no neighbors at all. Smart owl! The photo shows him in the first box. Below is the wood duck box. I wonder which one will become the nest site?

We all grabbed binocs and took turns looking at the owl, who we named "Oscar". He was enjoying a nap in the duck box and seemed quite pleased with his choice of domicile. I'm beside myself with glee knowing that with all the choices of nest sites in our trees, Oscar chose one of the boxes we hung!

We are looking forward to seeing Oscar's mate, and with any luck we'll be able to watch them raise a family. And of course we are happy to have nature's best rodent control nesting here on the Twelve Acres!

Owls at Work?

By my records, I have trapped and dispatched 42 European starlings and 94 house sparrows since I got my sparrow trap last October. I love this trap because it attracts the non-natives and gives me the opportunity to kill them humanely without harming the native species in any way. The occasional Dark-Eyed Junco, House Finch or Tree Sparrow gets trapped but I can easily release them unharmed--and it's a great opportunity to see the native species up close.

Here's a photo from the seller's website showing a sparrow trap full of quarry:

I haven't killed all the starlings I've trapped. I have clipped the primaries on a dozen of them and released them during particularly harsh winter weather to give the raptors an easy meal. Apparently, it worked (see photo at bottom). I've found two dead starlings with clipped wings in the windbreak, both headless. My first thought upon finding them was that the screech owls caught them and only had the heads for a meal. I've read that, in good times, Saw-Whet owls will eat only the heads of mice, but I seriously doubt there are any Saw-Whets here. I hope other birders with more experience than me will chime in and offer their opinions.

To the uninitiated this practice of trapping invasives and killing them probably seems harsh. But it's a bird eat bird world out there and I feel that I'm helping the local cavity nesters by eliminating as much of their competition as I can. I cringe at the thought of finding starlings nesting in one of my owl or duck boxes! I read an article about managing bluebird trails that simply stated it is irresponsible on the part of the bluebird landlord to place nest boxes for them and not monitor them to prevent competition from non-natives. Trapping is legal since invasive species are not protected under federal laws and in some areas it is encouraged by wildlife authorities.

One Man's Trash...

is another man's treasure. It is so true, isn't it? Last week one of the guys I work with brought me one of these wooden boxes and asked if I couldn't turn it into a duck nest box. All it was missing was the roof, bottom and hole. I was so excited and asked how many there were. There were six altogether, but when I looked at them I could tell that two would be more work than I wanted. He took those. These wooden rectangles were used to ship a large piece of equipment to the factory where I work. And as they say, if it looks like a duck box and quacks like a duck box, it must be a duck box!

While he intended to turn these into duck boxes, I looked at them and instantly thought "screech owls" (or flickers or woodpeckers)! I'm cuckoo for owls and we already have two duck boxes mounted anyway, so owl boxes they were.

Last night, Jim and I worked diligently to finish the boxes with proper hinged lids, bottoms with drainage holes and 3" entrance holes. Voila! They are ready to mount. I am giving one to my mom's friend in Michigan and another to the Black Swamp Bird Observatory if they will take one. I'll mount the third one as well as the big duck box in this photo.

While we had all the tools out (and the inspiration) we finished this cute log cabin bird box Jim built during Christmas. It was a prototype to the one he built for his parents as a gift. I'm currently looking for the perfect mounting pole. It has to be something that I can grow a vine on. This little log cabin is so cute I can't put it on a plain old pole. Isn't it precious? Don't miss the teenie birdhouse on it!

Nest Boxes

It was cold and windy yesterday but I wanted to get out and get some pictures of the duck box and bird house gourd in the fence row.

Jim helped me mount this Wood Duck box in this Ash tree before winter set in. My cousin across the road gave us two of these and a fiberglass model which Jim put on the far edge of the pond. It would be so cool if some Wood Ducks decided to use them next spring!

If the ducks don't like it, hopefully the Screech Owls or maybe even a pair of Kestrels will.

Here's a close-up of the nest box:

I found a bird house gourd in the orchard last fall while I was out gathering winter squash. I'd never used one before and thought it would be fun to see if the birds would actually use it.

It took a few months for it to dry out and once I heard the seeds rattling around inside it I drilled a hold in it. There were a lot of seeds inside which I saved for growing this spring. I'm sure I could grow several hundred gourds from the amount of seeds that were in it.

I sanded the gourd lightly and applied two coats of a matte sealant to protect it from rain. It's now hanging in a Red Osier Dogwood in the east end of the fence row, my wildlife garden-in-the-making.

The Fence Row

The fence row is a wooded area that borders the south edge of the twelve acres. Although I've never measured it (but now I must!) I would estimate its length to be well over 400 feet. It has three narrow drainage ditches running the length of it and is covered with mature hardwood trees. The tree roots hold the mounded earth in between the ditches firmly in place. They do such a good job at retaining the soil that little has changed in its height or width since my childhood--truly a testament to the value of tree roots in the prevention of soil erosion. These trees were just seedlings when this area was claimed by my great-grandfather, Harold G. Moore. He turned what was once part of the Great Black Swamp into sugar beet fields, then later along with his sons, he planted the fruit trees that would become Moore Orchards. What was once uninhabitable swampland is now acres of apple, peach, pear and plum trees. Our property lines are clearly visible because of these large fence rows that were left standing to act as natural property boundaries. Apple trees grow on the other side of our fence row.

I took this photo on a late summer evening in 2007 just as the sun went down. The crescent moon looked lovely. I love the silhouettes of the trees in the fence row. That night we were treated to getting to listen to the pair of Great Horned Owls as they spent at least 15 minutes calling to each other, "Hoo, hoo-hoooo, hoo, hoo-hoo!" One owl's voice was higher than the others' and my bird book said that the female's voice was the higher one. How interesting!

Starting at the east end, I plan to naturalize this fence row. It has been a dream of mine since I was little. Wouldn't it be lovely to walk through this area and see all kinds of wildflowers with butterflies and birds enjoying the blooms? In my previous post I listed the perennial species I plan to sow this spring. I think they will have an easy time of getting established. They'll have dappled sunlight from the sparse trees at the east end and the soil is ideal for plant growth. I certainly hope they do well at least!

Over the years, as trees have matured and the canopy has gradually risen, what was once a solid stand of trees has become sparse with large visible gaps between the trees. As a result I feel like I have less privacy from my cousin's farm at the end of the road. It is my goal to fill in the gaps with new trees. This spring, I am going to plant young trees inside the fence row to replace the trees that have either died naturally or been removed by us. The trees we've cut have been strategically removed to allow more light to penetrate the canopy, which in turn will give new plantings better light and less competition for soil nutrients. I plan to plant a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees including some stately Dawn Redwoods and Bald Cypress, which are fast growing deciduous conifers. Some Red Maples will go in because of their quick growth and some Forsythias will make for a colorful understory planting. While deciduous trees can provide a visual screen only when they have leaves, conifers can provide privacy (and windbreak benefits) year-round.

What's growing in the fence row right now? A large variety of native Ohio trees and understory shrubs. I walked through it last fall and collected the leaves and fruits (if found) of the trees and shrubs. There are plenty of Red Osier Dogwoods for understory growth as well as a few shorter trees, including one native crab apple tree. There are several American Elms, White and Green Ashes, Shagbark Hickories, Pin Oaks, Hackberry, Hawthorns, Mulberry, a gargantuan White Poplar and several large trees I haven't been able to identify yet. We have been working throughout fall and winter to eliminate the wild grape vines and poison ivy growing up the trees and have been able to remove a lot of it.

There are quite a few snags standing in the fence row that I adamantly refuse to remove because there are nest cavities in them. Screech Owls and Northern Flickers use the larger cavities which are excavated by our native woodpeckers. I have also been moving dead and rotten logs away from the foot path and leaving them on the sides. The decaying logs provide food and habitat for a myriad of fungi and insects. There is one very large snag with a cavity nest in it that has been designated as the screech owl area. I have placed dead logs around the base of the snag to allow smaller wildlife to use them as cover which in turn feeds the owls.

As we manage the fence row we are keeping our eye on the future. This special area is a connecting point between nature and us. I want to be able to walk through the fence row without tripping over logs or getting my eyes poked out by twigs, but I don't want it to be so manicured that it looks like a park and the birds are reluctant to nest in it. Finding the balance between the two worlds is not as challenging as one might think. It simply takes some common sense and research, as well as educating the next generation on effective land management so that our efforts will not go to waste when we are gone.

Burnin' Brush

After dinner tonight I took our Coleman camp lantern, a rake, a propane torch, gloves and a can of pop down to the south end of the windbreak. My goal was to burn all the accumulated branches and limbs from the drainage ditch at the east end of the fence row. It had been raining earlier in the day so the wood was good and wet.

On my way I startled two Cooper's hawks, one right after the other. They must have been out hunting for supper when my lantern spooked them. A few hours later a trio of Screech Owls discussed the evening hunt with each other. One sat in the orchard on an apple tree, the second was in Helle's woods and the third (oh joy!) had to be less than 30 feet from me. They whinnied and trilled to each other and the one in the apple orchard seemed especially excited about something or other. The one near me would answer with a loud descending whinnie. It's always a thrill to get to listen to them call to each other. I can only wonder what they must be saying! Listen!

After several attempts at getting a hot fire going I finally got fed up and did it right. Then it really took off and we were finally getting somewhere! You see, our cousin's boys had been allowed to play in our fence row and had cut trees willy-nilly to make "forts" which never came full circle but left quite a mess behind. Tonight I burned their attempt at a fort along with all the cut limbs they mutilated next to a snag that I'm leaving standing for the cavity nesters that might want to use it next spring.

The boys will not be allowed to hack up the trees in our fence row anymore, needless to say. I believe trees serve a purpose and entertaining young boys is not one of them. I have plans to naturalize the east end of the fence row to start with and will gradually work my way throughout the whole thing as time and money permit. I'm going to be planting 5 Dawn Redwoods there this spring along with 4 Forsythias and 2 Red Maples. I want to fill the end in with lush growth to block the view of my uncle's barn and silos at the other end of the road. When I was growing up you could never see through the fence row but now you can. Time to get in there and clean up the mess to make room for new growth. I plan to plant several varieties of shrubs as well to fill in the lower growth areas near the trees. I might also try to grow some native wildflowers for natural ground cover. I've always thought some foxgloves would look just lovely growing amongst the shrubs and trees.

The soil is good there so I could plant just about anything I wanted as long as it doesn't have to have full sun to thrive. And now that I can actually get in there I can start to prune out what I don't want and keep what I like. There are some nice Red Osier Dogwoods there and I like to have them as understory plants. I might take some of the neighbors' Jack In The Pulpits and transplant them to our fence row this spring. I'd like some at the house too.

So much to plan and think about and I'm enjoying it very much. I've never had such a large area to work with before so this is a real treat. And it's an ongoing gardening experience that won't ever end. The joy for me is planning it out then making it come to life. How very rewarding!

Nest Boxes

We've been building nest boxes and bird houses in our spare time using scraps of wood I find at work. We've come up with some very nice designs I must say. They're all shapes and sizes for the various songbirds and raptors we have here on our twelve acres. We hope to get to watch a pair of Screech Owls raise their young in the owl nest box to the left. We can see the box from the house so we won't have to intrude on their privacy to watch the nest.

It's mounted about 18 feet off the ground in a mature white pine tree. The broken branches around the box can be used as perches. It's recommended that an owl nest box be mounted beneath a branch.

My cousin across the road gave me two wooden duck/owl nest boxes along with this fiberglass model, which Jim mounted on a pole right at the edge of the pond. It remains to be seen what bird species will be interested in nesting in such a habitat. I've read the wood ducks raise their young in wooded areas then lead them to water after they hatch. Mallards nest on the ground in grass, so I doubt they'll want to use it. Perhaps owls will? As soon as I find out I'll be sure to write about it.

Autumn

It's my favorite time of year. The smell of the woods, the crunch of leaves underfoot and the endless pallette of colors satisfy my senses. I love to walk late at night when everyone is asleep and let the moon light my way. I can hear the screech owls and great horned owls calling to their mates as they hunt at night. They always make me smile.

The tractors are out late at night harvesting the corn and soybean fields. I love to watch them as they lumber over the fields like giant locusts eating their fill of grain. The harvest dislodges the rodents that have been living in the fields, sending them out into the open to fatten the raptors for a long, cold winter.

One of my favorite trees near the house is this Eastern Redbud. Its heart-shaped leaves turn a bright yellow in autumn before they fall. It's a small, shapely tree with an oriental flair to it--a real standout in the twelve acres of land it shares with a large variety of hardwoods and evergreens. Its nearly black bark contrasts beautifully with its autumn hue and the bright purple/pink flowers it puts on in spring.

Let Snags Stand

Screech owls use the abandoned nests of other cavity nesters (woodpeckers, flickers, etc) to raise their young. Owls, and many other raptors (birds of prey) will perch at the top of trees to scan the area for prey.

If you have dead trees on your property, please consider allowing them to remain so that owls, hawks and falcons can benefit from them.

There's so much reward in hearing a pair of great horned owls calling to each other or a family of screech owls whinnying at night. It's very satisfying to know that the dead trees we've left on our property may be providing a nest site for babies or a hunting platform for the adults.

Introduction

When I dropped Yahoo as my ISP they saw fit to delete my Yahoo! 360 blog. That's fine. I intended to delete it anyway. It had become something I didn't want and I felt obligated to write in order to keep my friends up to date. This blog will be a clean slate for me and not even my family will know about it--a relief really.

I bought the house I grew up in this August at the age of 38. Now I am not only a home owner but the owner of my childhood home. A strange position to be in, certainly one that most people don't get to experience. It's wonderful to be home again I must say. I never thought that working on my home could be so back-breaking yet so fulfilling.

I live in a ranch home that sits on 12 acres surrounded by trees and a kidney-shaped 1/4 acre pond stocked with game fish. My only neighbor is my cousin, Sandy. This is a wonderful place for my son, Derek, to grow up just as it was a wonderful place for me to grow up. This blog will chronicle my activities and experiences as time goes by here at my "new old" home that I share with my husband, Jim, and my stepson, Ian.

I love living in the country and living a simple life. The peace and quiet out here is priceless. I love being about to have complete privacy here on my property. City life just isn't for me, a country bumpkin.