update

Lately we've been having rain.

Lots of rain.

For everyone whose gardens or lawns are going totally wild:

I see you.

Most of this happened in one week:

 But! This week we had a forecast of three days in a row with only a minimal chance of rain - yesterday was the third day - and I've tried to make a bit of progress on the many seasonal tasks that are way behind schedule. Not just because of the weather. My Occasional Helper has been unavailable for many of his Tuesday/Thursday visits lately. This means that when he does come, the priority is just the heavy lifting that's piled up; not the seasonal tasks. I'm glad he gets here at all, of course, and he has often stepped up for an unforeseen or unusual task, even if not on his regular workdays, which I'm very, very grateful for. But my gosh, am I ever feeling this gardening season slipping away from me. It's already too late for some of my carefully planned projects, and I've reached a point in my life where "I'll have to get to that next year" doesn't sit well.

Oh well, all I can do is all I can do, and today I am planting beans before the rain that's expected this afternoon, so there's that!

Thank gods for the perennials planted over the years, like this amsonia. It grows naturally in a tidy clump which has helped it remain upright despite all the rain.

My spiderwort plants, which do not grow in a tidy clump but rather seem to fling themselves all over the garden, have been sadly flattened by repeated rainstorms, despite my efforts to prop them up. Yesterday I was thinking there might not be any spiderwort flowers this year, but then I happened upon this one, supported by surrounding tall stalks of tansy. I'll bet that tiny bee was relieved to find at least one flower where there are usually dozens:

And here's some of the "wild lettuce" which seems to weather anything, and also seems to grow a foot overnight. I'm taking it out near the gardens because each plant produces roughly 2 billion windborne seeds and it spreads like crazy. I'd never heard of letting goats eat this - and it's got a very sticky sap - but another goat person, my long-time blogpal Leigh, saves this plant to use as a component of her homegrown goat feed, so I'm going to try drying some this year. (Are you here, Leigh? Please check me on this!)

Celebration time: yesterday Moxie and I put up the little screentent again. Now there's a chaise that the biting bugs can not - for the most part - reach. Huzzah!

Since the return of rain is predicted, last night after chores I brought in everything I had dragged outside to air during the Three Magical Days of Dryness. Including all seven drawers from an old wooden dresser. Anything stored in that dresser always smells musty to me, no matter what I've tried. If anyone can suggest a way to get musty smells out of old wooden furniture, please, please share that knowledge! I don't have many storage options in the house, and I don't want to have to turn that dresser into a workshop tool box.

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ayran time is here again

We're back to hot and sunny again, after many days of rain, and the mosquitoes are elbowing the blackflies aside to get to the local blood supply a millisecond faster. I'm watching the water trough and the wilds basin closely for signs of wrigglers, because that's when I start emptying them completely and refilling every day instead of just topping them up if the remaining water looks clean.

Speaking of water and mosquitoes...have you ever tried the mosquito "dunks" designed to be placed in water to keep wrigglers from growing up? Supposedly harmless to every other lifeform? 

(Photograph from Chewy.com)

Here's the product info, condensed: 

For use in any standing water including rain barrels, bird baths, koi ponds, tree holes, stock tanks, planter reservoirs and rain gutters. Each dunk covers up to 100 square feet of water, regardless of depth for 30 days or more; for less water a portion can be used.

Deadly to mosquito larvae but harmless to other living things with the active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti). When females lay their eggs in water treated with the dunks, the larvae will hatch and eat the bacterium.

I bought a packet in hopes of reducing the mosquito population in the Pocket Paddock, which is adjacent to my tiny wetland. The goats can't browse there for more than very short periods of time, because the hordes of biting bugs are unbearable. Unfortunately, it's also the best mixed browse on my property - a variety of herbaceous plants and also shrubby stuff like bittersweet; the things goat love, and which are very good for them. I'd love to be able to put the herd down there for half-days, without having to first spray them with bug stuff which we all hate.

The plan is to place a "donut" at the upslope end of the little drainage into my puddle. Today would have been an excellent day to do that, but an innate resistance to tinkering with a biological system has kept me from going forward. This sort of thing has always been a tough decision for me, personally and professionally, in part because the "cons" of such tinkering are so often nebulous beforehand and sometimes downright regrettable in hindsight. So I would love to hear from anyone who has used this or a similar product, or anyone who can speak to the biochemical safety - or risk - of this approach.

Meanwhile, now that it's hot again I am back to shaking up a daily jug of ayran - just plain yogurt, water, and salt - to enjoy in the heat of the afternoon. Such a refreshing beverage! If you make your own yogurt, it's also a great way to use a batch that didn't thicken as much as expected. This year I may even be able to add fresh mint to the ayran, as I am trying again to grow a supply of mints, both from seeds (again) and also from gifted plants (again). Is it beyond belief that mints, which always come with a "Will Take Over" warning, have a hard time establishing here? Many years ago there was spearmint growing wild right next to the house, but that went the way of the hens and I've never managed to coax it into settlement anywhere else. Not giving up though!

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today

When I've posted my markmaking efforts over the years, often someone will mention in the comments that they would like to try - or get back to - watercolor or sketching or such. So when this crossed my screen it seemed like something that may be of interest. It's called the Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest, with free access from May 27th - June 9th to video workshops by over 100 artists.

sketchbook revival

I know there is an upgrade option for longer access than the two weeks, but personally I know that a 2-week free access window would make me much more likely to look for a workshop I'd like to see, and then actually watch it in hopes of finding a useful tip or inspiration.

Anyway, I thought it might be of interest to someone, so here it is. And it starts tomorrow, so I think today is the final day to register.

(And in case you are wondering with recent posts if I'm having camera issues at the moment...yes, very much so. But this post in particular seemed to need some sketching, so I looked in my photograph files and came up with this rough little video of a sketchbook from several years ago. It was, of course, an experiment, not meant for publication. But now? Send for the Understudy! It's time has come! I hope this works.)

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ai

There are so many aspects to Artificial Intelligence. 

Here's one you may not have heard.

Professor John Hopfield and Professor Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”

This is Hinton's banquet speech in Stockholm, 10 December 2024.

It's less than three minutes long.

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well sprung

Spring has lasted a long time this year. Possibly because so many things that were going on in April and May made time seem to stand still. Hazel's unexpected and rapid decline. Two drives halfway across the state that each meant several days of physical recovery to get back to baseline levels of pain and fatigue. A fostered rescue dog who was here for 10 very unfortunately goat-targeting days and 10 gruelingly sleep-fractured nights. And days of rain. Lots and lots of rain.

This year I waited so long to hear the first chirping of spring peepers during evening chores that I finally wondered if my increasing hearing loss meant I was simply unable to hear them: a thought that immediately led to scheduling a new hearing test. By the time the test rolled around - yesterday, in fact, and my hearing has indeed deteriorated further - the peepers were here and I had heard them, at least faintly, while walking the fosterdog at night.

The period of the annual leafing out of deciduous tree species felt delightfully long. It seemed as though a great many weeks passed between the first hints of color high up in the maple branches, and the pointillistic effect of entire mixed-species forests beginning to leaf out; one of my most treasured views each year.

But now the bloodroot flowers - which tell me that Winter is over - are just a memory, and the bloodroot leaves have grown into their remarkable sizes and shapes that seem just as fanciful and unlikely no matter how many times I see it happen. Jack-in-the-Pulpit has popped up in expected and unexpected places. The sugar maple leaves are still drooping a bit but are already far past the softest stage that always makes me think of the most delicate leather.

And two days ago we arrived at the point where looking out any window in my little house creates the feeling of being submerged in a wide sea of trees and green foliage. A bit like a kelp forest, but much brighter and more varied. I always look forward to this, even though it also means that the structural details of the forest canopy become largely invisible again until leaf fall, many months away. Something lost, something gained. Isn't that always the way? Maybe not always. Maybe just when we're lucky.

Now how are things in your neck of the woods?

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