Great Busy-ness Returns

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Not quite 8 PM and it is very dark out. It tried to rain all afternoon and got hotter and hotter but only a brief offering of small drops fell....kind of like my dad used to say, "Not enough to wet the dust." He said this a lot when we lived on Church Hill Road in Woodstock because in those days nothing was used for dust control and the house sat about 20 feet from a dirt road, originally no wider than an International Harvester tractor or a single Ford truck.

We have begun to increase the tempo here at Vermont Flower Farm. It is time to begin the move to the new property. Last weekend Gail and Michelle and I got about 20 crates of daylilies dug and cleaned up for replanting. As of tonight I have two left in the B's and then will start with the C's. This is a difficult task as I really don't know when to get started. I made Gail a nice Excel sheet of all our stock but my work was based upon my knowledge of what plants Gail has and where they are. As example, I thought the C's would start with Catherine Neal but tonight Gail reminds me that there is Carefree Peach and 2 rows of Cedar Waxwing waiting outside my office. They are all nice daylilies but the point is I only want to plant them once---and in the correct order.

I had made 24- 50 foot by 10 to 12 foot plots. Our original thought was to plant one huge clump and then a number of rows in front so customers could see what the plant looked like as a mature specimen and then we'd dig out a smaller plant to sell them. When you're crawling around on your hands and knees you can't get much closer to the reality of your thoughts. After I planted about 10 plants worth the way Gail and I had planned it, I could see this was a foolish idea. If the intent of new gardens was to cut down on labor, then why was I planting huge clumps in the direct path of the rototiller? At some point soon I'll go back and fix those rows but right now I'm on a roll and all the new rows are dress-right-dress and they look quite good.

I had put on over 200 yards of manure in these plots and did a super job rototilling with the new tractor. Except the edges of the higher-on-the-hill plots, the tilling is superb and the plants should be monsters. The edge is a different story as the perimeter is where the clay starts and stops and that will affect how well the plants close to the borders grow.

For each row I dig a trench a foot deep. I put in 10-10-10, a couple inches of maple leaf mold from last year, a couple inches of manure, and some lime. I mix this thoroughly and then begin lining out the daylilies, one name per row.

Last night I hitched up the new gas operated water pump. My idea of what was supposed to happen and Gail's were quite different. I figured I would plumb it up the way I understood, put oil and gas in the 5 hp Honda engine, fill the pump with water and pull the cord. I figured I'd see water come out the hose end and I'd be on my way to the next project.

Gail came down to visit abut 5:30-6 and seemed like the rest of the kids on their first day of school. She was so happy there was water that she couldn't believe it. I got what I expected and that was the end of the story. Gail grabbed the hose and watered previous plantings and worked her way down to where I was planting. She was just overwhelmed by the fact that water could come out of a river, up a steep bank and across an entire elevated field to new rows of plants. It was apparent that she didn't think I could figure this out but since this worked so well she was free with kind comments and thank yous.

Next year when we have electricity, I'll go to a bigger pump and a different location but right now this is just fine. If any of you have questions about how I picked the pump, ask away. For what I wanted and what I was prepared to pay. I'm quite happy. Right now, some sleep without interruption would be nice. Think I'll give it a try.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where it's a quiet and calm 65 degrees out and a "not too nice" 78 and humid inside.


Kind gardening thoughts,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Planting Daylilies

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Another Sunday and another week of summer has slipped away. Vermont summers are too short anyway but this one seems to be escaping because we have so many projects going on. A week from today Alex will be 15 years old. It seems like just yesterday that he and Gail came home from the hospital. It seems like centuries ago that we learned he was on the autism spectrum. Our gardening experiences and life experiences have changed a great deal in recent years and moving the gardens to Route 2 is another important part.

As I work on the new property, I continue to meet more and more people who just can't avoid the curiosity anymore. They have to stop and ask what's going on. These are people from all walks of life and not just local people but even folks on vacation in the area visiting their friends or staying at inns or bed and breakfasts. It always seems a little time consuming when I'm in the middle of a project but I've never had less than an enjoyable conversation and a nice smile at departure.

Yesterday I was standing on the ladder pulling the fence tight on the village side of the land. I almost fell off the ladder in surprise when a woman said "Nice fence, tell me about it." Route 2 was busy but she had one of those hybrid cars I think--the kind that are soundless in electric mode. When it was all over I recalled reading an article about how blind and visually impaired residents of New York City were complaining because they were crossing right in front of these cars because they couldn't hear them. I know exactly what they are saying as a neighbor has one and more than once I have almost turned around at the mailbox with a handful of mail to be run over by my own neighbor sliding in to retrieve his mail. Anyway, the woman had been watching my work since spring and was at odds with deer eating her garden. She wanted to know about the fence as it appeared to match her need to enjoy her gardens, not feed the deer.

Work is going well on Route 2 if a one man show is what you want to see. I still have about 20 yards of manure to spread, more gardens to rototill and some more fence to tighten but all in all we are very pleased with our progress. I have learned more than I thought about estimating job completion time and Thursday was a good example. I had purchased two 14 foot farm gates to install at the entry way from Route 2. We have to be able to close off the business when we aren't there and also prevent people from using the front of the entrance as a turn around which wouldn't be safe or legal. I also bought a couple 6 X6 X 8 foot timbers and screwed on a pressure treated plank on the interior sides for more support.

I figured I could have the job finished by about 1 PM. That meant measuring out the distances, centering the proposed gates, digging the holes, leveling the timbers and then pouring 4 bags of cement in each hole. For a variety of reasons I never thought of, the job finished up about the time the last local folks drove by after leaving work in Barre Montpelier. It was a long day. Projects are often like that but if they are done correctly, the dividend is there for time to come.

Gail and I have had long discussions about how and what to plant. Daylilies has been a big topic. We have well over 400 varieties but last night we narrowed the list down to a little over 300 varieties that we will move. We have ruled out those that don't sell knowing that how we will display and sell them at the new property may sell more or less of certain varieties. Our plan is to display a large, mature clump and then line out the plants that are for sale behind the display plant. Here on the hill we have always sold daylilies in gallon pots but we're going to grow them in the field under 24 hour drip irrigation. That means the whole concept changes. The purpose is to grow a larger plant while saving the cost of pots, soilless mix and labor. Olallies in South Newfane Vermont and many other big daylily nurseries do it this way and we'll try too. At the same time, all the daylilies will be in bloom longer and the display plants in close proximity to those for sale will show what the person is likely to have in their garden in a couple-three years.

I have started to prepare a 10 foot wide garden around the entire perimeter of the land. This will be a big garden and is a lot of work. In the roadside, western corner of the land, a three foot culvert crosses Route 2 and drops lots of water on the adjacent property at different times of the year. Some of the water leaches underground to ours and that corner is often damp. It will be an excellent place for all the bee balms, Siberian and Japanese irises and the water loving plants such as the ligularias and rodgersias.

The monardas are not Gail's favorites and she'll tell you that. She has been persistent that if we don't sell it, it shouldn't be on display at our new location. In contrast, I like plants which people don't have an opportunity to see around here. I think plants that are grown well, look a lot better than a catalog picture so why not do a little to show folks what else is out there. After many discussions, Gail has agreed to large (and I mean large) swathes of monardas in the lower corner to bring attention to the project. I'm happy she changed her thinking because many gardeners are looking for a plant to cover an unsightly area and bring color, bees and butterflies at the same time. I think you'll enjoy it too so keep an eye on that corner.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where last night's low was 41 degrees and today's high will only be in the mid sixties. Just the same the colors prevail and warm summer days will return soon. Daylily Days continue at VFF so stop by and see some great color and save $2 on any daylily and $1 on any hosta. Gail has specials squirreled away here and there and if you don't stop by you'll never know what bargains she has.

With August garden greetings, enjoy today!

George Africa
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com
http://vermontflowerfarm.com

Business Progress on Route 2

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Yesterday afternoon I was here at Vermont Flower Farm giving Gail a break from customer duties and shipping packages. She headed down to Marshfield Inn and Motel to see Tracy and Diana and see how last fall's planting of daylilies was maturing. She hadn't been gone long and a car drove in I wasn't familiar with. Two ladies got out and one looked at me and said "You must be George." It was more definitive than questioning and I almost wondered if I had gotten myself in trouble along the line and didn't remember.

"I'm glad to see that you are looking well.", one lady said. "I was worried about you." Now I have to say that it's nice to know that people care about you but for the life of me I couldn't figure out who this woman was. Then she explained. "We've never been here before, but we both read your two blogs and Vermont Gardens has been motionless for almost a month. The Vermont Gardener has been slow too and we wondered if you were ill or something happened."

I was immediately relieved to know that a blogless month had caused the concern and that I really hadn't done anything wrong save for forget to keep my readership posted on garden life in Marshfield. I apologized for the hiatus and emphasized there would be no promises for improvement as we were really entering a very busy time for us, not a gradual end to the summer business like most nurseries. The ladies laughed and said they figured as much but they do so enjoy reading what I write and miss it when I get out of sequence. We talked flowers for some time and then I gave them an orientation to the gardens. They finished their tour and shopping just before Gail returned, promising to return soon and volunteering that they would help with the move to Route 2 if it was not such a long way to the ground anymore. With that we all laughed and departed company, knowing for certain that we would meet again.


During the past month I have worked diligently here and at the new property. Michelle's friend Mark has been helping with the fence and as of yesterday all the 4X4X10 foot pressure treated posts were cemented in the ground, Alex's mandatory "Please give me a door to the river" gate has been framed and cemented in, and 1320 feet of fence has been hung, with 990 feet of it secured to the posts.


Hanging 7.5 foot fence the entire perimeter of a +4 acre parcel of land is no easy task, especially for one set of hands. I was really happy to have Mark say he could help and happier still that he didn't complain about lugging and mixing the two 80 pound bags of cement that went into every post hole. The posts are placed every 30 feet so this was no easy task and amounted to moving tons of material.

The Route 2 part of the job on the village side was the most difficult task because the holes had to be hand dug through stone laden road fill, thick grass and tree roots. To top it off this was on a hillside that at times would have made a billy goat replant its feet. Then there was the poison ivy along the Winooski River and the variety of weeds along the way which invited sneezes and itchy eyes. In one more day, this job will be finished, and I'm really thankful for that!!

The entry gate from Route 2 is left to install and I am still pondering the best approach. I have been watching travelers as they turn into the drive to reverse direction. There haven't been any accidents yet but just watching the antics makes me remind would-be business people to consider road access long before you decide to buy a piece of property for your new endeavor. In our case the Agency of Transportation was involved in picking the access road. This is mandatory in Vermont but would have been my choice anyway. The engineers choice and mine were the same. A speed limit sign that reads 50 mph doesn't necessarily mean people will slow down or use caution when they see vehicles turning. The ease with which cars can turn into your business and exit it has a lot to do with how successful you will be. I may ask the Transportation folks for a safety sign for traffic coming from the east so people understand traffic will be slowing at the crest of the hill for left hand turns.

Besides the fence I have been using the New Holland tractor to move large quantities of manure from a pile to the new flower beds. This is a giant pile of manure brought by large trucks from a popular and well known East Montpelier dairy farm. Since last fall the price went up 20% and I am really irritated by the gouging. Fuel certainly rose since last fall but 20% is a bit much by my book. They have the market cornered and they obviously know it too. I'll find a new supplier as soon as I can and I'll post the availability. Fall is a good time to obtain a pile of manure for next spring's planting.

Tomorrow I'll rototill everything a couple times, and then begin trucking compost I have at the flower farm. Within a couple weeks things should be ready to plant. We have some good planters lined up but how many thousand plants we can deal with before the soil temperature cools too much is yet another question. We'll keep you posted.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where August sunshine encourages kind thoughts and happy smiles.


George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Deer Fence

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Already past 8:30 PM and the sun is down and there is a red hue over Peacham Pond. The forecast for the balance of the week is not encouraging but work goes on at the new property....so much so that this blog as well as The Vermont Gardener both suffer.

Although I have been trying to purchase 10 foot metal t-stakes from the new Tractor Supply on the Barre-Montpelier Road, I have to say they are an interesting bunch learning their new duties with a curious attitude. They haven't gotten to the lesson plan on customer relations and follow through and as of today can't tell me if and when my order from the end of June will ever arrive. In my mind I have set the bench mark of this Friday. No stakes, goodbye Tractor Supply.

Years ago while studying the restaurant business I learned that an unhappy customer tells at least 10 people of his problem. A customer who had a bad experience but received some kind of satisfaction from the offending party was said to only complain to 4 people. With those kind of ratios, people were taught to avoid things that caused problems but if problems occured, seek quick resolution for obvious reasons. I have never forgotten that lesson. The Internet has obviously changed these figures but the lesson should remain firm with any business person.

I purchased 30 pressure treated 4X4X10's and Michelle's friend Mark was available for two days and we got 660 feet of fence up. There's still cement to pour in places for added strength and some wires to tighten and staples to add but the part that benefits from another helper is underway. We have mapped out the balance of the Route 2 fence and I have finally figured out how to deal with the Winooski River boundary.

Folks keep asking what is deer fence so I figured I better explain via a couple pictures. This is plastic extruded fence available wholesale from a Connecticut company for about $175 a 330 foot roll plus shipping. It's also available retail from a number of suppliers who promote themselves as deer specialists.

The rolls are about 7.5 feet tall and are manufactured by a company in Israel. I am sure it's not used for deer fence there but I'm not up on Israel's agriculture and economy. A lot of US growers protect their fields, vineyards and orchards using this fence and it has a good record with deer control if properly installed. That means that the bottom has to be secured tightly to the ground and the top really needs another top wire at about 8.5 feet as deer are jumpers that make Santa proud.

If you are interested in pursuing any agricultural endeavor where deer are a potential problem, don't call the Vermont Fish and Game people for assistance. They listen well but are very clear that the deer are your problem. You are permitted to make a complaint of deer damage, call in the local warden and gain permission to do some deer disposal if you are of that persuasion. I don't know if you can use a hired gun or archer and I don't know how many you could take before someone would complain. I guess until the deer stop bothering your crops. Make sense?

I recall one time there was a very hard working man who took over twenty at a Shelburne, Vermont orchard and it didn't set all that well with the local people. My theory is that if a business was a real business, not a hobby, and if the state paid to have fence properly installed, then the taxes that business would pay the state the very first year would more than pay for the fence. Vermont isn't too good with how it handles small business and with fence you not only buy it yourself, you pay sales tax on it to protect your investment from the deer the State controls by law. I'll always remember hearing the male employee laughing in the background when I called to the government deer folks to try to get some help. Made me feel like new business was really wanted in Vermont.

Anyway we have two of seven rolls pretty much up and wish there was a way to levitate the other 5 into place. Once this is up, we'll check for tracks and probably start planting. Just the thought gets me tired!



From the mountain above Peacham Pond where a barred owl continues to call for company while the outside temperature reads 62.7.

Many thanks to people I don't even know who honk encouragement as they pass by the new project!

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

6 Feet and Rising

Thursday, July 12, 2007

A beautiful day today but not so beautiful yesterday or even this morning. The rains have been falling for several days and last night around 4 PM the skies opened. At a little after 5 PM I put a water glass on the outside railing and at 6 PM, some 50 minutes later, the glass had well over 1.5" in it. Now understand me, this is no expert metering device but it helped confirm the +6" of water in all the 5 gallon watering buckets this morning.

I've had a bad time in my life with water. There's either been too much or too little. When we moved to Vermont in '52 my dad forgot to tell us there was no running water at the house. That took him 3 years to remedy. Once in Shelburne I came home from work and opened the cellar door to find a swimming pool lapping at the top step. The hot water heater had sprung a very big leak. Then back in the early 80's I was asked to help with a FEMA family relief program after several counties were ravaged by a flood. Since then when it rains heavily, I wake up and listen for the phone to ring with someone asking for help. The phone didn't ring last night, but I still layed there thinking it would. Conditioning is an interesting thing.

By daybreak I could wait no longer and I got in the truck with a fresh coffee and headed for our property to check things out. Karl the wonder dog does not like rain and he buried himself in the quilts on the couch and wished me farewell.

I had left the tractor parked on high ground but "high" can quickly become "low" in terms of floods. It was a 100% humid and foggy morning and the rivers along the way already looked as if they were receding. There was instant relief when I reached the property. The Winooski River had not breached any of the banks and the tractor and implements stood tall on the high ground. I drove down to the front corner near the river and looked both ways. The water had risen more than 8 feet but it appeared to be leveling off. I don't know when the rain stopped but typically the water rises for some time after the rains cease and then the flow catches up with itself and recedes.

The grass squished as I walked along and it was clear that we were now a week away before we could work the land again. The 24-50'X12' plots I had repeatedly rototilled looked very clean and neat and the new grass looked more like uncut lawn that the hayfield it was a couple months ago. Progress is slow and interruptions such as this rain storm will delay our planting a bit.

I returned home and prepared for a trip up north. I expected to see places where the storm's influence had messed things up and I was not disappointed. Farming is difficult work and the best of days are often followed by troublesome times.

During the next few days I'll be installing the deer fence around the perimeter. I bought a gas operated earth auger and will use the pressure treated 4" X 4" X10 ' s. I need a gate by the river and another one half way up the river side; then there are the double wide 12 foot gates on Route 2. I have offers to help with the installation so for a few bucks and a lot of sweat, I can get the fence up and then monitor the land for a couple weeks for deer and bear infiltration before the planting begins.

It feels like I have been working on this land forever. Today in the mail was the first tax announcement. The Town Clerk called yesterday to report that someone had forgotten to send our bill out so we had two weeks to appeal the decision of the appraisers. This is something to keep in mind when you buy a piece of land for a business. We paid $49,900 for the land, cleaned up a major amount of brush and dead trees and added a $4600 entrance road. The appraisers listed it at $32,000. Without additional information, I don't know how this figure was arrived at. I'll catch up with one of the clerks later this week but I think the decision is fine where it stands.

If you are en route to the Groton State Forest or want to stop by at Vermont Flower Farm, take a quick look at our property and you'll begin to visualize the new gardens. They will be special. If you get to Peacham Pond Road, you'll notice that the hostas are glorious with all the rain and the hundreds upon hundreds of daylilies are bursting open in abundant color. Liliums, especially the martagons, Asiatics, and LA hybrids are in bloom in the gardens and in the pots and they will catch your attention. If they don't a few short Oriental lilies probably will. And if you want to see a neat plant, look at the cimicifugas, renamed actea. We have Atropurpurea, Pink Spike, Hillside Black Beauty and a couple more. I'm tired and am blanking on the names but the beautiful foliage remains clear in my mind. Once you see them, you'll want to give them a try. Need other recommendations? Give Gail a call or send her an email lilies@hughes.net She loves to garden and she likes helping other gardeners too!

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where a large willow, now prostrate, floats limbs and leaves in Fr. Lively's pond waiting for me to fire up the chain saw and clean up the mess. But that will have to wait for another day.....

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Garden Tilling

Sunday, July 1, 2007

The day is about over for me but I wanted to share a picture of the new property as it looked this afternoon. I started the day at a warm 44 degrees and right now at 9:15 PM it's an even 50 degrees. My face is still burning from the wind which blew most of the day as I rode around on the tractor.

I started mowing last night and got going early this morining to finish the mowing and begin rototilling. My goal was to spread manure over all the sections I have rototilled. Although I was interrupted a few times, the goal was accomplished.

We call this weekend Hosta Days at Vermont Flower Farm. Gail figures out a hosta to give away with certain level of purchase and she makes her blueberry coffee cake and a couple other delectibles and hopes for a good crowd. Michelle was here to help both days so I was able to get down to the new property in between times....and a great crowd did appear!

Hosta Days should have started last week but we just have too much going on. I put up a road sign on Route 2 and between that and about $400 in newspaper ads we had quite a group of visitors. The rewarding part was that many returned from last year but even more were newcomers this year. Everyone took home hostas and at the end, Gail and I said how inpressed we were that people came with lists from our website and went home with very complimentary choices.

Gardeners used to be afraid of mixing a lot of yellow in their garden--probably because some neophyte garden writer mentioned that yellow flowers suggests flowers about to expire. The plant industry dealt that concept a serious blow and has been producing yellows for several years now.

The hosta world has plenty of yellows. It used to be said that a new hosta collector started with yellows but I doubt that's true any more. There are some beautiful yellows out there but they comprise only a small portion of the +4000 hostas available. I personally think that many of the best hosta in the world are still in people's back gardens....... hybridizing successes that haven't made it to the front of the house yet.

Although hundreds of hostas left here for three days in a row, there are thousands left if you are interested. If you have any questions, give Gail a call at 802-426-3505 and she'll provide an update on availability and have suggestions for alternatives if we have sold out of something special. If you haven't been by in a few years, you'll be surprised. One couple mentioned they got to the lower garden today and thought they were in a different nursery. They couldn't believe what had happened in three years. Some days we can't believe it either.

Writing from my office on the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl the wonder dog is snoring and dreaming at the same time and quiet suggests I might try the same.

Happy gardening!

George Africa
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Preparing The Soil

Thursday, June 28, 2007

An even 70 degrees here today after two days in the low nineties. There were a few rain drops last night after a noisy thunderstorm that brought much fanfare but little rain. The air is heavy now and the feeling of rain is obvious.

Work at the Route 2 site is finally progressing. Michelle is able to be here and help Gail more and I am able to get away every night. The new tractor is excellent and I am so happy that I listened to my instinct, not my landscape friends, and bought the size I did. A 30 hp engine is fine for what I need and I am getting an hour and a half of work time per gallon of diesel. I don't know if this is good or not but running the PTO at high speeds has to affect the cost and I'm ok with it .
I have mowed the entire five acres twice and will go for number three this weekend. I have all the calcium sulphate spread and have tilled 12-50 foot sections three times each. I have 20 sections to go plus the 200 foot display garden section in the front. Progress is slow but obvious and just seeing where I have come makes me smile.

Today I am here on the hill. Michelle and Winnie will be helping me as Gail is in Burlington all day at an autism conference. Alex will have a friend over for the day so I have a number of directions to go in. We received a very nice daylily order yesterday from Northern Grown Perennials in Wisconsin and Michelle will get going on those shortly. They'll be potted for now and then transplanted to the new site in a month.

The shipment of deer fence arrives tomorrow and 2200 feet of fence will take a while to get up. I have yet to decide on the posts but think I'll go with a mix of 4X4X10's and some 10 foot T-bar heavy duty posts. That decision has to be made today.

The last thing to move this fall will be the peonies. We have a nice collection in excess of 135-50 types and have over 200 plants which will be moved. My intent is to have display gardens around the entire 5 acre perimeter with a walking trail parallel to the fence. This is an ambitious undertaking and will take years to bring along but it will be worth every minute of prep time.

If you enjoy peonies, get here to Vermont Flower Farm this weekend as the heavy rains and hot days are cutting the bloom time. We have peonies scattered about but if you do come, don't forget to walk through the lower hosta garden and into the field to see the peony display down there. P. 'White Wings', one of my favorites, are in bloom now. The yellow peony pictured directly above is a tree peony and that's a story for another day. If you can't get out to see us at Vermont Flower Farm, go to our website and stroll through the garden pictures we offer on the various Virtual Garden Tours. Chances are you will find something that you will want to add to your own garden.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the low pressures of the morning have slowed man, bird and beast to a significant quietness. This weekend is Hosta Days so stop by for some of Gail's world famous blueberry coffee cake and tour with us. Come early as when the cake is, gone, it's gone for the day.

Great gardening wishes,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Iris Bloom in Vermont

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I was out the door and onto the tractor by 4:20 this morning, heading for a day of work at our new site. The morning was a chilly 42 degrees and I layered two coats and a sweatshirt before embarking on the five mile ride. Last night's rain must have encouraged the critters to sleep in this morning as I didn't see anything on the ride down. It's downhill most of the way but still takes more than half an hour. I leave early so I can avoid traffic and just after I pulled off Route 2 this morning, a stream of tractor trailers headed west.



Gail picked me up at 6:40 after I had mowed the first quarter of the property. This is the second mowing and I think by the third it will begin to look like lawn instead of hayfield. There will be a ten foot by 200 foot display garden at the entrance and then 32 plots 50 feet long for the daylilies. I don't know how things will work out today because there is so much to do. It will take about 5 hours to mow the rest of the field as there is one piece I have never done before and it's thick with grass. Then I break out the new Wood's 5 foot power tiller and drive around in circles for a couple more hours. There there's more lime and manure to spread before tilling everything all over again. We have a group coming at 9 for a tour and then I have to pack the truck and head back for the balance of the day. Tomorrow will be shorter still as I have a project with the Friends of the Winooski River going on.

As I drove in circles this morning I remembered what I forgot and that was to tell people to go visit Phil Cook at Poker Hill Gardens in Underhill. Phil has a masterful collection of plants and he is espcially fond of all varieties of iris. He has dwarfs and tall bearded and Japanese and Siberians and of course species. He also has quite a collection of epimediums and an interesting assortment of perennials you might not find elsewhere. This weekend would not be a great time to visit as he has the American Iris Society there but other times are fine and he is a very knowledgeable gardener and a great person. He also can make one heck of a chicken pot pie which I heard followed his mother's farm days recipe. E-mail Phil at phgarden@together.net and arrange a good time.

It's not warming up too much here but I have to get going anyway. Alex is leaving for the day and night and we will have lots of customers here by 9. Michelle will be with us all day to help with customers and I expect hosta sales will be very good. If you haven't beeen by 256 Peacham Pond Road, Marshfield, you better stop by and see one of Vermont's nicest hosta collections! I'm biased but have to say it does look fine this year.

Have to go!
Good gardening wishes;
George Africa

http:thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Planning Continues

Sunday, June 10, 2007

It was a busy weekend both at Vermont Flower Farm and at the future VFF. Despite all the activities that people are involved in at the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, visitors were many and sales were good. The show of flowers has started and the display will continue on into September. With every blooming flower, I ask myself if I have worked it into the plan for our new gardens on Route 2. More often than not I find myself reaching for my notebook to scribble some more reminders about height and color and bloom time. Recreating gardens that have been here on Peacham Pond Road since 1989 will take some thought.

Yesterday I drove the new tractor the five miles to the new property. A well planned business would have incorporated a trailer in the purchase to make this easier but I knew we could only spend certain allocations once so I postponed the trailer purchase until fall. Riding the tractor on the highway at 4:30-5 in the morning is a different experience. Riding it back home today was a slightly longer experience as it is all uphill. The sight of a mature cow moose half way up the big hill broke up the chug, chug, chug of the diesel engine and added to the tale at the end of the trip.

I had already tried to find a farmer who was interested in cutting the five acres of hay but to no avail. The cost of fuel has discouraged farmers from traveling as far as they used to. I received thank yous from those I asked and they wanted to be sure to impress me that it was an economics thing. They knew the hay crop was recently seeded and over the past couple years the timothy and mixed clovers had grown well. Just the same, fuel is expensive and five acres is a small parcel to a farmer.



I slid the new tractor into low range and reved up the power take off to the prescribed speed. The mower worked like a charm and only needed to be raised a bit when covering expanses of rushes along the wet areas by the road. 7 hours later, interupted by one trip home and a sandwich for lunch and the acreage was mowed. I happy with the tractor and it performed better than I expected. If the rototiller works equally as well, I will know without reservation that I made a sound purchase.

If you drive by our new Route 2 location and see me out working, stop by if you have a minute and I'll point out what we have planned. I applied gypsum, a calcium sulphate mix, to the garden plots today and took measurements for the fencing and entry gates. There is a lot to do before we start planting because I want to be sure we have good control of the land, both from critters and curious visitors with two legs. I was asked the other day what new crops we'll plant. I replied that we will stick with exactly those flowers which have made Vermont Flower Farm what it is today. If time permits and interest prevails, we might expand our line but until we have made the move and tested what has worked here, only the location will change next year.

One thing that has not changed is time--there's just not enough of it. If you check this blog or The Vermont Gardener and I haven't written in a few days, bear with me. Summer is short in Vermont and a new business requires extra hours and lots of work. The end result will surely be something you'll remember.


Evening wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a barred owl hoots it's evening call and its only answer is apparently the response that hoots through my mind.

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Weekend Walks:The Planning Continues

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Sunday morning I planned to go for a drive to a favorite spot and take some pictures of Trillium undulatum. I don't have a good picture of that one yet, mostly it seems because the days I earmark for this event are raining and I'm always rushed. I figured then I would make a swing downtown, grab a paper and then visit the new land for a quick walk. Back at Vermont Flower Farm I have been working every day in the lower hosta garden and there's still a week's work left before it is close to passing muster. No time yet for the new endeavor on Route 2.

People keep asking when we're going to just do something visible with the new land but they fail to understand that we have the first business to operate and I go to a full time job five long days each week. Pretty much I am still planning things, asking advice and drawing lots of sketches. My thought is that when I start to cut into the earth with shovel or plow, there's no easy way to put things back together if I don't like the first work. Planning doesn't cost anything and it should be part of any new business. All too often I encounter people who want desperately to be in business without so much as a plan. Those folks are often doomed from the start because they don't know what things cost or what they really need.

Everything Gail and I have done over the years has been without a big loan because we have planned our business purchases first and made them when we had the money to do so. We have gone without some things for ourselves but the business is healthier for it and we can't say that we've been disappointed in how we have lived. Walking the land or taking a break and walking in the woods on a quiet morning are my way of planning for the future. The peacefulness of being outside generates some strong ideas to bounce off Gail and Alex and others that we know who garden.

As I walked Sunday morning, I noticed how very dry the woods were. The trilliums I wanted to photograph showed the signs of drought and the flowers were already faded and shrinking. I was disappointed but there was no immediate recourse. I knew a couple other places that were fairly well hidden from sun and wind and I figured I'd give them a try on Monday or Tuesday.

A big pileated woodpecker approached, see-sawing in flight to a dying sugar maple. The bird caused me to stop abruptly and lean against a tree to watch. It was a beautiful bird, intent on rapping deeper into a hole it had previously started. I don't know how long I watched but it seemed longer than it probably was. When I caught myself in time, I happened to look down and there on the ground was a white flower I had not seen before. Ever. I knelt down on the woods floor, carefully moving some fallen maple branches to make myself comfortable.

This was a beautiful little flower barely three inches tall with white flowers the size of the tip of my pinkie finger. Like meeting a new friend, I wanted to learn it's name but had not so much as a guess to start with. I was amazed that for a lifetime of walks in the woods, I had never seen this flower before.

I got so carried away with my walk that I had to forget a visit to the new land as work beckoned and those two cups of coffee didn't quite make a breakfast. I kept wondering if the pictures came out at all as the little pocket camera I carry is difficult for me to focus. I went straight to the computer and then grabbed Kate Carter's Wildflowers of Vermont. The book hasn't disappointed me yet and Sunday was no different.

The flower was Panax trifolius. Kate says it's a smaller version of Panax quinquefolium. My prize was a Dwarf Ginseng and I was so pleased to have seen it. I returned to the general area yesterday with a better camera. I am usually very good about relocating things in the woods but yesterday, after the preceding night's heavy rains, the aging flowers of Panax trifolius were no where to be found. I traced back and forth until a chipmunk chastised me for interrupting the wood's quiet and with that I went home. I marked my computer log with a reminder to begin looking for these flowers next year around May 20th contingent upon the weather. I hope I can get a better picture next time. Until then, it's a nice memory.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the various frogs are signing an unknown song which stops on occasion when the neighboring raccoons stroll through the valley along the vernal spring. I prefer the song, not the interruptions.

Good gardening!

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Buying a Tractor

Sunday, May 27, 2007

A quiet morning at Vermont Flower Farm. Almost an even 30 degrees colder than yesterday at this same time with a hint of sunrise in the making. There's a chance of rain today and the air feels like that may well happen. Karl the wonder dog and I have already been on our morning walk and my list of things that need to happen today is longer than I want it to be. Yesterday I promised to talk about tractors and at very least I want to follow up on that.

As Gail and I committed to buying a new piece of land and moving our business to a highway with more visibility and traffic, we knew we would need to purchase a tractor. For the past years we have survived with two rototillers, and old John Deere B tractor with plow and brush hog and the help of a local contractor who has used his equipment to do what we couldn't. The new land is 5 acres of meadow right now and just mowing the grass to maintain a nice look was destined to wear out the riding mower we use here. Tractor shopping was in order.

One of my experienced gardening friends advised me only to buy a used tractor. She said that no gardening business can afford the prices that new tractors cost and to openly think about "used". Her old tractor is a dependable piece but she bought it many years ago when farmers were everywhere and turnover in equipment put some good products up for sale. I don't want to say you can't find a good used piece, but there are other considerations to buying a used tractor.

Tractors are not quite like cars and trucks when they need service. You don't drive a tractor to a repair shop and say "Change the oil please". In Vermont you can drive a tractor on a state road but if the trip is longer than going from adjacent pieces of land you personally own, the tractor has to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles and it has to wear a license plate. Lacking that formal permission, you need a trailer to move the piece around. Trailers become another story and another $3000.

The other issue for me was service. I know nothing about diesel engines and beyond changing fluids and filters, there's not much I can do. A used purchase meant the possibility of more repairs over time and right now I need every spare minute I can get so a piece that might be down for repairs was not on my list.

As I began my search for tractors I spent a lot of time on the Internet. Tractors come in all colors and the most common are green, orange, blue, yellow and white. Brand names include John Deere, International, White, Kubota and New Holland but there are a lot of newer ones out there with names you might not have heard of before. There are tractors from Russia, India, and Korea that I know of but personally I was more interested in something that had been around long enough that I could get parts if I needed any.

New tractors come with about the same warranty so the issue becomes size in horse power, attachments you need and most importantly, the reputation of the dealer and his service. When I buy major purchases I always ask myself to size up the salesman and settle on a person I think is trustworthy. A family business person is the best by far because they have usually been around for a while and they don't hide when you have a problem.

I found a great tractor that was a 2004 model year and only had 98 hours on it. Tractors, if you don't know, are like all heavy equipment, any diesel engine, many modern day cars and most exercise bikes. They all have an hour meter that tells how long the engine has been operating. This was a great looking tractor that looked like the mower had been run over the same rock a couple times but it was in great shape and had a written service log showing how it had been cared for. It was $3400 cheaper than a new model of the same thing.

When looking at used equipment, think about how you're going to pay for the purchase. In our case there was no choice. It's early season here and we have thousands of bucks hanging out there waiting for plants to grow and sales to be made. Buying in September would be a lot better than now so a down payment and a financing plan was important. As I looked at interest rates for used equipment and did the math, I found that if I paid off the purchase in three years, I'd almost spend enough on interest to buy a new tractor instead of used. I'd also get a warranty which I wouldn't with a three year old model. Tractor dealers have been offering no interest loans for 3-4-5 years and with these sales coming to a close the end of May, the decision became less of a decision and more of a "Let's get on with it" affair.

Our final decision was a 30 horse power New Holland tractor with front loader, rototiller and rear mounted mower. We made the purchase from L. W. Greenwoods in East Randolph. The place has been in business since 1929 and is a family business which is what we wanted. It's a company that has had to change like many of us because the +12,000 farmers that farmed in Vermont after WW II is down to 1000. More sales are now made to contractors, small business owners like Gail and me, and homeowners and hobby people.

The tractor will be delivered next week. We need a trailer to get it back and forth from our current location but for this year I'll hire someone to make a few moves. The brush hog from the old John Deere will fit and we'll be up and running next week. This is a no-nonsense work tractor without a bunch of bells and whistles and space age styling. It has 26 horse power transmitted to the power take off (PTO) and that's more than enough to grind clay soil with the tiller and turn the brush hog as it cleans up my woods roads out back. It will handle the brush chipper I want to buy next year and it will suffice to skid out some logs on the mountain here. It's not big but it will work well. About all I need now is a couple fuel containers and tools for the tool box.

If you're thinking about a tractor, there isn't a better time than today to get on with the purchase. I laugh when I see people with two acres of land and a giant tractor going in circles but disposable wealth does interesting things. For us and most farmers there's limited income and certainly no wealth but we enjoy what we are doing and we like to see people smile along the way. To that end, a new tractor will help us make the journey a little less physical and a lot better looking.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where today's chores include fertilizing each hosta in the display garden and making signs for 200 new products. Rain or shine, today is a good day to get out with the family and maybe visit a nursery or two. All farmers help make Vermont a better place!

Good gardening thoughts,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Buying a Tractor

Saturday, May 26, 2007

The sun is rising quickly at Vermont Flower Farm and on the east side of the house the thermometer has climbed to 91.4 It has the makings of a very hot day. I have been remiss in not keeping this blog up to date. Gardening at two locations and working full time has become a bit much.

I just updated The Vermont Gardener so please take a look there until I can get back here tonight. I spent some of the week figuring out which tractor to buy and I've pretty much got this settled. Some of you might be in the same position and I should have some helpful thoughts later today.

Next week we start some major work on this new land with brush hogging, grass mowing, and rototilling. I have organic material by the ton to add to the new gardens and an assortment of other important things going on. The excitement of a new endeavor weakens by 8 each night but rejuvenates with the next day's rising sun.....until I remind myself that I have to encircle the entire property in fence.

Got to get going here. Stop by 256 Peacham Pond Road here in Marshfield and check out the beautiful epimediums and the bountiful trollius preparing to open their buttercup flowers this week. The lower hosta and shade garden is very special right now and on a hot day like today it's a good place to stop for a vsit and cool off.

Hope to see you soon!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where members of the Vermont Audubon Society are busy in our woods scouting birds, their nests and their songs.

George Africa
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com
http://vermontflowerfarm.com

Wild Flower Walk

Saturday, May 12, 2007

A bright and beautiful day today. A step outside is an immediate reminder that we were spoiled during the past week. Our thermometer reads 35.1 and there is frost on the truck windshield and on the lawn. 50 degrees is a nice temperature to wake up to.

The birds are busy this morning. I can hear loons on Peacham Pond and the tiny ruby throat hummingbirds which returned here four days ago are busy at the feeders and at the flowers. They especially like the pulmonarias and primroses but they compete with the bumble bees for any flower that's open.



As I walked down the back path, the maple leaves are obvious today despite the lack of rain and even the wild leeks (above) look a little lethargic. There is no doubt that a fire hazard exists and I sure hope no one decides it's time to burn anything. There's something about older folks who apparently included burning leaves, brush or fields in their youth that makes them want to throw away common sense and spark a match someplace. This is the wrong year to even think about what really isn't a good idea to begin with.

The luxuriant variety of bleeding hearts are blooming now. These are the small, fine leafed varieties which spread by seeds and rhizomes and cover quite an area in a couple years. The whites and pale red have just started to bloom and these will entertain us most of the summer. The notable bleed hearts along our fence are up about 6 inches. This time of year they grow by inches per day. I keep saying I'll buy some of the yellow/golden foliage types but still haven't.

The hepaticas are still in bloom and both Trillium erectum and Trillium grandiflorum are out. Trillium luteum, a yellow trillium with mottled leaves are up about 4 inches but some way from bloom. They aren't native to Vermont but Gail knows I like them and she bought me a dozen a couple years back. Our last native trillium, the undulatum, with it's pink fringed edge, will be some time in coming into bloom. Last summer I received a fifth variety from a southern construction site rescue but damned if the US Priority Mail failed and they were cooked before they arrived. I hoped for a bit of life from just one but luck is not always kind.

Today will be a busy day for us as we finish up the planting and then start cleaning up the yard. The final task will be getting the signs out on each plant selection and then raking the place clean. Gail has a small crew of 3 or 4 coming and I think they will probably whip through the 200 hostas and 500 lilies left to plant. I'm only a couple weeks away from being able to begin work on the new land. Passers by remind me they want to see some action. I do too!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where bright sunlight jump starts lazy Saturday attitudes. It's a great day for a walk around Kettle Pond. Don't forget bug dope and water. If you're going to make the full circle, sign-in and out so the ranger knows that you made the complete trip.

Gardening wishes from a busy gardener!

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Sleepy Bloodroots

Friday, May 4, 2007

8:12 PM and although darkness is coming quickly now, I am pleased to be able to see the lower road from my office window. Nothing is moving outside and save for an occasional robin grabbing an after-dinner insect, the stillness is stop-frame firm. I like this time of year as the mornings come early and the evenings keep stretching what I can accomplish in a day.

After work today I opened a couple boxes of daylilies which arrived yesterday from Walters Gardens in Michigan. This is a wonderful nursery with one of the biggest selections of perennials around. They called on Monday and said the shipment would arrive by Fed Ex today. Gail planned accordingly but yesterday when Diana was here by herself, Mr. Fed Ex backed down the hill and unloaded 40 yards short of the driveway. There were 28 selections of daylilies, 8 selections of hostas and one order of an astilbe Gail likes named Veronica Klose. Diana helped unload the pallet and then moved all the boxes by cart to the driveway. It sure is nice to have people who know how to do a great job and Diana is one of those!

The first daylily I started planting was Shy Maiden, a special pink that customers will admire. We hadn't ordered daylilies from Walters before so I didn't know what to expect. Plants come packed in 25's and these were big roots and size equivalent to a couple-three fans. They were uniformly processed and packed in wood shavings inside a plastic bag. The box and the bag were both labeled. The plastic labels are most always packed separately and these were good labels with the plant variety at the top of the label. Last week we received an order with labels made for sticking into a preformed slot in a square pot like you see in big box stores or giant nurseries where stock is bought in already planted. The names are on the bottom which means that with our one gallon pots the name is buried and invisible. These are much better.

I finished planting Shy Maiden and then asked Gail if she'd like to go to the new property. I didn't tell her I had a special "find" that I wanted her to see. She agreed since she had to go to the store anyway and away we went.

All along the Winooski River there is new life sprouting. It happens this way every year and would probably be more advanced this year if it wasn't so dry right now. We parked the truck and climbed over the end of the stone pile and then walked along the river. The skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidas, was up about 6" tall. I like to photograph the leaves because they have such contrast with their ribs and veins and smooth surfaces. The light shines through at times and creates a neat picture. I have read that black bears love to feast on this green because it's the first abundant vegetable they can purge themselves with after winter hibernation. In my life of looking at skunk cabbage I've always looked for places where bears might have gobbled mouthfuls of leaves but truthfully I have never seen a missing leaf. The odor wouldn't bother a bear but just crunching a leaf brings on a perfume I wouldn't care to wear.

Just past the first set of skunk cabbage, the treasure I wanted Gail to see started. Tiny bloodroots were everywhere, tiny sleepy bloodroots. I had forgotten how late it was getting and the flowers were already closed on most of the plants. Sunlight struck an occaisional patch and they were still wide open for Gail to see. It was quite a treat. If we don't receive some rain soon they will not hold as long as I'd like. I could see bumble bees pushing their way between the petals to get to the yellow pollen and this made me think that bloodroot, February daphne, forsythia, and the pulmonarias represent the slim pickins bees and insects have right now. That will change in a couple days but for today, that's it.

Gail and I walked a bit but we had to go. We wanted to stay and look and dream about our new gardens but our current responsibility is getting everything planted and ready for mid May customers. If you were with us this afternoon, you would have enjoyed the walk too. Maybe some other time!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where darkness is thick and the music of Paul Simon and Roomful of Blues disrupts Gail's repeated attempts to ask me a flower question.


Gardening wishes for a nice weekend,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Eastern Spotted Salamanders

Sunday, 8:35 PM, April 30, 2007

Just as a follow up to my earlier post about the Amphibian Monitoring Program I wanted to show you some pictures of the salamanders I relocated last night. I really wanted to get out again tonight but we have high winds predicted and things are already swirling in good shape. The road I have to take is through Groton State Forest and the chance for downed trees is very good tonight. Cutting trees in the dark is not something I want to learn to do.

This first picture is of two Eastern Spotted Salamanders. The one in the front has a little note attached as I am questioning the blue spots. There are Jefferson and also Blue Spotted salamanders in Vermont and there are hybrids of those two. I wasn't aware that the Eastern (yellow) Spotted hybridized. Alex tells me "no" which means he listened to the lecture better than I did. He cannot, however, tell me how blue spots got on a Eastern (yellow) Spotted Salamander.

These salamanders get to be a foot long. The largest last night was 8.5" That translates to several years old but again I don't remember the exact ratios. I noticed that they don't mind walking all over their friends and fellow salamanders so they do have some human traits too.


When these guys walk, they can cruise right along but nonetheless they are very difficult to spot. When they do stop, they raise their heads but this is only half an inch off the ground so there's not a lot to perceive. If you pick them up and then place them back down they hold in a kind of lame posture with tail curled and head pointed down towards the ground. I was a little apprehensive when I picked up the first one as it turned its head toward my hand and I didn't know what to expect. Probably been around Karl the wonder dog too much. He always bites the hand that feeds him!


One time a reader commented that he enjoyed reading my blog even if I took a circuitous route to get to the garden topic. There's no garden issue with spotted salamanders but the fact is they are part of our environment. If we are good gardeners, we're always thinking about what lives where we garden. Sometimes the absence of certain things such as frogs or the presence of things such as long horn beetles I've never seen before, makes me think about how our environment is changing. Having a new piece of land to work at a new, much lower elevation will encourage us to look at new plant and animal relationships. If you have any questions or comments, let us know.

Karl wants to go out and the way the wind is blowing, I hope this is the last call for tonight.
Gardening wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Wayfarin Strangers plays High On A Mountain ..........where the wind blows free...... and the spring peepers and wood frogs have already called it quits for the night.


George Africa

http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Spotted Salamanders, Amphibian Monitoring

Monday, April 30, 2007

A dark, gloomy day here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. The rain is pounding on the standing steam roof and only a kid like Alex could sleep through this kind of noise. Karl the wonderdog already greeted me in the office, looked out the window and went back to bed. He doesn't like the rain but this morning I think it's good to see. We have about 10,000 pots planted right now and they always can use some water. Water from the sky is easier on labor, time and cost than from a garden hose.

arrive from Today more delivery trucks come. I suspect that this morning the soil and supply truck will arrive from Tewksbury, Massachusetts. This is coming from Griffin Greenhouse Supply, one of the two big east coast suppliers. We have used them for years. I don't even want to think about the bill as petroleum prices have affected every single thing that comes to us.

Since buying this piece of property we have thought more about the environment and what's going on to the land we use. The fact that the Winooski River borders a piece of the land gave us a chance to get involved with others with similar interests. A few weeks back we went to a great lecture on amphibian monitoring and this weekend we figured it was time to do some night surveys. On the list of things to be on the lookout for are the Eastern Spotted Salamander, the Jefferson Salamander or hybrids of this and the Easterns, the Eastern Red Backed Salmander, the Easter Spotted Newt, the Wood Frog, Spring Peeper, American Toad and other frogs.

Friday night it looked like I'd be on my own as Gail and Alex had a busy day and Karl isn't all that good at spotting things at night. I made it as far as Owl's Head on Route 232 and then turned around and gave up. The fog was so thick that seeing to drive was enough of a challenge. Sarturday night after some rain I thought things would improve but the temeprature here plunged to 38 and the fog was again quite intense. Last night was different except that I still couldn't find any companions to help with the lookout. My proposed search area was the Railroad Bed East that runs from above MarshfieldVillage to Wells River. It's part of the old Montpelier to Wells River RR.

When I checked out the road yesterday morning it was passable. There were rough places with a few real bad spots made worse by the Vermont boys possessed to challenge their ability to get their trucks stuck in mud. The beavers had been working in different places but the wildlife staff seemed to have most under control.

Last night I found 4 Eastern Spotted Salamanders in the less than half a mile section I had ear marked for survey. I also found one American Toad who did not want to move out of the way, innumerable wood frogs and a bunch of spring peepers. Not having ever done this before I figured the frogs would see me coming and hop away but that's the problem, they don't. Although peepers and wood frogs go silent as you approach a vernal spring or other wet area they sing from, they are in their favorite environment then and they dive under the water. On land they remain motionless and this is how they become pancakes when traffic passes.

One of the most eerie parts of the evening was adjusting to the constant calling of the woodcocks which find the swampland on either side of this road a find place to reside. On a typical night they no doubt feed for worms along this roadbed but last night I interrupted their schedule. They flew back and forth over my head at high speeds and although I never saw one, I heard what sounded like hundreds. I'll have to mention this again to the Audubon folks who are currently surveying this block of Vermont.

Today will get busy real fast so I have to get clicking here. What I did last night was really enlightening and a side of nature you might never see unless you make the effort. Just walking a road in the middle of the night changes perspective. I need to get to the new land and do a similar night survey. If you get a chance, check out your own neighborhood and you might just be surprised as I was.

Wet gardening thoughts from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the absent snow uncovered the winter workings of just too many moles.

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com