Spring comes to Robinia Ranch!

Early Spring has arrived, with alternating days of warm sunshine and wild, wet winds. Nature is giving the trees their Spring pruning, and we are poking around in the muddy grass picking up the droppings and making piles for bonfires to come. The creeks are rushing along, and distributing a new layer of silt in our siltation-cachement areas.... where the iris, watercress, cattails river Birches and sycamores are happy to soak up the new nutrition. Tom came home with 4 new weeping willows to add to the party, too.

And, the flowers and bees are back! We gained a new appreciation of the bees during our visit to Chicago, where we got to know an urban beekeeper. We are sending him a robinia-wood weeding stool to thank him for his hospitality and sharing of knowledge. And, thinking more about locust honey... while, of course, still enjoying the marvelous maple syrup produced this Spring next door at Toni and Rick's place...

The photo is downhill from Robinia Ranch, in an area that does not have the benefit of the siltation-cachement earthworks and planting. Although it is very beautiful, that is a lot of nutritious topsoil washing down into Cayuga Lake-- if it were less brown, I think it would be even prettier.

Valentine's Day Snow In the Robinia Trees

Real winter, at last.
Hard, but beautiful, too. The trees don't mind a bit. Robinia woods starts to the back of photo.

One coyote howling in the snow on the edge of Appalachia

Usually you only hear them groups, small groups and sometimes big groups. You almost never see a coyote, although you live among them. They are so spectacular to watch, those rare times when you do see one.

Here in a county along the northern edge of the 410 counties that make up the area of operations of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a single coyote keeps me awake, howling nearby. So, I read about "Appalachia Redux" in the NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/opinion/12mon3.html
...and wonder how this Appalachian section of NYS can gain a strategy for facing the transitions in land use and settlement patterns in the rural areas.

We are grandparents!

Watching your trees grow is an under-appreciated experience in our fast-paced, materialistic culture. Thankfully, a few of us still remember the incomparable joy of watching our children grow. And, now, with the arrival of our first grandchild, we can start watching our grandchild grow. LIFE IS GOOD.

Pix and details at http://mossandkaren.blogspot.com

Why Robinia?

Some people talk over the fence. Then, some people talk about fence. Some even write about fence, and the great woods that make great fence, as well as great arbors, trellises, grape wire stakes, and even decks and benches. How working with natural materials in natural environments can blend the human-made environment with the human-influenced environment, seamlessly and harmlessly blending into what is mostly natural-forces-influenced landscape.