Here’s a small sampling of the flowers that are starting to bloom. The chicken run is covered in buttercups. The mountain laurel, elderberry, sweet bay magnolia, and most of the meadow flowers are still not open. The serviceberry and various vibernums are past.

John’s annual effort to grow Wisconsin wild rice (zizania aquatica) in northern Virginia. He built a rock wall about ten feet into the pond, dumped in dirt and mud, sowed the seed, and put chicken wire cages on top to keep ducks and geese from eating the seed.

Sowing

Using stick to keep balance in the muck

More sowing

Rice beds with their cages.

If the native Americans didn’t call March the “moon of the annoyingly loud honking geese,” it beats me why not. The first year we moved to Kidwell, there were at least sixty Canada geese and goslings parading around on the lawn in front of the pond, making a crazy racket all day and night. So we are engaged in a long-term war with the geese.

Our primary strategy is to remove the lawn, which is working pretty well. They like human-modified habits, so we’re trying to un-modify it. We’ve replaced most of the lawn with a meadow in which, who knows, there may be foxes, lynxes or minks hanging out just waiting for a fat, tasty goosey morsel to pass by. Unfortunately, that particular threat doesn’t work well in spring because the meadow hasn’t grown high enough yet. But the other thing going for the meadow is that it doesn’t have as many yummy, salad shoots as the lawns. So the geese usually prefer to go elsewhere for lunch and dinner (sorry neighbors).

This spring, there were three separate nests full of eggs on the island in the pond. Somehow, we can’t imagine how, the eggs disappeared from two of them. One nest still remains, and we’re expecting the golden little darlings to emerge any day now (warning, they are extremely cute and difficult to disparage). Another clever pair has started a nest on the edge of the pond that we fenced off with chicken-wire so as to save a bunch of expensive plants from being munched down by the *#!@*$# deer (who also love human-modified habitats). I guess they figure if the deer can’t get in there, maybe the foxes, lynxes and minks can’t either. Pretty clever for a bird-brain.

I’m afraid these eggs may soon disappear as well. Accidents happen. Here she is, already blaming me for some reason.

We’ve taken to decorating our rain barrels. Last year, I did my best rendition of some green herons on the rain barrel by the back door of the house. Anne has just one-upped me by doing a beautiful rendition of a stained glass window she and the girls gave me a while back on the rain barrel next to the cabin. Thanks to our friend, neighbor and fellow Save Rural Loudoun rabble-rouser Ryan Siemers for donating the barrel!

Check them out!

The pithy quote is “Beer will change the world* … I don’t know how, but it will.”

The pithy quote is “Long neck ice-cold beer never broke my heart” 

And, in case that wasn’t fun enough, here’s the barrel I painted last year … I guess you can describe the style as “primitive American.” We’re thinking about how to improve the looks of the concrete blocks the barrels are standing on.

We have one more undecorated rain barrel in a corner where it isn’t seen much. Maybe next year …

We’re significantly expanding our attempted hops production this year. We’re now trying four different varieties: Nugget, Willamette, Cascade, and Kent Goldings. The Nugget and Willamette have been going for several years, and the Nugget is clearly happier with our climate and soil conditions. Every year, it’s roots have busted out of the raised bed (literally pushing the boards apart) and I’ve had to pull out a sackful of extra rhizomes. The Willamette seems to be hanging in there, but hasn’t produced much yet. The Kent Goldings went in last year next to the cabin, sent up a few bines (this isn’t a typo, hops have “bines,” not vines), but didn’t produce. The Cascade, purchased as potted plants rather than rhizomes, is new this year. So far, it looks a little sad.

According to the books, Nugget is “quite heavy and herbal” with alpha acids ranging from 11-14.5%, and is supposedly best for “light lagers” (which I don’t brew very much). Willamette is described as “mild and pleasant, slightly spicy, fruity, floral a little earthy” with alpha acids from 3.5-6% and good for English-style ales, porters and stouts. Kent Goldings are described as “gentle, fragrant and pleasant” with low alpha acids (4-5.5%) and good for all English ales. Cascade is “pleasant, flowery, spicy and citrusy” with alpha acids of 4.5-7% and good for IPAs. We’ll see how much any of this matters. Maybe I’ll be brewing more “light lagers.”

We’re working with three types of trellises now. The original, supporting both Nugget and Willamette, is in Ft. Knox and attached to the big 6×6″ fence posts. Last year, we opened a new bed with trellis strings connected to the south wall of the cabin (see below). We have Willamette in that bed this year.

The new monster trellis we set up a couple of weeks ago is made of crossed 2x4s with twine connecting cross pieces at the top and bottom (featured at the top of this post). The wood frame is anchored to the ground with three foot stakes and 3/8″ steel cable. It was a bear to set up and I got a good knock on the head when the first section collapsed before everything was attached. Definitely a multi-person job. Anne and I did it with the help of one of our young neighbors.

Original hops trellis, attached to Ft. Knox fenceposts.

Hops bed next to cabin. You can see a Willamette shoot coming up just under the second string from the left.

The plant in front of the Willamette shoot is Valerian, an herb whose leaves, flowers and roots can be used as a mild sedative (including in a tea made of hops). It can also be added to beer. There seems to be a range of opinion about how it affects the beer. A book called “The Homebrewer’s Garden” says that it provides a “soothing flavor and pleasant scent.” A homebrewer commenting online said it smells like “dirty socks.” I haven’t tried it yet, but I guess I’ll have to since it’s there.

Ok, we’ve been neglecting this site (while generously paying WordPress to keep it open). It’s been a year and a half since the last post, but there’s nothing like a Covid crisis to give us a chance to bring it back.

Here’s some mergansers again. A little later than usual this year, and no males.

John hung out in his bird blind this morning, and managed to get these photos of one of the very shy little green herons. He’s standing on a log that sticks up in the middle of the pond. We think they’re nesting in the thickets behind the pond.

It’s interesting to compare it with this Squacco heron we saw in Kenya. The little greens are a little smaller with a shorter neck. But everyone likes yellow socks!

We saw lots of elephants and giraffes, but John missed his best photo opportunities when his camera glitched at Amboseli. Still, check out these guys …

This looks like a posed zoo picture, but we were actually really lucky to spot this leopard in Lake Nakuru park. At the time, we were searching for lions. John spotted him and Anne identified him before our guide noticed. We felt very professional! Our guide asked us to share this photo with his company for promotional purposes. No copyrights!

Lake Nakuru is a reserve specifically set aside for white rhinos. There were quite a few of them. Nice to see cute little baby rhinos. It’d be nice if we could keep them from extinction.

We saw a lot of birds on our safari in Kenya. Here are a few.

Kingfisher at Amboseli

Hoopoe at Amboseli

Yellow bishop at Lake Nakuru National Park

Crowned stork at Lake Nakuru

Buzzard (hawk) at Lake Nakuru

Go away bird at Masai Mara

Jambo! John had to go to Kenya and Malawi for some work, so we took advantage of the opportunity to do a “safari” (Swahili for “journey”) the week before. Because it was the end of the rainy season, there weren’t a lot of large antelopes and predators in the parks. But it was still amazing and fun.

Unfortunately, John’s camera had a temporary glitch (bad card) while we were in Amboseli. But we were lucky to see Kilimanjaro just before it (the camera) pooped out. It’s incredible to see all that snow way up in the air at the equator.