Sweating in the Pumpkin Patch

There hasn't been any rain in awhile.  I spent the whole weekend in the pumpkin patch weeding, watering, and planting the last few rows of gourds.

I got the tilling done between rows and I hand hoed a few rows for weeds between the plants.  And I have the blisters to show for it. But there's so much more to do.

I have sort of a natural trench beside each row and just enough slope for water to run the whole row length.  So I just stick a hose in the trench and let it run.  Hillbilly irrigation.

Some rain forecast for this evening.  The forecast has been bouncing all over from 0.1 inch to 0.7 inch.  I'm hoping for the latter for my newly planted seeds.  I have some gaps in my rows but where there are plants, they look pretty good.

This is one of the more recently planted rows - just barely us out of the ground.

The last two storms did in this pear tree.  One half had survived but the latest storm finished the job.  I cut it up and dragged it to the burn pit.  Not sure when I'll burn it.

Joan was a big help this weekend with the mowing.  She was out on the zero turn and on the tractor.  Here's a video of her in action.  Joan Mowing

We had a beautiful sunset on Saturday evening.

The wineberries still have a ways to go.  I don't think that they'll be ripe for the 4th of July.

Butterfly milkweed is starting to bloom everywhere.

Common milkweed also coming out - this is in the prairie plot.

The driveway stand field was planted in roundup-ready soybeans.  This was intentional because the weeds have been bad in that field.  It was a carpet of green when I sprayed it two weeks ago.  Now only the soybeans surviving and the deer barely give it a chance to grow before hammering it.

Barn field clover is great.

The main field powerplant appears to be all grass.  I really don't have much luck with summer annuals.

Same with the sunflower field.  Seems to be more grass than sunflowers.

Here's a swooping bird quiz.  This is number one.

Number two.

Number 3.

I'm pretty sure number two is a pileated woodpecker like this.  What are the others?

I think this is a hen with poults.  Only two?

The does and fawns are showing up frequently.

It's good to see twins - sign of healthy habitat.

A late bred doe?  She looks about due.

Some other chore activity.

Covid masks are handy for spraying too.  Probably not necessary but better safe...

And our friendly bobcat.  Wonder how many poults and fawns he's had.

Our resident gray fox.

Coyotes always looking for an easy meal too.

Wish they'd get this groundhog. I saw him in my pumpkin patch yesterday.

The turkeys are doing some late strutting.

And the bucks in velvet are coming along nicely.

Info on the Coon Mystery

 Dirk at the Pike County Extension Office got back to me with this as the likely cause. I was aware that this occurred among bears but I had never heard of it in raccoons. Not pleasant but nature at work. And maybe better than other causes that I was imagining (new disease, poisoning).

 Raccoon Fathers Kill Babies Article

Coon Mystery, Skunk, and Too Wet to Plant

About 2.5" in the rain gauge when we arrived but it had been a couple days since the last storm.  Everything was wet and I couldn't get right into the pumpkin patch.  So I went to check cameras and I found this in the pond field.

I spotted two shapes just laying in the field about 5' apart.

I went over for a closer look and it was two young coons.  No obvious signs of trauma and they hadn't been bothered by scavengers.

When I checked cameras, there they were wandering into the field with Momma a couple of days ago,  It's a mystery - what killed them?  I sent the photos to the extension office just in case it was of interest to them.  When I went back by that spot about 6 hours later, there was no sign of them.  Body snatchers?

This was an interesting interaction between a skunk and a young buck.  I was familiar with that bristle tail because I ran into him in almost the same spot as the coons.

Here the skunk has moved to the other side of the buck.  This video is from me filming with my phone.  Skunk Interaction

Anyway, the pumpkin patch was soaked and I was planning to spend the whole day planting the other half of it.  I let it dry hoping to get into it late in the day.  No go. I'm staying over hoping to get into it on Monday.  It's now 7:00am and it still looks pretty wet.

We have some germination in last week's plantings.  Some rows in completely, other rows nothing showing yet.

The strip of sunflowers is showing a carpet of weeds in addition to the flowers.

The big field of sunflowers is also showing a lot of weeds and I watched the deer in it last night munching.

The powerplant field is a carpet of weeds.  I really have not had a lot of success with that product.

Buckwheat is pretty good although my planting may have been a little streaky.

The soybean field is a mess of weeds.  I put roundup ready soybeans in it just to work on the weeds.  I did spray that field and, in the course of it, somehow lost the lid for my spray tank.  I've looked everywhere and haven't found it.

Out for a tour.

BTW, this was a good podcast episode on ticks and the diseases that they carry,  This guy doesn't recommend using alcohol because it may cause them to unload into your system before detaching.  But he also says that the "seed ticks" haven't picked up the pathogens from their first host yet.  So maybe ok to use it on those little buggers?  Tick Podcast  It's about an hour long discussion but a lot of the practical stuff starts after about 40 minutes.

Keeping the minerals stocked.  

The fawns are showing up on camera regularly.

A good Mom photo.

And a hen.

The gobblers.

Gray fox.

Bobcat.

A hawk in action.

Coyotes.

Groundhog.

And the bucks developing nicely.

Some does still seem to be pregnant - 2nd rut?

Wonder what spooked these guys?