Happy Christmas to 2021

 

Our little Black Hills Spruce all dressed up with nowhere to go.

We here at the Stranded Tree Farm, hope all of our visitors, friends, and neighbors have a Happy Christmas with Ho, Ho, Ho and mistletoe for all.

Friday is buck day: Stare down

I like how these two bucks are competing against each other for the does' attention. Staring at one another and sizing the opponent up. 

It's an hour before dawn on that day as the bucks make their stand: 

Out of Character

(Know your audience. Make it interesting and fun. – Advice from people who give speeches.)

What if your audience is pre-K to 7-year-olds along with mothers holding toddlers in their arms?

Our local library has story-time each week for a group of kids and their parents. The regulars are home-schooling families and I was asked to give a talk about things I grow on the farm, mainly popcorn.

“I’m a little out of character with kids.” I admitted to the mothers. A rule in giving speeches is to show confidence but I was going to set that expectation bar low.

Kids filed into the room dressed in Halloween costumes of yellow and green monsters, a purple dragon, a Pikachu, and the little 3-year-old girl as a bumble bee. Bumble Bee looked to me offering a big innocent grin that would melt a hardened steel heart.

“Who likes popcorn?” – Cheers!

“A kernel is planted into the ground, grows into a stalk, then produces ears of corn like these.” I showed several ears of Ladyfinger popcorn.

Pikachu pointed out the difference compared to field corn.

“This was going to be a tough crowd,” I’m thinking in Rodney Dangerfield voice.

To make this educational, I brought another variety of popcorn and remarked how corn was different just like how kids have different hair, eyes, etc.

“Sometimes nature produces something unexpected like this…” I showed an ear that split into two. – Laughter! It has legs!

I handed out popcorn ears so they could try shelling it from the cob. This delighted the boys as kernels shot across the room. – Chaos!

“I’m losing my audience?” --- “Not yet!”

Pikachu explained that water inside of the kernel expands and that’s how it pops.

“Hey, this is my show, kid!” I thought in Bob Hope’s voice.

I popped some corn which was devoured by the group, especially Purple Dragon and Bumble Bee.

Questions from mothers and kids were answered and I gave out bags of popcorn to enjoy at home.

One mother asked if I wanted something for payment.

“Smiles from little bumble bees was enough,” I heard my voice say.

“I actually said that?”

“Yep. A little out of character, indeed...”

 

 Linked to Poets and Storytellers United: Friday Writings #1: I Write with My Food

Tuesday Triumph - October, 2021

 She finally decided to stop by for a visit with her young one.

A little grainy pic in the twilight at evening time but that's her.

We're glad she's doing well since her first visit two and a half years ago.

Rainy day thoughts

The weather has turned towards its winter slide here and we won’t see a “warm” day for 5 months or more. “Warm” being a relative term because when you have -20 F, getting back to just above freezing feels warm in January/February.

As it rains today, the internal debate between grasshopper and ant rages. Cloudy/rainy days zap my energy and I sometimes fail in my motto of “get back to work.” When the cold from the north wind slaps me in the face or rain dribbles down the back of the neck, my desire to spend time outdoors evaporates quicker than I’d like to admit.

This is a day for “inside” work. There is some prep work that needs to be done before winter sets in (a win for the ant) or maybe we’ll pop some of the popcorn from this year and settle in for an old movie (a win for the grasshopper.)

At the end of the day, maybe both can take it as a win.

As the leaf hangs on to the tree or clings to the windshield, it reminds me to be resilient against forces that are meant to distract from the goals that are set ahead.

Yes, the irony of being distracted by a leaf on the windshield is not lost on me.

Enjoy the irony in life - it makes it interesting…

Leaf on the Wind(shield) - bonus points if you recognize the reference

 Linked at Poets and Storytellers United: Writers’ Pantry #93: NaNoWriMo Anyone?

Tuesday Triumph, she's been a little busy

A friend of our neighbor to the east stopped by after he set up a tree stand near the creek that runs through the neighbor's acreage. We had the usual conversation about weather, harvest yields, etc... I told him of my trail cameras that are set up in the SE corner and of the time of day that it captures the deer on the trails that lead over to the creek.

Big bucks seem to like my place between midnight and 3am which is about the time that the batteries drain on the electric fence (this allowed the deer and raccoons to get into the sweetcorn this past July.)

He replied that he had only had a doe tag.

I asked him to be on the lookout for a three-legged deer. There are plenty of other does he could choose from and no honest hunter would take a shot on a vulnerable doe.

He had already been warned about her. The neighbor had asked the same of him and he told me that they saw a three-legged doe with a fawn on the east side of the creek.

So, when I said Triumph was busy, I guess she was getting busy... 

She crossed the creek to meet some handsome young buck and probably is eating better over there instead of having to cross a creek, trudge up through the brush and then jump an electric fence on my acreage for sweetcorn that the raccoons would have decimated anyway.

This explains why we haven't seen her since April this year. 

Our Triumph doesn't belong to us but as a tough, resilient deer, I guess we can add mother to the list to describe her.

Triumph - April, 2021

Legacy of Wee Sprout

In June of 2020, this Iowa farmer dedicated a sugar (aka hard) maple tree seedling to Poets and Storytellers United. When Rommy correction - Magaly (sorry) commented about this “wee sprout” the name stuck and Wee Sprout became an official Legacy Tree™ on the Stranded Tree Farm.

A legacy tree is planted as a visual representation of those who have significantly impacted us at the farm and go through a rigorous nominating process. Family, friends, and loved ones who have passed on have a tree designated for them. We spend a little more time to fertilize, weed and protect them from the evils of predators like cute fuzzy rabbits that take one bite from each seedling and move on to the next. Sadistic deer enjoy taking their bites as well while the aggressive bucks rub on the younger trees to shed their antlers (nature doesn’t always cooperate with us.)

Wee Sprout - caged, June 2021

Wee Sprout is the only tree dedicated to a group, a community of free writers, poets, and maybe a few lyricists in the corner, all of us sharing our words. I thought the idea of a living symbol, growing along with the community, might one day shade a gathering of the members.

Wee Sprout - free, June 2021

One day perhaps, but not soon. Wee Sprout is still quite small but has grown twice as much as one planted to the west. I can’t explain how one tree grows so well while others of the same species planted nearby lag behind. Maybe the worldwide good thoughts boosted its morale but it could have been the extra fertilizer last winter. It’s a mystery…

To the east is a 30-foot black walnut producing a quantity of nuts this year and to the west is the sugar maple planted at the same time. Its northern neighbor is a Kentucky coffeetree and to the south is a black cherry and a hickory. Further away are more walnut, red maples, white and black oaks, ash and elm trees. A growing variety of native trees.

Wee Sprout is in good company and more trees will follow as we continue to reforest a small acreage in Iowa where no tree grows alone.

Posted to Poets and Storytellers United - Writers’ Pantry #90: Why Do You Write and Share?