I don't mind some squatters on the place but I would have liked a better location than my ladder that I store under the eve of the garage.
I'm delaying a new roof until she moves on...
(There's other reasons but now I can blame someone besides myself.)
It is the mid-summer weed cutting session. The never-ending effort to rid the acreage of noxious weeds such as the wild parsnip and other common weeds like lamb's quarter, horseweed, and thistles. We work to save as much of the milkweed as possible for any visiting monarchs, although it is nearly unavoidable when mowing on the tractor.
I have to cut the weeds on the slope of the pond dam with a weed cutter, one made by Stihl. I've used hand sickles in the past but operating something with a motor is much more productive and causes much less blisters.
On this day, while cutting the tall grasses near the pond, I found a bright green caterpillar with black and yellow spots arranged in rows. I placed it on a milkweed for safekeeping and looked up what it was. It appears to be a black swallowtail.
Generally, caterpillars can cause a lot of damage to crops (if they would just eat the weeds and keep our beans alone, I would be happy). This one does eat mostly weeds.
I'll keep it around.
The next time I see it, I hope it has wings.
We try to cooperate with nature as much as we can, so long as they don't invade the shed where equipment is stored as nature tolerates my tilling of the ground and other invasive activities.
We put up several bluebird boxes years ago with varying degrees of success. We enjoy the bluebirds as neighbors each year and they do help with the insect population but they are late this year as many other migratory birds to the area.
Yes, this birdhouse has seen better days but it has sheltered many a brood while stationed near a growing chestnut tree. I cleaned it out in February to await a new pair this year.
Sometimes nature fights against us:
Some wood devouring creature saw fit to expand the hole and then didn't bother to move in.
With wood prices 4-5 times what it cost us to build the original birdhouse, I'll have to relook at our budget to see what we can do.
It's a shame but nature does what it wants sometimes and we'll have to deal with it.
Hidden among the branches of one of the apple trees, I found a robin nest.
Another hidden nest in a pawpaw tree is another nest:
I was looking for signs of fruit among the branches and I disturbed one of the young robins in this nest.
Even if we don't harvest a single fruit from any of our trees, it looks like we should produce a large crop of robins.
