May 2016 – Black and White

two parent household Branta canadensis

geese and goslings — During the second year of their lives, Canada geese find a mate. They are monogamous, and most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average of five, and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male.–Wikipedia

These geese have gone native, they no longer migrate.

nature bandaid

the tree of choice — Developers love the crape myrtle. Easy to plant, easy to maintain. Makes me sad. Why the circular sidewalk to nowhere? Why not plant a noble tree? A long lived native species that would create a quarter acre of shade, lower temperatures in the neighborhood, capture rainwater, feed and shelter local fauna. I think nature bandaid is Jim Kunstler’s term.
Places I don’t want to sit.

grocery store news stand

globe — Schadenfreude. Is the Globe a respected print publication?

twilight precession

Rappahannock clouds — Clouds moving in a south-easterly direction above the Rappahannock River toward the Chesapeake Bay

Sciurus carolinensis

squirrel in tupperware — I planted seventy sunflowers, covered the seeds with cayenne pepper, ginger and garlic.
I had a 6 sunflower control group inside a squirrel proof enclosure.
100% of the sunflowers in the enclosure germinated.
In the wild, six out of seventy have survived to date.

Mont

CLS and daughter — Ok, now that Mother’s day is over. Let’s hear it for dads!

October 2008

WaPo — After 44 years I have become a digital subscriber.

day of rest

church in Ohio — STRAIT CREEK ROAD PEEBLES, OH 45660 USA.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren (German: Schwarzenauer Neutäufer “Schwarzenau New Baptists”) that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany.–Wikipedia

Man and a horse, girl and a dog

Gen Lee RIC VA — On Monday, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously approved the creation of a blue ribbon commission that will, among several other objectives, recommend whether the city should remove its Confederate memorials, including the statue of Lee in Lee Park– Daily Progress
(photo from Richmond, Virginia)

Maladera castanea

picking them off by hand — Maladera castanea (the asiatic garden beetle) flies and eats at night.
AGBs belong to the order Coleoptera. The order contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms.
I am having a yearly run in with these insects. They function like a self reproducing electric utility. They top trees, preferentially feeding on new growth at the top of trees: “the terminal leader”.
The AGB is a major drag on my afforestation effort. The establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there hasn’t been forest for centuries is a challenge. All the complexity has been removed, roots, biomass, beneficial fungi, and that has created a zone that is remarkably hostile to young trees, a fragile system.
Complexity is good in natural systems. When people farm, the complex system is removed. The dirt remains, to be used as a media for the desired plant making chemicals to promote growth and chemicals to control insects necessary.