Reinvention of the Wheel, Series for Songbirds & Pollinators, Failure #1

I am the Canary

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Circus Mirage's blog 

Jayne Nowek from Nowek News Now talks about voter suppression and wrestles with issues of "Opinion based News."

Check out these production shots here...

Now Ya Nowek!

Upcoming Exhibition at ARC Gallery and Studios in San Francisco February 27-April 3, 2021

I am the Canary (detail)

Moments Here

moments here, so dear

moments here grasped painfully for fear

of future atmosphere

looms ominous

Canary in a Coal Mine

but also, they seek...

flowers bloom and wither

but also, they seek...

Reinvention of the Wheel Failure #1 - 4:  Series for Songbirds and Pollinators

I am the Canary, 2021 - in the series, Reinvention of the Wheel, failur...

Finally a walk after the storm

 

This day sparkled it was so crisp

 

On the Spectrum of Seasons: winter's angle

Twirling Spectrum interrupted briefly

Winter's short days come with long lines of light from angles sometimes difficult to look at directly. I look the other way and thus experience reflections shadows and lovely effects.

Tailgate Pandemic Picnics are a great place to get Sunset photos!

 

East Beach

Electric Sky

Fading Reflections

Paper or Plastic - installed in the Presidents Gallery at MassArt

 

flutter frame still wing - installed

 A butterfly drained of color and stilled. Her migration stunted within the visible frame lines - all that flutters, the movement -  created by camera and scanning technique. Human interference in vulnerable cycles of nature through domination over land for development and food production. The use of chemicals in unsustainable farming practices. Human attempts to fix what they have caused. All are layers of interference demonstrated here by the layers of process this film has gone through to arrive in the gallery. 16mm film processed with chemicals - visible on the film, and transferred to video - leaving artifacts of color, burned to DVD and looped on a TV. We work against ourselves, we sit and watch, while outside some of the fragile wings are still performing miracles, fluttering for 1000s of miles leaving larvae to transform and return.

evening walk and chores

Milkweed is growing along the edge of the fields. I hope the Monarchs will find it. When I was growing up in Vermont it was everywhere, and we used to take it to a cage to watch the cocoons until they hatch and we could free the butterflies. Last year was the first time I had seen it in a long time. There are no chemicals or mono crops on this farm, but if surrounding farms don't let it grow will ours be enough for them to come?

Also possibly found some more edibles. The pignut tree had baby hickory nuts. Now if we can fight the squirrels for them when they are ripe...

And on the way back, a view up the hayfield of the barn and sky.

Then we had to trim the weeds under these small apple trees. They suffered drought and gypsy moths last year. We will have to give them some tender loving care this summer. But it seems a good year so far for the trees. They have saved up energy for fruit. The old pear and both old apples blossomed.

And the little peach tree has fruit again too.

But good farmers (and workers at a job in my case) make bad gardeners sometimes. The kitchen garden on the farm is being ignored. Maybe tomorrow we can tend to the annuals there.

Solstice light lasted late, but that was all for outside chores. Until tomorrow.

Midsummers Night

Madeline and I carved the Ghost Pumpkins from last fall finally, for the mid summers night party. NO ROT!

She is quite the young artist and very focused. We could then enjoy the evening.

And the coals burned late into the evening creating their own universe to accompany the conversation.

A Midsummers Night Conversation Between Two Old Friends

Pollinators: Midsummer Flowers

Honeybee on Echinacea

Bumblebee in Echinacea

Co-pollinators

Blackeyed Susan

Honey Harvest

Uncapping...

It starts dripping on the way to the extractor.

The day was warm so it runs and filters easily.

And as the bees started to find our operation, they started to clean up the sticky mess and reclaim what was left-both honey and wax.

This little bumble bee got a treat out of it too, as well as a few wasps and ants.

Ivory Silo Farm Stand

Open Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 11-3! Farmer philosophy, flowers, herbs, greens! with more coming every weekend.

Herbs and Flowers on Ivory Silo Farm

Buckwheat and Oats

We walked down to take a look at the bee hives passing a field resting in cover crops.

Sunchokes

 

After seeing the activity at the hive entrances(its no wonder with all the forage) we couldnt ignore the Sun on the Jeruselum Artichokes and Kiwi poles visible behind.

Yarrow

Bill and Dee 's crops and plants look so healthy.

Snapdragons and more

Snapdragons

These flowers were being sold at the farm stand this weekend.

White Clover

This clover reseeds itself and creates a sweet setting for the farm stand as well as more forage. This is where I saw the most bees.

St. Johnswort

Blooming during the longest days of summer for our nerves.

Nasturtium

And my Nasturtium and Mint in wait of our lunch salad.

Checking in with Bees...Does the Split have a queen?

Yes it does, but she is not in the picture. She wasnt laying yet at the time of this photo but we saw her. I wonder if the last time I went in on May 25th, she was out on a mating flight because I couldnt find her and the queen cells were already empty. On May 14th, Tony and I split his hive by taking 3 frames of brood and honey with queen cells. This photo is a detail of a larger photo Ed took of most of a whole frame of bees. He was trying to get a picture of the queen. He missed her, but this section showed the bees buzy storing and/or capping their honey. This was the weekend of June 4th.
The next weekend I was available was June 18th. I not only saw her, but I saw her laying eggs with her attendants following her. I was by myself so I did not get a picture and I did not want to disturb her. This weekend we looked in but did not disturb the hive to pull out any frames because it was obvious they were building up by their numbers and activity-six weeks from the split.

Tools

Farmer with Scythe

This tool is not easy to use the first time, but I was going into the hives and didnt want to disturb the bees with the mower. Ed was much better at it since he used it as a boy.

Tools for Hay

Soon the hay beyond the hay rake will be picked up for cows. For now its part of our landscape to enjoy!

Holiday Weekend chores-Weed the herb and flower garden...

Lupine looking fantastic in yesterdays fog.

We also planted some new baby plants. This little kitchen garden is perfect for cutting some parsley to freshen a homemade soup after its cooked, or adding herbs to sauces or meats. Its rocky well drained soil that the Mediterranean plants love. Plants that are coming back are Lavender, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Echinacea, and annuals already planted are Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, and Fennel. After we weeded we added Chamomile, Sweet Annie, Black Eyed Susan, Cosmos, and Alyssum. The herbs are in this corner garden and some flowers are also with more on the other side of the bench and stone wall. The tree is a Redbud and it flowered this year for the first time.