The Circle of Life: with life comes death, with age comes growth, with usage comes wear. Repairs are just a natural part of life. Having been potted and re-potted two or three times since its capture from the cow pasture back in October 2017, the olive tree has been officially placed in its final pot. Not trusting the salt laden ground to adequate growth in minerals and nutrients, the olive tree was placed in a scrap sonotube pot. Having been…
Boxes in Fields consists of an acre and half of native grasses and flowers, half dozen potted plants picked especially with hummingbirds and butterflies in mind, and two sugar water feeders always filled fresh and clear from April to October. After almost four years of filming and photo, a hummingbird has been caught on film. Years of planning, planting, and pruning have finally paid off. It was a very exciting moment!
These four new feathered additions really are some ridiculous pity pets. Just ridiculous. Hearing a great commotion in the coop late one evening, the culprit was not four footed and furry nor sneaky and slithery. Instead it was two footed and feathered. Just two days into her new surroundings, a rebel has developed. Just two days and this little brown leghorn was already causing trouble. by wanting to roost in the coop. Much to her dismay, the senior coop residents…
Genetics control a persons characteristics, hair, height, eye, etc. Simple biology everyone remembers from Bio I and Bio II. What genetics does not control is what I refer to as generational characteristics. There is a current field of study called epigenetics, “a term used to describe inheritance by mechanisms other than through the DNA sequence of a gene” researching traits passed from parent to child that are not genetic. In trying to better understand this research I stumbled upon this…
In the last post, I commented about trying to tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly. In furthering up my studies, I have since discovered one can distinguish between the two during the pupa stage (but not always) and only sometimes during the caterpillar stage. So much to learn, so little time to learn it all. Couple of weeks ago I went to the local mom and pop feed store for some chicken nourishment. At the front of…
Spring officially began on Wednesday, March 20, two weeks ago today. However, spring at Boxes in Fields has been in bloom for over a month. A month into springy goodness, there are now more vibrant flowers in more vibrant colors. Blue is my most favorite color and blue flowers are hard to come by. This tiny specimen is the size of a nickel and sadly only appears for the day. Did you know that while there are blue plants/flowers in…
Here it is the week of Spring Break and as I stated weeks ago, you may dream of warm spring activities, South Texas is in a throws of winter. Spring Break started out and stayed funky all week long. To the detriment of spring goers across the state, Funky is the Kids M.O so this random weather did not deter his Spring Break plans: Sailing Regatta. On Tuesday’s practice it was chilly, windy, and cloudy. On Thursday’s practice, the weather…
Here it is the first week in March and while most breathing bodies are pondering Spring Break in a few weeks, South Texas is in the midst of full on winter fury. Winter is the least of my concerns, though because sometimes life throws a punch. I am not talking about making lemonade out of bright shiny tasty lemons, I am talking about trying to make lemonade from bitter rotten lemons. It started two weeks ago on a sunny Friday…
Having some beautifully warm spring days, Boxes in Fields took a break from all things work and went for a ride. A bike ride. About an hours drive away is a national wildlife refuge with the bay on one side and tree filled marsh land on the other. There are miles of hiking paths if one is crazy enough inclined to fight mosquito swarms and all roads are bike friendly. Since this is a Texas coastline, all paths are flat….
Brooding: showing deep unhappiness of thought. Setter: a person or thing that sets something. Truer words have never been spoken about brooding hens, especially this hen. Brooders. Setters. One in the same in the world of chicken as they both have the same end result. A brooding hen can either be good or bad depending upon if 1) the hen is knowledgeable in this matter and 2) your desire to have little peppers. Having thought I had a broody chicken…