Natures Broadcast

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~George Washington CarverI am extremely lucky to live right next to the woods. While I am on the computer or sitting spinning/knitting or washing dishes at the kitchen sink, I get a birds eye view of all the forest natives doings. Most days it is deer going back and forth between the river and the woods. Some days the turkeys roost in the trees behind the house and you see them fly up for the night or down to start their day looking for food. And then Spring comes. It puts up a green veil between them and I. No longer can I see the antics of the squirrels. To them I must be a peeping tom but I miss being able to see them in their natural habitat and unafraid.

Of course the green veil hides from my view less pleasant things also. Last year a bobcat ran out of the woods and grabbed one of my chickens in broad daylight with me only yards away. The year before that, I lost some roasters to a fox who just ran around and killed them. By the time I got outside he had killed 9 in one afternoon. I don't mind loosing one because of their hunger but hate loosing them for a foxes amusement.

Before I got dogs, one coyote use to be standing outside when the kids left to walk to the bus. He would scamper away and then go rub up against my hickory tree. So far this year I have lost one duck which I think is to a fox. We heard him the other night. When he started calling in the pitch black it gave my sister quite a scare. Click here to listen to an audio clip of what she heard. I know there is a fox den on my neighbors property as my brother found it while fishing. Of course I do let my ducks, chickens and turkeys free range during the day which I guess makes the forest animals think it is a smorgasboard. But the birds do a fantastic job of keeping down the ticks and bugs around the garden so I would hate to have to fence them in.

And speaking of gardens....we are picking rhubarb finally. We got about 5 pounds so far and with strawberries on sale we whipped up 8 1/2 pints of strawberry/rhubarb jam and a rhubarb cake for dessert tonight.

After dessert, I finished another pair of socks. These are the two pairs that #1 daughter wanted. The purple/brown/green pair has a different cuff. At spinning Audrey had showed us this cuff and I stuck in in the back of the gray matter for future use. I like it and will probably use it again. I now started working on a baby raglan sweater. I will finish it while listening to the birds singing and the peepers because until fall nature will be broadcasting more in audio then video. The present audio clip is the sound of rain falling...bad thing is that it is making me sleepy.