BHF ~ Photo of the Day 5/20/15

Clarke's Beltony Blue Shelling Pea blossom

I was getting pretty impatient to finally see a blossom on our peas and today was the day - times three! This is the Clarke's Beltony Blue in flower. We also had a pair of blooms on our He Lan Dou snow peas. Today was a good day in the garden!

Carrots!

Sixteen pounds of them!

Among them, this... er... showpiece -

You're welcome 

Today's Take - 6/30/13

Russian Red Kale - 14 ounces
Lavender - 6 ounces
Greek Oregano - 4 ounces
Eggs - 4 (Somewhere there is a hidden nest of Guinea eggs that runneth over. D'oh!)

Oregano, Lavender and a lone little volunteer Hollyhock flower 

I'm hanging the herbs and flowers to dry this week, as it is too durn hot for this Washingtonian girl to even consider firing up the food dehydrator. So I have half a dozen little rubber-banded bundles of lavender and oregano hanging on on unused picture hangers and oddly placed nails here and there around the living room and pantry. 

Six ounces of lavender isn't all that much of a harvest, but Billy's honeybees are so digging the stuff right now that I was reluctant to take any more. Maybe next week if the plants are still going strong.

Weird Bugs!

Scarlet and her buddy, Sanne, found this pair of beetles with a recently deceased shrew in our bottomland today.

A little googling and picking the brain of my entomologist friend, Glenn, tells me that these are carrion beetles, but exactly what sort, we're not quite sure.

Regardless, the way that carrion beetles work is pretty fascinating, if you have the stomach for that sort of thing.

A male scopes out a "good" corpse, then sets about advertising the fact via pheromones. Eventually, if he's lucky, a lady beetle is thus wooed, and together they work to move and bury the carrion, preventing this tempting treat from being stolen by another carrion fan.

The new couple either bury the body where they find it, or transport it a short distance away (usually about a meter) by crawling under the carrion, flipping themselves upside down and "walking" the corpse (picture a bucket brigade handing buckets of water on down the line) forward a smidge, then either passing the load on to their partner, or repeating the whole exhausting process themselves. From what I've read, these beetles can lift something like 200 times their own body weight! This shrew must have been easy-peasy for them.

After burying their find, the female lays eggs in a chamber just above the burial site. The eggs hatch into larvae, which are then fed the carrion by their parents, via regurgitation, until they are able to go and dine on their own. Some bug sites suggest that the number of eggs laid by the female is proportionate to the size of their "meal".

I find their whole life cycle nasty, yet fascinating. The most unique characteristic though, is the fact that a mated pair stays together to prepare for and raise the young. That's pretty uncommon in most wild animals, and, I'm told, is extremely uncommon in insects of any kind.

So there you go - gross yet informative Boggy Hollow factoid of the day.

Carrion, my wayward bug! ;)

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 5/22/11

Two of the seven Long-Toed Salamanders "rescued" and relocated by Scarlet, just ahead of the plow. I think someone has been watching a few too many reruns of Billy the Exterminator. ;)

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/28/11

Happiness is... a 90% successful germination rate! My inner-statistician (Wait, I have one of those?!?) is doing a happy dance right now. :)


Peas, peas, peas! Mammoth Melting, Oregon Sugar Snap & Lincoln Homesteader

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/25/11

The new coop, in progress. Keep chipping away at it, Farmer Bill, those babies chickies are growing fast!

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/20/11

Some funky freaky fungi that I found in two out of three of our compost bins. Does anyone recognize it?

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/18/11

Do not adjust your monitors! This is what good, home grown, organic egg yolks look like.

These beauties became part of the Guinness Chocolate Ice Cream that I made for my husbands birthday. Not to toot my own horn, but that stuff was AMAZING. Check out the recipe over on Girl Gone Granola. :)

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/17/11

In lieu of shamrocks...


A Kentucky Wonder pole bean sprout, stretching toward the light. Happy St. Patty's Day!

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/16/11

Best. Coffee cup. EVER. Thanks, Lib!

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/13/11

Two of Fritzen's triplets, Buckley and Oreo. They're going to be a month old tomorrow! I can hardly believe it!

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/12/11

This is an old fireplace that sits just off of back porch under some very old cedar trees, slowly being consumed by runaway English ivy. I have dreams of cleaning it up and turning it into a bread oven. :)

BHF ~ Photo of the Day 3/11/11

Our visiting Great Blue Heron, "Wilma", snacking on frogs in our bog.