The Homestone

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The deep breath that is September

 
Early this month the change of season began to make itself known. Bright summer greens being touched with yellows and golds after some pretty chilly nights and frosty mornings.
In our greenhouse where sunflowers volunteer

Pinks are part of the picture too this time of year
 and the ice blue of end of season asters

 Our tiny little guest cabin that awaits installation of an equally tiny wood heater we picked up earlier this summer. There's a sleeping loft and room for two at a small kitchen table...maybe a mandolin and a sketchbook ~ that's about it. I love it!

  The foot bridge and the old pump house...
 our beautiful antique hay rake...
 close up of the old corral gate
 and a brand new swallow 
the day before they all left the meadow for this year.
 
  The colours!! The quiet!! 
and last 
but certainly not least; 
those awesome Aspens
  Here it is in a nutshell from an informative article found on www.nature.com: 

"Aspen form individual patches comprised of numerous stems, termed ramets, each with its own trunk, branches, leaves and a shared root system. All of these structures arose from a single aspen seed, often in the very distant past; while these patches remain connected via root systems, they comprise a single clone.

If the root system between patches is severed, the patches form physiologically separate entities but are generally still considered part of the same clone given that they are composed of genetically identical patches and parts, having been produced vegetatively.

The boundaries of different clones stand out most clearly in the early spring when flowering and leafing-out occur (in that order). Aspen occur as males and females separately, unlike the majority of tree species, which support both male and female reproductive parts on each individual."   And on it goes.  If you have a patch of aspen near you, do you notice the branching habits of each tree are similar and that the trees flower, leaf out and change colour at the same time, the same rate."

Cool, hey?! 
To read the whole article visit  http://goo.gl/MhIxA0 
and as always, thanks so much for dropping by!  
Happy Fall.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

August Days on the meadow

 Haying!  Well and swiftly done.
  We have about 25 acres of hay on our 48 acre homestead.
  
Here the bales are being loaded up into the pit (high and dry) ... 40 ton this year.  The bulk of it will be fed to our neighbors cows through the winter. 
The best part of haying is always the day we can say ... "It's done!"
 And ...
The last of our youngun's are getting ready to be on their way.
 
The Evening Grosbeaks and Swallows and a family of Red Winged blackbirds are tending their young and teaching them the ropes. We'll miss them and always look forward to their return.
 
It's been a busy and productive month.  We dealt with some seriously smokey days from nearby wildfires and some beautiful late summer weather too, which came just when we needed it to get the haying done.  
Now we see Fall tiptoeing about with her paintbrush and watercolours. 
...and Life is Good.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Asters and feathers and summer skies

Its the 28th of July and the evenings are cool.  
The skies have been cloudy dropping rain here and there.  Perfect summer weather.
Asters everywhere

We've been enjoying an abundance of wildlife on the meadow lately.
A pair of Great Blue Herons.  This is the female who posed so nicely for us the other night.
 
Buckie the Beaver is behaving herself ... it is a constant dance to ensure that our 'local' beavers don't strip our land of the beautiful aspens whilst still allowing them to do what beavers do ... We have struck what I think is an amazing balance.  


A quintessential summer scene
 Baby barn swallow sunning his fluff at the kitchen window
and a female gray haired human 
Smiling.
Thanks for dropping by!

Friday, July 18, 2014

This weeks surprise!

 
Announcing a brand new meadow inhabitant. We haven’t seen marmots out here before!!  Pretty pleased to see this little guy and hope he makes it!  He sure has found himself fine accommodations; under our newly renamed cabin:  Marmot House!
 
Marmot on the meadow ~ yeah!