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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] What wildlife did you conserve and observe today
  • Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2006 10:26:43 -0500


I was working on the chicken coop and something moving caught my eye. It was a walking stick, and a large one at that!

We have been enjoying the same here. One is currently dining at our kitchen window. It mostly hides by not moving, then moves and snacks.

The big story at Heartwood is nuts. Neighbor-friends have collected two trailer loads of our black walnuts, including the fattest any of us can recall. One huge tree bore not last year, we speculate on whether late frost hurts walnut fruit set as it does peaches. All that saved energy resulted in a huge crop of mammoth nuts this year. The big butternut tree down by the stream has also dropped a large crop. It suffers the canker that has spread across its range so we plan for success with personal nurseries, hoping to preserve what natives call white walnuts.

Not being outdone by walnuts, white oaks have carpeted the yard with their fruit. One meanders from house to outhouse with serious crunch. Reminds me of the "nightingale floor," in Kyoto that was designed to alert the guard sleeping at his warlord master's bedroom door. An intruder here would announce himself to Benny with the first three steps. During morning sits, nut knocks on tin roof are many per page. Going out barefoot at night to pee is to endure involuntary accupressure.

Squirrels are grinning. Some predict the result of the nut supermarket will be a future tick invasion. The theory is that the squirrel population will explode and the ticks with it. So many acorns should increase turkey population, too. I look forward to increased gobble thunder echoing through the hollow.








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