The Birds and the Bees

Summer has arrived at TelltheBees, and with it, a few changes among the residents of this place we call home.

This little henny is sitting so faithfully on a wee little nest under our new screen porch. Hopefully we'll have itty bitty banties soon!

Jake found this chickadee nest in a hollow log a few weeks ago. Last week I discovered they'd hatched!

We had these three male ducks that, though handsome, were pretty rude (ahem) to the rest of the flock. They're gone now, and everyone is much happier. One set of their wings went home with our friend from Vermont to become a headdress of sorts!

Jake drove to Honey Glow Farm in Owen, WI on Saturday to pick up a new single of bees.

Now we have two colonies of honeybees in residence at the back of the garden, and along with the weather, are helping our vegetable and flower gardens go gangbusters.

Case in point: Peony blossoms as big as baby's heads!

Best of all, we have a new human at TelltheBees too!

Alexander Birch was born on April 25 in Wausau, WI and joined our family forever on May 22.

We're all settling in together quite nicely.

Summer is off to a wonderful start here, and we hope it is at your place, too.

Watch your back, Rutherford Domingo.

I've been attacked by the roosters before, but always for a "reason," like taking eggs from the nest boxes, or picking up one of the hens to pet. They kind of flap up and come at you slashing their feet. The little one is all talk. He's about a pound. His name is Napoleon, and not for nothing.

That big one though: MAN, he's an asshole. 

I'm home alone this afternoon, enjoying the beautiful weather, walking around the yard still in my work clothes and flip flops, and out of nowhere this guy with the fancy name comes flapping and puffing and flying at me. I'm in the middle of the yard- I search frantically for a gardening implement, a stick, something, but he gets me once on the foot. And again, twice, on the shin. Oh, it smarts!
I start kicking, screaming "NONONOYOULITTLESHIT!" and "ECHO,GETHIM!" and backing up to hide behind a tree. Then I stay there, peering around the trunk, and darting to either side as he flings himself at me.
Echo is absolutely no help. He inexplicably kills friendly chickens with no warning, but pretends not to notice when his person is being attacked by one. Thanks, buddy.

AND, I stew, as I bob and weave, Jake thinks its my fault! He says the roosters and the hissy geese can "smell my fear," or something ridiculous like that. How can you not be afraid of feathery flapping creatures with razors on their feet? Plus, Jake did have a small bloody gash on his head last week from last week when he poked his head in the coop to look for eggs and met Rutherford. So there!

After about ten minutes, the rooster drifted away enough for me to make a break for the house. I gave him and his ladies a wide berth.

And now, thrice puncture-wounded, I plot.

Oysters

The morels have pretty much stopped coming up around TellTheBees... or perhaps the mayapples and gallium and jack-in-the-pulpits and whatnot have gotten too big and green for one to be able to find any morels. These oyster mushrooms, though, are big and pale and grow in clusters on logs- easy to find, and easy pickings. They smell of anise, and are heavy. So dense, they'd be grillable, I believe! The pound or so I found yesterday was sauteed with some garden chives to embellish some duck eggs for dinner last night. So good!

I'm excited to keep sampling more wild foods... a friend recently made a ramp pesto which I'd like to reproduce, and I have my eyes on nettles and raspberry leaves and my sights set on berry season.

May your week be fruitful!

horseradish!

A gardening co-worker left a styrofoam cooler of horseradish bulbs in my classroom last spring. I planted them, and in March up popped some beautiful plants.

Today, finally, after several afterschool consultations with said coworker, I dug up the bulbs and cleaned them off and trimmed them. I had been advised to do all of this outside.

I cut up the roots and added honey and white vinegar and chopped in a food processor for a very long time.

The resulting sauce is very mild and smooth, but with all the distinctive flavor of horseradish.

Adding the vinegar later rather than right after chopping would have meant more spice- vinegar, or another acid, stops the chemical reaction which occurs when the horseradish is grated.

One jar for my coworker, one jar for me. There's an epic dinner party in the works- Springtime Hunter/Gatherer/Gardener - and I'm imagining mixing this horseradish with cream as a sauce for grilled duck... ?

Happy spring. Its really here now.

duck surgery

This week, our Black Swedish duck named Penguin had been hanging back, often found alone, resting under mayapples while her cadre of three male Welsh Harlequin ducks stood guard. Upon examination, Jake diagnosed Bumblefoot, a painful infection that very occasionally occurs in the feet of ducks and chickens.

We keep a bucket o' duck first aid kit supplies, including gauze, tape, an X-acto Knife, antibiotic ointment and antibiotics for mixing into drinking water, and vanilla extract, which supposedly scares away the biting flies that devasted our 2011 generation of chicks.

While I held her, Jake cut open and drained spots on both of Penguin's feet. Then she had a utility sink bath, which she loved. I know this because she was so obviously grunt-quacking with pleasure.

After she was done, which she made clear to us by flinging herself out of the tub and trying to climb into the washing machine, we dried her off and wrapped up her wounds.

Hang in there, Penguin.

She'll sleep for the rest of the week in a dog kennel on the screen porch, with antibiotic water and fresh food. Hopefully she won't move around too much. The three males will stand guard right outside the screen all day! By Sunday, she should be as good as new.