We had two more inches + of snow yesterday afternoon and evening. We have several dozen birds at the feeders this morning eating sunflower seeds like there is no tomorrow ... our feeder up by the back porch has about 25 golden finches, a few juncos and two cardinals. Our feeders down by the woods have a broader assortment of birds.
Occasionally a red-tailed hawk or sparrow hawk (actually American Kestrel / a falcon, as Uncle Glen has pointed out on occasion) will raid the feeders. I had not seen the red-tailed hawk in action until the other day when our local resident hawk flew across the side yard at about 40 mph at two feet off the ground into a group of mostly mourning doves ... panic set in and there were birds flying in ever direction ... not sure the hawk was actually successful or not ... I love watch our hawks and owls.
Today we were to have our last conditioning session for softball ... this has been postponed to next Monday after school. Tryouts start on Tuesday and of course we will not be busy nearly daily until June.
Working on my AP Bio Cheat sheet this morning ... we are now in Plan Z. We will get in all our labs but, some content will have to be sacrificed. The biggest problem is that students will not have enough time to digest the material and review ... we have missed so much school and of course, we will have to take the test in May regardless of the days we miss.
Yesterday, I walked on the last of the clover seed (yellow sweet and ladino) on the fields where I planted hairy vetch and austrian peas last fall. It was snowing and easy to see where I had been when walking back and forth across the field. The farmer's legend is to seed on the snow in the dark of the moon in February and as the snow melts, the seed is taken into the ground and germinates at a high rate ... we'll see.
Yellow sweet clover is not native and a biennial ... our soils are low pH which is not good for clover and we will not have blooms this year for our bees.
We still have 15 hives buzzing ... but February and March is a critical time as honey stores run low. I have put in a protein patty and some sugar candy (one batch = 7.5 lbs sugar, 1 pint of corn fructose syrup, 2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar ... bringing to boil, mix at 180 degrees and pour) on a warm day about two weeks ago ... if it warms up this weekend, I will open the hives and check to see if they are using it for food and if there is still capped honey in the top frames.
Lots of seed and bee catalogs coming in the mail over the last few weeks ... something to read at night instead of doing school work ... Walter T Kelley's Bee catalog is local and better that it has ever been but my favorite bee catalogs are Betterbee and Bushy Mountain Bee Farm. I still like the Stokes Seed Catalog which I have used for years.
Allen County Beekeepers will meet on Monday evening ... 7:00 pm at the Allen County Extension Office / downtown Scottsville.
http://www.allenkybees.com/
Hopefully we will have school tomorrow!
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