Blackberry Harvest, Blooming and Butterflies ...

We have been picking blackberries for a two weeks from our tame blackberry plants (from Indiana Berry, planted three years ago).  All were developed in the bramble program of the University of Arkansas.  One variety has huge berries!

The grey-headed coneflowers are blooming in our native plant garden and our black-eyed susans are budded and ready to bloom next week.

A Tawny Emperor resting on my truck cab ...

The next two are an American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)... A leaf mimic with a long snout that looks like a leaf petiole.  It is moves around frequently ... not easy to get a picture.  Looks a little like a Red Admiral when its wings are extended.  I saw a couple of Red Admirals this weeek but did not have my camera.

 Several pipevine butterflies were visiting our bee balm this week.

This Monarch spent an hour visiting common milkweed plants in our garden.  It is our eighth Monarch siting of the summer.

Granny is 91!!!

Ms. Conner / Granny (a teacher in Allen county for 40 years) had her 91st  birthday at her home on Thursday.  Over thirty people stopped by and lots of phone calls.   Some picts from the big day below ...

Pollinator Week - Saturday evening ...

Pollinator Week is coming to an end.  Butterflies from a short walk around our flower gardens this afternoon ... Tiger Swallowtail on a Zinnia, Great Spangled Fritillary, Clouded Sufur (?), Pearl Crescent (probably), and American Lady (2)

We have lots of bumble bees working the bee balm ... would probably have to be a long-tongue bee so I am guessing American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus)

Saw one solid black bee working the slender mountain mint this afternoon ... smaller than most bumblebees ... thinking a carpenter bee (Xylocopa sp.  ???)

Pollinator Week continues ...

It rained about a half an inch yesterday ... currently blooming - common milkweed, bee balm, coneflowers, nodding thistle, sunflowers, butterfly weed (past full bloom and putting on pods) and our zinnias.  On the blooming horizon ... ironweed and pokeweed.  Our bee pastures have been bushhogged high over the dutch/new zealand white clover and the clover is still in full bloom.

There are an abundance of bumblebees, our honey bees (preference butterfly weed) and many small bees, beetles and spiders.  The next flight of swallowtails are yet to arrive at our pollinator gardens.

Pollinator Week, Day 2

Day 2 of Pollinator Week ... some pictures from a large patch of nodding thistle (not a native plant that I try to bush hog before going to seed). But, this morning there were bees of all sizes and lots of bumble bees.  A few of the picts below ... the third picture is a snowberry clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis) pretending to be a weird bumblebee.

Our bee balm is in full bloom ... visited often by bumble bees.

Below, our honeybees were all over our sweet corn tassels collecting pollen ... the pollen basket appears full.  A Great Spangled Fritillary checking out one of our purple coneflowers.

Mario Sabatel, World Cup Brasil and Pollinator Week ...

I have not seen a lot of soccer players during my lifetime.  We don't even have soccer at our high school which says something about our high school!  I high jumped against Kyle Rote Jr when in college (he was attending the University of the South - Sewanee) and I lost.  He was a national level decathlon athlete and went on to be one of the first famous American professional soccer players.  However, the best player I ever saw was Mario Sabetel on a night game in Corumba while I was in Peace Corps / Brasil.

Mario was our contact person while Sue Neal and I worked in Corumba at a local rural school.  He loved soccer would be an understatement.  He asked us repeatedly to come watch him play for a local team and one night we did.  It was great and no one played with more passion than Mario (even though he must have been near 40 at the time).  He passed away a few years later from cancer.  He would have been excited with the World Cup being hosted by Brasil this year.  Mario will always be my best player I ever saw play in a match.  He was special in many ways to us!

This week is pollinator week.  Our bumblebee populations are very good and we have had an abundance of butterflies on our farm this year.  We continue to plant milkweeds seedlings as well as nectar plants. Check out the Pollinator Partnership website below ...

http://www.pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2014.htm

A Monarch and a Bobcat ...

Lots of butterflies out today on a mostly sunny day.  This afternoon a Monarch came floating through the yard and stopped at our butterfly weed patch for some nectar.  It looked new so is probably a second flight butterfly and it was a male.  It played tag with a great spangled fritillary female for awhile.  While in the bottom this evening about dark, a bobcat ran out in front of me then off into the woods ...

Butterfly Weed is in full bloom ... 

Last Day of School ... Graduation!

Congratulations to the Class of 2014 ... lots of projects and a few just barely made it.  Good luck to all and stay in touch.

Several people near Scottsville reported seeding a black bear this week.  Seems that Sue Neal's grandmother's prediction of bear returning to Allen County has come true.  Now if it can just stay alive with all the "shoot first" hunters we have in the county.

I finished the first planting of our pollinator garden at school today (1300 square feet).  Had to feel in with some state fair zinnias since I ran out of perennial native plants.  I will fill in with some perennials later.

The common milkweed is coming into bloom on our farm ... not many butterflies yet but, they are beautiful.

Our butterfly weed plants have been blooming for over several days drawing an assortment of pollinators ... At least one is more red than orange.

A compass plant I planted last year has two big leaves ... they are slow growers that can live to be 100 years old.

Our coneflowers are just starting to bloom ... a fibonacci beauty!  55 and 34 spirals ...

Last Day of school ... 2013-14

Today was the last day of school for 2013-2014.  It was a long year, new schedule and lots of hoops to jump through that had very little to do with educating children.  Today in AP Biology, we went over mini-posters from our photosynthesis lab using leaf disks.  I will substitute this lab next year for the chloroplast suspension / spectrophotometer lab we have used for over 20 years.

A summer project will be to prepare for the Computer Programming II class (python, scratch, raspberry pi and several projects interfacing the computer to other electronics).   I have several projects on the farm this summer (mass wildflower planting to harvest seed) and some traveling to do to see family.  Summer vacation will be short.

Teachers have school tomorrow ...

I hope you all have a safe summer ... check in occasionally, I will posting some pictures from the farm.