Flora and Fauna

To date, we've seen far, far too many slugs and snails. Those are going to be an issue when things finally dry out enough to get the garden started. We've seen one small rabbit, much to the delight of the Spawn. We've seen quite a few frogs and at least one toad. There are small fish of some sort in the stream, along with snails and water striders. We have seen signs of raccoons in the form of tracks and droppings. There are a good few trees that have been shaped by beavers. In the woods, there are plants that appear to have been nibbled by something, but I can't be sure if it's deer or rabbits. Birds, lots and lots of birds. There's a blue jay with a nest RIGHT outside the Spawn's window. We got to watch a red-headed woodpecker pecking away on a dead tree trunk. Millipedes, at least one spider the EXACT colour of a dandelion. Lots of fauna of one sort or another.

With regards flora, lots there too. Blackberry and salmonberry are doing their best to reclaim the whole property. That should be fun. Bamboo by the stream--one of my favourite spots so far. There are more apple trees than I'd realized. I'm contemplating the insanity of actually trying to thin the apples and sock 'em to get usable stuff. The trees have not been, for many, many years pruned to a good size. There are supposed to be filberts in the woods. It'd be nice if I could figure out which ones and see if we can beat the squirrels to some of them. I've acquired a book on wildflowers and have identified skunk cabbage, moonwort and swamp buttercup so far. There are many, many bleeding hearts all over the woods and around the house. There is, to my delight, a lilac bush.

All the various flowers are prime targets for the flower removal machine that is the Spawn. We never come back from a walk without a handful or pocketful of flowers which get stuffed into a canning jar full of water. This is her version of a bouquet. I'm attempting to drill into her that you don't pick ALL of any given type of flower. So far we have lip service but no actual compliance. Luckily we have a lot of most of what's blooming....