LBJ's

LBJ comes from the birding world. It stands for Little Brown Jobs and refers to the many small brown coloured birds that you often see flitting through branches or feeding under your bird table. Your expert birder would know a chifchaf from a willow warbler, but to me they both look the same. Small. Brown, with a pointy beak. I actually know how to tell the difference between the two on their call. The chifchaf goes chif-chaf, chif-chaf and the willow warbler doesn't. That's that sorted then.
At this time LBJ's are in abundance. Most baby birds are small and brown so they can hide more easily from predators and the adult birds are often tatty looking because they've spent all their time and energy feeding the young ones.
But I never worry if I can't identify a bird. It doesn't stop it being fascinating to watch them. Whether they are pulling seeds out of seed heads or picking insects out of the hedgerows, don't worry about their names just marvel at their antics.

the look and taste of a thing

While I am out working in the field I am always listening to my ipod. (other mp3 players are available). The other day I was listening to the alternative kitchen garden podcast. There was a commentry about heritage vegetables. Heritage vegetables are vegetables that our fathers and grandfathers grew but are now becoming more scarce. On the podcast it was said that in the last few decades farmers have been asked to produce uniform, "good looking" vegetables where appearence was more important than taste. That made me think. The vegies I buy from my local supermarket do look nice, all the same size and colour. Compared to my home grown produce, supermarket vegies should be better, but just smell and taste the home grown ones and you'll find a world of difference. My folks grew tomatos commercially and the thing I remember is the smell. I'd bring a bucket of freshly picks tomatos up to the shop and all the customers would take a big breath and admire the distinctive smell. You knew from the smell that they'd taste good. And they did.
So if you have access to locally grown produce, or can get to a farmers market buy some fruit and veg, then go to the supermarket and get some of theirs. Once you are home try a taste test. You'll be amazed. Especially the strawberrys, ooh fresh strawberrys grown locally are fabulous. Locally grown food tastes and smells good. And hopefully you'll be persuaded to source your food locally or even grown your own.

Wasps

Most folk are a little afraid of wasps. They have a reputation for being meaner than bees. Bees give us honey and a bee will die if it stings someone so its a last option for a bee. Wasps on the other hand can sting as many times as it wants. Today when I was checking my compost bins I discovered that one of them has become the home to a beautiful wasps nest. I didn't get a long look at it because wasps can be very defensive of their home. I put the lid back on quietly and let it be.
Wasps actually do a lot of good in the garden. They are hunters and will take a lot of the pests that do damage in the garden. Their nests look papery and in a sense they are. The wasps will chew bits of wood and then use that and saliva to build the nests.
So in a way, the wasp is as much a gardeners friend as the ladybird. If the wasps nest is out of the way, then leave it alone. Over the summer they'll kill many garden pests.
In the winter, quietly check the nest. The wasps will have left. The queen will have holed up somewhere to sleep out the cold and the workers will have died. If the nest looks empty, take a closer look. It is amazingly fragile and beautiful.
Perhaps wasps aren't that scary after all.

extreme weather

As a British citizen, there is nothing I like more than talking about the weather, except maybe a nice cup of tea. And a cake. My ideal morning is sitting around drinking tea, eating cake and talking about all the rain we had in June or the amazingly hot and sunny April. Extremes in weather are fascinating, but as a small holder they are extremely important. Bad weather needs to be anticipated, do I need to protect the plants in the polytunnel in cold weather Give extra feed to the horses during heavy rains, check nothing can blow away during the gales.

But extreme weather can be enjoyed. I can remember standing outside one January night. It was -14C and there was not a breath of wind or cloud in the sky. We're lucky to not have any man made light pollution. It was amazing. Sooo many stars, sooo silent. It didn't feel that cold. But I've also been stuck in a howling snow storm, the car buffeted by the gusts, snowdrifts growing before my eyes. That was definitely cold. Last summer we had some really hot days. Weeks went by with little or no rain, (not like this summer). I'd sit outside until 11pm marvelling at the warmth and listening to the drone of the insects.

Regardless of what the weather is doing, I'm always reminded of a comment by Billy Connolly, who lives at Strathdon, not far from here. He said, there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing

Pete