In the Spring of the Year -- 2015-- Part II: Things Spring Forth from the Earth

Pandion haliaetus

 An osprey; we were watching it eat what we thought was a fish, but in the blown-up

version, it looks more like another bird. But according to Wikipedia, their diet is 99% fish....

The Tipple Tree

 Now that the dock is in reasonably good repair, we have been going down there in the evening

to hear the frog serenade and watch the wildlife.

More Grapes

 We have four varieties, but only two did well last year.

Wildflower Surprise

 With that wildflower mix down in the circle, you never know what will come up at any given time.

Mudcats Game

 We enjoy an outing to a Carolina Mudcats game (at Mudcat Stadium).

Chrysemys scripta

 The Pond Slider or Red-eared Turtle. This one is probably looking for a place to lay its eggs.

Unfortunately the eggs often make a breakfast for various other critters.

Terrapene carolina

 An endangered Eastern Box Turtle. This one was crossing our dirt road, so we

expedited its trip to the other side.

Baling Crew

 We go to a farm to pick up some hay right out of the field. (This way they don't have to put it up.)

We had to wait while they fixed a problem with the baler.

Four dozen and seven.....

 48 bales in the trailer and 7 in the bed of the truck.

Elaphe obsoleta

 A Black Rat Snake taking possession of the road.

Part of the Herd

 Deer in the distance, looking forward to the soybeans that will be growing here this summer.

Evening on the Pond

We usually take a camera with us, when we go down to the dock in the evening, 

hoping for some good shots. (1/400 at f 7.1, ISO 400, "vivid" feature on low)

In the Spring of the Year -- 2015--Part I: Surviving the Winter

Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis

 Seven (can you believe it?) years ago I made a circular garden out here.

The soil layer there is gravely, and virtually nothing would grow well there.

Last year we threw down some wild flower seeds we got from the NC Dept. of Transportation.

This is an early survivor.

Grape vines pruned, mulched, and ready to go.

Tiny Grapes-to-be, we hope.

Looks like it might be a good year, if nothing goes wrong.

Blackberry blossoms

 The blackberries had a rough year, but are coming back.

Hops

Bought a hops plant last year on impulse, and it survived the winter!

Wish we had saved the label, because unsure of the variety. Hops is hard to grow from seed, 

because the seeds have to be "layered" for a few months, or they won't germinate.

Blueberries

The blueberries also had a rough year, prey to some kind of virus, 

and they don't like too high a pH in the soil.

Rhubarb

This rhubarb was started from seed 6 years ago, and is still going strong.

It's kind of an oddity here in the South, because it prefers cooler weather.

Adjoining field

Yellow flowers (weeds) in a nearby field.

Green Pastures

Got a nice rainy day after we put nitrate fertilizer down on the pastures.

Sylvilagus floridanus

The Eastern Cottontail planning his attack on the gardens.

Le Cerf Agile

 Another critter visits to eye the greenery (tomato plants).

"Volunteer" Posies

Threw some wildflower seeds at the edge of the woods a couple of years ago,

and was surprised to see that some of them did well. (Phlox, possibly.)

Bold visitor

Telephoto shot of a visiting deer. There is a herd of nine moving around this and adjacent properties.

Nerodia erythrogaster

A Red-bellied water snake raiding the little "frog pond" right outside our front door.