Beck's Cafe » In The Orchard

Asiatic culprit at large – still

beckscafe — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:00:00 +0000

You may recall my Asiatics “disappeard” (see Link above). My digital camera has returned, so hopefully I’ll be able to nab the culprit (at least on film!). It’s likely the deer. It’s not like we live in the boonies, but, with reduced predators deer need to go someplace. Apparently they need to eat someplace too!

Maybe I should get in on this deal to re-release big-game predators into the U.S. ecosystem…

Missing Asiatics

beckscafe — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:46:34 +0000

We have a nice bed of lillies in our orchard. It contains day and Asiatic lillies, and they are gorgeous. The Asiatic’s were a new import this year into the bed and we have been very happy with their gorgeous pink flowers & the height difference they’ve brought to the bed. Well, HAD might be a better idea. In the mornings, walking out into the orchard, barefoot, cup of coffee in hand, can be wonderful. But then I noticed as I was walking that up on the hill, where the bed lives, something was a miss – the Asiatics! Or more precisely, the flowers and BUDS. Carefully approaching the finely pruned bed I noticed it, the heads had been eaten off. WHAT! The outrage!!

Okay, so who could be the culprit. The day commuting woodchuck that has her daily apples from our apple trees? Hmmm, she might be able to get up on her hind legs. The coyotes? No, he’d be chasing the day commuting groundhog. It could only be deer (well, it could be elk, but we don’t have elk in these parts). Hmm, once my digital camera has been fixed I’ll have to see if I can get a pic of the perp, bud in mouth!

Blackberries!

beckscafe — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 19:00:00 +0000

We have an orchard, almost a suburban farm really. And now something wonderful has happened…the blackberries are ripe!!