Spring!

 

Pasque Flower at Prairie Hill Farm

 

It isn't spring on the Tallgrass until the Pasque Flowers bloom!  Our south pasture gravel slope has Pasque Flowers near the crest of the hillside and they were clearly happy this spring!  One thing I did not notice however, was any pollinators.  Yet the blooming occurred for about 2 weeks and I certainly wasn't out there all the time to check.

 

Pasque Flowers at Prairie Hill Farm

 

 

We did manage some spring burns this year, and were able to rest the largest hillside in the north pasture, to allow it to rest a year.  We burnt the NW hillside which hadn't burned since the winter of 2022; and burned the NE bottom triangle for the first time in 3 years as well. 

I like the idea and practice of rotations, hopefully will give the invertebrates a break here and there.

About 1/3 of the south pasture was burned last fall and then seeded.  I've already been in there with some grass herbicide to help knock the brome down a bit and allow some newer seedlings an opportunity to get a head start.  I do have hopes of some decent moisture there...its a very gravelly hillside over there and doesn't seem to retain much moisture through the summer months...its been a struggle over the years getting that pasture to thrive, particularly because of the 4 straight drought years we've had.

 

"Whiskey" the Red-tailed Hawk!

On an ending note here, Whiskey the Red-tailed Hawk male was brought out to the acreage by our Falconer friend to be released back into the wild.  It was a bittersweet moment but still fun to watch.  Birds of prey are lawfully released by licensed Falconers if they were wild caught birds.  Whiskey had been caught 2 years back in November, and just west of here a few miles.  If a Falconer has a "captive raised" bird, they are not allowed to release them.  

Georgie and I watched Whiskey off and on for a week and a half, when he occasionally stopped by the acreage to hunt on his own.  The last time we saw him, he had caught something in the south pasture and sat on our hayrake for a bit.  We are hoping he finds a mate and finds a place to set up house!  Whether that's in the area or further north - who knows?  Best of luck Whiskey!!!

 But hey, it's Spring - lets get out there and enjoy it!!!

 Please treat each other well - we are all in this together.  Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

It's Almost Here!!!

 

Eric Harrold and his Red-tailed Hawk "Whiskey"

Had a fun experience yesterday afternoon here on the acreage - Eric Harrold and his dog Daisy and Red-tailed Hawk "Whiskey" came for a rabbit hunt. Whiskey caught a really large (buck? Forgot to check) Cottontail! Was fun to watch the hunt!

"Whiskety" the male Red-tailed Hawk up close

"Whiskey" on the hunt!

I confess I was so enamored with Whiskey that I completely forgot to get shots of Daisy! (Sorry!!!) Daisy would run through the tall grass here and flush the rabbits out for Whiskey to stoop on. The first bunnies ran to our now giant wood pile - remember the huge tree falling here in October?

A great catch - Cottontail rabbit!

But we got lucky and a large rabbit flushed out of the south pasture, un-nerved by the dog and the hawk. It was caught and quickly dispatched by Whiskey...both Georgie and I got to see this in action!

Eric will clean and butcher the rabbit for Whiskey - birds of prey all need wild meat - Whiskey caught it - he gets it...just like in nature.

Hope Eric comes back as we still have tons of Cottontails!

The first Day of Winter is officially tomorrow!  Then the big day we always waited for as kids - Christmas!!!

I have an announcement of sorts to make for friends that have been on our Christmas Card list for years. I decided this year that I was going to stop creating and printing my own Christmas cards…I’ve been doing our own since 1966 when I did my first cards for my Mom…been doing it every year since!  I decided to finally “retire”!  Ha!!!  

It was actually a hard decision for me but my time and resources are much more limited than it used to be and I need to slow down in certain areas...so I will be posting our Christmas greetings on this blog and through my Face Book pages instead.

That's about 57 years of card designs and printing!  I remember back in the day doing them as linoleum block prints and then silkscreen prints...some cards took 3-4 weeks to print!!!  That's just crazy, but I was a lot younger then!  

Anyway here goes - (Still with our heart felt feelings!)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Be good to one another - Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!