Here at my Bedford, New York farm, this winter has been unseasonably mild so far, but it is still a difficult time for wild birds looking for food - there are many chirping visitors at my feeders.
I have a number of bird feeders at my farm, and all the birds love to come by and feast on the seed I provide. I also set out fresh water and cut holes in the burlap covers over the boxwood, so birds are able to take shelter during inclement weather. Helping the wild birds is important to sustain local wild bird populations, but it is also one of the easiest and most beautiful ways to observe and appreciate wildlife and to understand the types of birds that frequent the neighborhood.
Enjoy these photos.
I have long fed the wild birds that visit my farm. Feeders are set up where they are easy to see, convenient to fill, and where seed-hungry squirrels and bird-hungry cats cannot reach them. These are also positioned no more than three feet from the glass to prevent possible collisions.
A long row of bird feeders are hung behind my carport. During winter, more than 10, and during spring and summer a few less. They are checked and refilled every morning around 7am. It’s important that I feed the birds all year long – they depend on it and become accustomed to looking for food here at the same times every day.
Some of the birds perch patiently in nearby trees until they’re ready to feast.
Look closely, one is perched on the roof ready to fly down to the feeder.
I also feel it is important to make sure all the wild birds have access to fresh water. I use one of these double wall metal chicken waterers on top of a heater to prevent freezing. Made of galvanized steel, these waterers are clean, durable and can hold a couple gallons of water.
Some of you may have seen the holes cut out of the burlap here at the farm. I purposely create these holes for the visiting birds. They love to go in and out, especially when it is windy.
All my wild bird seed is stored in galvanized metal cans and kept inside my generator room next to the carport.
When filling the feeders, we use a pole with a hook on one end. Each feeder is carefully removed from its hanging location and refilled on the ground.
Here is a closer look at the pole with the handy hook at the top – it works very well and makes filling these feeders very easy.
This is a wild bird seed mix. This includes white millet, black oil sunflower seeds, striped sunflower seeds and cracked corn. The birds love this seed.
Nyjer is a great seed to offer birds, especially in winter because it contains more oil, and a higher calorie content, so birds can store fat to survive the season.
Every feeder is filled to the top – depending on the time of year, these feeders can quickly empty. Each tube feeder holds about three quart-sized containers of seed.
These tube feeders allow the seed to flow only when birds peck at it, which helps keep any spillage to a minimum.
Many birds prefer tube feeders – hollow cylinders with multiple feeding ports and perches. Tube feeders attract small perching birds such as finches, goldfinches, titmice, and chickadees.
The tufted titmouse is a small songbird from North America. It is rather tame, and active, with an echoing voice, and can often be found near bird feeders especially in winter.
Here’s a male house sparrow. Sparrows are frequent visitors to backyard feeders, where they eat most kinds of birdseed, especially millet, corn, and sunflower seed.
Here’s a downy woodpecker across the carriage road on the granite upright of my pergola. This is the smallest type of woodpecker in North America.
The feeders are visible from my Winter House steps – it’s always so nice to see what bird come to eat at my feeders. I have up to 125 different birds visiting the farm every day.
This is a black-capped chickadee. These birds are highly curious about everything, including humans. Its black cap and bib, white cheeks and gray back, wings and tail make it an easy bird to distinguish and identify.
Some of them go down below to get the seeds that have fallen out of the feeders. A red cardinal is in the foreground. The northern cardinal is a bird in the genus Cardinalis; it is also known as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal. It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, and south through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.
When starting to feed birds, it may take time for new feeders to be discovered. Don’t be surprised if the feeding station doesn’t get birds right away. As long as feeders are clean and filled with fresh seed, the birds will find them. And in summer, guess what? They take care of all the bugs – I never see any pesky flying bugs near my home. Helping the wild birds – it’s a very Good Thing!
My outdoor garden beds are all cleared for the winter, but fresh, delicious vegetables are growing beautifully indoors - in a special greenhouse I had constructed several years ago that was inspired by Eliot Coleman, an expert in four-season farming.
Last week was cloudy and dreary here at my Bedford, New York farm. The deciduous trees are bare, my tropical plants are tucked away in their designated hoop houses, and all the precious boxwood shrubs and hedges are enveloped in protective burlap. During this time of year, it's nice to step into the vegetable greenhouse to see the lush, organic produce thriving.
Enjoy these photos.
This is the exterior of my Vegetable Greenhouse. It is located near my Equipment Barn next to the Hay Barn and one of three hoop houses. This structure uses minimal artificial heat, where many cold hardy crops, such as root vegetables and brassicas, can be grown and harvested through the winter months.
Most of the energy comes naturally through the big windows up above and all around the structure. These windows can be programmed to open for ventilation or cooling when needed.
We built 16 of these wooden garden boxes to fit the entire length and width of the space. Raised bed gardening allows good drainage, prevents soil compaction, and provides protection for those plants that may otherwise get trampled.
Having a greenhouse like this one means we can harvest a lot of vegetables all year long – I use spinach for my daily green juice. Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, and a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron and vitamin B2.
The vegetables always grow so nicely inside this greenhouse. Just look at this cauliflower head. Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea in the genus Brassica, which is in the Brassicaceae or mustard family.
We also have broccoli in this greenhouse. It’s done so wonderfully indoors. To grow broccoli successfully, it must get at least six hours of direct sunlight per day or grow lights timed to provide the same amount of direct exposure. And they need room – each broccoli plant should be allowed at least a couple feet of overall space and six to 12 inches of soil depth.
All my plants are grown organically and have no chemical taste at all. This is the celery – also great for my daily green juice. Celery is part of the Apiaceae family, which includes carrots, parsnips, parsley, and celeriac.
Looking more closely, one can see the familiar crunchy celery stalks.
Here’s our bed of parsley. Parsley is a flowering plant native to the Mediterranean. It derives its name from the Greek word meaning “rock celery.” It is a biennial plant that will return to the garden year after year once it is established.
It’s a real treat to have lettuce like this through the year. I grow lots of lettuce for me and my family.
Some of these lettuces will be picked very soon.
And some will be ready in several weeks. All our vegetables are planted at different times as part of succession planting, a practice of seeding crops at intervals of seven to 21 days in order to maintain a consistent supply of harvestable produce throughout the season. I am a big fan of succession planting. This dramatically increases a garden’s yield, while also improving produce quality.
The Swiss chard stalk colors can be seen through the leaves. They are so vibrant with stems of red, yellow, rose, gold, and white. Chard has very nutritious leaves making it a popular addition to healthful diets. Swiss chard is part of the goosefoot family – aptly named because the leaves resemble a goose’s foot. The most common method for picking is to cut off the outer leaves about two inches above the ground while they are young, tender, and about eight to 12 inches long. Older leaves are often stripped off the plants and discarded to allow the young leaves to continue to grow.
Beet stems are also quite colorful in deep red. Beets are sweet and tender – and one of the healthiest foods. Beets contain a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains, which provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support.
Nearby – the newer beet sprouts just poking through the soil.
Kale is related to cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. There are many different types of kale – the leaves can be green or purple in color, and have either smooth or curly shapes.
Curly leafed kale is usually bright-green and tends to have a strong peppery flavor.
In this bed – beautiful growing turnips. When harvesting, I always gently remove the surrounding earth first to see if the vegetables are big enough. If not, I push the soil back into place. Turnips are smooth flat, round and white vegetables that mature early and are best harvested young – when they are up to two inches in diameter. The flavor is sweet and fruity, and the texture is crisp and tender. Both the root and the leaves of the turnip are edible. The leaves have a taste similar to mustard greens but with a less intense spicy flavor.
Also stored in this greenhouse is this grapefruit tree. Look at all the gorgeous grapefruits that are growing!
In another corner, Carambola, also known as star fruit, native to tropical Southeast Asia. It is a sweet and sour fruit that has the shape of a five-point star. The skin is edible and the flesh has a mild, sour flavor that makes it popular in a number of dishes.
This year, we also decided to try growing strawberries indoors. Homegrown strawberries are so tasty and among the easiest berries to grow. They are cold-hardy and adaptable and can be planted in both garden beds and containers. I am sure they will do very well in this greenhouse.
There’s nothing like the taste of fresh organic vegetables from one’s own garden. By the end of the week, the clouds disappeared and we saw sunny blue skies. Today, we’re expecting snow showers early and more clouds this afternoon with temperatures in the 40s.
If you grow these wonderful fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins. Pruning not only helps to develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. At my Bedford, New York farm, I have many, many apple trees that are pruned every year. Pasang Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew tackled one of the ancient apple trees yesterday.
Enjoy these photos.
My fruit trees are always very productive. These were some of the gorgeous apples from last fall.
The fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well.
Here is the dwarf apple espalier in fall apple picking season – hundreds and hundreds of juicy, delicious fruits. I planted this espalier when I moved here. It is located just behind my long carport not far from my Winter House.
A good number of my apple trees are at least 50-years old, so they were already here when I purchased the property. Here’s one of the ancient trees, with lots of apples ready to pick. To maintain productive fruit trees, they need regular pruning once a year.
And now is the time to prune them. The tree takes up a dormant state after shedding its leaves and before sprouting new buds.
Mature apple trees have a semi-broad trunk with wide, spreading branches. Dwarf apple trees range from 10-feet tall and up, while standard trees can grow more than 20-feet.
The bark of an apple tree is generally gray, scaly, and rough to the touch.
This old tree, with its long branches is supported with natural wood crutches.
Here’s Pasang pruning. He is our resident tree expert and oversees all the smaller tree jobs at the farm. Pruning is best completed before growth starts as cuts will heal quickly. There are two main goals of pruning trees. On young trees, pruning encourages a strong, solid framework. And on mature trees like this, they usually already have their shape determined, so it’s important to maintain their shape and size. Traditionally, apple trees were always encouraged to stay shorter, so apples were easier to reach.
I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Pasang uses this STIHL hand pruning saw. Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape. Smaller twigs are snipped off with regular secateurs. Each member of my outdoor grounds crew has a pair.
Pasang removes the water sprouts. Water sprouts are thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit.
Dead branches, or those without any signs of new growth, are also cut, so the energy is directed to the branches with fruiting buds. Here is an example of a dead branch – the wood is dark and brown.
Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave slight stubs. By removing any more, the remaining branch has too much of an opening for disease to enter. Here, one can see where a cut was made.
Here are some of the apple tree buds. Tree fruit have two types of buds, terminal and lateral buds. Apples flower and fruit on terminal buds. A terminal, or apical bud, is located at the tip of a shoot. A lateral bud develops along the developing shoot at the base of the leaf blade.
Pasang cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, the goal is to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.
Here, he removes crowded branches to help let in light and promote good air circulation.
Once a section is pruned, Pasang pauses and takes a look to make sure nothing was missed. The end goal is to encourage good fruit production.
Pruning stimulates the tree to grow more fruiting spurs by eliminating competing suckers and unproductive wood.
After the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.
Here, one can see that the tree on the right has been pruned while the one on the left has not.
By late afternoon, this apple tree looks great after pruning. I am looking forward to many lustrous green trees heavy with fruits come autumn. Another tree done, with many more to go – keep up the good pruning, Pasang!
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