Same day...two seasons?

   You hear a lot about the crazy weather, as of late.  While it appears that the whole world has been having its share of weird weather related occurrences, it has really has not changed.  Weather has always happened.  What changed is that we are now bombarded with up-to-the-minute "news" about everything.  In other words, we have media overload.  Years back, weather happened everywhere on this old globe but there was not this instantaneous barrage of sensational news headlines to keep us "informed" or rather over informed.  I am not sure it is going to make my day any different if I hear of a rainstorm halfway around the world just as it will not be of importance to anyone on a different continent that the Bayou had an ice storm.  Media overload does nothing but create panic and raises the stress levels.  It is not needed.

  Still...closer to home...as matter of fact...IN my home, it appears that we have had two seasons in one day!  (Now isn't that of the utmost importance?)  I was in the kitchen baking up a batch of Bayou Cheesy Crackers when I noticed the view outside of the kitchen window.  Ahh, lovely!  It was nice to see the deep green leaves of the citrus trees as they are finally looking better after our winter.  Then there were the bright green leaves and red blooms of the Buckeye tree!  Those blooms looked fiery in the bright sunshine!  Springtime was definitely in full swing!  How lovely!  My eyes turned to the other window in the kitchen.  Uh, oh!  The view from that window appeared to be in the dead of winter!  How can that be?  The windows are only about two feet apart yet the views were in such contrast!  The left window showed a happy springtime view where the right one showed browns and grays of winter. 

  Actually, the left window overlooks a part of the yard that was quite dismal just a few weeks ago, the citrus trees had taken a beating but with a lot of trimming and hard work, they are now making a comeback.  The yard is alive again...well, some of it.  The right window overlooks the small Frog Pond backed by the canebrake.  The cane did not fare as well as the other plants and trees.  It is still brown and quite dead looking.  The 500+ canes will need to be cut back and ground for mulch.  Hopefully, new shoots will sprout from the rootstock.  The cutting is something that should have been done weeks ago but other things got in the way.  Now, I hate to do it.  Several birds have nested in the dead canes and small critters have dens among the roots.  All are raising their young and I do not have the heart to disturb that.  The canebrake will have to wait for a more opportune time to be thinned.  

  Still, I found the contrast interesting...on the left, the life only spring can bring and on the right, the death left behind by an unusual ice storm.  Perhaps, I am the only one to view things in this skewed way but, in all fairness, I was not feeling the best today so maybe it is just the brain that is skewed and not the view.  Oh, and yes, I do have hardware cloth on the window (and soon the others).  There are a few of the critters that live around here that stop at nothing to raid a kitchen.  Mere window screens are no match for them!

Little Blooms of Hope

   After the snow and icy weather last month, February has come in as if to say "Hey!  I am spring!  All you plants need to perk up and look alive!"  Well, a lot of the plants and trees are like "Really now?  We are hurting and you want us to be perky?"  So...most continue to look dismally harmed.  The citrus trees really took a beating.  There is not much of a way to protect 20 to 30 ft tall trees and, yes, the grapefruit trees are that tall.  The orange trees are around 10 ft tall but were not "coverable" either. The cold was a bit much for all of the trees and the damage is showing in the form of brown and dropped leaves.  It is saddening that such beauty that the snow brought to the Bayou has dealt a blow on what is here year round. 

  As I wandered the hillside surveying the damaged trees, my heart gave a little leap of happiness seeing a tiny cluster of blooms.  Not everything had perished!  No, not citrus blooms (thankfully) but rather the paperwhite narcissus.  These cold hardy plants were not daunted at all by the 14 degree temperatures and have now brought hope back to the gardens.  I know it is beyond most folks thinking that I can find immense joy in the simple bloom of a lily that is a annual occurrence but, to my way of thinking, any bit of beauty means there is hope that things will soon be back to normal.  Paperwhites are said to represent the coming of spring so maybe soon things will not seem so grim.

  The cleanup of damaged gardens is in full swing as is the cleanup of fallen leaves.  The leaves will be ground and returned to the gardens as mulch.  Hopefully, what was seen as damage can help with the regrowth.  Also, hopefully, this bout of springlike weather will not encourage the off-season blooming that often happens after ice storms.  I would have preferred that February had stayed chilly and let things have a dormant stage before pushing them into a premature revival state.  Slow down, plants.  Take your time.  Let the healing be the number one priority.

Life in the Orange Trees

   A massive cleanup of the yard is in full swing.  There were so many back-to-back hurricanes and tropical storms crashing through the area that we never completed one cleanup before another had to begin.  Usually, those were put off as much needed repairs were done first.  Now, however, there has been just enough break for us to really make progress in areas that were neglected...neglected far too long.  This cleanup has brought some giggles...some tears...and a lot of achy muscles but...we are making progress.  

  While doing this cleanup, Son noticed that there were termites literally infesting the live citrus trees.  I was wondering why so many looked rather puny this year but never expected it to be termites.  He started treating the ground around the trees and I started lopping off any limbs that looked compromised. It is just about to the point that we should fully take out the whole grove but we will try to salvage any that we can.  It was on one of those "lopping frenzies" that I had to stop and enjoy one of those miracles of life situations.  A Great Swallowtail was just emerging from its cocoon!  This was interesting enough but then I found an Orange Dog Caterpillar on the same tree!  How neat to find two stages of the same type butterfly!  Too bad neither of these eat termites.

Snow White...Pear Blossoms!

   For the past month, we have had just about every "false" spring that could be dumped on a place.  We have even had a few "false" summer days added for good measure.  Now, however, Mother Nature has said "Enough of that!" and plans for us to have a winter weekend.  This is not good!  All of the citrus trees already have tiny fruits set and the pear and plum trees are in full bloom!  What are you thinking, Mother Nature??  I guess tomorrow will find me lugging those potted house plants back into the greenhouse and finding enough things to make temporary covers for the tomato, squash and pepper plants in the garden.  Yep, I did do that.  I planted far too early but the temperatures being in the 80s convinced me that our cold times were over.  Not so.

  So...winter is not over until Mother Nature makes up her mind and there is not a thing we can do about it other than accept it.  Mom always warned Pop about planting too early..."You know we are going to get that Easter freeze..." I can hear her now reprimanding me for the same thing.  I am far too like Pop and the older I get, the more that is evident.   Easter freeze???  Does that mean that this is not our last cold spell for the season?  Easter is still weeks away!

Endings and Beginnings

   The day started out cloudy, cool and with high humidity.  Any normal person would have most likely snuggled deeper under the blankets and said "Let things take care of themselves for a while."  Not me.  As soon as the sun started peeping over the pines on the far side of the Bayou, I headed to the citrus trees to see if any could be salvaged after that spell of cold last month.  Our plants, like us, down here in the Deep South are not accustomed to days on end of freezing temperatures.  The trees look bad.  So...I started clearing the dead branches in hopes of salvaging what I can.

  One thing about the cold is that it makes even evergreens like citrus lose their leaves.  That loss uncovers a lot of things.  While working on the trees, I made careful note of any "keepers" and let the branch stay.  Keepers being egg cases of beneficial critters. There are both endings and beginnings to be found here. One lemon tree had several nice praying mantis egg cases.  The cases were still firm and showed no signs of damage so I was careful to leave each one.  Hopefully, the cold did not bother the eggs and hopefully no other critter will come along and raid the case.  I can use as many of these as will hatch.  They are indeed friends of the garden.

  Like I said, the citrus trees look bad but perhaps not all is lost.  Some still have "green" closer to the main stalk.  Our crop may be pitiful this next fall but that is to be understood.  It does make me glad that I froze gallons of the juice and made marmalade and jelly with the rest of the fruit.  We will have plenty to keep us happy until the trees recuperate.  Now if we can get through the next several months without a repeat performance by Mother Nature.  I love winter but not when it dips down cold enough for long enough to damage the trees.  For now, I will happily trim the trees and guard the egg cases of the garden friends.

Tableful of Marmalade!

   Finally, I can put a major chore behind me for at least another year...maybe longer if the hard freeze of a few weeks ago did extreme damage to the citrus trees.  As of now, they are bare of leaves and not looking so good.  Just a month ago, the trees were heavy laden with fruit.  Since (at that time) both Mark and Son were laid up with injuries, guess who lugged out the ladder and picked all of those bushels of fruit?  Yep, me.  Old ladies and ladders are not the best of friends and the constant up/down and stretching made for much achiness.  Then...what do you do with some twenty or so bushels of satsumas, navel oranges and grapefruit?  After pushing off a dozen bushels on unsuspecting folk who said they would take a "few", my work began in earnest.  Satsumas and grapefruit were juiced and then frozen and navel oranges were chopped and turned into marmalade.  The only citrus fruit left in the house now are about a dozen lemons which will be juiced and used in baked goodies and tisanes. 

  Sometimes I wonder if all of this hard work is worth it but, then, I ponder the state of this country and sit back, sigh and feel a bit of relief that the shelves are filled with foodstuffs.  As Son once said, "There is probably enough food in jars and the freezers to feed us for about three years.  It may not be particularly our favorite food but we can eat."  That last sentence is in reference to his tastes not mine.  I can eat just about anything edible.  

  So, now comes the fun of finding shelf space for forty four more jars of food.  Biscuits!  Buttermilk biscuits and marmalade sound mighty fine!  

Almost Time!

   For the past week or so, I have spent my mornings readying the gardens for the winter crops.  The tiny seedlings were in dire need of their permanent growing spots so there was a lot of digging, hauling mulch and watering.  Planting during a drought has its drawbacks but still cabbages will not grow unless given space...plenty of space.  So...for 10 days, I worked...hard.  I am tired but several hundred tiny plants are now situated where they are to spend the next couple of months.  Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens, radishes, beets, chard and peas are all happily growing.  Now, I have a few minutes to breathe and tend to other chores!

  As I was taking a break from planting, I wandered back to check the citrus trees. While the grapefruit trees have seen better days, the others are doing fine.  My poor grapefruit trees were treated to some bad soil (my mistake...never trust anyone to bring good dirt....it does not happen).  My next chore will be to pull back the tainted dirt and clear the area, put in some of my mulch and hopefully save the trees.  The satsuma, navel orange and lemon trees are loaded with fruit, however!  They did not receive any side-dressing of the bad dirt.  While looking at the fruit, I could hardly resist from pulling one to taste.  I kept reminding myself...not yet!  Let them get sweeter.  It was hard!

  If all goes well, the citrus fruit should be ready to harvest just when the grandkids finally get to come to the Bayou after all of these years.  The plan is that they will be able to come for Thanksgiving.  I sure hope so.  Hopefully, they will not mind helping their old grandma pick the fruit like they did four years ago.  It has been a long time.

Orange Tree Frogs!

   No, our tree frogs are not orange.  They are green just like most tree frogs in our yard.  But!  These little froggies seem to really love living in the citrus trees so...hence, the "orange tree" frogs! 

  Actually, I am really happy to find the frogs living in among the leaves of the fruit trees.  For a while, the whiteflies were causing major problems for all of the citrus trees and I resorted to spraying apple cider vinegar on each tree in the small orchard.  The vinegar did the job after several sprayings but it was quite the chore to reach the tiptop of the trees.  The grapefruit trees especially since they are some thirty feet tall.  Climbing fruit trees is not something I wish to do.  Well, climbing trees in general...I am old.  Anyway, after two seasons of battling the whiteflies, I thought I had won.  Then...two years later, the bugs were back making a mess of the trees.  Sickened, I prepared to wage war again but, as I began to spray, I noticed the frogs were eating the critters!  Well, now!  Immediately, the apple cider vinegar went back to being a kitchen staple instead of bug spray!

  That was several years ago and since the froggies have taken up residence (and immediately started multiplying), there are a lot less bugs of all kinds.  Yes, I have thousands of frogs climbing everywhere but I do think they are better than the garden pests...and...they are a lot cuter.  Carry on, Little Froggies! 

Its A Neighborly Thing

   A while back, I mentioned how the color orange seems to be tied to a lot of things during fall.  Leaves, pumpkins, the moon, persimmons, etc. all are related to fall in one way or another.  This afternoon, I noticed yet another...orange...or oranges in this case.  The citrus trees are starting to show the ripening of the fruit.  In another week or so, we will have more citrus fruit than we can use. The excess will be carefully picked, wiped clean and boxed to bring to our elderly friends.  A lot of them remember growing citrus trees in their yards and a sampling of the fruit brings a lot of smiles...both theirs and ours.  Sharing the bounty from our gardens is something that I learned from growing up on the farm.  Pop sold his crops but if he found someone in need, he never hesitated to load up the old truck with bushels of produce and share it.  He often would bring enough for a family to can for the winter.  It was/is the neighborly thing to do. 

  Since the trees are so heavily laden with fruit, Son had to build props for under most of the limbs.  Had he not done so, there was a huge chance that the trees would have broken by this time.  Come January, all of the citrus trees will need to be deeply pruned to prevent this from happening again.  A good pruning helps the trees to remain healthy.  Pruning, fertilizing and carefully watching for mildew or black spot is all done before the next buds show.  

  Today, I started collecting boxes to be used in sharing the oranges and making my list of names so I will not forget anyone. Once again, folks, it is the neighborly thing to do.  In this day and time, it seems that greed and neglect has become the norm and helping others has gone the wayside.  Be generous, folks, be kind.

The Littlest Frog

   During the recent tropical storm, I had to escape the confines of the Little Bayou House.  While it is not normally my nature to traipse about in hurricanes, tropical storms are a different story.  They sort of beg to be explored.  The winds were whipping pretty heavily on the east and south sides of the house but the north side was blocked and relatively calm.  Occasionally, a huge gust would find its way between the shed and house and wobble things about a bit but those gusts were scarce.  I did have to watch for torrential downpours that came unannounced and suddenly.  My short hikes were interesting with lots of "finds". 

  At one point, I hunkered down under the orange trees to escape the rain.  The thick leaves served well as a makeshift umbrella for a few moments.  It was there that I had a perfect view of the Frog Pond and its inhabitants.  It was also there that I got the gut-wrenching feeling that a cottonmouth might be lurking in the same thicket.  That ended that!  Once the rain stopped, I eased closer to the little pond to watch the frogs.  It was morphing time for the tadpoles!  Dozens of tiny green tree frogs were gaining the legs and were learning to swim using them instead of a tail.  One tiny froglet was having the most fun scooting itself across the water.  It got adventurous and decided to swim all the way across the pond to the lily pads.  With just inches to go, it tired.  Poor tiny tot was exhausted!

  Just in the nick of time, a wispy, hair-thin fiber floated out from the lilies and offered assistance.  Yeah, I made that up.  The fiber just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.  The little froglet grasp hold to the fiber and held tight. It had a resting spot!  The thread was sturdy enough to hold the frog and allow it to regain its strength.  Soon, the tiny froglet was able to climb up in the lily pads and hide from any predators.  Hopefully, the ribbon snake that was in the garden will not venture into the pond.  Last spring, that rascal ate dozens upon dozens of the baby tree frogs.  My little guy sure better watch its step!  It is far too tiny to do much exploring at this stage.

Creeping In...

  Despite have a couple of cool nights, I think spring must have come slipping in without big fanfare.  Lady Spring has a way of letting us know by subtle hints before bursting forth in all her glory.  A tiny wood sorrel bloom, a bird calling for its mate or just a warm night can bring joy because these are harbingers of what is to come.  Usually, here on the Bayou, one of our first clues is hordes of gnats.  This year, however, those gnats never disappeared so their presence meant nary a thing.  Still, I do believe spring has quietly come.

  As Son and I were working out back near the canebrake, a slight breeze wafted our way and caused me to stop in my tracks!  Yep!  That is the "smell" of spring.  The citrus trees are all pushing out their blossoms and the yard is filled with the sweet scent.  The first to bloom are always the lemon trees followed by the navel oranges then come the satsumas and grapefruit.  What I was smelling today was the navel oranges and lemons!  How delightful!

  Our chores soon took us to the opposite side of the house where I smelled the marsh but found more evidence of spring.  The fig trees were all budding out with new leaves and one had a brave little fig!  There was not a leaf on the tree but a tiny little fig had decided it was time to make a debut!  Ta-da!  I am here!  Oh, little figlet (yeah, I know...not a word but should be!), you may be getting a tad chilly before you are able to mature but I admire your tenacity!

  So, perhaps I did not pull all of the potted plants out of the greenhouse prematurely.   Perhaps, I will not have to drape blankets over said plants because of threatening frost (like last night).  Perhaps...just perhaps Lady Spring is here to stay.

It Tried....

  A few years back, we had a very hard freeze for this far south.  Normally, the Deep South's winters are warm and to have a hard freeze for any a length of time is devastating.  This time, the temperatures nosedived to the low teens and stayed that way for 3 days.  It was hard.  Not so much hard for us as we have the two woodburning stoves to keep the Little Bayou House cozy but hard on the critters of the Bayou and on the plants.  Our citrus trees took a beating.  I was ready to call it quits and chop the whole grove out and use the trees as firewood.  The wise words of Son kept me from doing that.  The trees did come back and only a few had major problems.  Our lime trees and lemon trees came back as something between.  They were not limes.  They were not lemons.  We dubbed them "limons".   It fit as the taste was sort of a blend between the two. 

  The trees did well and produced heavily but not nearly so as this year.  This spring, the branches were snow white with blossoms!  Then, the small fruit appeared and the poor trees were overloaded.  Suddenly, every leaf on our limon trees dropped!  The fruit remained but nary a leaf was on the trees.  Finally, the fruit fell to the ground during a high wind.  The limons were knotty, heavily seeded and bitter.  Not a one was worth eating.

  This afternoon as I was out hiking, my path took me through the citrus grove.  The limon trees all have died.  The trees are dried and brittle.  This got me to pondering about all of those inedible fruits.  Obviously, the trees were laboring and knew that it was time to try reproducing.  By making so many seeds, the trees had a chance of at least a few sprouting.  These would replace the dead trees during that circle of life thing.  

  I will miss the limon trees but will take the opportunity to tidy up the grove a bit before replacing the trees.  All of the citrus trees need a good fertilizing and perhaps some pruning.  Now is a good time to get busy.  Son...this time, they've got to go.  There is no "willing" them back to life any more.

Getting on to that time of year....

  A bit of a cool spell eased in on the Bayou the other night and brought with it just enough rain and cooler temperatures to start the ripening process of the citrus fruits.  The last freeze we had in the spring ruined a good many of the blossoms so the crop is skimpy but what is there will be enough.  I always look at things as plenty regardless if others see it as a "bad" year.  Pop taught us that we should always count our blessings and figure out ways of making things work better for the next time.  The oranges will be enough...and I am happy.

  Actually, the navel orange tree is the only one that has a goodly number of fruits.  The satsumas, lemons and grapefruit are scarce.  With the early cool spell, it makes us wonder if this is to be a hard winter.  Extreme cold for more than just a few hours can do major damage to the wood of the trees.  If the bark splits, the tree almost always dies. Hopefully, this will not be the case and next year will find us with trees heavy with fruit.  If not, we will still be blessed with plenty.  Always are. 

Let's Try That Again!

  This has been a weird growing season.  Folks all over the Coast are complaining that their gardens are "just not doing right."  Seasoned gardeners are having difficulty getting seeds to sprout and plants to grow.  If seeds do pop out of the ground, the plants come to a standstill and refuse to grow.  While most are blaming the seed companies, others are blaming the weather.  The weather is fine other than a bit too much rain and we did have one late freeze and a late frost.  Perhaps, I am fortunate.  I planted much earlier than other folks and the garden is doing well.  Others planted after that last freeze and are having difficulties.  So, just what is going on with the gardens??  No one seems to have an answer.

  Speaking of weather related problems, the late frost pretty much did a number on the citrus blossoms.  All of the trees bloomed on time but then, bam!...a frost caused blossom drop.  The trees bloomed again.  Some managed to do well but the poor lemon trees had problems with the orange dog caterpillars stripping them of every leaf and bloom.  Normally, the caterpillars do not hatch until after the fruit has set so there is not a serious problem but because of the second blooming, the caterpillars and blooms were at the same time.  Eating the blooms is almost unheard of!  

  Today, however, I noticed that the lemon trees are on their third blooming of the year.  "Let's try this again!" the trees seem to be thinking.  Perhaps this time, the fruit will set and the trees will hold until ripening.  I will say this..those trees are persistent!  

  Other than those few setbacks with the fruit trees, the garden is finally doing well.  We should be harvesting fresh vegetables within the week and fruit throughout the summer.  The peach, plum, fig and citrus trees have finally gotten their acts together and the vegetable garden is flourishing!

The Limon Tree???

  Along about this time of year, I get to pondering the methods used to create "hybrid" or specialty fruits.  There is a lot of work that goes into cross pollinating blooms.  Maybe the process has changed a good bit since I helped Pop back on the farm but the idea is probably still the same.  Most of the time, we were experimenting with fruit trees.  You find the fruit tree that makes the largest, sweetest and most appealing fruit, then artificially pollinate it with a tree that is a prolific bearer.  The result would hopefully be a tree that had both.  It took knowledge, time and an awful lot of patience and luck to get the results that were desired.  Grafting seemed to be the way to go.  With grafting, a branch from one tree was attached to another and you merely came up with more trees with the same type of fruit.  It was easier than pollinating and did not take nearly as long to see results.

  What brings up this matter is that the citrus trees are blooming.  While we have a variety of trees, one in particular, started the pondering.  Years ago, this tree started out as a lemon.  It made the nicest lemons imaginable!  Then, a few days of below freezing weather brought that all to a halt.  The tree died all the way to the ground.  I was ready to pull up the dead thing and start over but at the urging of Son, I did not.  "Give it time." said the man of few words.  So I did.  The tree grew.  I suppose this was a grafted tree and the "lemon" died but the original tree root somehow survived...but what was that original rootstock?   

  Once the tree was large enough to bloom, it did so profusely!  Thousands of blooms dotted the branches.  Oddly enough, the blooms outnumber the leaves making a rather funny looking tree.  Of those thousands of blooms, some made fruit. The tree was no longer a lemon tree.  The fruit appeared to be a lime...on the outside.  It never ripened to the lemon yellow but stayed the rich lime green.  Inside, however, the fruit tasted like lemon!  It was delicious!  So the tree stayed.

  This year, the tree did not disappoint with its blooms.  Hopefully, I will have a bumper crop of lemons...uhh...limes....uhh...limons?  Whatever!  

Too Bad...

  The fight to survive is an ongoing struggle.  The critters of the Bayou fight on a daily basis to protect themselves and their young, find food and find shelter.  Their will to live is amazing.  It carries them through without fail.  In all my years, I have yet to find one wild critter to just give up and waste away.  It is not in their nature.  Humans are the only ones who bemoan the state of their life.  People whine far too much to suit me.  It seems to be the popular thing to blame everyone for any misfortune instead working to better the situation.  Critters do not have this option.  No one is going to listen anyway and if a critter sits there long enough, it will become lunch for a larger critter.  That is the way of life.   

  Not only is this struggle in the critter world, it is also in the plant world.  Inclement weather, poor soil and that good old thing called "progress" takes its toll on plants.  No one thinks much about it, however.  For some strange reason, I do.  I take notice of the successes and failures of both the flora and fauna around here.  I figure that someday it just may come in handy.  

  This afternoon, I headed out to the back of the house to grab satsuma off of the tree.  I love these things as a snack and having them just a few steps away from the house is rather handy.  This year, I fully did not expect to have any fruit, whatsoever.  The few days of winter weather that plummeted the temperatures to the low teens wreaked havoc on the citrus trees.  The trees immediately went into self preservation mode.  Every leaf dropped and branches died back almost to the trunk.  The trees went dormant which made me think we had lost the whole bunch.  Son kept telling me to have patience and not cut the trees.  I did.  He was right.  This spring, a few leaves budded out but the trees bloomed prolifically.  To my surprise, those blooms set fruit on the satsuma trees!  

  That will to live and that struggle to survive was evident here.  The normally almost seed free satsumas are loaded with seeds this year.  The trees are trying to reproduce so that life would continue.  While the citrus trees look ridiculous with so few leaves and so many satsumas, they are beautiful to me!  Under our constant care, almost the entire grove of trees are at least surviving.  It appears that we only lost one tree completely.  The others are struggling but living.  And to think...through it all, I never heard one whine about how bad life is.  Too bad people cannot take notice and emulate nature.  The world would be a far better place.  I am sure glad I live down in the Bayou so I do not have to deal with it.

Just Leave Them!

  I am not one to go around needlessly killing critters...any critter.  There are very few critters on my "exterminating" list.  Things like termites, mosquitoes and gnats top that list along with roaches.  The life span of any of those is very short if I have anything to say about it.  Still, there are those folks that get "bug spray" happy and use enough of the stuff to thoroughly poison their entire home and yard.  Not me.  If a critter stays outside, then it can live.  Enough said.  Most of the time, the same folks that are busy with their sprayers are the ones that will remark about how beautiful a butterfly is or lament the decline of the honeybees.  They love the beautiful "swan" of a butterfly but hate the "ugly duckling" also known as a leaf-eating caterpillar.  Well, you can't have one without the other.  It does not happen.  I like butterflies as they do a great job of pollinating things along with acting as yard ornaments.  The caterpillars make an unsightly mess of plants but are only doing what they are meant to do so caterpillars in my yard are not doused with insecticides.  

  Today, the citrus trees were deemed an "unsightly mess" since the orange dog caterpillars are out and about.  They are happily munching the leaves of every citrus tree on the hillside!  If this keeps going, I will soon have "bald" trees!  Orange dogs are those funky caterpillars that look like and smell like bird poop.  This is their camouflage and only bit of protection other than a weird projectile that resembles a snake's tongue.  This odd thing is their osmeterium gland and is what causes the stench that scares away most predators.  (It scares me!)  As ugly as the caterpillars are, they do turn into some rather lovely butterflies.  The orange dogs are the caterpillar stage of the giant swallowtail butterflies! 

 I read where one "environmental group" recommends that it is best to "hand pick the caterpillars and place them in a baggy to be discarded in the trash."  Whoa!! Some environmental group that is!  To my way of thinking that is rather cruel!  Think about the slow death the caterpillars have to endure!  If you really must get rid of them, hand pick and smash them.  Or even better...leave them! Don't kill those ugly ducklings if you want beautiful swans.  The butterflies that grace your flower gardens have to start somewhere!

Looking On The Bright Side

  We had several hard freezes this past winter.  Not many but enough that it caused problems and is still causing problems.  In the Deep South, it is not uncommon to see citrus trees growing in our yards.  Usually, the lack of winter cold makes for fine growing for these trees but that one cold snap that sees the temperatures drop in the teens for a few days harms the trees.  This year, we had a few of those hard freezes that damaged the citrus trees.  In spite of my efforts to protect the trees, a good many of the limbs were killed.  My citrus grove looks terrible but there is nothing to do but trim back the limbs and hope for the best.

  Recently, I was out wandering behind the house when a delightful aroma wafted through the air.  Ahh, citrus blossoms!  Yep, the satsuma trees were blooming on the few branches that remained green! This sight gave me hope that at least the trees would attempt regrowth!

  The blooms that I inspected looked good and had the tiny oranges intact.  No, we will not have a bumper crop this year.  No, the grapefruit trees do not have blooms nor do the navel oranges and lime trees but the satsumas and lemons are bursting forth with new leaves and blooms!  Somehow, that makes things all better.  

  There is nothing like a tiny leaf or blossom to make you realize that life goes on regardless of hardships.  That one step forward is all it takes to make things better.  I figure if a rag-tag tree that has been put through the mill can grace the yard with its heavenly scent, then I can face whatever is thrown at me.  Here's to looking on the bright side!

Trunk Wraps and Smudgepots

  While we await round two of the frigid weather to strike the Bayou, I did the usual preparations.  One of the chores was to rewrap the citrus trees.  While there is not much that I can do about the entire trees due to sheer size (some are a more than 20 feet tall), I can only hope wrapping the trunks will save the the tree above the grafting point.  A blanket and a wind/ice shield wrapped and tied in place will have to suffice.  There is hardly anything else that can be done.  

  Back on the farm, I can remember getting up for "my shift" as fire-stoker.  This meant, not only making sure the fireplaces in the old farmhouse were burning, but also, the smudgepots in the midst of the citrus trees were chugging along properly.  Being a small-time farm family, we did not have the expensive gas or oil burners that folks with huge orchards used.  Our smudgepots were simply 50 gallon drums that were piled full of logs and kept burning all night.  Once the hot coals filled most of the drum, things were easy.  It was those first hours that needed tending the most.  Getting out of that warm bed and going outside in the middle of the night in icy temperatures was not something that I relished but it was necessary.  Pop tended the fires most of the night but if the weather continued for a week or more, he needed rest.  The kids took over and tended the fires, made sure the faucets were still dripping and lights were still burning in the pump shed.  It was also necessary to keep check on all of the farm animals so they were as snug as possible.  Life on a truck farm was not easy.  I would not have traded it for the world, though, as I learned so much.

  This afternoon as I went out to do one last check on things, I noticed that the grapefruit trees did not fare so well during last week's big chill.  There was no earthly way to protect these trees so I left them be and hoped for the best.  With north winds blowing a gale today, leaves were tumbling to the ground. There was already a thick carpet of leaves beneath the trees.  This is not good as I was in hopes that the leaves would provide coverage for the trunks.  The poor trees are in for another cold week!  Perhaps, I need to get a couple of smudgepots going!

 

Twins!

  About noontime, Mark and I headed over to our daughter and son-in-law's place for a Father's Day cookout.  Robbie was grilling hamburgers which was the perfect meal to have for his father-in-law.  You just cannot go wrong with a burger for a guy!  After we ate, Elizabeth and I took our usual stroll about the place.  We checked her gardens, the spot she chose for a shoofly and the trimming job that Robbie did on the oak tree.  All looked well kempt.  

  She then showed me her satsuma and grapefruit trees. "Caterpillars ate my satsuma tree." she bemoaned but then looking at the bright side "But look!  I have twins!  Sure enough on the trunk of the little tree, two fat chrysalides were suspended by thin silk.  Elizabeth informed me that there were more caterpillars on the little trees but she smashed them not realizing just what they were.  When I told her that these caterpillars will change into Great Swallowtails, she was all for leaving them.  So the bush got pruned until it was nigh on devoid of leaves.  The "Orange Dogs" were fat and happy!  Twins!  

  The Giant Swallowtail butterfly lays her eggs on citrus trees if available, hence the name Orange Dog caterpillar.  These caterpillars bear a striking resemblance to fresh bird poop.  This is not their only defense, however.  If threatened, bright red "horns" called osmeterium emerge from their head and emit an odor that is quite convincing of the bird poop camouflage.  Not too many critters want to go around eating stinky bird poop so the caterpillars munch away unmolested.

  While the menfolk decided to do a bit of mechanical work on the lawnmower, Elizabeth and I had a grand time exploring her place a bit more.  All in all, it was a delightful way to spend the afternoon!