Life around Crumbly Acres!

 Thinking time: how to block Fred from my garden and under the garage.

This was last week. It did not foil her! This is really funny now. 

She's eating the plants, which isn't horrible. They are creeping across the garden, usurping other plants.

The contrails intersect in a tic-tac-toe pattern!

Outside, it is comfortable when there is a breeze and one is in the shade. The deck gets shade in the afternoon. I am reading The Resistance Painter. Joe is reading 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America! I may read that when he is done.

Nutmeg, AKA killer, is left indoors! She is not amused. She catches far more critters than Cinnamon. She is deadly. 

The sphinx moths are amazing. 

Here is a sphinx caterpillar I managed NOT to step on whilst gardening.

As we left the house for our lunch out, we saw Lanark County pulling out individual Wild Parsnip plants. I saw the red truck on camera and realized what was happening.

Since about 2015, they've been spraying the shoulders. Now, with some people disallowing spraying on their property, some plants are growing back. Respreading, I guess. The deal is that if a landowner doesn't want spraying, they have to clear it out themselves. I've found no impact from the product they use. It was restricted to a few feet on the shoulders, and has mostly eradicated this invasive species. 

Originally, pioneers brought parsnip from the old country. It has spread, and evolved, and gives humans a horrid burn, just like Giant Hogweed, or Poison Ivy. 

This is what we had, prior to the country spraying them.

I have had this. It is itchy and painful. My poison ivy ointment works on it, thankfully. 

Phytophotodermatitis, also known as "Lime Disease" (not to be confused with Lyme Disease), "Berloque dermatitis", or "Margarita photodermatitis" is a chemical reaction which makes skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light.

The County is at the point where they pull out offending plants, bagging them up. This spot clean up is working well. As gardeners know, it doesn't take much for weeds to spread.