Busy Critters, All of Us

Gathering nectar: honeybees on Allium sphaerocephalon (click on any image to enlarge)

Despite the pandemic, it’s been very busy at our place over the past few months – so hectic that I’m way behind on this blog. I’m long past due for a quick catch-up!

It’s a considerable amount of work to grow an organic garden that can feed us for most of the year. But it’s well worth it, for the plentiful supply of healthy food and the exercise and outdoor time involved. It does keep us moving every day.

Like us – and like the honeybees (above) – bumblebees have been racing about in our garden as well. You can see the big sacks of pollen on the legs of this one, as it works on the honeysuckle.

There’s a lot of pollinating to be done at our place, so all bees are welcome!

Bees are certainly not the only critters hard at work. We’ve seen more hummingbirds around our patio, garden and deck this spring and summer than ever before.

Anna’s Hummingbirds live here all year round, so tend to rule the roost in terms of the hummer hierarchy.  The males like to keep tabs on all the other hummingbirds’ comings and goings.

Mr. Anna seems pretty pleased with our DIY tomato cages on the deck – perfect perches to wrap his tiny feet around, and well sited for warning everyone else away from feeder.

The slightly less feisty male Rufous hummers left on their southward migration last month, but their female folk and youngsters are still at work in our garden. This one paused over the Maltese cross just (barely) long enough for one photo.

Unlike the bees and hummers, Pacific chorus frogs are pretty quiet these days. But that doesn’t mean they’re absent. Many, like this little one, are in our garden, doing their best to stay safely invisible to larger creatures – while working hard to keep our pesky bug population down.

I’m glad I took a close look at that Swiss chard plant before I chose which leaves to cut for dinner!

As for our furry four-legged family: three year-old Elgie has been keeping busy too, thanks to the arrival of her first fawn. “Willow”, as we’re calling the little tyke, seems healthy, precocious and totally delightful (at least in the eyes of us two-leggers).

Not everyone here on the homestead is keeping busy, though. Seven year-old QT, the patriarch of our little deer family, seems to make time often for some sunbathing in front of the woodshed.

Over the spring he watched Mr. Man splitting and stacking all that wood. QT knows better than to work up a sweat like that! When it gets too hot, he’ll stroll around the corner to that shady spot behind the woodshed. After all, it’s summer time, and the living is supposed to be easy.