My lovage is now about five inches tall, soon to be five feet I trust. I’m dreaming about pesto di levistico, and also want to try some recipes from the ancient cookbook of Apicius (De Re Coquinaria). Got my Piper longum ready!
So it was a little disconcerting to see nothing in the garden this morning but hummocks of snow. I gently brushed this away, and the lovage looks fine in the bright sunshine. Reassured, I went about my business. For a few days I’ve been cutting-back woody growth around my pond: invasives like Rosa multiflora, honeysuckles, privets and autumn olive, and also sumacs and ash saplings and such - can’t let the dike go to trees, or their roots will eventually demolish it. I’d saved the steep outer face of the dike for last, and yesterday I worked halfway around that. This morning I dropped down over the edge where the dike is highest - nearly 20 feet, impossible to mow - and I started working. It’s a slow job with long-handled pruners. A gasoline powered trimmer would be faster, but that seems awfully indiscrimate. The steep dike is strewn with luscious bramble fruits and other nice stuff that the birds love, and that would all be hacked up. A half hour passed in which I was out of sight over the drop-off, and then suddenly a Broad-winged Hawk swept very low over the top of the dike, perhaps 15’ above my head, pursued closely by two Crows. It called out “pweeee”, and it was carrying a stick. One of my own prunings, I believe. Such a beautiful day! -Geo -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
