wild turkeys in New Brunswick
As we came back from our drive in Charlotte County last weekend, we were on the lookout for wild life. And we were not disappointed.
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Down an unused road we saw twelve wild turkeys. Most, perhaps all, were females. In recent years we have seen wild turkeys more often on our various drives.
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They are fun to watch. They are quite social. Some were foraging, probably eating seeds, berries or insects; others were resting among the pink rabbit-foot clover.
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The University of New Brunswick is asking people to report the wild turkeys they see. The study will help determine the status of populations in New Brunswick. Report sightings to the Facebook Page NB Wild Turkey Research
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All my best,
Jane
a gulp of swallows
The days are warm and humid. The nights offer compensating cool. The gardens are full of produce and, yesterday, we made our first stop at a roadside stand to get apples. People say “feels like fall.” On the weather channel they call this “hurricane season.” We turn the calendar on the kitchen wall to September.
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Fall is a month away, but the birds know the time of year. They flock with a sense of urgency, even desperation.
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A flock of swallows is called a ‘flight’ or a ‘gulp.’
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gulp
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barn swallow (Hirundo rustica)
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Flight of swallows
against blue sky
gapes, as thousands
thicken cables,
telephone lines,
weather reports,
gossip. Feels like
fall. Birds follow
clues of day length,
temperature,
scarcity of food.
Gulp of swallows
expands, contains
every straggler.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2019
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All my best,
Jane
Small, small garden
Arthritis means my days of the big garden are over. But I can still enjoy digging in the earth, planting seeds, pulling weeds and harvesting, just on a smaller scale.
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On our deck are two Veg Trugs (Lee Valley Tools used to sell them) and one bag of soil, slit open and supported on a metal frame. In the ‘gardens’ I have two snow pea plants, three yellow wax bean plants, three parsley plants and one cucumber plant.
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Each day for the last month, I sit on the deck and nibble on my ‘harvest for the day.’ Sometimes it’s one bean pod and a snow pea pod, sometimes two beans, sometimes a cucumber sandwich. Seems small, but I think I enjoy these little sessions more than the buckets of produce I once harvested from my garden.
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Tea berries
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Teaberry
Gaultheria procumbens
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leaves shiny, thick
capsules waxy, red
aromatic oil
methyl salicylate
mint and wintergreen
tea soothing, blood thinning
creeping wintergreen
spice berry, drunkards
staggering over
the forest floor
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Copyright Jane Tims 2019
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All my best
Jane
Raspberries
It’s a great year for berries. Our blueberry bushes are loaded with the biggest, sweetest berries I have ever tasted. The raspberries are full and sweet. The blackberries are still mostly unripe but the canes are heavy with future berries.
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raspberry ramble
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every berry
a sweet cup
detached
from its cosy seat
deep in brambles
juice pressed
between teeth
seeds and briars
handfuls of sun
rain clouds
warm winds
gravel soil
eager fingers
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Copyright Jane Tims 2019
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All my best
Jane
moose
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moose
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square body
four hundred kilos
cow lifts her head, angular
stares at the car
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long ears maneuvre
in all directions
no challenge
dewlap swings
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cow returns to her business
prehensile lips
pulling leaves
and chokecherries
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We saw this moose on the way to our cabin, about a kilometre along the road. She stared at us for a while, eyes and ears curious, but eventually she returned to her feeding.
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All the berries are coming into ripe: chokecherries, blueberries and blackberries. At the cabin the blueberries are the largest and sweetest I have ever seen. Everywhere I picked showed evidence of an animal there before me. Not a moose. Perhaps a bear, not caring where he sat as long as he could scoop up those berries.
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All my best, Jane
Copyright August 2019
blackberries
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blackberries
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floricanes bend
with August weight
shape an archway
show the path
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through brambles
to lake
pergola unfastens
gate, entices
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pickers
into wicked thorns
sweet indigo
temptation
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primocanes snag
hems of gloves
ankles of socks
handles of baskets
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angry scratch
for every berry
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Copyright Jane Tims 2019
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Hope you are enjoying this blackberry summer.
All my best,
Jane
