Turkey vultures descending upon us

When I was growing up in West Tennessee, we called them "buzzards." The more common name is "turkey vulture." Whatever we choose to call them, they are descending on us in record numbers.

In West Tennessee we would only see them soaring gracefully hundreds of feet in the air. Rarely could they be seen on the ground or nesting. Recently I drove by a huge poplar tree on the Pellissippi Parkway that had 25 or 30 of the giant birds nesting in it.

Another spotting is more outrageous. Driving on Topside Road last week, I saw two vultures in the middle of the road working on a roadkill possum. One was dragging the carcass to the shoulder of the road and the other was pushing with it's beak. They hopped to the side of the road as I approached, so I pulled off. The two birds immediately jumped back on their meal and continued their pulling and pushing. Another car passed and they retreated again. I pulled out and started on my way. In my rearview mirror I could see them still hard at work.

I emailed my friend and outdoorsman extraordinaire Sam Venable. He said the only thing they he could think for the influx of vultures is that the unusual amounts of snow in the North this winter may be driving the birds south.

So maybe they will be on the way once they devour all they can in these parts. Just like a certain football coach we know.

Pruning cane plants

The mistake that most of us make with plants that grow from canes is pruning them too early or late, and then not pruning them with enough vigor.

February is the best time to prune plants such as the butterfly bush, and you need to take the plants almost all the way to the ground. I used this method with all our butterfly bushes last year. They all turned out full and healthy.

Photo on left is bush before I pruned it yesterday, and at right is the stub of the plant.

Organic Matter R Us

Today's 50-degree weather sent me into a leaf-raking frenzy. I added about a dozen cart loads of dead leaves onto my garden plot. I had already added about 50 cart loads in the fall, plus 40 or so gallons of ashes. I have high hopes when I turn over the ground in the spring that I will finally have enough organic matter in my soil.

In the past I've made the mistake of turning the ground in the late fall, but I learned that a garden should lay fallow and unturned through the winter. The microbes and bacteria work better if the soil is undisturbed.

For reasons I have read but don't understand, hard winter freezes are good for the soil, according to the UT Agricultural Extension Service. It has something to do with the way the ground heaves during freezes and thaws. With all the organic matter and certainly more hard freezes than normal, I'm hoping for a bountiful garden this year. Hope springs eternal . . . and so forth.

My apologies to Deerfield Diary readers

I've been lazy the past few weeks, but I'll blame my lack of posts on the miserable winter weather, some out-of-town trips and installing a new computer system.. I have some future posts in mind, so I'll tease you a little. They include:

* Why the influx of turkey vultures/buzzards?
* First prunings of the season
* Last firewood of the season
* The miracle of trickle-charging
* Screen-door repair ad infinitum

The fruit tree and berry catalogs are flooding in, so spring can't be too far off.

Wildlife on the move

The recent snow makes for an interesting stroll down our quarter-mile driveway.

All sorts of wildlife leave their tracks, and it's fun to try to sort out what and where they were headed.

It's easy to spot the tracks from deer hooves (photo), and with a little examination you can tell where they crossed the creek because the hooves are much deeper when they jump. Rabbit tracks are also easy to identify with their small but elongated mark.

Squirrels, coons, groundhogs and skunks are a different matter. Their tracks are small and inconsistent. Incidentally, we smelled our first skunk in Deerfield last night. We have never seen one around here although we have an idea that the skunks are responsible for raiding the many yellow jacket hives in Deerfield.

Anticipating a heavy snow

The top portion of our dog run in the backyard is a giant mess of mud and weeds, but I'm hoping to add some grass with the help of the approaching winter storm.

I sowed about 20 pounds of grass seed on the plot yesterday. I was told by my late father-in-law that the best time to plant grass seed is just before a heavy snow. The snow pack drills the seed down to an appropriate level which lets the seed germinate in the spring. The grass is healthier because it grows from a natural depth.

That's the way its supposed to work. We'll see in the spring.

There's a story behind the gazing ball in the photo, but we'll save that for another day.

Woodstove focus group

Those of you who read my dissertation last week on Woodstove Economics will be interested in a focus group I conducted with the two respondents seen in photo at right.

Both respondents said they didn't give a flip about the economics, just keep a fire going in the stove and push their beds up as close as possible.

At least, I think that's what they would have said if we could have roused them.