Habitats at Home

The bees have been greedy for the spotlight here of late, so let’s lead off with the plants this time around.

Poor returns in the mini orchard this year, but we will have pears and peaches. The grapes appear to have been saved from a fungal blight, but manually removing Japanese beetles from the grape leaves continues to take up many hours. There are a few blueberries and many raspberries. I harvested a single cherry; the rest shriveled on the branches. The apple tree is looking sickly, and the paw paws healthy but not yet mature enough to fruit. Strawberry season passed quickly, the bulk of the harvest picked through a free U-pick organized by our youngest for the neighbor kids.

The variety of animals making their debut appearance this summer has been pretty thrilling. Twilight in the backyard is marked by fireflies’ blinking glow and frogs’ gravelly crescendo. The blossoms draw native bees, bumbles, monarchs & other butterflies; the dragonflies come by to feast on insects. There are fledglings and bunnies to whisk out of reach of the dog. For our chicken fix, we visit my sister.

We’re down to 4 hives at home for now. We took 5 to my sister’s, where they are set up in a sunny glade bordered by trees. Another hive went to new beekeepers up the road.

We are now garlic farmers. Excepting perhaps the coming potato harvest, this is the largest crop we’ve ever had. I gave up on trying to braid them aesthetically.

How was your July? What are you growing, harvesting, preserving, or eating? What wildlife do you see where you live?

—Erin, in Michigan