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| Cone Flowers and Butterfly |
The morning is cool here at the Chicken Ranch this day. Sixty two degrees underneath the back porch with a pleasant breeze. The breeze makes an effort to comb the ferns into something that appears to be order; but ferns will be ferns. Proud of their multi-leaved stems, they reach through the shade, this way and that, resisting anything resembling tidiness. They will not be tamed.
The various shades of pink in the phlox, inpatients, and petunias, make a bold statement against the backgrounds of greens in the ferns and the now blooming hostas. The white hosta flowers stand tall in their purity, and the Yellow Cab-colored Black Eyed Susans stand brightly soaking up the sun. The spring flowers have all left us, while the heat-withstanding flowers have soaked up all the solar rays they can,as the Dog Days of Summer come to an end. The Sirius/Dog star has faded, and along with it the consistently hottest days of the season.
The vegetable garden also is beginning to take on a late summer look. The long tentacle vines of green and orange that has supplied us with bushel after bushel of cucumbers this year are now beginning to wither and fade. Likely the last of this year‘s crop will be picked this week. Zucchinis and squash plants are all but gone, after providing lots of tasty dishes. Only the pumpkin vines still look healthy and richly green as they nourish blooms that will produce the Halloween fruit of bright orange in the next couple of months. The green corn in the fields is beginning to brown at the bottom. Plant and insects are telling the tale.
Butterflies of varying colors flit about the blooms of a long row of pole beans that are waiting to mature fully. Squadrons of pollinators dip and dive from bloom to bloom competing for their food sources.. From the flowers to the vegetables they cover every bloom. The bees and the wasps of several species scurry about in their busy way, gathering their food and offering life to many different plants through pollination.The humming birds rocket from plant to plant in a nervous frenzy as they gather the nectar the season has provided. It’s a busy time for insects and birds alike.
The sounds of Summer are also changing. Today, the cicadas and crickets are in competition with the cardinals, the jays, and robins. Occasionally the tree frog makes his way into nature’s chorus and offers his vibrato voice for consideration. The Mourning Doves slow the tempo by presenting their solemn soulful notes. This summer sing-a-long is as ancient as time itself. I tire never of listening to it.
All the gardens have reached their full potential. The hopes of spring planting and the return of perennial beauty are fully realized. August is about return on investment. Now the sun begins its shorter and shorter trek across the sky. Each day will now be shorter by three minutes. Evening comes quicker now and nature seems to sense that time is of the essence. While there's plenty of warm days ahead, Ole Sol's intense summer power is beginning to wane. A gentler, kinder sun is soon to appear.
It's not too much of a stretch of the imagination now to picture tractors and combines in the fields harvesting millions of bushels of corn and soybeans. The frenzied scurrying of men and machines, reaping what was sown in April and May, is just around the bend. Harvest time in the Midwest is a special time indeed.
I'm happy to sit here today and watch the early change before the hustle and bustle of Fall begins. Today I sip on a cup of Black Rifle Coffee, in just a blink tho, it will be hot chocolate. Today it's short sleeves, but it's not too long before it'll be sweatshirt or jacket weather. All the signs are beginning to show. Great,bring it on. Like everything I'm watching in nature, I'm ready and willing to meet the change.
