Are You My Mother?

Baby cliff, or mud, swallow

After Abby and I returned from our walk this morning, I let the chickens out of the coop and threw open the main door, as I always do. Then I looked at the nasturtiums and lavatera growing in the flower boxes in front of the coop, and decided to check on my spider friend who weaves this huge web next to the downspout, anchoring one long strand on the rain barrel, which really is not a good idea.
But whatever. I'm not a spider contractor.
Thank goodness, however, I moved slightly to the right to get a better view of the overnight construction of my arachnid pal because I glanced down and realized one of the gourd-shaped mud nests of the swallows had dropped to the ground.
And when I moved slightly to the right to get my shadow out of the way of my view of the smashed nest, I saw this little fella huddled in the grass.
THERE WAS A BABY BIRD IN THAT NEST WHEN IT DETACHED FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE ROOF OF THE COOP AND SMASHED ON THE GROUND.
There was never a happier girl than me when I saw him move so I scooped him up and looked up at the barn swallows swooping and soaring for breakfast above me and said, "Birdies? Birdies!" I held my half-folded hands up to the sky. "What do I do?"
I needed help. Human help.
Racing into the house, holding tighter to the little bird who was trying to flap his wings, I managed to turn the knob for our bedroom door and jolted my husband awake with, "Another nest fell. There was a baby inside. I need the ladder."
Without even offering him a cup of coffee first.
And that's how the rescue went: I put the baby into another nest. It was more like a push, though, since I was reaching my arms up and trying to get him through a hole.
Then we stood back and waited.
"The swallows have disappeared," my mother commented from the back deck. Indeed. The sky above our yard was quiet and still.
So we waited. The air around us remained unmoved and silent.
Finally, a swallow swooped in under the eaves and popped into the nest into which I'd shoved the baby.
Mission successful.
I feel as if I've returned the favour of protection: The swallows keep the insects, and "insects", away from our home and I pick up the babies when one of their homes falls to the ground.
A beautiful working relationship.
******
Update:
I had to hang some laundry so when I was done, I walked over to beneath the swallow nests to make sure this morning's rescue hadn't been tossed from his adopted  nest.
Well, now, if there wasn't a SECOND baby swallow sitting in the grass. This one was a little older; she didn't have the two little white feather tufts of her sibling and she actually flew out of my hands. So she's getting ready to fly, just can't do the actual flight yet.
Since no one else is home, I had to single-handedly -- literally, because my right hand clutched the baby bird -- haul the ladder back over to the coop and put her into a different nest. I think there are other babies in these remaining nests; it's getting crowded and I hope that doesn't bring the other nests crashing down.

Breakfast At The Osprey Cafe

Breakfast for the three babies happens between eight and nine o'clock. We are fortunate to be able to sit on our back deck and watch Dad come in with a fish and help feed the chicks -- at least until it's time to head out to the river for some more fish. It takes a lot of food to fill up three growing osprey chicks.

If you'd like to join us, come over any  day. The coffee will be hot and fresh! The bigger the chicks get, the more there is to watch.

My Handsome Fella

I'm spending too much time inside at the computer and not nearly enough time outside with the chickens.
When you have a rooster as handsome and easy-going this fella, there is no reason not to join the flock.
Brewster is seven years old now. My husband claims he walks with difficulty because of arthritis in his feet but I think it's because he has these enormous spurs.

Only once has he ever used them on me, years ago when we had a white hen named Lily that he took a dislike to. I was carrying her out of the coop, in order to set her up in the rabbit area so she could escape Brewie's bullying (we finally had to rehome her), and that's when he went at me. Other than that moment, he's been an angel. We have been very fortunate to have a nice rooster.
What I love best about him? I will hand feed him a piece of bread or piece of strawberry and he'll drop it on the ground for one of the hens to snap up. He does this until he's sure everyone has eaten something then he'll start to keep the food for himself.
We have no idea how long a rooster lives but I'm starting to think we should hatch out some chicks in order to create a replacement Brewster. Anybody have a Barred Rock hen who wants to hang with the big Brew-man for a week or so?

And Then This Happened

 We were sitting on the back deck having a lunch break when we realized we could see heads in the nest. We'd seen two last week but today, we confirmed there are three chicks. The head of one is just visible against the mother's body. 

As we sat there, a third osprey showed up. This is the second time this week this has occurred. Earlier, when Jane and I were walking up the lane with the dogs, two osprey (with one in the nest) circled over us for such a long time, it seemed deliberate. 

And then this happened: a THIRD osprey showed up. And no one was driving any of them away. They were soaring together in harmony.

And then THIS happened. I looked at the nest -- and there the mother was still sitting in the nest with the three chicks. Four ospreys flying around above the field behind the. FIVE osprey in total.

As I wrote in my 2011 Saltscapes article about our year of the osprey (which is now our seventh years of the osprey), they are considered a "messenger bird" -- if an osprey has flown into your life, it means important information is coming. What do three extra ones mean??
We can interpret signs and messages only for our own selves. I can't speak to what this might mean to my husband, with his personal struggles and plans, but my book writing is suddenly in the fast lane with interest coming from several publishers.One quote from a website of animal meanings suggests, "If you desire to see your ambition realized, move on it now."
Truthfully, this is why writers prefer to work during the cold, dark winters when the natural world is hibernating or down south. There are far too many distractions in the summer time -- and far too many nice days to be inside moving on those ambitions... We'd rather be outside on the deck, watching the skies for messages from our feathered friends.

The Swallows of Summer

At the end of last summer, cliff (or mud) swallows suddenly showed up on our property and built these amazing mud nests under the peaks of our chicken coop and the garage. Eight nests in all and now our little bit of sky is filled constantly with the chirps and swoops of swallows.
I love it. Ospreys and swallows, finches and blue jays. Crow, crow, crows! Bring on the birds.
Naturally, I wondered if the arrival of these insect-eating birds meant something...
In my handy-dandy reference book, Animal Speak, by the late Ted Andrews, I learned that there are quite a few legends and tales attached to swallows. First of all, swallows always have been favoured as the bird that heralds the arrival of summer. But for my purposes, it was interesting to read that a swallow is the symbol for protection, and for proper perspective.
"Swallows that nest near your home will help control pesky insects, reflecting a subtle protection of the home. If a swallow shows up in your life, what does that say about the pesky insects in your life?"
Oh, nice question! What or who do we need to be protected from?
The graceful way a swallow flies is an indication that perhaps a person now living with swallows needs to rise above what is going on in his or her life and find a new perspective. "You are weakest in solving problems when you do not distance yourself from them. A distance will help you to see clearly how to strengthen and protect yourself from others."
After reading the passage about swallows, I went outside and stood under their nests. They flew out of their nests and I watched them flit through the air for awhile, listened to their chirping. Then I held my arms out wide and said, "Thank you for protecting our home."

One Woman's Quest To Make Garbage Beneficial

As published in The Citizen-Record on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 by Sara Jewell.

Maureen Woodlock stands by one of her bottle trees.

How often do we pull into the recycling depot on Route 6 west of Pugwash, drop off a bag or two of cans or bottles, thank the woman who hands over some money, then drive off without ever noticing the yellow lilies blooming in the gardens, the massive piles of blue wine bottles to the left of the drop-off deck, or perhaps even the blue eyes under the woman’s cap with “Keep Garbage Beneficial” embroidered on it? 
Maureen Woodlock has been the owner-operator of the KGB enviro-depot for 17 years and when I land in there one afternoon for a chat, she’s in the process of taking all the signs off the outside walls of her green-and-orange-painted trailers in preparation for a big move just a short distance away. She bought the former tavern near Pugwash River Road.“It’s not really a building here. It’s just a bunch of trailers tacked together,” Maureen says of her current location. “It’s nice here but now we’ll have a nice building that won’t leak and will have real facilities. As well, I’ll have a real asset with the business; right now, it’s not really worth anything.” 
With a small laugh, she admits she’s excited about the move. 
“I’m starting this when I’m 63, when I should be retiring, but if you look at most of my peers running small businesses, most of us are still kicking at our age,” she says then admits that financially, she really can’t retire yet. “I see other people retired and I think that would be a good life but that’s not the way it is so I’m still working. Then again, I kinda like it.”
At the new location, she’ll continue to accept electronics and paint, cans and bottles for recycling, and now she’s accepting textiles. 
“A lot of garbage, about 12 per cent, is used clothing,” she tells me. 
A proper building also allows Maureen to truly indulge her passion for bottle craft. Having handled “millions and millions and millions” of bottles over the past 17 years, Maureen was inspired to repurpose them. She has made wind chimes, wine glasses, vases and hanging candle holders. She even sold her wind chimes at the Pugwash Farmers’ Market, but what’s been holding her back is finding the right glue and the right chain for her works of art. 
A blue bottle wind chime hangs below her office.  
“I’ve had a lot of people want to buy the wind chime right out there,” she says, “but it’s my one and only. I’m going to hang up in the new building for decoration.” 
Because her craft trailer doesn’t have a view of the driveway, she’s not been able to work in it as often as she’d like. 
“At the new building, it’ll be a better setup. I’m hoping to be able to work bottle craft in the heated part and still keep an eye on what’s going on in the depot,” she says. “And I do want to work on the bottle craft. I believe there’s potential in that. The hanging candles are really nice.” 
But what I’m most curious about are the blue bottles hanging off the trees lining Route 6. 
“Those are called ‘bottle trees’,” Maureen says. “A woman came to the market and told me I could use all the blue wine bottles for bottle trees and I’d never heard of them.” 
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac website, African slaves created bottle trees from dead trees or large limbs next to their quarters and decorated them with glass bottles found in garage piles. Blue bottles were coveted because they repelled evil and trapped night spirits to be destroyed by the rising sun.  
Maureen simply likes bottle trees as decoration. 
Of her blue bottles on the pruned poplars out front, she says, “I like the idea they are on living trees.”

Good Things Grow Here

At the Pugwash Farmers' Market

 

See what you're missing by sleeping in on Saturdays?
The market is worth getting up early for!