An Early Summer

"A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly."
- Rhyme from England

The month of May has been busy with baseball, soccer, graduations, and homecomings. Joey is playing soccer for Central Maine United, Will playing for CMU as well, and the Sidney Rec League, and Ed playing Sidney Minors. The girls both arrived home for the summer on Sunday. For a time our family is together again, and dinners are a jolly affair.

The extremely warm days of May have allowed us to plant earlier than usual. Papa gets up early to plow and dig new garden space. We need new areas to avoid spreading last year's blight. We have also enlarged the kitchen garden where I am experimenting with raised beds, old French methods, and newer methods of planting such as square-foot gardening. I found a site that also talked about companion gardening - putting certain vegetables together in a bed that actually have a synergistic effect on each other. Slowly, our knowledge base grows as we "stand on the shoulders of giants."

The strawberry patch on the hill has nearly doubled, if not tripled in size, due to the hundreds of runners that set last autumn. The plants are covered in beautiful white flowers, and if the weather cooperates we should have a large crop with some surplus to sell to summer visitors.

Our egg sales are steady. Customers want mostly chicken eggs - the duck and goose eggs are a little intimidating to those who have never tried them. The duck eggs are in abundance, since our little Khaki Campbells are bred for laying, and have been regular like clockwork laying four eggs a day. These I use in baking - the extra richness lends wonderful texture to baked goods and quiche. The boys have been delighted by Pouf Pancake for breakfast and piping hot popovers for dinner thanks to our ever generous "English ladies."

Our Rhode Island Red chickens have a streak of American democracy in their genes, and thus lay only when they feel so inclined, usually averaging eight to nine eggs a day. I have wanted to hatch a clutch of chicks, but the hens prefer the open field to the nest, and so I may have to wait to order some chicks online to increase the flock.

Our geese however have decided that motherhood is a vocation to pursue. I watched one morning as two of them carefully rolled abandoned duck eggs into their nests of grass and feathers. These eggs the ladies have been sitting on for well nigh a month. Checking any progress on hatching ducklings (the goose eggs are not fertilized) is a daunting task since the geese are very aggressive in defending their nests. Nips, bites, and chases by angry geese soon teach us to let nature take it course. I do hope, though, that at least one or two ducklings hatch. These I will let the geese raise if they are willing. I'm ready for the experiment!