Hares (Again), Experiments with Planting Parsnips and a Car Full of Bees

Just a note about the Hares because they're back in the local fields again. Unlike in May, when they were hidden in the wheat - this time they're right out in the open, because the corn has now been cut and some of the fields have been ploughed. So the Hares look very exposed - and I worry that they can be easily seen by their human and animal predators.

I walk close to the hedgerow so that I can see them and not startle them, and Harry is under strict instructions to keep right next to me. But, like before, he just isn't that interested in them - they're too much like Rabbits, which also seem to leave him a bit cold. He's more of a rodent-under-the-shed kind of dog...

I wonder if these are the Hares I saw earlier in the year, and if they've reared any young.  I don't think I've ever seen a Leveret.

There are fewer insects about now; I saw a Red Admiral butterfly yesterday battling against the wind, and my bees will do some flying in the sun, but once the temperature drops and the rain comes in, they'll stay put in the hive. There are a few, last Dragonflies and Damselflies settling on the decaying plants and leaves...

The recent strong wind has scattered plenty of leaves and twigs everywhere.  The Poplars outside the smallholding never seem very sturdy when the wind blows and there is a rustle of leaves all along the lane.  One story I've been told is that these Poplars were planted for matches, when farmers were given incentives to provide the wood, but they were left when there was no longer a demand for them. Well, whatever their origin, I'm keeping a close watch on the branches at the moment, because this is where the winter thrushes (Fieldfares and Redwings) usually appear first when they return...

Experiments with Planting Parsnips

Leaves are falling, too - all over the veg patch, where the autumn veg is coming through. I've mixed results as usual, here - my carrots wouldn't look out of place in a dolls house, but my parsnips are looking great.  And this is thanks to my lovely Dad.

Last year none of my parsnips came up in all that cold, wet weather - and I believe my seeds just rotted away in the ground. So Dad had a suggestion for this year. He has been gardening for decades - and as well as using tried and tested methods, he's also always keen to experiment with new ideas.  So his suggestion was that I could always try something different - by germinating the seeds outside the soil, in tubs filled with damp kitchen paper...

A few of the parsnip seeds germinating on the kitchen paper

And it's worked beautifully. All the seeds have germinated by this method and I was able to lift them gently out of the tubs and plant them into the soil a few weeks later.

Now I have lots of parsnips coming up in the veg patch, ready to eat after they've been sweetened by the first frost.  Here is what some of them looked like just before we went on holiday last month...

Guaranteed Parnsips - although, of course, this year the ground is dry!

A final word on bees...

I know it's happened to many beekeepers - and it has just happened to me.  I've quickly lifted some frames out of a beehive that were full of honey and placed them into some new plastic boxes to take away. Then I put them in the car.  After a quick glance, I didn't see many bees still clinging to the frames and so believed that there weren't many -and I thought that the few bees that were now in the boxes could be safely released at home. I also had too much faith in the sealed lids of the new boxes and completely missed the small, bee-size gap in the corner of them.

And, of course, I got it all wrong. There were more bees than I thought on the frames - and they all found that bee-size gap in the box. When I came back to the car after a only few minutes away the first thing I saw were lots of bees looking back at me through the car windows.  Thinking back, I was lucky that I wasn't already driving when they started to escape so I didn't suddenly have lots of buzzing passengers while I was on the road. But I did have to immediately open all the car doors and windows and watch them fly off - and then thoroughly search the car to make sure every single bee had gone!

Escaping bees are one of the hazards of beekeeping. I was recently told by a fellow beekeeper that he had once ordered a whole hive of bees and these had somehow all escaped in the local Royal Mail sorting office.  The first he heard about it was a call of panic from the local posties to come and do something about it.

Sometimes I'm glad that there is a seasonal break from the excitement of beekeeping...