Mating calls of frogs
February 2021
Unfortunately this month’s blog is a little bit shorter than usual - blame my Open University studies! The two courses I am currently studying (Open University Level 2 ‘Cell Biology’ and ‘Biology of Survival’ ) have both kept me so busy the last few weeks that I haven’t had time (or the energy) to write a proper blog. Sorry!
I‘ve been immersed in learning everything about cellular interactions and how different plants and animals survive extreme weather conditions. This has meant that most of my spare time has been taken up with writing essays and investigation reports. It hasn’t left much time to write about my garden either. Mind you, I now know everything there is to know about the mating calls of frogs! So if you’ve ever wondered what the mating call of a frog sounds like - just ask for a demonstration! I can’t promise it will be 100% accurate, but if we find ourselves ankle deep in frogs, we’ll know it works!
To be honest, there isn’t much to write about the garden anyway; since Boxing Day evening we’ve only had 2 days without snow! So much so (or so much snow) that I’ve almost forgotten what grass looks like! I seem to remember it’s green-ish. As I type, more snow is falling on the hills... and us....
Don’t get me wrong; I love snow. It’s beautiful and right now it has little tiny ice crystals on the surface which glistens when light from the sun or the moon bounces off it, twinkling and sparkling on the ground like little diamonds in the snow.
The chickens are still locked up in the greenhouse due to the recent outbreak of bird flu. They get bored quite easily, but I try to keep them happy by sometimes feeding them porridge, sometimes I scatter some sunflower seeds around and sometimes I hang up oats, wheat and barley from the ceiling so that they have to jump a little to get to the treats. They still lay eggs from time to time whilst in ‘quarantine’ albeit in a cat carrier!
We are still eating our own produce, but all the fresh vegetables have long gone; and now we are finishing the last of the frozen runner beans and French beans and we still have a few jars of homemade sauerkraut, pickled red cabbage and pickled runner beans in the cupboard.
I’ll soon be sowing the first chilli peppers and sweet peppers as they need a really long growing season and when the weather warms up just a little, I’ll also transplant my tree saplings to a bigger pot where they will stay until they are big enough to move to their final location.