Milfoil Fertilizer & Other Thoughts

 The process of harvesting Eurasian water milfoil, has been a hot topic for Joe's Ponders in the past weeks. Great progress has been made - and we can only hope that with harvesting the weed and laying down a barrier to prevent future grown, we now have the upper hand.The pond has been sectioned off and is  being routinely checked for new outbreaks, and everyone is pitching in to help. Seeing the photos of milfoil collected in buckets, I began wondering - what becomes of all that milfoil? It can't be eaten - iunlike seaweed that is widely used for culinary dishes, Eurasian milfoil is toxic for humans.. However, I found that it can be used as fertilizer. It cannot live on land and is useful as an organic fertilizer great for what some plants need. An article describing that process is in the Times Chronicle serving the Osoyoos, British Colombia, Canada area. It looks like they have a huge amount to deal with there.

On a lighter subject - the Randalls are here from Long Island and Liz sent me a photo taken on the ferry as they started their trip north earlier this week - a real blast from the past I'm sure at least a few of you will identify with. I have to wonder - would that rig pass inspection in Vermont? (that's liz in the vehicle next to it).

Here are some pictures sent to me by Mary Whitcomb earlier this spring.  A purple finch on the left and a hummingbird on the right. Mary always has so many beautiful birds visiting at her house. I hear them and occasionally see them, but I don't have any feeders out except for my hummingbird feeder because of the bears. Jamie and Marie were visited by two one afternoon this week. They didn't do any damage, but Jamie said they were unusually casual about the noise he and Marie were making to scare them off.

Here is a goldfinch and on the right, a cowbird. Below, perched on the suet cage, is a brown thrasher. Thank you, Mary - we enjoy all your feathered friends!