Welcome to the art/life trail!
As promised, this edition is written by BD. This is the second excerpt on the monthly installment of our tree farm adventure.
If you missed last month read it here.
First Things First
But What Are They??
Naming things has always been natural for Drozda and me. It makes it easier to refer to places (like a bend in a trail where the old enamel buckets are, or an unknown neighbors yard…the one with the St. Francis statue on the left) and things (the dog with the sparkly collar who walks with the guy with the red baseball cap – that sort of thing.)
So, our new land needed a name and a “brand” so to speak.
Because of my heartache and guilt over selling the century farm in Michigan I wanted to honor my folks, all their hard work on that farm and the things that they loved.
Davidson Family Farmhouse, BD
My dad was, plainly, a bluebird fanatic, who would sit in his lawn chair for hours with binoculars focused on his row of bluebird houses making important observations and decisions about how to manage his bluebirds.
I suppose because he no longer had livestock to manage the birds took over that niche for him. So, Bluebirds had to figure in the naming.
Bluebird Farm didn’t fit for a ravaged ex-timbered brush pile, which is what we had purchased.
Blue Bird Gulch, spring 2010
But on the day we hiked over hill and dale and scrap heaps of timber and snow and swampy places to get a look at what we might buy I found myself alone in a small trickling stream of clear icy water looking down at little mounds of multicolored stones and swirling eddys with tiny fish thinking, “This looks like a place to pan for gold.”
Creek bed, Blue Bird Gulch, BD, 2009
And so Bluebird Gulch was named.
Later I found out that before the Gold Rush in California one of the primary gold mining areas of the country was in central Virginia a few miles from where I stood on that day,
If you’re going to name it for the bluebirds you better invite them in. So, I looked up some plans, built the first batch of houses:
BD building Blue Bird houses, Drozda, 2010
First batch of Blue Bird houses, Drozda, 2010
and when Spring hinted at arriving we put em up.
Blue Bird house installation day, Drozda, March 2010
When we came back two weeks later we found…
Jeannie, the first Blue Bird of Blue Bird Gulch, BD, 2010
That was miraculous. That female bluebird was promptly named Jeanie, after my mom.
We found out that it’s way more complicated than just putting up the houses when hosting bluebirds they do indeed need some management.
Bears like to rip open the boxes looking for snack food.
And black rat snakes and racers keep track of when the baby birds are big enough to make a tasty meal.
And might as well hang out and make some snake babies after a eating.
Mating Black Rat Snakes, BD, 2016
Join me for my next installment….
How to Make a Tree Farm.
BD
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Wow. What pictures! Snake houses after baby blue birds. Must have been scary getting that pic.
Scary yes!
The first encounter with the black water snakes was earlier that day. I was in the cabin, looked out to see the bluebird parents very upset, fluttering and chittering over the nest box.
Then I saw 8″ of snake tail gleaming in the sun as it coiled itself into the blue bird box.
I dropped my dish towel and ran across the meadow to the box grabbing hold of the tail and pulling hard!! The snake emerged…a full 4 foot long with me hanging onto the tail!
I threw it across the open space, it landed in the tall grass, hissed in my direction and moved off and out of sight.
I knew he’d be back…Yes…and he invited his mate. The 4 baby blue birds were eaten and then the snakes celebrated by mating in the box.
Love this!
Thanks Jennifer…it’s QUITE the adventure!!
Can’t wait for the next installment! I love getting all the background information on how the farm came to be. Makes me appreciate it even more. Respect to you and Iona for the dream, imagination, action, perseverence and for honoring your roots. And mother Earth.
So excited about this story being told by both of you.
love,
francis
Dear Francis … yes! So exciting for me to share with you the beginnings, as you have hiked the paths and sat on the porch looking at ‘BD’s canvas’ as she…and Mother Nature…design this grand experiment.
I love that you invited the Bluebirds in….amongst other creatures. Looking forward to the next chapter.
So many birds find this suddenly ‘open to the sun’ land…it was most auspicious that Jeannie the Blue Bird was the very first songbird to be seen. Magical.
I always wondered how the name Bluebird Gulch came to be. Looking forward to the next installment.
Hi Sunny…I know. It’s cool to hear the back story and how BD was thinking about this entire project. It seemed so daunting at this stage.
BD You rock…I’m inspired by you two..Love to you
Hey Russell…good to see you ‘-) BD clearly does rock 😉 We look forward to sharing more of this amazing adventure…next installment November 14. oxox
Thank you for sharing your story and how the tree farm came to be.
Thanks Sarah…so good to hear from you…stay tuned! The healing of the land is powerful to witness…and to share.