Pullets Start Laying Eggs (Blog 467)

This past week, our four young pullets began laying eggs. Elaine and I were not expecting this to happen until another month or so. Nevertheless, the sudden appearance of eggs was much welcomed.

Of course, the pullets have not quite grasped the concept of laying an egg in a nesting box. Of the three eggs laid, one was on the ground next to the waterer, a second was in a random patch of straw in the henhouse, and the third happened to be in a box.

Still, we were thrilled that our young heritage Rhode Island Reds had begun laying.Our other seven hens will hopefully start laying again in February

Ingram at Richmond Fishing Show This Weekend (Blog 466)

As usual, I will be at the Richmond Fishing Expo this weekend, January 17-19. Please feel free to drop by our booth and talk hunting or river smallmouth fishing with Elaine and me. I will also be giving two smallie seminars each day.

I always try to come up with a different theme at every show. This year, I am going to talk about 10 Bucket Trips for river smallmouths in Virginia and West Virginia. These are floats that I think everyone should take at least once in their angling lives.

A Christmas Tree from Our Woodlot (Blog 465)

One of the Christmas traditions that Elaine and I have is having a Christmas tree from either our land in Botetourt County, Virginia or our property on Johns Creek in Craig County. I know folks don't go into the woods to find a Christmas tree much anymore, but I find it a delightful tradition.

Last week, our grandsons Sam, age 7, and Eli, age 5, and I went into our 38-acre woodlot behind the house. After some tromping around and after several red cedars and Virginia pines were rejected as not being quite right, the three of us finally settled on about a four-foot-tall red cedar.

The cedar is not shaped and trimmed like the trees at those Christmas tree lot, but it serves its purpose well. And the price was definitely right.

Fall Turkey Hunting in West Virginia Mountains (Blog 464)

Saturday, I went fall turkey hunting in Monroe County, West Virginia. I know that the deer activity is intense right now, and I truly love to pursue deer. But my favorite kind of fall hunting is to go after turkeys. The emphasis on sign reading, figuring out what the birds are eating, hearing all the different fall calls that turkeys make, and deciding whether or not to attempt to bust a flock or call it in make this pastime so rich and fulfilling.

I encountered two different fall flocks Saturday and could not call them in. I also couldn't maneuver close enough to the gangs to scatter them. Nevertheless, it was a marvelous day spent in the West Virginia mountains.

Nature Wastes Nothing (Blog 463)

Last week while bow hunting in Botetourt County, Virginia, I decided to set up in a funnel where I had killed a doe five days before. Normally, I like to let a place "rest" for a week or more after killing a deer there. But the spot is so good, and so many deer go through there, that temptation won out against judgement.

While there, I watched individual black vultures, and small groups of this bird, visit over and over the exact spot where I had field dressed a deer earlier in the week. There was nothing at that spot except a  slight greasy slick (as I would describe it) yet the vultures thought it worthwhile to visit and even fight over. When the vultures weren't there, I saw a raven and several crows visit, too. Each creature was apparently trying to extract one little morsel of nourishment from my kill.

I passed on a small buck while hunting that day and should have killed a doe, but it eased by me when I wasn't looking. Two days later, I was back at the spot again and killed another doe there. Interestingly, I field dressed it in almost the same spot as the one I had arrowed earlier. I have no doubt that the vultures, ravens, and crows all found the remains.

Of Squirrels, Cats, and Deer Jaw Bones (Blog 462)

While bowhunting this past Saturday near my home in Botetourt County, Virginia, I heard and saw a very interesting thing. Around 5:00, I heard some gray squirrels give the alarm note, then seconds later a black cat with white paws paraded in front of me with a silvertail in its mouth. For the next half hour or so, various squirrels continued to give the alarm call.

About an hour later, the cat again passed by me -looking to be on the hunt once more. The squirrels in the woodlot again started chattering.

My son-in-law David Reynolds also had a squirrel story. He observed a gray squirrel walk by him with a deer jaw bone in its mouth. The bushytail proceeded to climb a tree and enter its nest, again still carrying the bone. Fascinating stuff.

Sam and Eli: Chess Masters (Blog 461)

Monday evening after school, I played chess with Sam and Eli for the first time. The two boys, ages seven and five, respectively, are learning the rudiments of the game. And, understandably, Sam has a better grasp so far.

No matter, Eli and I were able to defeat Sam in a classic match that surely will be talked about for years among chess aficionados. Sam seemed to take his defeat graciously, though Eli immediately wanted to high five with me, perhaps to let his older brother know that he had game in some sort of activity, too.

I eagerly await the rematch.

Eleventh Grade Stress Due Out Soon (Blog 460)

My ninth book and third Young Adult Fiction novel, Eleventh Grade Stress, is due out in a couple of weeks. I still find that hard to believe. I knew by the time I was an eleventh grader what my major goals were and they were as follows: a great wife, children, a house out in the country, rural land, a teaching career, and a writing career.

And, amazingly enough, I have been more than fortunate to gain all those things over the years. Everything all started with a great wife, Elaine, who has been my side for over 41 years of marriage. Sarah and Mark are awesome adults now, Elaine and I live out in the country on 38 acres of wooded land with a stream flowing through it, and I am nearing 2,500 magazine articles sold. At 67 years of age, I am still teaching high school English and still loving to go to school every day and work with young people.

One of the writing genres I was never interested in ever, and that includes my time as a high school student, was Young Adult Fiction. And now thanks to Secant Publishing and my editor Ron Sauder, I have a four-book series in the works for that genre. Again, I am amazed at that. I am also teaching the first two books, Ninth Grade Blues and Tenth Grade Angst, to my high school students. And from what I understand a half dozen or more teachers are using them in their classrooms.

If you should like to reserve a copy, e-mail me at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.

Making Wild Grape Jelly ((Blog 459)

Yesterday after I arrived home from school, Elaine and I went to pick summer grapes on the rural Botetourt County, Virginia road where we live. Earlier, I had spotted summer grapes, the most common species of wild grape in Southwest Virginia, growing on a neighbor's land. I asked him if we could pick the grapes, and the gentleman said yes.

Today, our grandsons Sam and Eli will help us remove the grapes from the stems, then Elaine will begin the process of turning the fruit into jelly. We think summer grape jelly has a pleasant tartness, making it superior to store jelly. Sam and Eli's reward for their labor will be a jar of jelly to take home.

Dolgo Crabapples are Ripe (Blog 458)

The highlight of my dining week was Elaine fixing Dolgo Crabapple Cobbler several days ago. Folks have no idea how good crabapples can be in breads, pies, cobblers, cookies, and jelly. Our tree produced fairly well this year, but not in an epic way as it did two years ago. In 2017, the tree truly produced gallons of fruit.

I am going to pick again this weekend. This time my goal is for a pie. As is true with crabapple cobbler, crabapple pie tastes very similar to a sour cherry pie. It's even better with vanilla ice cream.

The Delights of Rome Apple Walnut Bread (Bog 457)

One of the simple joys of life is eating the many good things that my wife Elaine cooks. Our Rome apple tree didn't produce much fruit this year, but I was able to pick enough apples for Elaine to cook something.

Rome apples aren't known as a great eating out-of-hand apple, but they are superb cooked. So I asked Elaine to make a bread from them. What "made" the bread were the walnuts that she added to it.

Our next harvest will be the fruit from our Dolgo crab apple tree. We have an article on all the ways     crab apples can be prepared in the current issue of Grit magazine. In about two weeks, the first of these fruits should be ready to pick. And ready for Elaine to turn into something scrumptious.

American Barberry Found on our Johns Creek Land (Blog 456)

Monday evening neighbor John Hudson and I went on a photography foray in Botetourt and Craig counties in Virginia. We stopped first on Elaine's and my 30-acre parcel on Johns Creek in Craig County. I wanted to determine if the oaks had produced acorns with deer season approaching.

When John and I were leaving, we took photos of various plants on the way back to the vehicle. I took some shots of interesting looking plants with bristle-tipped leaves that were growing in small colonies. When I arrived back home, it occurred to me that the plant was American barberry, a native Southern Appalachian plant that is endangered.

I sent a photo of  the plant to friend James Hancock who confirmed that it was indeed an American barberry. That identification is one more reason I'm glad that Elaine and I put the land under a conservation easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundations and the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. We have a vernal pool on the land, a spring, and the land also adjoins Johns Creek - so there is much to preserve about the land, now, including, an endangered plant. Also, in the November/December issue of Virginia Wildlife, I am supposed to have a story on conservation easements and their importance to hunters, anglers, birders, and anyone who values wildlife and wildlife habitat.

Wild Turkey Poults Spotted This Morning (Blog 455)

This is the first week of school where I live in Botetourt County, Virginia, so I have been walking earlier than usual in the morning. This morning while doing so, I spotted four mother hens and approximately 16 poults bugging for grasshoppers in a field. No doubt they were eating a wide variety of wild plants as well.

Yesterday after school, Elaine and I released our two mother hens with their eight chicks and watched them bug and search for clover. Once again I was reminded how similar the behavior of chickens and turkeys is. After all, they are both gallinaceous birds. They scratch the same way, flock and roost in similar fashions and have a shared passion for bugs, clover, and dandelions. The hens even share joint mothering duties, as was evident in the turkey flock I observed this morning, and the actions of the two mother hens in our run.

Cockerel Behavior (Blog 454)

The eight chicks that our hens Mary and Wednesday have been nurturing are all about six to seven weeks old now. As is usually the case, half are cockerels and half are pullets. The truth and reality are that we can't keep all four of the cockerels in the run but a month or so longer. Posturing and small skirmishes are daily events for the four young roosters, but before too much longer, these skirmishes will likely become more intense and more disruptive to the overall flock.

We already have two good roosters, four-year-old Don, the patriarch of the flock and one of his offspring, Friday, who will be a year old in October. We really don't need a third rooster since we only have two pens. Elaine and I  have named the biggest of the four cockerels, appropriately enough, Mr. Big. The other three will remain nameless and will be eaten by the end of August. Whether we will keep Mr. Big beyond Labor Day is the point worth pondering.

St. Gall Farm Honey (Blog 453)

Earlier this week, good friend Paul Hinlicky dropped by our house to deliver some honey. Paul and his wife Ellen operate St. Gall Farm in the Catawba Valley of Roanoke County, Virginia (https://www.stgallfarm.com/).

Elaine and I are big proponents of living like locavores and purchasing honey from a neighbor is part of that philosophy. We have long believed that one of the best ways to keep Rural America rural is by supporting local small farmers, and the meat, vegetables, eggs, fruits, and, honey they sell. So if you have farmers' markets in your area (and around here we have ones in Botetourt, Roanoke, Salem, and Catawba just to name a few) consider supporting them and the folks who have local foods and goods to sell.

By the way, those foods, like Paul and Ellen's honey, are delicious.

Timber Stand Improvement Projects (Blog 452)

I have spent parts of the past three days working on Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) on our 38 acres in Botetourt County, Virginia. There has been so much to do: freeing up young oaks, cutting down dead ashes, removing non-mast producing trees to open up the forest floor, and spraying for invasive plants.

These activities are some of the most pleasant things I do. I honestly think I could do this for several hours a day, every day for a month, and not run out of things to do. Performing TSI is one of the most pleasant aspects of land ownership. The knowledge that I am making land better for wildlife is deeply satisfying, plus I'm gaining some firewood for the winter.

Summer Berry Season (Blog 451)

Elaine and I have been picking berries for a month or so now, and we now have picked 9 1/2 gallons of wild raspberries, wineberries, and blackberries. Tomorrow our son Mark and I are going to our Gap Mills land in Monroe County, West Virginia to hopefully pick at least two quarts, so that we can reach our annual 10-gallon goal. That way we will have enough fruit for Elaine to make most of the pies, cobblers, and jam we will use in the year ahead.

Mark and I are also going to clear brush and shooting lanes around my ladder stand there. Bow season starts the last Saturday in September, and I won't go back to the land until then. I will also check out the condition of the stand and the belts that keep it in place. I hope to kill a nice doe there on opening day.

Chestnut Tree on Our Potts Mountain Land (Blog 450)

Elaine and I recently went to our Potts Mountain land on the border of Craig County, Virginia and Monroe County, West Virginia to pick raspberries. While there, I checked on the progress of two American chestnut trees that continue to grow taller.

I noticed the two trees several years ago - they are not very far apart. I have been waiting for them to die, but they have not. Of course, I am guessing that they are afflicted with the blight that has impacted our native chestnuts since the early 1900s. However, they must have some immunity to have lived this long and grown some 40-feet tall.

Anyway, they were good to see.

Locavore Living in the Summer (Blog 449)

Elaine and I have been busy enjoying the bounty of our garden and the wild berries we are gathering. Today, Elaine made three loaves of zuchinni bread, two were frozen for the winter, and we began eating the other.

So far, we have gathered three gallons of wild berries. Our goal, as always every summer, is to gather 10 gallons before July is over. Tomorrow, I will try to pick a half gallon as Elaine is planning to make wineberry jam.

We also have eight chicks between one week and two weeks old. They are doing well except they have not learned how to walk up the gangplank to the hen house when night starts to fall.

Much is going on around here.

Gobbler Seen Strutting (Blog 448)

Today, June 18 around 10:30 here in Botetourt County, Virginia, I observed a mature gobbler in strut. This particular tom is amazing to watch and listen to. He gobbled frequently all spring. I often heard him while I was walking before going to teach school.

When the season concluded, he still kept gobbling and he only stopped doing so a week or two ago. However, he is still strutting, even today near noon. I have heard birds gobbling as late as Independence Day one year, when a tom sounded off 22 times behind our house. I guess it was his own version of setting off firecrackers.