Long Ridge Deer Camp Non-Essential and Quips and a Bit of Poetry

You know, I was never a huge reader of poetry..in high school, indeed grade school we read Frost, and recited the native greats, but I was just never into it. Later on in my education, I faked it. I just never had the intellectual discipline to understand or care for it. Some I loved, but my favorite poets changed over the years. Left some, came back to some. But now, officially in my 70's, I can say, I have come back too, and will stay with the best (in my world). Mary Oliver. In her New and Selected Poems, Volume Two, is one of the loveliest poems I have yet to cherish. Ants don't play a big part at Long Ridge Deer Camp, but they are certainly here. The poem:

In Praise of Craziness, of a Certain Kind

On cold evenings

my grandmother,

with ownership of half her mind--

the other half having flown back to Bohemia--

spread newspapers over the porch floor

so, she said, the garden ants could crawl beneath,

as under a blanket, and keep warm,

and what shall I wish for, for myself,

but, being so struck by the lightning of years,

to be like her with what is left, that loving.

I read that, and I weep. Maybe because I love nature in it's purest form. Maybe because my PTSD is kicking in. Maybe, only because this poem speaks. Clearly. I love it. In any case, if you spend much time in the field, Mary Oliver is a read. She understood nature, and the human spirit. She was a New Englander. We miss her.

And here below are a few left over pictures, and such.

A new pup graces the farm, and a million + lessons await him, and us. Everything is an adventure, from a leaf, to a flying flock of turkeys. Today, he sits on a static but running ATV, to learn the nuance of motor, and ride.

 This book ( I am so sorry I cannot seem to edit it upright no matter what I do) is THE New England go-to book for information on each of our amphibians, birds, and mammals. It is the best out there, the most accurate, and the one the best biologists in the Northeast use. I have read every page, and I am astounded at the accuracy and data. These two authors did a monumental work. Readily available.

What we are still doing, though we are running late. Four cords for 2022.

Below you see the results of LRDC members upgrading our hunting stands. Not done yet, but spring is about here!

Fires and cocktails, and lunches and fun, this winter at LRDC

The shot below is of a stump next to the Far Field. I had established a mineral lick here some years ago, and it is used regularly in the spring and summer. In the fall, deer pretty much lose all interest in minerals and salt. (It is a myth that you can 'bait' deer in the fall with salt licks. They have zero interest after August) In any case, I noted this winter, all winter, the deer were pawing and scraping to get at this mineral lick. Never seen it happen like that before. They have licked this black Cherry stump to nothing, and I had to pour 3 to 5 pounds a week there to keep up. So, research, phone calls, and conferences tell me that the past summer drought caused browse to be very short in trace minerals, and that depleted bones sought out a winter mineral source. Bonus! And a lesson learned!

 So, this will be the last of winter type pictures and adventures, so let's hail Spring!

Comments and query welcomed.

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net