Growing Up Fast

Nature is amazing. All summer, the plants and the animals are busy growing. Recently, a pair of robins decided to build a nest for raising their second brood above the front entryway to Farmstead. The timbering there provides a nice nook for nesting, and while they find my comings and goings with people’s orders for curbside pickup most annoying, the pair tolerated our presence.

Steve took his phone and reached up for a picture, showing us that the pair had laid three lovely blue eggs. Looking closer at the image, one already had a pip in it! It was hatching time! By the next day, three little squirmy chicks had emerged. Momma and daddy robin were busy full-time feeding them, and my goodness how fast they grew! The shudder of the front door opening caused the trio to reach up with open mouths, as if I was momma returning, and each day they grew noticeably bigger, taller, and more feathered.

Then, one morning, I was coming out to help a client when just as I was passing under the timbers something landed on my head! It slid down my face and then fluttered onto the ground.

“What was that?” Martin, the neighbor who had stopped by to pick up muffins asked, just as surprised as I was by this awkward falling from the sky.

“I think it was a baby bird!”

Stubby-tailed and not yet able to fly, the little one hopped off towards the parking lot, right past Martin’s foot. “Be sure not to run it over!”

By the end of the day, all three of the little ones had jumped free of the nest, and the robin family was off to its next phase of rearing and fledging.

It really is quite incredible how quickly baby birds and animals grow—how the hummingbirds born this spring will grow strong enough to make the long journey south this fall, how the spring lambs are all weaned and big and healthy, and how our red ranger meat chickens that started as tiny fluff balls are now big and sassy and ready for the freezer. It really does go by so fast!

Plants can be quite amazing in this way as well. This spring, we dug up one of the winter pig pens to plant winter squashes that we raise specifically to help feed the pigs in the fall and winter. Talk about a cycle of mutual benefit! We started the seeds inside, so they could have a jump-start on the season, sheltering them in the high tunnel against the last of the early frosts. When it was transplant time, already they were starting to reach out with viny tendrils, and with the help of regular watering to make it through the drought, these plants have taken off.

Taken off feels like an understatement, though, as the patch looks more like a fantasy novel where the plants would gladly reach out and coil around you, sucking you into the patch, never to be seen again. The leafy vines are spilling up and over the sides of the pig pen, climbing over the top of the pig house, and reaching for the sky. Any vines escaping out the fence where pigs are on the other side have remained thoroughly trimmed, but all other directions have been fair game. The sheer volume of biomass growing in this one patch is outrageously impressive. I swear I can hear the plants growing at night out my window!

The weeds also have an impressive capacity for growth. If the weeds were what we wanted to grow, gardening would be easy! With each rain, they seem to explode upwards, eager to pollinate and spread their seeds for next year’s weeding.

Up North, summer is such a short and precious window. Already we are watching when the upcoming full moons will be, as those are the times to be most wary of early frost. Frost in late August is not uncommon on the farm, as the season begins turning towards autumn. Already my chickens have started molting, shedding the old feathers to grow new ones to keep warm this winter. It all seems to go so fast this time of year, until before you know it, you wake up to snow on the ground. I’m not quite ready for the snow yet, but I can see nature preparing as she hurries to raise the young and mature the fruits of summer.

It is quite miraculous how the cycle renews itself each year. What plants and animals are busy growing in your backyard lately? Maybe you haven’t had a baby robin use your head as a landing pad, but I hope that nature has brought magical moments in the circle of life your way. Time to head out to morning chores and feed all those hungry, growing mouths waiting for me. See you down on the farm sometime.