March 25 Valley Life Column

March 25 Valley Life Column in AG Weekly

Spring's the perfect time to limb up trees

The first time I heard the term, limbing up, I was in a garden center looking at spring bulbs. Two people were discussing trees. As they spoke, I envisioned children climbing a tree, using one limb after another until they got to the top. It made perfect sense to me.

Until I read an article about spring yard work. Besides cleaning out deadwood and planting spring shrubs, the article mentioned limbing up trees in areas that had grown too shady. OK, I thought. Obviously limbing up a tree had nothing to do with climbing.

To increase my tree knowledge, I went to the Internet. It didn't take long to find several sites dealing with trees. One in particular listed common terms used in pruning. There was selective pruning, indiscriminate pruning, and heading back, not to mention tip pruning, topping, snapping and pinching. Most of the terms I was familiar with, but then I stumbled across another term that had me puzzled. The site didn't mention limbing up, but it did say to skirt trees whose limbs dangled too low to the ground.

Huh? I always thought skirting a tree was like skirting a trailer. You put those plastic guards around the trunks to protect them from mowers or trimmers. Or you put a skirt around your Christmas tree to make it look pretty.

But no, skirting a tree or limbing up a tree in "prunese" means to remove the limbs from the bottom of the tree, something I've been doing for years. The site also told me how to window my trees, which means to prune away major limbs and branch whorls that obscure a view, and about interlimbing, which means to remove entire whorls or tree branches throughout the tree, allowing more light and wind to pass through. Cool.

As soon as I finish limbing up my trees, I'm off to the garden center. This time I'll be looking at seed potatoes. As I check out the reds and the goldens, I'll keep my ears open. Who knows what else I'm likely to learn.

March 18 Valley Life column

March 18 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Celebrate local farmers on National Ag Day

When I think about March, I think about tulips and daffodils, crocus and asparagus, spring break and sprucing up perennial flower beds. I don't think about agriculture, even though everywhere I look farmers are busy moving dirt and cleaning out ditches, preparing for the upcoming growing season. But I should because March 20, besides being the first day of spring, is also National Agriculture Day.

I could probably blame the romantic in me -- who enjoys living in the country without having to do all the work -- for my shortcomings. Out here on our mini-farm, we have enough land to raise a small crop or pasture livestock, but I'd rather look at the land than work it. I'd rather buy my chickens already butchered and cleaned instead of chasing them all over the yard with a hatchet the way my mother used to. In reality, I'm a country girl at heart with city-slicker ways.

It's a good thing not everyone is like me. The Agriculture Council of America, who has promoted National Ag Day since its inception in 1973, reports the following:

More than 22 million people work in the agriculture industry
Agriculture is America's No. 1 export, generating 20 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product
Today's farmer produces enough food to feed 129 people a day
Almost 90 percent of U.S. farms are run by individuals or family corporations
Today's average farm is 417 acres compared to 147 acres in 1900
42 percent of U.S. total land area is farmland
U.S. farmers account for 42.7 percent of the world's soybean production and 34.4 percent of the world's corn production
More than 15 percent of the U.S. population is employed in farm or farm-related jobs
Farmers and ranchers provide food and habitat for 75 percent of the nation's wildlife

My small garden keeps me in vegetables throughout the summer, but it's the farmers who keep my potato bin and freezer full. So this year, instead of just singing praises to spring, I'm also going to pay tribute to our hard-working farmers. They're the people who make this valley special. Without them, I, for one, would get mighty hungry.

March 11 Valley Life Column

March 11 Valley Life Column in AG Weekly

Lure leprechauns with copper pennies

If leprechauns lived in Idaho, this is the month I'd most likely see one. That's because leprechauns are particularly active in spring, when everything is turning green and budding.

Just this morning while I wandered around outside counting my emerging tulips and daffodils, I heard a tap, tap tapping coming from a row of arborvitae. Knowing leprechauns are cobblers by profession and like to hide in hedgerows, I stopped and listened. I even snooped behind the bushes looking for a crooked hat and tiny hammer, but not one leprechaun did I see.

I shouldn't be surprised. Leprechauns are mischievous and cunning. Tricksters by nature, my chances of seeing one, let alone catching one, are slim.

Since leprechauns enjoy solitude and remote locations, I might fight one hiding in the rocky crags of the Snake River Canyon near Centennial Park where a drunken leprechaun might mistake the Perrine Bridge for a rainbow, or I might find one hiding in the cellars out at Stricker Ranch, because leprechauns like to hide near farmhouses and wine cellars.

But I'm hoping a leprechaun might also enjoy the solitude of the country. Out here at Pauly’s Folly, we rarely hear a siren or the noise of rushing traffic. It's usually quiet and peaceful with plenty of places to hide.

Legend has it if I could catch a leprechaun, he would barter his release by offering me his pot of gold. Since I'm planning a trip to the ocean this summer, a pot of gold would sure come in handy. So, while I'm working in my garden I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open, hoping to spot a leprechaun. Knowing they like things that glisten, I may even set a trap. I've heard that if you put copper pennies and an old shoe in a box, a leprechaun will come. Then all you have to do is snap the lid on the box, and voila, you have him.

But I'm not holding my breath. This is Idaho, not Ireland. Even if I were fortunate enough to capture a leprechaun and convince him to take me to his pot of gold, it would be just my luck that instead of gold, all I'd find would be a big pot of potatoes.

March 4 Valley Life column

March 4 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Wait until April to wash those windows

March in southern Idaho is an unsettling month. Still part winter with blustery winds and lengthening days, March is a teaser here in Magic Valley. One day is nice, tempting me outdoors to inspect my flower beds for emerging bulbs and sprouts, the next day it snows, reminding me I should be enjoying what is left of winter. Then the sun shines again and temperatures sneak toward 50.

With the weather so unsettled, March is often a month of spring cleaning, uncluttering closets and washing windows. My husband puts away the snow shovel and digs out his golf clubs while I rummage through my collection of garden seeds, separating and sorting, selecting those I'll be planting as soon as I can work the soil. Then the wind blows bitter cold, prompting me to throw another log on the fire and hunt up my sweater.

Emily Dickinson wrote in one of her poems, "March is the month of expectation, the things we do not know -- ." And it’s true. We don’t know from one day to the next what will happen. Maybe it will rain. Maybe it will snow. Maybe the wind will blow so hard I'll find my garbage cans in my neighbor's yard, or maybe this is the day I'll see those first sprigs of asparagus.

Perhaps we should blame the fairies for all the unrest. I read in an Old Farmer's Almanac that the first three days, the middle three days and the last three days of March are times to avoid water. Evil fairies work their magic through water during these days so it's wise to put off washing, shampooing or anything to do with water. For those who must use water, they're advised to immerse an iron horseshoe in the water first to ward of the evil fairies.

That's good to know, because I was planning to wash my windows this weekend. Now, instead of digging out the paper towels and bucket of water, I have an excuse to sit in the sun, daydream and watch the robins. Since we don't have any old iron horseshoes lying around, I guess those windows will just have to wait until April. After all, I don't want to upset those fairies.