Rosslyn Redux

Tag: Adirondacks

  • How to Apply Tanglefoot to Trees

    How to Apply Tanglefoot (Source: Geo Davis)
    How to Apply Tanglefoot (Source: Geo Davis)

    It’s Tanglefoot time again. Actually, we’re late — really late! — due to this rainy, soggy summer. But better late than never, especially since I’ve begun to spy the first tent caterpillars of the 2017 season.

    First a quick refresher. A little over a year ago I explained how to use Tanglefoot and I explained why holistic orcharding benefits from this goopy ritual.

    It’s a messy installation process, but it seems to work pretty well… Applying Tanglefoot to fruit trees a messy but relatively straightforward task. Better instructors have already explained application, so I’ll defer to their able guidance rather than overlook something important. (Source: How to Use Tanglefoot (And Why Fruit Trees Need It))

    That post includes the excellent advice of “better instructors”, but I wanted to follow up with a quick visual instructional to show you how to apply Tanglefoot. Consider it a supplement. Quick tips.

    How to Apply Tanglefoot

    In the previous post I discuss using plastic film to wrap the tree trunk, but four years into our Tanglefoot adventure, we’re still using paper/cardboard wraps.

    Following is a quick video / slide show intended for orchardists, fruit tree hobbyists, or basically anybody who wants quick and easy instruction for how to apply Tanglefoot on young (i.e. slender trunk) trees. Many thanks to Jacob for letting me photograph his hands during installation.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPlnN0g11-8?rel=0&w=500 ]

    I hope you find the video helpful. We’ve been extremely satisfied with the results year-after-year, and we’re happy to recommend Tanglefoot (and confident in our recommendation) for other fruit tree growers. Good luck!

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  • Postprandial Soak

    Postprandial Soak
    Postprandial Soak

    After dinner Susan opted for a postprandial soak. Quiet. Languid. Sybaritic. Tasha curled up beside the bathtub, sighed and fell asleep. A breeze carried the faint smell of pine trees through the open window. A whippoorwill called in the distance.

    “Wouldn’t it be great if we could live here?” Susan said.

    “Why couldn’t we?” I asked, vaguely aware that my response might abbreviate the placid mood we were enjoying.

    “Really?” Susan sat up abruptly. “I mean, of course we could, but we can’t just leave our friends behind. And the apartment?”

    “Our friends would visit. And the apartment? We could figure that out.” We only recently had found and renovated the co-op on East 57th Street, our first joint remodel. Located on the twelfth floor of an understated pre-war with a southern exposure, tons of sunlight, a working fireplace and beautiful hardwood floors, we knew we were incredibly fortunate. The neighbors and staff were friendly, and the neighborhood offered excellent restaurants, grocers, wine shops and even a knowledgeable and well stocked fromagerie.

    “We can’t just sell the apartment. I mean we’ve barely lived there. And besides…”

    “You want to work in green design, right?” I asked. “Why not get a job in Vermont? They’re all about green over there, aren’t they?”

    “How did you know I was thinking about my career?”

    “I didn’t know. I guessed.”

    “I know I haven’t exactly gotten around to starting my design career yet,” Susan said and went on to remind me that soon – very, very soon — she anticipated a high profile job with a world renowned firm, designing hotels and proving that commercial interior design could be environmentally friendly, healthy and affordable.

    “Sounds good,” I said softly, definitively and tried to sink back into dreamy limbo.

    Susan was quiet. Tasha ran in her sleep, thumping against the side of the tub.

    “I need to spend a few years with a big firm first, for the experience. Then, maybe…”

    “I’m just saying, if you’re serious about green design, Vermont might be as good a place as any to start your career. And besides, you’d actually be living a green lifestyle in the Adirondacks, right?”

    “But what about you?”

    “What about me? I’d be living a green lifestyle in the Adirondacks too. I love it here. I’d be thrilled to live here for a few years.” Peripatetic by nature, I enjoyed relocating every three to four years. Having grown up in the Adirondacks, mostly in the Champlain Valley, I had long yearned to reconnect, not just for vacation or a weekend.

    “Really? But what about your career?”

    “Which one? Teaching? Writing? Ecommerce? Renovating real estate? Susan, my career is adventure!” I said melodramatically, with a splashy flourish and a roguish grin. “And right now my adventure is the Margaux Project and ShipStore,” referring to two websites I was currently working on. “I can do that anywhere. And, frankly, if we we’re up here I might find more time to write. This’d be the perfect place to finish my novel.”

    “And my screen play.”

    “And your screen play.”

  • December 2014

    Lake Champlain, December 2014
    Lake Champlain, December 2014

    In recent years December has given us our first real blast of winter. A premature blast usually because early December snows have usually melted by Christmas…

    December 2014 Raptors

    Early in December 2014 I walked Rosslyn’s woods and meadows to make sure our cross-country ski trails were clear of trees and brush. The good news was that with a little maintenance everything was ready for our first snowfall.

    [pullquote]Perhaps you can help identify the hawk and owl species?[/pullquote]

    The even better news was that I encountered two handsome raptors at close range. Near the beginning of my walk a hawk allowed me to approach and photograph him from directly beneath the limb where he sat. Later in the afternoon an owl was no more than fifteen feet from me when I spied him. He too sat patiently and allowed me to snap photos. Unfortunately the camera in my mobile phone offers only a hint of the grandeur of this birds of prey.

    Perhaps you can help identify the hawk and owl species?

    December 2014 Snow

    And then the snow arrived. On the 10th of December 2014 we had our first real taste of collecting snow (as opposed to flurries that melt once they land.)

    Another curious happening. The Essex-Charlotte ferry seemed to have stalled in front of Rosslyn boathouse. (Can you spot it in the photos?) It drifted for an eerily long time, so close to the boathouse that I grew concerned. At last it managed to rumble off to the Essex ferry dock.

    Once the snowflakes ceased to fall Rosslyn had been blanketed in over a foot of beautiful snow. Beautiful but super moist and heavy. Unfortunately what looks picturesque in the black and white photo below turned out to be bad news for many of our trees.

    Winter started out with a deep, heavy, wet snowfall in early December 2014.
    Winter started out with a deep, heavy, wet snowfall in early December 2014.

    The photographs below tell the less picturesque story of what happens when lots of heavy, wet snow collects. Pretty. But potentially devastating.

    But no sense closing on a down note. Instead I’ll wrap up with this wonderful snapshot of Griffin saying goodbye to his snowy home before setting off on a Christmas road trip. Griffin loves snow!

    Griffin's up early and ready for a road trip.
    Griffin’s up early and ready for a road trip.

  • Sun Setting into the Adirondacks

    Sun Setting into the Adirondacks
    Sun Setting into the Adirondacks before Perseid showers

    Darkness is falling in the Adirondacks, and soon ­ with a little luck ­ I will witness the Perseid showers streaking the Champlain Valley dome. My bride shot this image on her mobile from our runabout in the middle of Lake Champlain on August 12, 2013 while waiting for the meteor shower. If you’re in the neighborhood, look up. And watch out for flaming pebbles!