Good morning. One more photo from the foggy morning in the front meadow. No flower this time though. The spider webs caught my eye. They were highlighted with moisture. Yesterday, while going to get a load of hay, Annie says part of the problem is that. She points at acres and acres of corn growing down the road from our place. "It sweats," she says. It was 95 and humid while we were going to get that load of hay. Phone said it felt like a 102. Going to get more hay today. That should do it though. We should have enough for winter. If we get it all hauled. Crossing our fingers that truck, trailer, and tractor hold together to get the job done. Noticing more lance leaf coreopsis seed heads ready to harvest. Last year I didn't want anymore around. This year, after seeing the late spring, early summer yellow flowers sprinkled throughout the meadow and along the ditch on E I'm a fan again. They're a tough plant. Better than lawn any day. In most circumstances. I can't become to purist about it. Ok. I have to start gearing up to haul hay in the heat and humidity. I don't mind it to a certain degree. I eat barely anything and drink a lot of coffee and top it off with a Bubbler (cold energy drink) in the afternoon. The magic of caffeine chemicals. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

I will run a node someday. Right now, I think the primary reason I will is: It reduces the power and allure the Magic Money Printer has over us. #bitcoin #money #banking

Good Sunday morning. 8:15:AM. A day off. Good to be home. In from taking photos in the front meadow. Heavy fog earlier. Starting to burn off. Had to get out there before it's gone. Fog brings calm and quiet. Looking at the meadow I want to show it off. It's 8 years old. Starting to grow up. That's it for now. I'll be back. I hope you have a great day! Fresh photo of hairy golden asters along the driveway and fence. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Black eyed susans again from the front meadow. Still catching my eye. Soon the petals will fall. Only seed heads will remain. Abundance of seed a lot, like stars in the sky. There used to be lawn here you know. Meadow much better food for the imagination Off to the mail trail. Have a great Saturday! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Those are black-eyed susans. They've done well this year. We didn't plan this. They're an annual. So we think they're going to die and never come back. Then they come back. Where we don't expect them. Summer surprises. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. This caught my eye last evening. Thought it would be too dark to work. But it did. Camera captured it. Not much to say. Time is short this morning. Off to the trail to deliver mail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Two types of coneflower here. Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) They're eye catching when planted together. Pollinators love them, too! Off to the mail trail. Have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Day three of three days off. Tomorrow back to the mail trail. I am tired and sore. I want to rest. I over did it yesterday. I was out till dark mowing, watering plants, and planting. I try to pack as much in as I can on days off. And it's never enough of course. In closing after a conversation with my mechanic neighbor yesterday we wondered how we can slow time down. He laughed, and said when I get it figured out let him know. A local garden club is coming to check out the nursery this afternoon. So there was a bit of a rush to make the place look a bit more presentable. I planted some golden rods in my mom's meadow right before I started the rush here last evening. Two of them were in gallon pots; the other two in four inch. Roots well established. They needed to be released. Before I left I stepped in to say good bye. She had her mask off. I was glad to see that. When I got there I stepped in to say hello. To tell her what I was up to. Her face was lit up with multi colored lights. Here she had what looked like a hockey goalie mask with lights in it strapped to her head. I laughed and said she looked like Jason from Friday the 13th, but with a little pizazz. We chatted for a few minutes, then it was time to go. She thanked and hugged me.. Told me she loved me. I reciprocated. I noticed she was having a drink before bed. I was glad she had some time to herself. My Grandma lives with her. And she's a handful. There are times she doesn't know who my mom is. So the time she gets to be by herself is cherished. Those are yellow cone flowers from the front meadow from .a prior year. They're currently starting to bloom. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. This is a picture of a milkweed I took on the mail trail back in 2023. It was on July 6th. We had 16 of them in the hoop house yesterday. They were in 2" pots, yellowing, root bound and chewed on by monarch caterpillars. We didn't think they'd sell. They're in the front meadow now. I planted most of them in groups of three before noon yesterday. Some of them I planted by established milkweeds. It's the most milkweed I have ever planted. And I've been plugging in natives for 8 years now. We started the meadow in 2018. We figured it out the other day. That isn't the first time. We'll probably figure it out again next year. Seasonality and patterns of nature seem to matter more to me most of the time.For instance, the monarch caterpillars have emerged. And now I want big robust milkweeds in the front meadow for them to feed on someday. Hopefully the meadow wants them. We have tried to plant milkweeds in the meadow throughout the years. We have yet to have one flower and go to seed. They'll grow in our pulverized pasture. Where the ground is disturbed, dry, and overgrazed most of the time. It's frustrating to see.. Yet that's what I like about wild nature. It does what it wants to do. It has its own agenda outside of our people, property, and products world. I am off to take a couple goldenrods over to my mom's house. They're in gallon pots, big, starting to suffer, and haven't been selling. So we're going to unleash them into the wild meadow around my mom's place. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

We own a small native plant nursery. It's called Bean Brook Nursery. It's in our front yard. And so are the monarch caterpillars feasting on the milkweeds we have for sale. :-) #countryliving #natives #plants

Good Sunday morning! I have the day off today. Plus the next two! I took this picture of milkweed at work. It's next to the loading ramp against the brick wall. Along with others it grew up through cracks in concrete and rock. It's been doing that since they smothered that particular piece of earth with decorative rock and landscaping fabric 5 or so years ago. I remember when they did it. I fantasized about filling it with natives. Helping tend it. And making it one of the most pollinator friendly post offices in the United States. I was thinking Big. Anyway, without any attention to it the milkweeds came back immediately. They're some of the best looking milkweeds I have ever seen. I wish I could get them to grow in our front meadow that well! Yesterday, though, I happened to notice the milkweed in the picture. It doesn't look like that anymore. A lot of the leaves have been chewed off and the flowers are gone. At first I thought somebody sprayed it with poison. Then it occurred to me we just had a bunch of caterpillars hatch at the nursery. And they went to work chewing on the milkweed we have for sale on the table. Guessing they did the same to the milkweed in the picture. Annie and Sophia (13 yrs. old) showed me the little caterpillars on the plant tables after work a few days back. They were so happy for them. A happiness on par with if our cat had a litter of kittens. Then last evening the wasps ate a few caterpillars The two of them went to work immediately hiding plants that still had live caterpillars left on them. We'll see how they did today. There's more to this nursery than just selling plants. We've got a world to save! :-) Well, I should go now. I have pots to scrub and sterilize later this morning. Supposed to be smoky again today. I hope you have a great Sunday! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. A few feet past my last box for the day is a concrete corner curb. It's the corner of Hwy 63 and North Rd. in the tiny town of Earl, Wisconsin. Unincorporated. There's a power pole there. The ground dry and open. Not very inviting if you know a thing or two about gardening or agriculture. The black top and concrete radiate heat all day in the 95 degree heat. I imagine it would take a lot of effort to keep the sandy soil moist there. Despite all that, in the middle of modernity, were these two milkweed plants. They were crawling with insects. Why they chose to be there is a mystery to me. I will say their presence caused this mail carrier to climb out of his jeep one more time to get a picture amongst the thrum traffic headed home from work and elsewhere. Off to the mail trail. Then 3 days off! Hope you have a great day. :-) #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Pulling in the driveway after work I spotted this one fluttering around. I slowed down to see where it would land. When it landed I stopped, got out, and the rest is history. Yesterday, while looking at the milkweeds for sale, Annie started counting little monarch caterpillars. The more she counted the more excited she got. They were eggs a few days ago. As I walked away she was off to get Sophie (13 yrs. old) to show her the news. She hopes the caterpillars leave enough plant to sell. I like simple joy. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. This is one of our favorite pictures of the nursery last year. It was just after a refreshing rain. The smoke from the Minnesota wildfires is still hanging in the air. It cooled down last night. The house cooled down 7 degrees. Better sleep than the night before. I'm off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. I sit down and read Rumi first this morning. I come across some of my favorite lines: A pleasant surprise. "I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way. Whoever brought me here will have to take me home." Nice, eh? That's a picture of a lead plant and black eyed susan from the front meadow. I put a few plants in just before dark last evening. The ground is getting dry. Nothing I haven't experienced before. I just keep them watered until the next rain. They usually make it. I have been collecting seeds off from lance leaf coreopsis and spreading them in our ditch along County E. I wan't more color out there in years to come. Gotta go already. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Back to the mall trail. Supposed to be hot again today. 95. It was that hot yesterday. Around mid-afternoon, the hottest part of the day, I put in 3 natives. One of them was a black eyed susan (below) in a 2" pot. Watered it well and walked away. Something about the resilience of the right plants in the right places that I admire. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

"Ancient writers taught that it is the psyche or soul that makes us human—not our passions and not our visionary ideals. This is especially true of the power of psyche to reflect—it humanizes." -- Thomas Moore Good morning. Last day off from the mail trail. Looks like it's another day of surviving the heat. It's 80 out there and in here at 8 AM. I did just see when I flipped over to the weather app that it'll be a high of 80 this weekend. So there's a cool off on the horizon. Like always. Yesterday I washed pots while Annie filled them with potting soil and plant plugs. I enjoyed it despite the nineties heat.. It was good to be home working with Annie with natives. I have to admit, though, things were looking a bit down for me until a customer showed up and bought over a 100 dollars worth of plants. There's a lot of labor that goes into this little nursery, and it's nice to get paid for it. A customer a day seems to keep the fears away, maintains momentum, and expands our vision into the future. The four of us went to Hayward after we closed up, took showers, and cooled off. It was an opportunity to pick up a few groceries, ride in the air conditioned cab of the van, and stop at Dairy Queen. Earlier, when I mentioned Dairy Queen to Annie, she smiled and said, "Now you're speaking my love language." Cute. When we got home it was dusk. After helping Annie peel enough hay off the round bale to feed animals I watered the plants I recently plugged in the front meadow and along County E. I didn't want to. We hadn't eaten dinner yet. But I knew it was going to be another cooker the next day. I, of course, never regret doing it. I get to be amongst the plants. It's calming. I learn more about them. And they help me imagine a future together. Like usual I had to run back up to the house to get my phone. I saw a picture I wanted to take and share . And like usual that isn't the photo I end up sharing. This group of black eyed susans won out. I'm off to survive the heat. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Plant intelligence: They have 20 senses; we have 5. For me this was a good reminder of the Intelligence behind the creation. #plants #countryliving

Good morning. That's an old steel clothes line pole. It was here when we bought the place back in '03. I moved it from its original spot and use it as a pullup bar now. I took this picture at dusk last night. It was darker than the picture shows. Before I started my pullups Sophia (13 yrs. old) said to me, "Hey Dad, do you want to see a hummingbird nest." "Sure," I said. She and Hayden (16 yrs. old) were doing something in the shed a few feet away. She said it's hard to see. You can mistake it for a pine cone which are currently maturing on the branches of the red pine tree directly above the bar. She took a few different angles and said, "There it is. If you step over here you can see it." As we got positioned we heard the vibration of hummingbird wings. A few seconds later there she was. She floated into her nest that was barely as big as a pine cone. I couldn't believe it. There, maybe 8 feet above me, invisible until now, was the hummingbird that has been sitting in her nest watching me do pullups and hangs since she built it. An egg of hers can't be bigger than a marble. I don't know how she'd fit in there otherwise. That made my evening. I had just returned from planting lance leafed coreopsis along the ditch of County E and watering plugs to help them through the extreme heat we're in. Having my daughter make visible the invisible, in this case the hummingbird, was just what I need after 6 days of driveness delivering mail and packages in the July heat. I hope you have a great Sunday! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Last day of the mail trail. Then two days off. That's a spotted bee balm. Annie just put a bunch of them out for sale. Time is short. So I'm going to sign off. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain