Mr. Magnificent

We have been very slow to seed our last area in lawn. The soil was put there years ago when we hand-dug out our basement, or should I say when my husband hand-dug our basement (I was pregnant). We were dumb enough to build our house on posts and in our cold climate, that does not work well at all!!

So we are slowly improving the soil, with the addition of coffee grounds, leaves and the burying of our compostable garbage (burying it is so much easier than composting it!).

So we had some 25 yr old barley seed and decided to toss it out on the area produce a green manure crop. Last year it didn't sprout. Maybe it was too old, or should I say, it was very likely too old. There is still lots left so I tossed a bunch of it out again this year.

Result: hundreds of bobbing heads (Juncos) and the recent visitors - a magnificent pheasant and his much less colourful mate. Watching her eating on the ground, of which she is almost the same colour, made me think that the male, while he is gorgeously colourful, he has a distinct disadvantage. He is so easy to see that he is a predator-magnet. How could anyone or anything not notice Mr. Magnificent?