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I've had a pair of crows for about 3 years now. They're always around. They sometimes fly over and accompany me on my morning hikes. Occasionally the dogs kill a squirrel or a mouse and I throw it over the back of the fence for them, they are always ready for those treats. They also warn us when there's a hawk in the area and the rooster knows to get his flock to safety. I also suspect that sometimes when they're shrieking there may be other goings on with the wild animals outside our fence. I have grown quite fond of these 2 crows. I've heard some people find them to be an irritating nuisance but that hasn't been my experience at all.

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That's so interesting! We'd only seen crows in large groups/ murders around here before, so it was odd when these 2 arrived in a pair. I try to be respectful of crows, especially given how intelligent they are and that they remember faces. It sounds like your pair are helpful to you.

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I have a scythe for cutting grass and weeds in large patches, and a few niwashi knives (we call them flax cutters) for more close up work. They're fantastic for hacking back ivy!

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Someday we'll add a scythe, probably a healthier posture. I've never seen a flax cutter, sounds cool!

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Glad to see the Japan photos 👍

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I planted some bachelor buttons and I hope they grow. I did not know that history of them.

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I hope they grow for you, too! They're so cheery. I just learned the history, myself. Only knew about the poppies.

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All around delightful post! As always, I enjoyed your historical segue 😊 As for the garden, I hear you—so, so *many* weeds, so little time! All the rain at our place has the weeds on steroids, and I end up weeding instead of planting. You’ve inspired me with the sickle! We have one around here somewhere, so I’ll have to find it and try it out.

You just harvested beets? Lucky you! What is your growing timeframe? I have had very poor results with a summer beet crop.

I was going to guess you have a raven, since you have only a pair of birds instead of a whole bunch. So thanks to Jennifer for clearing up the mystery!

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That's why I was leaning toward ravens, too. But, well-fed crows it is!

I have no idea why we were able to harvest such late beets, other than that they were growing in a shady area at the back of the garden.

Any luck finding your sickle? I'm still having a great time hacking weeds with mine. ☺️

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So your beets had wintered over! That seems amazing that they were still edible.

Our sickle hasn’t turned up…but then, I confess haven’t looked too hard. Normally I’m a fan of doing everything with hand tools…but John just bought a battery-operated (rechargeable) set of weed clippers! Goodbye invasive oregano!

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Aug 8Author

Our invasive herb is spearmint. I'll trade you for the oregano!

So funny, Phillip just returned from Japan last week and accomplished in 30 minutes with the gas-powered weed whacker what it had taken me a full day to do with hand tools. I guess I could have searched harder in the garage while he was gone! Ah well, I still love the sickle.

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Glad to hear your hubby arrived home safely from Japan! I’m sure your summer garden was ready for another worker bee and strategically applied power tools 😊

Mint around here gets knocked down in the winter—it does get very vigorous in the growing season but still doesn’t have too much of a chance to take over!

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Love the peach and raspberry babies!

You have a crow there. The raven has a a pronounced downward curve to the beak.

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Thank you! I should have figured you would know your spooky birds! 😍

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Ha! Just the spooky ones!

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