# A DISAPPOINTING MORNING



## Waldo (Aug 4, 2007)

The sun had yet to rise on the eastern horizon as I parked my pickup on the side of the highway. Getting out, I glanced out at the area ahead of me I was about to traverse in pursuit of the wild Elderberries ( Not Sumac Appleman hehehe)It was a lot higher and thicker up close I thought to myself as I reached and retrieved my bottle of deep woods off and began applying a good protective coat. Glancing back at the area I went ahead and sprayed up past my waist. Gathering my camera, walking stick and a large plastic garbage bag as it began to break day, I made my way through the underbrush and briers in the direction I had seen the blooms of the Elderberries several weeks past. Within 50-75 yards of my trek, I was soaking wet from the dew as well as the sweat that the hot humid morning was already leeching from me. Battling ahead, with about another 200 or so yards to go I was thinking to myself that I should have brought my bottle of repellent with me to apply another protective coat that I was sure the sweat and dew was washing away. I could already feel the insects crawling down my back. Or was that merely rivlets of sweat? 


The latter I hoped as another one of those danged ole "gotcha" briers embedded itself deep in my arm.









For a 60 year old, overweight, smoker it was beginning to seem as if I would never get through this overgrown mess. But with well placed swings of my walking stick and a few choice words, I prevailed, and as I reached the first plant I had seen from the highway those weeks past my ole heart sank !! What few berries were left on the bushes were still green.




















You damned fool, I muttered to myself, The birds have been busy heckling your damned ole plastic snakes while eating away at the Elderberries in your yard. What the hell made you think they would not even more eagerly be eating at the feast provided them out here in the wild. I stuffed my still empty trash bag in my back pocket, took a long swig of the now tepid bottle of water I had brought and headed back to my truck. Wet, hot but a wiser man I cranked my truck and kicked on the air as the sun slowly rose, a ball of fire through the towering pines from the area I had just left behind.











Maybe next year I will come back and put some bird netting over them or maybe I'll just plant a couple more trees in my Wineyard this fall !!!


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## PolishWineP (Aug 4, 2007)

Geeze Waldo, Looks like a rough morning there... The PWP will now dispense 1 _Poor Baby_ as I'm sure you deserve one. The fact that the birds beat you to the berries is literally insult to injury! Have a cup of coffee and take a break.


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## chevyguy65 (Aug 4, 2007)

Waldo ,


for a few bottles of muscadine wine and some "waldo shimp boil" ill make the trip down south with my trusty Browning 12 ga.and stand guard!!!


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## NorthernWinos (Aug 4, 2007)

Waldo...some days just suck!!!!.....Hope your arm is okay...? On the bright side...you caught a beautiful sunrise.


We had been picking Chokecherries at day break...it was such a peaceful time to be out in the wet grass, enjoying the cool mornings.... 
One thing about getting wild berries is that you have to deal with all the critters, birds, weather conditions and other pickers....If you plant more of your own bushes you have more control over conditions.....


Remember..there is s bumper crop in every can of Vintners Harvest Fruit Bases.


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## Wade E (Aug 4, 2007)

Sorry to hear all that buddy, but it is perserverance that eventually pays off so maybe theres a cash crop right down the road!


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## Waldo (Aug 4, 2007)

chevyguy65 said:


> Waldo ,
> 
> 
> for a few bottles of muscadine wine and some "waldo shimp boil" ill make the trip down south with my trusty Browning 12 ga.and stand guard!!!




Your on chevy



Want some crab legs with the shrimp too?


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## Waldo (Aug 4, 2007)

I love that NW.......But do they have Elderberry? I'll have to go look now.


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## Waldo (Aug 4, 2007)

I was disappointed Wade but still count it as a good morning and I figure that anytime I have an opportunity to learn I have gained.


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## scotty (Aug 4, 2007)

I sooo sowwwy waldo.


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## JWMINNESOTA (Aug 4, 2007)

If its any consolation Waldo, rain all morning has made a shut in of me, even though we need it, id rather be out getting scratched up.


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## rgecaprock (Aug 4, 2007)

Waldo, I love your stories!!! Ramona


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## Wade E (Aug 4, 2007)

They do have elderberry and I have never tried this 1 so if you do
please tell me how it is when starting and after it is finished. I have
tried a few and some of them are pretty weak right off the start like
the marionberry which didnt survive as that was the 1 I over sulfited
to death!


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## NorthernWinos (Aug 4, 2007)

JWMINNESOTA said:


> If its any consolation Waldo, rain all morning has made a shut in of me, even though we need it, id rather be out getting scratched up.




RAIN....????? You got rain?????? Count yourself lucky....I've had the sprinklers running all day in the veggie garden...the flowers are dying....The crops are stressed, especially the soybeans...they wilt every afternoon....Seems every summer lately we get to watch our crops deteriorate....So sad...


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## grapeman (Aug 4, 2007)

I feel your pain Waldo. It not only hurts to get stuck with the pickers, but hurts when the birds eat everything up. So dissapointing with the elderberries. I know every year there are probably 100 elderberry bushes around my place, and I'm lucky if a few make it without being eaten. 


Crows are my biggest nemesis. Since they became a protected species the populations have exploded. There are flocks of hundreds if not thousands fly around and devour everything in their paths. I have lost acres of tomatoes and sweetcorn before to them and now it's my brothers turn. He replanted the indian corn 3 times this year. He finally got a few scarecrows up to try to get at least some of it growing. I have had them literally destroy fields of 10000 tomato plants full of tomatoes. There are a few varieties they especially relish-not sense growing them anymore! 


So good luck fighting the birds!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Aug 4, 2007)

NW we did get rain most all day, nice and cool , starting to clear this late afternoon, predicting more late monday into tues, much needed here also, hope you get some soon.


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## NorthernWinos (Aug 4, 2007)

Crows are protected????? Why would they be protected??? What a shame to loose your livelihood to those pesky birds.... 
I hate them...they pull the corn seeds in Jim's corn fields, eat other birds eggs, and are really obnoxious.....Use to have people in our corn fields with some recordings they would play on a tape deck and then shoot them.....Shhhh!!! Don't tell....But...don't think they are protected here.*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## grapeman (Aug 4, 2007)

That's right NW, they are a Federally protected migratory gamebird.!



<H3><A name=legalStatusInNY></A><A name=legalStatusInNY></A>Legal status in New York:</H3>


Federally protected migratory bird (under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act). In New York, crows are a protected game species with an open season. An exception to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act allows the taking of crows without a federal permit when the birds are "found committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in such numbers and manner to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance." In these cases, you don't need permits beyond your NWCO license.


We have found that the best way to keep them somewhat at bay is to kill a few and put them in very visible spots. There are some corn baits you can use that are supposed to make them sick when they eat it and put out distress calls - doesn't work! You gotta love NY to live here!


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## Waldo (Aug 4, 2007)

The only time I like seeing the crowsis late fall, with the two huge oak trees in my yard I get an abundance of acorns and they come in and clean them up for me. Other than that I see only a few every now and then. That may change though when I start getting Muscadiens, Elderberries and Blueberries in abundance. Then, out comes the Browning Magnum !!


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## RAMROD (Aug 5, 2007)

Put the crow calling tape/CD in turn the volume up load the old trusty Browning up and have a blast!!!!


Note: Extra box's of shells is a must.


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## jobe05 (Aug 5, 2007)

My experience is somewhat similar to yours Waldo, except I didn't have to walk through the woods. 

It's about a 60 mile trip from one of my offices to the next. when these were flowing and can be seen, I noted on a map several areas right along the road side where there are hundred of these plants.

Then DOT comes along and sprays weed killer.........................





*Edited by: jobe05 *


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## Waldo (Aug 6, 2007)

Bummer jobe. MAybe were just not supposed to be messing with them elderberries.


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## Joanie (Aug 6, 2007)

I suppose it would be mean of me to tell you I just picked half a 5 gallon pail of them, wouldn't it?

The really strange thing...there were ripe elderberries AND blossoms on the same tree. How can that be?


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## grapeman (Aug 6, 2007)

Joan said:


> I suppose it would be mean of me to tell you I just picked half a 5 gallon pail of them, wouldn't it?
> 
> The really strange thing...there were ripe elderberries AND blossoms on the same tree. How can that be?




It's simple Joan, You picked the ripe Elderberries and the blossoms are the future Youngerberries!










I guess it's kind of like some of the vines have nice big grapes on them and are developing laterals on the same vine that are getting ready to blossom! I think I will be picking those off soon!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Aug 6, 2007)

Waldo, maybe its a sign someone else (Joan) should be out gathering them for you!


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## Joanie (Aug 7, 2007)

I owe Waldo a bottle of last year's crop! I haven't forgotten!! I suppose it's bulk aged long enough, eh?


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## PeterZ (Aug 8, 2007)

Waldo, I have an official US Navy Sympathy Chit in my office, good for 100 words of sympathy from any Navy Chaplain. It's your's.

Along the crop front, this year is a disaster in the mid-south. The cotton looks OK, but the corn in dead and the soybeans are only about 4" tall and very patchy. No rain in the 7 day forecast. 

The real sad thing about the soybeans is that after harvesting the winter wheat the farmland I pass on my way to and from work was left fallow until we did get some rain. The famrers went ahead and planted, but we fell back into a no-rain pattern. The beans started to grow, but now patches are turning brown, and I expect them to be a total loss in another 10 days.

I really hate to see that, because farming is not very profitable, but with the biodiesel craze the price of soybeans is way up. That's probably why they planted, and now they will lose that investment.


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## Waldo (Aug 9, 2007)

I know Peter....There is a considerable amount of farmland that was left fallow this year due to the lack of enough rain to get the crop planted. My boss also owns 2 large farms down around DeWitt and he planted no beans at all this year. 


Joan.............












*Edited by: Waldo *


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## Mr Robusto (Aug 10, 2007)

Sorry to hear that there were no berries, but look at it this way...


You dragged your old, over weight, smoking self out for a nice morning walk


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## Waldo (Jun 16, 2009)

Well, perhaps i will not need to treking through the underbrush this year to get me some elderberries. Mine are doing pretty good I think. As are my Blackberries, which are beginning to ripen and my grape vines are not looking too shabby either,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 






































i'LL let appleman tell me how the grapes are doing as i have never grown any of them before. Im just kinda "faking" my way through on them right now. Doing lots of reading. I will say i have not sprayed them as of yet and as long as I see no bugs on them I am planning on leaving them alone unless appleman or someone else in the know directs me differently.


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## K&GB (Jun 16, 2009)

Lookin' good Waldo! Those berries oughta make some nice wine.


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## Waldo (Jun 16, 2009)

Thanks Ken..I'm sure counting on it. I picked about 2 quarts this evening and they were very nice tasting.


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## K&GB (Jun 16, 2009)

Now don't go eating them all. You won't have any left over for the wine...lol.


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## grapeman (Jun 16, 2009)

Looking good Waldo. Things are starting to crank out for you now. Your grapes should start producing soon also- maybe some next year!?


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## gaudet (Jun 16, 2009)

Wish you lived closer Waldo, cause I could turn you on to a real butt load of elderberries. I will have to charge up the good camera and go take some pictures at the park. I plan to go check on the berry status soon.

If theres anyone close by to me that wants to know, I can share my secret elderberry patch....


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## Waldo (Jun 17, 2009)

K&amp;GB said:


> Now don't go eating them all. You won't have any left over for the wine...lol.










I tried only two and the rest went in the freezer.


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## grapeman (Jun 17, 2009)

Two what Waldo? Quarts? We know you, remember!


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## JWMINNESOTA (Jun 17, 2009)

Maybe it was two pancakes with?


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## Waldo (Jun 18, 2009)

Bwahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Can I keep no secrets from this bunch ?


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