Thursday, September 20, 2012

One More Garden Picture

Almost the end of the season. That was the last picking of green beans (I was only able to grow a small patch protected from the deer). The bell peppers are going red, and the hot peppers are slowing down. The faithful okra is still producing and I pick every 2-3 days. On the right you will see my container watermelons. They are small but still taste fine. I was actually quite surprised they ripened! The flowers are "burr marigolds"; I keep trying to encourage them to grow around the property. These were picked along the roadside. All the children are used to me stopping the truck and leaping out to pick wildflowers!


Friday, September 14, 2012

Fall IS Here!

When Esther dons a hoodie to go out in the morning to milk goats, fall is here. The mornings have been cool and misty, and the days beautiful. The air conditioning is OFF, and now I am eyeing the woodpile. I know we'll need more wood, but first I want all those too-long pieces from last year cut and stacked.
Meanwhile, the turkeys are acclimating to the big fenced backyard, but mostly they want to sit on the back deck. I have to keep shooing them off the roof (if they go to roost THERE, the owls will find them at night).  Sometimes they fly over a fence and have to be individually picked up and tossed back into the yard.  If I catch them balanced on a fence prepatory to flying over, I can run out and call them ("Wheep! Wheep!") and they will teeter back and forth a bit, then jump down and amble over to me.  I think turkeys are just hilarious! 
A porch full of turkeys

The turkeys were quite entertained by the small tree. I think it's time to clean out the gutters...


Esther's face when I mentioned the turkeys on the roof above her...

Thursday, September 6, 2012

September 2012






I noticed that the insects had switched to their slower autumn chirp about 3 days ago, and now it's dark before eight.
The garden seemed ahead of schedule all summer...once we got past the early heat, it was a good year.
Now the tomatos and beans are almost gone and only the peppers and okra are bearing abundantly. The summer squash and the cucumbers lost to the asiatic brown stinkbug; even the winter squash only produced a handful of fruit. However, it was a wonderful year for peppers and zinnias!

Okra is drought resistant, nutritious (it contains calcium!), bears reliably until frost, tastes great fried,
and comes with beautiful blossoms.


The butterflies were abundant this year. I'd find 4 or 5 at a time on the flowers. The zinnias and hot peppers ended up  mixed together in a scenic jumble of blossoms and fruit...another of my "plan as you go" garden features! 


It was time to let Mr. Turtle go. I'd found him when he was only as big as a quarter and he happily  spent the summer in an aquarium, devouring not only turtle food but our enormous bottom feeder (that wasn't planned). Behind him you see the one acre pond on our property.

Mr. Turtle happily swims away! I hope he lives a long life in the pond. He'll have plenty of company.


Esther took this shot against the setting sun's light.


Mochi the cat was a bit nonplussed when I let the turkeys out to roam in our newly fenced back yard.

Narragansett Turkeys (a historic breed). These aren't for eating, I just like having turkeys around.


The male in "full ruffle" mode!