I haven't blogged about the garden?!?!

It was only as I mentioned the garden in passing in the previous entry that I realized I haven't officially blogged about our garden. In my blogging "absence," I composed so many mental blog entries that I've sorta lost track of which ones actually made it to the keyboard and out to cyber reality...

So, the garden...We planted in early April, and so far, so good. Currently, we are growing:

--french radishes (already eating those, yummy!)

--carrots

--melon (don't know what kind, it was a shared seed from a friend)

--two kinds of squash (again, don't know what kinds)

--corn

--several different kinds of tomatoes (started by a friend from seed, he gave me the plants when they were pretty small)

--bell peppers

--pumpkin

--yellow onions

--green onions

Also, sunflowers, morning glories, hollyhocks, chocolate flower, indian peace pipe, shasta daisies and marigolds have all been started from seeds. :) Everything is coming up and doing okay so far. I state it like that because sometimes, our summer heat comes on so suddenly, my seed starts have just shrivelled in the past.

In terms of our existing "food" plants, our peach tree has lots of fruit, and our apple tree is actually alive (which I didn't expect it to be). Our strawberry plants (which are practically evergreen here) are producing slowly but steadily (think about 5 berries a week). I had currant berries off the currant bush I transplanted from my grandma's house last fall. I didn't do anything with those (just let the birds have them). The same will go for the heavy load of crab apples coming along from that tree (also a transplant from my grandma's house).

I was worried that keeping up with the weeds would be miserable work. So far though, it hasn't been too daunting. And, I have the extra incentive of wanting to give the chickens fresh vegetation, so I almost welcome the weed pulling knowing that the chickens really love their greens. They are officially penned up for the summer (so as to spare the garden), and I do feel a bit guilty that they aren't allowed their free-ranging pleasure currently. It's my plan though to let them roam again, come late fall. Until then, I'm trying to be very mindful about supplementing their diet with weeds, bugs we gather, as well as our kitchen scraps which they make mighty fast work of.

When I rushed out a moment ago, to photograph the garden, the kids, of course, wanted to know what I was doing. When I told them, they said "well, you have to show everyone our pool." So, they very obligingly dove in. ;) (Ainslie is currently napping, or I'm sure she would have been quickly wet as well.)

Making oil blends...and a few pics

I just spent a fun half hour or so this afternoon indulging one of my favorite pasttimes -- mixing essential oil blends. I love the fragrance, the power of making something to meet my needs (rather than purchasing something), and just the lovely "witchy" creativity of it (I say witchy because it meets my mental image of an old time "herb witch" crafting her goods). The blends I made today are 100% courtesy of dear Sandra and her power to research and resolve problems. Both of our families suffered mightily at the hands of mosquitoes last summer. And lately, she's heard an earful about my problems with ticks and my dogs. So, before I know it, I get an email from Sandra with recipes to solve both these issues. We combined an oil order to supply the oils we were both missing from our own supplies (I needed lemon eucalyptus, catnip and cedarwood essential oils and fractionated coconut oil). The result -- a homemade mosquito repellant that is oh-so-natural AND great smelling and an equally good smelling tick repellant for my dogs. Absolutely nothing synthetic or harmful in either one of that -- this makes me a happy woman! :)

So, I also said I'd post a few pics. First, you'll see our lovely garden as it's looking currently. Everything is growing so well, and the energy out there is peace at its best. A few months ago, I as lucky enough to "win" a hammock stand on FreeCycle. We weren't able to get the hammock for it until recently but now it's all set up and it's definitely my new favorite spot. AND, for once, it coincides with where the kids want to be. They are loving the yard right now too (it doesn't hurt that we got a new kiddie pool).





Next, I bring you Ainslie a la her brother's Ninja Turtle costume. I think it's actually the costume's photo debut as I bought it for Grady last Halloween but at the last moment, he couldn't bear to not be Batman.

Catching up...what went down at C.L.U.C.K.

I do this periodically, lose the time to blog and then it begins to snowball. Soon, it feels like too much has passed and how can I possibly relate it all? Then I begin procrastinating, even when I do have the time to blog.

As before, I guess I just have to dive back in. I know there's no chance I'll be able to write about, or even remember, what has come and gone in my month-plus of silence, but what can you do. Time doesn't stop, even for busy blogging mamas...

I last wrote about C.L.U.C.K. at the Farmer's Market, and it truly was both a successful and very fun day. We garnered many signatures and support and met lots of very fun folks. Fionna was in heaven as we decided to take Whitey, our friendliest hen, along, and they were showered with lots of positive attention. Fionna is very much in her element when she's at the center of lots of positive attention. Whitey, the valiant chicken that she is, was taken in and out of her crate, petted by a myriad of admirers and fed copious amounts of kettle corn (that lucky hen!). An extremely kindly woman even approached me and said that she would very much like her own daughter to have a chance to sketch Fionna (she was doing sketches for a fee that morning at the Market), and if I was agreeable, she'd give me the money to have Fionna's sketch done with Whitey. Of course, I was agreeable :), so Fionna sat to have her sketch done. She was so proud, and Whitey was so funny. She dozed in Fionna's arms, in the sun, even drooling at one point. Chickens drool; who knew?

My camera battery went dead, just when I needed it. But Nora came to my rescue and captured these images. I also will include a photo of the sketch.