Dirt

 It almost feels like cheating to get to garden in soil like this!!

dirt and chickens

 We spent the weekend getting the vegetable garden prepped and ready for tilling (the thistles are so bad!!!) so when I looked out in the back yard yesterday, this is what I saw!

These little moments are so precious - dirt, children (and not even all that young anymore - one is almost 14!! - but still loving the dirt!) and half a dozen chickens wandering around. Not your typical suburban life!🤣 I'm regularly grateful for our neighbors who don't bat an eye at the unusual views out *their* back windows! It helps that one behind us is one of Owen's childhood best friends (and the boys used to dig in this dirt together on a regular basis!), one is a delightful older couple whose grandkids are second cousins to our children (their daughter married Matt's cousin) and the third house is populated by a family that's rarely out in their yard anyway, and just takes our unique landscaping in stride.

The grafted tree

 

A few years ago we experimented with grafting, partly as a botany lesson for the kids, but also desiring to preserve the old apple tree that Matt's grandparents planted behind the house that is slowly coming to the end of its life. We had success with eight of the ten that we attempted, but then lost all but one to deer over the winter. HOWEVER, the one survivor has continued to grow nicely, and this spring has its first blossoms! Still undecided if we're going to pull the blossoms to get one more season of good growth before putting energy into bearing fruit.

a few of the girls

Bethlehen

Attila the Hen

Henrietta

 Growing well, but still have quite a ways before they're laying!

Harvest of the day

 It has not been a great year for the vegetable garden. Too wet and cool, I think. (And because it's been so wet, Matt hasn't been out there with his special fertilizer, either...that could also have something to do with it!)

But yesterday, for the first time, I was able to put together supper almost entirely from the garden.

Add a little salt and olive oil and roast it all up...yum!

We ALSO picked one of Eben's sunflowers today at his request. This spring when we were buying seeds, he was the one who voted that we don't just get giant sunflowers that grown 12 feet tall, but get "Pikes Peak" sunflowers which can get up to 14 or 15 feet tall! They have NOT disappointed, even with this less than great year. (This is just the very top of the plant - I cut it off as high above my head as I could reach, and then cut another 18" off so it would fit in the vase we have for it!)

The chickens are growing!

 

Henrietta and Rinnah.

Evania with Attila the Hen and Rinnah with Mrs. (Lavender) Allen Milgrave.

Thinning the carrots

 Last year was so dry. I think it rained twice all summer. This summer, we're short on sun. For once, the tomatoes and beans are doing not much of anything. 

But our carrots are growing well. There's always something that does well. That's part of what makes gardening interesting.

Last night I thinned the carrots, with this as the result:

Washed and chopped, and it's the start for soup for supper.

New residents in the Motley Garden

 It's worth noting that two weeks ago we got six new residents in the Motley Garden: Henrietta, Attila the Hen, Mrs. (Lavender) Allen Milgrave, Princess Leia Negg, Bethlehen, and Charlotte have moved into a coop Dad helped the girls build in the back of the small side of the shed.

It will be into the fall before we get any eggs, but we're hoping to have them doing some free-ranging and some time in a mobile run and have them do some work on the grubs in the gardens!

Here are the babies!!

This is Ebenezer with Mrs. Allen Milgrave. The night before we got the chicks, we read about a character in our book who was described as looking like a "sleek gray hen" so they decided if we got a gray one, she would be Mrs. Allen Milgrave. But she needs her own given name, too, thus the "Lavender."

This is Rinnah with Henrietta (I think. I have a harder time telling Henrietta and Charlotte apart.)

The girls helped Dad build a mobile run with leftover bits of lumber that we have laying around. We purchased hardware cloth, but everything else is just leftovers! Flipped over, it gives the chickens an easy way to have a little more space to run outdoors without concern for then destroying the gardens or hawks (or cats!) destroying them.

Wisteria

 Years ago (5? 6? more??) a friend working at a garden center gave us a wisteria at the end of the season. Apparently, wisteria is known for being rather agressive, so the recommendation is to actively deadhead to prevent seeds from spreading. 

Our wisteria, however, for years grew only leaves; I figured it was maybe just too cold of a climate for it to truly thrive here, and was content with that - it is filling up a dead corner of the shed very nicely.

But THIS spring, we've got buds! And they're starting to open! I'm both really excited for how pretty it's going to be and also a little apprehensive - will we be able to stay on top of it?? I hope so!

And, speaking of the shed, the peonies are blooming beautifully - one of my favorite times is when those big, exuberant, old-fashioned peonies sparkle against the old, faded shed.

Shed Quilt

 

Blueberries

 Every year those bushes get bigger! That's a good picking of blueberries, with more coming! Rinnah made blueberry bagels with them, and we think there's still enough for a batch of jam.

Eating the yard

 Rinnah took "eating the yard" to a whole new level as she attempted a week of eating ONLY things that came from our yard. She allowed herself both fresh and frozen (from last year), and at our pressing, salt, but otherwise NOTHING beyond what had come from here. (So, for example, jams were out because the pectin and sugar were purchased.)

She only made it three days before her stomach mildly protested, but she wants to give it another go in August when the list of available fresh options is greater!

Spinach, beet greens, purslane, topped with rhubarb, blueberries, and black raspberries and a few sunflower seeds!

First salad

 No idea what to make for supper? Well, the greens in the garden provided a good start...

Spinach (yes, it's bolted), black-seeded Simpson lettuce, and beet greens.

The old apple tree

 

Potatoes 2021

 We got the potatoes in late this year, and they just weren't dying down until FINALLY we got a light frost over the weekend. With heavy rain supposedly coming tomorrow, that meant yesterday and today were our days to get them in. So we did! I did most of the digging, but Matt came out for bits of time as he was able, and Owen put in a good hour in the afternoon after school as well. And these two girls (and Rinnah, too) were tireless, not only with the fun task of pulling up the potatoes (we got some amazing potatoes after what did not appear to be a promising year) but also with the not so fun job of pulling up weeds ahead of my digging so I could see what I was doing.

Fall produce

 Pulling in the last bits before the first freeze!

(All photos, except the first one, courtesy of Leah.)

Zinnias

 Rinnah and I carefully planted the whole end of the fenced in area with lettuce, beets, carrots and planted a row of zinnias as a divider between each one. Well, with the lack of rain (and lack of watering on our part), none of it came up except for the zinnias, and they are gorgeous! They definitely grew big enough to cover the weeds and empty dirt where the other things were supposed to be!

Tomatoes

 While we certainly haven't been as invested in the veggie garden this year as last, we're still doing a decent job of keeping up and getting a quite decent yield.

Here are Dad and Evania picking tomatoes from the annex on the west end of the veggie garden where we put all of the volunteer plants that we found in the spring! They filled the entire turkey roasting pan with cherry tomatoes!!

Gladiolus

 Matt diligently watered our gladiolus bulbs during the drought, and we've been rewarded over the last few weeks with a steady and copious stream of beautiful flowers.

Here Evania's showing off just a small sampling. We're bringing in this many almost every day!

Spring again?

 While the drought has not been AS severe here as it's been in the more western parts of the country, we have definitely felt its effects. Last week we finally got some real rain, and as a result, my bridal veil bush is blooming again, and I have daffodils coming up!

There should NOT be daffodils coming up in early September. Sorry.