Photo Friday: follow me!

August 5, 2011August 6, 201116 Comments

You’ve been here many times before, but I had so much fun discovering what’s been happening behind the scenes that I just had to share with you dear reader.

First, thing you’ll notice is that my sunflowers are now about 12 feet tall! Walking in the garden with these behemoths towering overhead makes me feel like a child again…

But now I turn your attention to looking closer, underneath the leaves here, where you will find squash blossoms and immature fruits awaiting pollination.

What’s that you say?

You spy bugs in the blossoms?

Not to worry. Keep up with me now.

Here’s a surprise! Naked Ladies bounding up from the ground where I was sure they would be never seen again! You see there was in incident with that rototiller earlier in the season… Yet there were survivors and…

What?

Oh, yes I saw it too, another little bug in the flower, and it’s eating the pollen you say? Don’t worry, just follow me…

Having never grown cotton before I was enchanted with how the flower buds reminded me of ceremonial Thai hats.

We had a couple of 2 X 4 Tarter tank water troughs hanging about, left over from brooding chicks and geese. So we moved one into the garden and attached a lovely faucet handle (brought all the way from the house in California) into the drain hole. Now I fill it from the well and it gently soaks the garden on days with no rain. I think it looks lovely and it is definitely practical don’t you agree?

I thought these were stunning so I captured them for you too...

I’ve entitled it:

A Mother’s Adoration

So as you have noticed I have bugs. I chose not to spray and that’s what you get when you don’t use chemicals. Lots of bugs! Instead I planted flowers in the midst of the garden and that, my friends, brought in more bugs.

the reinforcements!

So, allow me to introduce you to my equalizers…

The Fairy Lacewing

A Dragonfly

(He must have flown in from my last post! 😉 )

Looking closely we see evidence that parasitic wasps have taken up residence amongst the tomatoes… I know it offends your sensibilities, and for that I am sorry, but it is a bug eat bug world out there and without the beneficials we would go wanting!

And now finally…

SPIDER ALERT!

OK, you’ve been officially warned.

(Please do click on her for a closer look, and if you can stand it, click on her again to really see her in detail.)

I found this beautiful lady! She’s one and one half inches long (including legs)! Do you see her suitor in the background?

For those bugs who would seek to destroy my garden by their sheer numbers, Japanese beetles and squash bugs, well there is the bucket of water for them… I gather them up every morning and take them over to my chickens and the WeeChoo. The chickens make short work of the Japanese beetles, and My guinea hen “WeeChoo” eats the squash/stink bugs!

Yes, my garden is full of insects. Some of my plants have holes in the leaves and I lose a few to the bad guys now and again. However, as time goes by the good should outweigh the bad.

In the end, I have the confidence of knowing that I can eat what I grow without fear. It also makes me glad that I have not added anything to the environment that would do harm.

It is a great feeling.

Photo Friday: grass fire

July 29, 2011July 29, 201113 Comments

On our Sabbath outing I must have taken 70 to 80 photos that I was certain were going to turn out wonderful.

An unusual dragonfly that looks like a bi-plane…

Too monochromatic and dark.

~*~

While watching flirting dragonflies flit I tried to catch them but they were all over and unphotogenic, one landed…

on the end of this stick… he’s there I promise, but my camera liked the rocks in the background better, and thus, he disappeared into the shot.

~*~

I tried again, with the water as a backdrop.

So OK, I got him this time…

Hey! You still awake?

~*~

There were photos of trees, the lake and the dam too, all boring.

On the way home we were suddenly transported back in time and flying down the highway at about 65 MPH. I set the camera to the mode called “Children” which allows photographing “active children.” (I don’t make this up my camera really says that in the viewing window!)

I was surprised at the result…

Fun, but not a great photo.

The sun was low in the sky when we finally turned onto the road that leads to home and I saw this…

I think it is pretty, but not so clear and finely detailed as I like. I took several more shots, but none were so wonderful as this next one…

~*~

This is the one I loved.

~*~

“Well I think that… if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard…”

Quote: Dorothy, edited, from The Wizard of OZ

~*~

Is it my Imagination?

Curiously, I have begun to notice that my photographs are a bit fuzzy on the main page, but that if I click on them for a closer view they suddenly get sharp and clear. Not bragging (oh please) but the detail in the grass deserves a closer look. It was such a lovely find!

Photo Friday: garden promises

July 22, 2011July 22, 201114 Comments

I apologize up front for using my flash on most of these photos. It had just stopped raining and it was very overcast and dark outside. I still don’t have a tripod, and I need one, to allow me a slower shutter speed and clarity.

But hey! The excitement of watching all my hard work showing signs of paying off was too much to resist…

Why two poultry fences? One to keep the geese in…

and one to keep them OUT! 😉

It’s small you say? It’s a zucchini just give it a day!

Color me RED!

Furry cantaloupe vines thriving in the heat and rain.

This is going to take a long time! Can you guess what it is?

My little fig tree was frozen to the ground and left for dead… Then it suddenly sprouted and grew up like a weed! It is now over five foot tall and full of (soon to be) luscious fruits! Hearty tree!

This one has a role to play in tonight’s stir fry!

A prolific and hearty seedless variety of cucumber will provide salad fare and pickles this winter.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of all the things growing here on the Farmlet. But before I leave you…

My handsome kitty Claus would like you to know that he has been on patrol day and night ridding the garden of voles and moles!

* “But… it’s only a little bunny!”

June 24, 2011June 25, 201112 Comments

Tonight while putting the chickens away I saw Little Bit chasing after something…

It was a little rabbit about 5 or 6 inches long and she nearly got it until Bob stepped in. I walked over to where Bob was pointing at the base of the tree and there it was, with its little head stuck into the crotch of the tree’s roots. Gently I reached down and scooped it up. Immediately it started wriggling in my hands and I held on just a bit tighter.

So furry and soft with little ears that framed its face. I looked into its eyes and saw fear. I’m sorry little one.

Nearing the fence I was just about to bend down and push it back through, when it began to scream! Apparently it could no longer contain its fear. How can such a little creature make such a big scream?

Surprised, Bob asked, “Did he make that noise?”

“Yup,” I answered.

The look of surprise on his face was priceless!

I wondered why it’d come into the yard. They hadn’t done it before. Then it hit me! It was the horses. They have eaten everything but the honeysuckle vine out back… there is not even one clover, nor one blade of grass for even the littlest of bunnies to eat.

If I have identified him correctly he’s a baby Sylvilagus floridanus or Eastern Cotton Tail Rabbit. Glad I saved him from the cat!