The Summer Wind is Blowing In!

It's been busy in the garden this year. Things are growing like crazy. Our potatoes are the biggest we have ever had; at least above ground! There might not be any potatoes with all this top growth. We'll just have to wait and see. 


The tomato plants are loaded and we've been eating squash for a while. One way I like to fix the squash is to saute it with some sliced onions (also from the garden) in olive oil and then serve on top of cooked pasta.

We've had a lot of bugs this year. Huge grasshoppers and lots of katydids. I got some fly traps to try and keep the flies down around the longhorns pen. We've been spraying Woodrow and Gus also. They don't much care for it and it takes patience, but they will eventually stand still while you spray them. More or less.


I saw this huge 7" walking stick bug yesterday by the pump house. I think it's the biggest one I've ever seen! 


One day there was a buzzard in the garden and I went out to investigate. He was after a dead snake that had gotten tangled in some bird netting and died. It was a western coach whip about 5 feet long.


Baby turkeys are back this year! With the drought last year there weren't any babies on our place. Three hens and their babies have been coming to the milo I throw out every day. We also had a couple of quail in the pasture. It has been almost 20 years since we had quail!

The year we bought our place my Dad gave me an old restaurant style double sink. It was on wobbly legs that were welded on. We thought at one time that we might use it as an outside sink, but plans changed on that. I wanted to keep it because it reminded me of my Dad. So one day I kicked the welds lose and removed the legs, painted it, and planted it with native deer-resistant plants. 

I have always been madly in love with old enamel top tables. If I had room I would have a dozen of them! Since I don't, I only have two. Neither is on the original base. One is on an old sewing machine base and has been on the back porch since we built the cabin. The other used to be my desk. It has lately just been stored in the woodshed. I took it out the other day and put it on the back porch to use for a plant stand.

The Spring wildflowers have given way to Summer wildflowers. One of the prettiest is a type of bee balm called Horse Mint. It grows in clumps about 2 feet tall. During a wet year a while back we gathered some seeds from some plants and scattered them on our place. We forgot all about them and this year they came up and surprised us! 

Rickie and I took a day off from gardening and cedar cutting to float down the river this week. It was beautiful and we beat the holiday crowd coming in. Life is good!


"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." Russel Baker