for half of the year, the farm is asleep, and there is not much to post in around the farm. then there is the other half of the year. no time for posting! so much going on! and too many photos to choose from.
we have been enjoying lettuce salads for the past month.
the kale and the asian greens planted last season have bolted and now that the bees have had their fill of their flowers, they are in the process of seed saving.
it’s strawberry season, and therefore officially summer to me. we even have strawberries ripening in our garden! though there are not enough yet for me to skip the drive to the valley for the 50 pounds we put away, they are by far sweeter and more flavorful. i do not even think i am being biased! ask captain pirate, there. you know, the kid in the tunic and cape, licking the strawberry syrup spoon. (i am going to do his 13 year old self a favor and not post the pictures from earlier that day, when he was just wearing star wars undies and shark boots to help me can.) oh, and that photo of my new outdoor canning station? you guessed it, i have rich to thank for that. (it’s so awesome!!! as is he.)
a few new experiments going on in the garden. i have had the hardest time getting carrots to germinate, but between the soaker hose (we did not have it yet at this time last year) and the sand i added to the carrot bed (we have lots of sand at our disposal here on the coast) i had much higher germination. i’m also trying to grow my brassicas in with my newly planted rhubarb, as i have read they are good companions. and i am very excited to say that i have at least one pepper plant from last season that perrenialized, somehow surviving frost and neglect in my greenhouse over the winter and sprouting wonderful new growth early this spring. while my new baby peppers are barely sprouting their seed leaves, the perrenialized one is as big as the plants ever got last year! i have high hopes for harvesting lots and lots of peppers from this plant…
and there is always the ongoing project entitled: attracting natural predators of slugs.
i’ve also been saving up photos of my purple poppies to share with you… click on a thumbnail to see the full-size image.
and as a thank you for all of you steadfast readers, if you would like to plant some purple poppies this fall (for flowers next spring) send me your snail mail address: earth.huggy (at) gmail (dot) com. they will ship out when i surface out from under jars of berries and piles of kale stalks and have a moment to collect them, but for now they are safely tucked in their seed pods, waving in the almost-summer breeze.
Amazing photos, amazing flowers, amazing you!
I had a snake like that, with the stripes running down its back, as a pet when I was a kid. It came from the pet store, and I had never seen one wild. It never even occurred to me to wonder where they lived. …until we were right in your backdoor last year, and Felipe and I stumbled across one on a trail on the way to the top of a tall tall waterfall! So fun to see this one, right there in your garden :o)
Here we have heat so hot it breaks the sky open, tears it with thunder. That is how *I* know it is summer. More and more often, then leaves turn their silver backs to face the sky, the world grows dark, and in blows the storm.