first fruits

A few blueberries and raspberries, most days now.

Perfect with yogurt at the end of the day.

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wordless thursday

 

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wordless wednesday

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waving a trowel

Greetings from the gardens! We've had several days without rain, but some extreme heat and humidity - Heat Index of 100F or higher. Today was lovely by comparison, and I spent much of the day very happily puttering in the paddocks and the gardens.

Plants that struggled to grow through the weeks of deluge have been rallying and are now growing and blooming at a great rate. I've brought a few pictures from the garden to share, but first: a question for the chard-lovers among you.

How do you like to prepare it? Some of the chard plants are now growing fast enough that - by moving briskly - I can occasionally pick a few leaves before the bugs devour them.

So far, I've taken my usual approach to a vegetable: eating it raw. This is sometimes as far as I need to go - lots of things are delicious raw. But with chard, well, I'm positive there is a better way. Alternative suggestions welcome and requested.

The highbush blueberries by the workshop are done for the year - and a surprisingly fine year it has been for these precious gems, considering all the days of hard rain. Quite often I picked my daily handful by running out between rainstorms.

My last little handful of 2018 was enjoyed earlier this week, and I left the few remaining berries ripening on the bush for the wildlife to enjoy the next day. Fair's fair.

I say "wildlife" not "birds," because I'm not sure exactly who I share the blueberries with anymore. I even saw a tiny mouse in the birdfeeder, five feet off the ground, the other day. Shinnying up that pole and then vaulting over to the feeder is quite a feat, even for the intrepid squirrels and a thrill-seeking chipmunk. When I walked past the feeder and saw a mouse peeping at me from eye level, it was quite a surprise.

Speaking of tiny things, I've discovered three Minnesota Midget Melons in the garden so far. The largest is about the size of a softball, as expected. People who have grown these melons describe them as "individual-serving." I'm hoping to find out, but it will be a while before they ripen. Meanwhile, they remain as safe as possible from predators, hidden in the undergrowth.

Massive vines are producing my favorite winter squash - candy roaster - in the undergrowth as well, but some individuals are no longer able to hide very well. This one is probably 20 inches long and it appears to have grown considerably larger each time I see it:

But today I noticed this little candy roaster on a trellis, cleverly disguised to blend in with the neighboring pole beans:

I'm still picking pole beans every day or two, eating some and tucking some into the freezer. My fondness for bean salad is unabated:

So good.

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ready for the close-up

A tiny violet growing on the Upper West Side

Wild highbush blueberries by the workshop

Clintonia borealis - Bluebead lily or yellow clintonia -

along the path to the stiltbarn

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heading in

It's been a lovely three days, weather-wise. 

Piper and I spent more than two hours in the woods one afternoon. I didn't bring the camera - which is why you are looking at pictures of bees in the garden instead of Piper in the woods - and Piper was determined that I was not going to open a sketchbook. We walked and sat and watched little birds skimming over the water and one of us picked blueberries and one of us went kerplunk! into the mucky pond.

Actually, it's probably just as well you are not looking at pictures of Piper.

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One sunny morning, a very playful Moxie suddenly joined me in the big garden where I was getting ready to do some work. Outdoors, Moxie is usually intent on hunting and not at all interested in socializing. So when she actually invited me to play, I of course forgot all about working.

Della and Moxie do play together outdoors, and hunt together too, while I'm puttering around or doing barn chores. When I decide it's time to go back inside, they do not always agree with me. I often have to locate one of them by watching the other. Moxie is nearly invisible in undergrowth, but Della is usually easier to spot. Here's Della in full camouflage mode:

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Evening chores done, heading in to make supper.

Dessert will be blueberry cake.

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sunday snaps

Piper and I were determined to get into the woods today.

I packed water, snacks, and the camera.

And a special rawhide chew in case Piper was Extra Good.

It was very hot and humid. We didn't walk far.

Piper wasn't even interested in running way ahead.

Or running in circles around me.

Or running.

And as soon as I chose a spot and took off my pack,

she carefully chose a spot also.

Look at that draped tail.

Too humid to wag!

Not too humid to roll though!

After:

But just one good shake and she's re-styled.

We stayed on a slope by the pond for a long time.

So long, a few birds began to land in nearby trees.

 This bird perched high overhead.

I have no idea what kind of bird it is - do you?

 I think it may have been bathing,

and flew onto the branch to fluff and dry.

It took much longer than Piper to style it's look.

For that matter, it took longer than I do.

"Obviously! Just look at your hair!"

Why, is it full of twigs?

Because I've been walking though high bushes? 

I didn't take many, because it's such an important wildlife food.

But...I couldn't resist a few.

 Handfuls.

~~~

I hope your weekend contained some Extra Good bits.

As good as highbush blueberries.

And even better than rawhide chews.

Let's hold on to the good moments.

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a ramble in the gardens

I haven't written much about my gardening endeavors this year,

not because it hasn't been an daily activity for several months...

Remember my seedlings? Much bigger now!

...but because everything has been sooooo slow.

Slow to grow, slow to flower.

Until this past week, the only vegetable I harvested was kale.

Thank you, kale! You have given me hope. And food.

A few days ago, I harvested the first straightneck summer squash

from the new and heavily mulched bed near the goat barn.

At first glance, I thought the camera was over-reacting, but no:

this extreme yellow is the genuine color of the squash:

Like last year, there are little garden beds in multiple places, 

and a slightly larger garden on the edge of the Upper West Side terrace.

The Upper West Side is a goat browse area,

but a small sunny section is fenced off for the garden.

(I have plans to make it bigger next year!)

There are winter squash growing up the 6-foot perimeter fence,

and you can perhaps make out the sweet corn and pole beans in the background:

I tried the corn/beans/squash "companion planting" thing.

So far, not impressed.
It all looks more "naturally competitive" than "companionable" to me:

During Wednesday's daylong deluge, some of the corn took quite a whalloping.
And now we're having very cool weather. Like October-cool.
Will the corn manage to produce ripe ears?
It's a rollercoaster ride, this gardening thing.

And here's a high point:

The very first Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Acorn Squash,
harvested the day after the storm!
This is one of three Sow True Seed heritage squash varieties I planted
as part of Tipper's Blind Pig and the Acorn "Squash Reporters @ Large" project.
For weeks I have been reading about other gardens and other squash,
and wondering if I would have anything to contribute before Winter.
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
Lots of plants. Lots of leaves. Lots of flowers.
Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Look, Tipper! I got one! 

(And many flowers on all three varieties. Fingers crossed!)
~~~

Meanwhile, there's one other precious harvest taking place

by the daily handful:

My lone surviving highbush blueberry
also had a slow, tough haul into Summer,
but is now doing very well indeed!
This is especially satisfying, because last year the bush was clearly
in trouble, striving to recover after a series of catastrophic events.
I did my best to help, but as you know...
well, I love plants, but I'm more useful with animals.

This blueberry bush is a survivor!

Doesn't it make your mouth water?

Mine, too!

~~~

All day long, I have thought today was Sunday.

Even when I was at the dump - which is only open on Saturday -

I told someone I'd see them "tomorrow," meaning Monday.

I wonder what day I will think it is tomorrow.

Whatever day you think it is, I hope you are having a good one!

~~~~~

project notes

Today it's raining, but yesterday was a gorgeous day for working outdoors!

Several dead or broken saplings near the gardens need to come down before vegetable planting begins in two or three weeks. The break on this pair of saplings is about 18 feet up:

I managed to take two of them down without hitting that power line,

but could not risk the third, or the one on the other side of that line, without using a rope.

And I could not find a rope!

I know...

it amazed me, too!

How could I not have a hank of rope???

It's like not having salt.

Or a pencil.

Or a toothbrush.

So this job is only partly done, but must be finished soon.

(Note to self: buy more rope!)

The cut saplings went straight into the paddock with the does,

where they met with instant approval.

This is Lily of the Valley and her daughter Tsuga:

They began by nibbling the tiny branches,

but in a day or two I expect every bit of bark will be gone as well.

 ~~~

While I was puttering in the goat zone, I took a look at this spot.

It's tiny; about 12 x 12 feet, with my workshop on the north side

and the Chute to New Adventure on the south,

connecting two little goat paddocks.

Can you see the little bush toward the center?

It is the last surviving high-bush blueberry on my place.
This is why I wrapped the fence around this spot;
to protect the blueberry bush from the goats.

There used to be two bushes in other places, but they succumbed years ago to the increasing canopy cover (= lower light availability) and, on one memorable occasion, to the self-serve enthusiasm of a very happy parrot.

The carpenters who built the little workshop (could it be nine years ago?) were asked to watch out for the blueberry bush. I flagged it, and carefully tied it back to keep it's branches safe from the to-ing and fro-ing of two guys carrying lumber. It made it through the hazards of the building process - hurray! - and for a few weeks each summer since (if I could beat the birds to it in the morning) has provided me with a handful of blueberries for my morning yogurt.

Sadly, two years ago a small tree came down right across the blueberry bush, damaging many fragile little branches and killing one of the three stems. Last year, the bush struggled to survive, and produced maybe twenty berries in total, which I left for the birds.

This tough winter we've just put behind us (whew!) may have taken a further toll on the blueberry bush, but my fingers are crossed. Today, I was thrilled to see leaf buds on a number of branches!

To celebrate this triumphant act of survival despite adversity, I decided to put some effort into this tiny section of ground. Just a bit of clean-up to begin with, moving a pile of flexible drainage pipe up to the loft in the workshop, and cutting down or pulling up a load of old rubus and bittersweet. Next, beginning to gradually dig a bit of earth away from the upslope corner of the workshop, seen below.

The wood was not originally in direct contact with the ground, but after years of downslope erosion and deposition is now in danger of rotting. I'd love to just jack the whole shed up a foot, but that's not a job to tackle alone and my professional shed-jacker-upper is busy fencing at the moment. So, I'll try shoveling. The ground is extremely rocky, so it's a bit-by-bit effort.

The pile of semi-rotted brush below will have to become a design element:

I'd like to turn it into a hill of squash,

but the vinca groundcover suggests there may not be enough light

once the nearby trees have leafed out.

We'll see.

~~~

Tsuga had never seen my old work boots before.

When I went into the paddock for evening chores,

she hastened right over to investigate.

 

Exactly three seconds later,

she walked away...

her work was done.

Tsuga needs a job.

Adorable goat available for photoshoots

and Untying All The Things.

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