Wild Kitten Taming: Diary 9/28/15

I am getting closer and closer to the wild kittens. I have fed them by hand twice. It was salmon and though I want to befriend these guys, I can't be serving salmon every day! I am working on moving my hands while they are eating. I touched the black one once. The striped one is super curious about me, but I still haven't touched her/him. I left my hand on their bowl at dinner tonight. They are so nervous, but little

by little I will move my hand until I touch them while they eat. After that, I think it will go much more quickly. They are starting to meet me when I come out and know my whistle.

Diary 9/27/15

Spent the weekend with Garden Girl. She has been attending kindergarten, so we have not seen as much of each other lately. Also, she is moving out of the area. So, I wanted to spend some time with her. We did all our favorite things including sugar cookies(I !/2'd the sugar and they were still good)and laughing alot. We did some harvesting in the greenhouse. Well, I was harvesting and she was trying to resuscitate

a dead lizard.

Diary 9/25/15

It is always a pleasant surprise when these fall crocus show up. They make tons of foliage in spring and then disappear. Surprise! Here they are after I watered. The picnic table beside them may hide them from deer's munching mouths...

Diary 9/24/15

Back in the day, (ha-ha. I sound so old) it used to frost in September. Yep, any rain storm would bring cold air behind it. A full moon also could mean a clear night of frost. Now those dates have moved up to November. At first, I didn't want to count on it being so late. I thought it was an unusual occurrence. Now, I believe we have lengthened our growing season by at least 45 days. That's alot. Still no sign of rain even though small low pressure systems are pushing through. Another ten days without a sign of serious rain and who knows beyond that. Poor plants. Poor trees. Poor animals.

What skunks are good for: Diary 9/23/15

Yes, when a skunk lets go of his scent it is not fun. It happens often here in our rural location. Kinda doesn't even bother me that much anymore~ Skunks do riffle through the recycle looking for tidbits, so I have to clean cans very well. They will eat any cat food left out, so I bring food in at night. (Raccoons and foxes, too.) They will climb in cars if they think there is something great in there, so have to keep windows up at night. They do catch rodents. What they are really good for is routing out these yellow jacket wasp nests. I didn't even know I had been working by two such nests in the ground until the skunk got to them. Stepping in or on or near one of these can result in multiple stings.

Thank you, Skunk!

Diary 9/20/15

It's a start!

Diary 9/19/15

The rain was so nice. Now back to sunny skies and a couple days of almost hot temperatures.

drying the little black figs

the line-up

It was a good reminder of what is coming and time to cover, put away, and prepare for mud (we hope). Meanwhile, I am canning, drying, and freezing the bounty of the garden, or at least what the deer and gophers have left me!

The Last Plums for 2015! Diary 9/15/15

A rain is due in a matter of hours and the cloudy skies and increased humidity is wonderful. After all the build up, seems like the rain we are going to get is gonna be minimal. Anything counts at this point. Not expecting anything very hard, so the last few plums will not get knocked off and wait to be picked this weekend~

Remembering 9/11:Diary 9/11/15

Just saying 9/11, brings a cringe. It brings back visual memories of planes descending on buildings and into the ground, of dusty firemen, of flags flying, and rights lost. It has a mixture of feelings that come with it and hopefully hate is not one of them. I have to say that the impact has been far reaching and extreme in some cases. It set the tone for the new millennium, and only now do I feel a shroud of darkness beginning to come off. Though I do not wish to downplay the sacrifices made by public servants that day, I do remind us all that we have lost many usually private rights, and have taken on opinions which may have less basis than reality. 

I won't go Michael Moore on you now as this is a garden blog, but I do hope our respect for each other and those we don't know is not permanently damaged by fear. Enough said.

I have let the greenhouses go a little crazy. Glad for what the deer and gophers are leaving me as they eat the rest whenever I am not fully on duty. One more horrifically dry day to survive and then big changes coming by the middle of next week. Hoping for relief~

First Honeycrisp apple: Diary 9/8/15

Here is a picture of our first homegrown Honeycrisp apple. The tree has been pestered by deer and range cows. Now it has a small fence around it thanks to Tyler, so it has been left alone and five more apples are almost ready to pick. So proud, so proud.

Diary 9/7/15

Long time, no blog. Took a trip to southern Washington to see my daughter's new home. It was wet, lush, and green there compared to the dry parched southern Oregon. I felt almost like I should carry a machete as if the growth would close in behind me! It was beautiful and a nice break. Only problem was that I left the camera card in the computer! Ah well, I will catch up tomorrow on what is happening in the garden. Sad times with more deer damage and gopher starting to eat my onions. Picked 20 lbs. of tomatoes today, and some strawberries, cucumbers, and one lone bell pepper. So much work to feed to ruminants...