Diary 8/3/16

Summer continues with lots of produce on its way. When I want to retreat, I hang on my deck. I am proud of my tiger lilies. Wish I had more, but the gophers won't leave them alone.

Diary 7/30/16

Hot days have made everything thirsty! Cooling down over this next week, thank goodness!

Diary 7/24/16

Almost every afternoon, I let this Bug Patrol Crew out to wander. They do a good job even if I do have to chase them off the front stoop or "Out of my flowers!"

Star thistle be gone!

Mowing and soon to plow field where star thistle has taken over. We had pretty much locked it as a weed on our hill until the 2002 forest fire trucks reintroduced it.

Diary 7/19/16

The cool weather has been such a nice break. Time for more heat to ripen tomatoes!

Diary 7/10/16

There has been an unusual amount of rainfall the last three days. For the most part July is apt to be hot and dry. It will make for juicier berries and stave off forest fires for a little while. White peach is loaded. I am terrible at thinning, but that is what it needs.

Diary 7/8/16

I plan to get back to blogging and writing in general now that the family "union" as my grandson would say is over. I am a little down with the aftermath of seeing so many people I love for five days...The garden is flourishing and needs my help, so I spent the morning there healing my heart and proceeding with life.

Diary 6/14

I was trying to say...I don't really want this to become a zombie blog. It has just been difficult to jump thru the technical hoops lately. It keeps dropping me like an old cell phone. Not sure who even reads this anymore, but I like to do it as exercise and record for me, so I will try to post some more if it works out! Here is an old storm cloud picture from last month!

Diary 6/14

Struggling with posting...

Diary 4/23/16

Seems like the harder I try, the slower I go sometimes. Trying to reason with that and slow down, ha-ha! So, I have missed blogging some progress on the farm. I am in charge of the Shady Cove/ Trail Wildflower Show which is coming up on May 7th and 8th. We will be collecting the flowers next week.

I have started some tomatoes for the plant sale and a few neighbors and friends. Not the 3000 we used to do!

Diary 4/6/16

Calypso Orchid

Putting 1" aviary wire down into three foot deep beds, creating a giant basket of soil the gophers cannot get into. Hoping to have peppers and eggplant this year. Made a potato box and could use a couple more. Again, gopher protection in order to get food! What a battle it has become. the work we do this year will last into the future, so that is good. Just lucky I didn't have all these problems when I was farming commercially. Hot today, I saw 84 degrees on the thermometer. Supposed to be a little hotter tomorrow and then a break for the weekend and possible showers.

Diary 3/24/16

A sunny day. They have been few and far between. Enjoying the rain after enduring drought, just wish we could have a couple sunny days in a row to dry things out a bit. Ah well, never satisfied, ha-ha. Turning beds, weeding and getting ready for later season crops.

This guy showed up; gardener's best friend, the lowly earthworm.

Diary 3/21/16: back from AZ

Back from the sunny, warm air of southern Arizona. Back to rain and the beginning of spring. The plum trees are blooming and here and there I have bulbs flowering, but in general things are just waking up compaired to the south where the wildflowers were in bloom and insects and birds were busy busy.

Diary 3/5/16

And so it all begins...

Diary 2/29/16

It's Leap Day! My mother told me it was the one day per four years that a girl could ask a guy to marry her. Look out guys! Meanwhile, the mild weather continues with a high snow level and a little rain every three days. The first daffodils showed up and the gardening hormones are starting to kick in!

Diary 2/12/16 : Hobbs

A bed switch .Way back when his Pal, Baxter, came for his first visit. Baxter was my grand-dog. We didn't have any grandchildren yet.

The thing about Hobbs was that he was a lover, not a fighter. That got him into alot of trouble. He got beat up several times when he was young , seriously beat up. He wouldn't kill anything. I saw him with a skunk in his mouth once that he put down to clean. Not a varmint dog mentality. He also use to carry earthworms around in his mouth, picking them up with dirt and all carefully in his lips. Then the time he got into some poison didn't help. I think that added to his brain trauma, insecurities and eventual blindness. He was the sweetest dog I have known and may ever know.

Diary 2/7/16

Everyone loved the sun today!

Diary 2/4/16

For three mornings we had beautiful snow covers that were just enough to define each branch, but not so much to be any inconvenience, So pretty. I think we are dome with that for now. In fact, we are due some good weather next week, like in the 60's!!!

Diary 1/29/16

Long time, no blog. I think it is because I am not gardening and this is a gardening blog. I did go out to the garden today after maybe two weeks, yikes! It was not as bad as I thought it w

new cabbage

old Sun Golds

clay fish hooks

ould be. It was a mess, but not disheartening. I think I will begin to clean it up in small doses. Otherwise, I am making clay things, things out of clay, both wheel thrown and hand built. I am also doing some writing and research. Such fun! So, I am going to try to start blogging on the Stories From the Garden site, linked from here. It will be about writing, but the garden seems ever-present in my writing~

Diary 1/11/16

We have had one and a half days of sun. It has felt so good to stand in the bright light and feel the warmth. The rain and snow are necessary for the health of the land locally, but I must say not having a break has been a bit wearing. The lemon tree is very happy to have the sunlight streaming in through the window. It is blooming and the little blossoms smell so sweet. A pleasant reminder of a warmer place and season.