Late Summer

We always breathe a sigh of relief when the heat breaks.  When the smoke clears.  When the rain comes.  We love the bounty and life and buzz of summer, but the dry heat takes its toll.  This time of year feels very energizing.  The days are still long and warm, but growing shorter and cooler.  The garden is still producing an abundant harvest, but is getting most of its water from the rain.  Sometimes it feels like fall doesn't get here fast enough, but there is an undeniable sweetness to these final weeks of summer.

Another colorful and tasty harvest:

A few times each week during garden season, a big portion of our dinner looks a lot like this:

Our corn was especially cute this year:

Harvest rainbow:

Garden goods and figs from the tree:

This mantis rode home in Craig's truck from down in Hillsboro. We think it'll be happy here:

More deliciousness:

We accidentally grew tons of cherry tomatoes this year.  Two plants is plenty for us, but I think we have about ten.  They are delicious though!

Hello garden frog:

Hello garden lizard:

Another resident hanging out with the chard:

Apple season is getting close:

Some early apples and late plums rounding out the garden harvest:

Sometimes I think our garden is asking me something...

This was our first year growing okra.  What a surprisingly fun and tasty vegetable!  I definitely plan to grow more of it next year:

Hanging out and appreciating the water drops:

Craig puts little trays of water in the barrels for the animals. Can you spot the frog and the mantis who seem to share this cucumber plant as their home?

This plum tree blooms later than the others which means that it is more likely to be well pollinated.  Good thing too, because these are delicious:

Produce rainbow:

Looking majestic on the parsley.  It turns out the parsley is really excellent this year too.

Apples, pears, plums, and grapes:

I thought this was a feather with a sweet message:

This mama deer came walking by our window:

Her fawn was following along with her too:

As it starts cooling off, Kitty always gets a little more affectionate:

And as fall draws near and the sun sets more in the southern sky, we are often treated to quite a show at sunset: 

Hotter Days

Summer is definitely in its prime stretch.  In fact, I think we have set records this year for the most continuous days of hot and dry.  The heat and the smoke made for more time indoors, except in the early morning and late evenings.  And a few times, at night, under a red moon.

Once in a while we are lucky enough to be visited by what we officially call, "The Tremendous Beetle."  We always scoot him to a safer spot than our walkway and he always yells at us.  It's actually extremely cool to be yelled at by a beetle.  

We are starting to get some delicious ripe tomatoes:

I went out to harvest some herbs and was delighted by how lovely my bouquet turned out. 

Floof bird on the fence:

We are adding some big pots to our front flower garden this year.  The plants we got into them survived the dry and heat much better than the rest of the garden:

One of the few showers made a gorgeous rainbow:

Another broody hen was very happy to hatch a couple chicks:

This poppy variety is huge and glorious, with a bloom about the same diameter as a softball:

Trail doggo:

The dogs love to swim in the creek:

A cool pair of shiny green beetles mating:

We only got a few cherries this year because it was too cold when they bloomed so the pollination rate was quite low.  But the cherries we got were delicious:

The dogs really love playing in the creek:

Mr. Pinchy, heading back into the water:

We are getting some really nice zucchini this year too:

Foxglove:

It looks like we are going to have a lot of apples.  Hopefully they ripen well!

Somehow Craig spotted this giant hornet nest, at least 100 feet up on a tree at the edge of the forest.  We are glad they took up residence where we won't run into their nest!

Green bean harvest:

Craig with a mantis.  We have been finding a lot of them this year.

Piper and Ember enjoying the cool floor and the warm air:

This sunflower volunteered near the barn.  It was very busy with bees until it was eaten by an alpaca.

Once again, the Tremendous Beetle paid us a visit (and chirped angrily at us when we moved it to a safer spot):

Summer's Start

Summer is here!  It's warm.  It's hot.  It's sunny.  It's dry.  The air is buzzing and all the critters are busy.

Piper helps give the chickens their water:

She takes this job very seriously and never misses an opportunity:

Ember also helps with the chickens and sometimes finds an egg:

Big yellow rose:

Garden greens of assorted lettuce, kale, and rainbow chard:

More veggies:

Lots of lettuce!

Lots of little frogs call the garden home:

Another garden resident:

We had a few days this summer without running water.  We had been having some water pressure issues, but then the well pretty much completely stopped working.  Here Craig is replacing the small pressure tank:

But the big problem was a failure of one of the pump control switches.  He went to the well store, got new parts, replaced the switch and the small pressure tank, and fixed it all.

He worked on the well late into the night:

And once he was done, we all celebrated having water again!

Piper dumped a bucket of water and made a muddy hole:

We are growing okra for the first time this year, and the flowers are so lovely:

Another garden frog among the beans:

Piper continues to occupy the watering trays whenever possible:

So much sweetness:

Flowers and a colorful striped beetle:

Mama Hen was broody and needed some peeps so we welcomed three peeps from a nearby farm to be her chicks.  The chicks and Mama Hen are delighted with each other:

Ladybug heading to get a drink of water:

Breakfast radish:

Mama Hen looking after her new peeps:

Hummingbird having a drink:

Hovering above the flowers: