Summer Time News

Ah, blue skies, drier and warmer weather.  We live in the mountains.  Low temperatures hover around 40 degrees.  Sunday woke up to low clouds, and cold, damp air.  By noon, the clouds blew off and the sky - oh so blue! - returned.  This summer is holding up to be a cool summer. 

Mike watches his crop of alfalfa from last year grow.  Purple blossoms are starting to appear on top of the lushly green plants.  A few leaves have yellowed with the three nights of below freezing temperatures, but overall, the plants look great.  With luck, the fields will be certified "weed free"; enhancing the price per bale for sales down the road. 

The pump has become an issue.  Once it is started, it is running for less than a couple of hours.  Mike's water moving system is brilliant and reflects some fire department apparatus operator training techniques.  In the end, the pump is kicking his butt.  Might be time for a farm expense.....

My garden is growing and quite simply - it is just lovely!  It is so awesome to see the plants grow - even the weeds; which are doing quite well too.  The cabbages - which have been through snow, hail, and rain measure about 4 feet in diameter.  Cauliflower plants are starting to head.  I'm on the second cut from the broccolini and the fourth picking of spinach.  The corn stands about 8 inches tall.  Okay, that's a far cry from "knee high by the fourth of July"

Here are some images to enjoy. 

Culverts cut to become containers for raspberries and haskap (a northern berry you can learn more about at Check out this new berry! ).

Big happy cabbages (surrounded by many weeds).

Corn growing as fast as it can.  Considering.

 All the rows of growth.  Leeks, onions, yellow beans, fava beans, kale, purple potatoes, sweet potatoes (a few left after the freeze!), peas, spinach, beets, swiss chard, red cabbage, green cabbage, broccolini, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, corn, and to finish the vast garden, a patch of sunflowers!!

 Hoback greenhouse.  There is not much left after the chislers get done!  They have wiped me out this year.  Fortunately, poppies are not on their menu. 

 Or sticky geraniums!

This salmon-colored poppy is one of my favorites!

Back in Freedom for an image of some very well pollinated poppies!!

Visitors Enjoy Jackson

Diana's sister, Stephanie, her girls and friends stopped by the fire house today!  How wonderful to be their fire house guide!  They have had beautiful weather to enjoy the sights in this amazing place!  Travel home safe, my friends!!

 

A Space for Tranquility

Rusty, our former Fire Marshal and Chief, and his wife, Suzi, designed this garden to be a refuge of tranquility.  Years of angst in the 911 world motivated them to have a place of quiet and peace.  To sit, listen to the birds (and they have a veritable aviary), and let the stress fall off their shoulders.  Their home and garden are both.  It is impossible to not relax while there and one is drawn to the outside space to feel its calming energy. 

This year, their garden was honored as one of five in the Whidbey Island Garden Tour.  With close to 800 tickets sold for the event, their garden got quite the visitation last Saturday!  And most people made just these comments - tranquil, peaceful, calming.  How wonderful to share one's work with others who "get it"! 

Some pictures from their garden.  A place of peace.

Now That Was A Vacation!

I left Thursday morning from Jackson.

By mid afternoon, I was in Seattle trying out my Uber app for my first Uber ride where I then loaded up on the ferry to Vashon Island.  Terry and Mary, long time good friends wined and dined me at their lovely place on the island.  What a beautiful garden to begin this adventure! 

Late last year, I got notice that my former Chief, Rusty Palmer, had been accepted into the 2018 Whidbey Island Garden Show!  About six years ago when he commented this was something he was really hoping for, I told him that should he get chosen, I would come for the tour - so I did!!

How nice to be able to make the trip bigger and find Mary and Terry home and with time they could give up to join me.  We had the best time!!  A trip to the interesting Fort Casey (see more at Click Here to see more of the Park ) provided neat lines and shadows for photo opportunities. 

Mary's garden whetted my appetite for the big Saturday tour.  She has been working on this garden for years and this year is enjoying new plants thanks to the deer-eradication fence.  I despise chislers.  She despises Bambi!  

The garden has something new to oooh and ahhhh over every step.  Go around twice to see something you never saw the first time!  Lovely colors and textures take the visual senses on a veritable ferris wheel of fun!  I cannot even imagine the amount of time, work, and money that goes into something like this!

Next blog will show you the images from the annual Widbey Island Garden Tour and Rusty's garden of Tranquility!  

The Wonder Around Us

It is true, I am easily wowed.  This post shares my recent "wows", the bees, the flowers.  Summer seems to be here although frost warnings for tomorrow night have all of us gardeners digging around for frost cloth and anything else we might find to save our beautiful plants.  Like this calla lily.  I could stand for hours just looking at the thing!  Mike is responsible to protect it tomorrow night.  It will need a heavy cloth and hopefully that won't crush it!  I am on duty here in Teton County, unable to attend the frost-cover event.

 

On Friday, when I had a few hours on the farm, I got into the bee hive.  These industrious little insects are beginning to feel like friends!  I'll never forget the sound of the buzzing hive when we first opened our new package of bees on Mother's Day.  The sound welled up ancestral feelings of getting the hell out of there!!  But we championed on and today, the expanding population is settled and calm.  Happy to be there, not concerned about we giant white creatures taking out their living walls and peering into their perfect octagonal nursery and storage units.  I am truly wowed.  The pollen fills spaces with yellows and greens, purples and ivory.  Larvae can be seen, glistening white, growing under the feet of worker bees.  And the Queen.  The glorious queen.  Without her presence, things don't go very well in a hive.  Finding her is the goal and this week, objective met.  Putting her back in the hive without squishing her is critical as well!  (yes, I could use a size smaller gloves)

 



Can you find the queen in this picture?  She is just to the left of center with the larger, longer abdomen.  Cool, huh?  Look below this frame to see the other in the hive.  We open the hive once a week and it has become something to really look forward to doing! 

The couple who owned the place before we got it last May - she too loved to garden.  Now the daffodils and tulips are but leaves turning brown.  The iris shot up their tightly-wound blossoms to open into delicate bearded orbs of color.  Jeanie did a nice job making a flower garden; appreciated so very much by this passionate gardener.  And most likely, the bees!

 

Dinner included fresh broccolini and spinach from the garden!  Neither will be phased much by a frost, thankfully!  Grow on, grow on! 

A Penchant for Frogs

I've always liked frogs.  And blue.

This door knocker (another thing which is useless, really, but oh so cool!) came from McKenzie Childs (see their lovely things at MacKenzie-Childs ) and if you have shopped there, you know I spent a hard earned dime or two on the thing!  Still, I could not resist - having a penchant for frogs!

The door needed painted and this seemed like a pond-colored blue (it actually is the exact color of the masking tape used to seal off the edges of the door and the white dog door).  When it came time to affix the door knocker to said door, more than one word of profanity was exuded from my handyman's mouth as he attempted to find a solution for the not-so-good hardware which arrived with Mr. Frog.  A trip to the hardware store and two more failed attempts finally led to a successfully mounted frog door knocker which will never get used - and if it does, no one will hear it!!  But, one does have the pleasure of looking out the kitchen window by the sink and see this lovely door.  That's what it's all about!! 

Farm updates include breaking into the bee hive once again this weekend to find Ms. Queen and her worker girls busy and building.  The bee thing has been fascinating and quite a surprise to see how docile and uncaring the bees seem to our presence.  Mike went gloveless this last go round.  At the rate they are building, however, do not get your hopes up for gifts of honey!  The cool, wet weather has not been inspiring, despite all the blooming flowers. 

The new alfalfa is up.  I've been afraid to go look at it since our 29 degree morning (lost my two zucchini plants - I should know better) and the absence of rain for over a week now. 

Three critters are working on the grass crop; Bishop, Dinah, and Mya.  Tune into the live cameras to see them hanging out by the hanger.

Looks like our renters are moving out come mid-August.  I am actively seeking the next, awesome renters! 

Weather is divine right now!!