In the Garden

Most of the fruit trees are doing very well this year.  The pear trees bloomed too early though so we only have a few pears.  I am happy to see a pile of lemons this year.  The tree is not huge yet but should be able to hold the lemons that are growing on it.

I am most excited to see these little pomegranates.  This is a very old variety that is sour rather than sweet.  I searched for a few years to try to find plants to purchase even going to a nursery to see if they could be ordered.  In the end I rooted plants from cuttings taken from trees in my parents' yard.  Those are the only sour trees I know about, but they are old and no longer producing well.  These trees are about three years old.

Half of our fig trees have figs.  The other two are too young still.  Now I just need to beat the turkeys to the figs when they get ripe.

One of my two new elderberry plants is blooming.  I have no idea if I will get any berries this year, but I am happy to see them doing well.



The blanket flowers are well established and have been blooming for weeks.

The bee balm is spreading.  I plan to clean up around it and let it grow underneath the pear tree. 

I started a new flower bed in the garden in hopes of attracting more bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to the garden.  I just mixed all of the flower seeds I had (many from the dollar store).  I planted them just ahead of several days of rain.  This helped them sprout.  I covered them to keep the bantam chicks out.  I am looking forward to being able to have fresh flowers in the house over the summer.





Animals on the Farm

Our little hobby farm has plenty of baby birds.  All of them are shy so I apologize in advance for the pictures.

The baby turkeys are in a much larger pen under the pear tree.  It gives them room to run around and get a bit of sunshine and plenty of fresh air. Baby turkeys need to be kept separate from chickens the first few months of their lives.  The free range chicks stay close to their mother and body guards and do not associate with the chickens so they are safe.

This is two baby quail and a bantam chick also in a larger brooder.  Unfortunately we have no more quail eggs to put in the incubator right now.  The adult quail live with the peafowl, and the peafowl have decided they love to eat quail eggs.  Building a separate quail pen is on W's list of things to do.

Our australorp hen hatched out two babies.  Normally we would not leave the little ones in a pen with other big chickens - especially two big roosters.  You have to know the temperament of this other chickens.  These two happily hang out in the pen and wander outside the fence.  All of the hens and the two roosters keep an eye on them.

We have a peachick!  Baby peafowl look very similar to baby turkeys.  This one is only about a day old.  We have a turkey hatching out that we plan to put with the peachick.  I hate for any animal to be on its own.  Everyone needs a friend.  Most of the eggs in the incubator did not hatch unfortunately.  W discovered that the turkey we thought was sitting on eggs was actually sitting on nothing.  He gave her nine peahen eggs so hopefully she will hatch out some peachicks.  

Weekend Book Reviews

Past Due for Murder by Victoria Gilbert is the third book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series.  When a young woman goes missing, library director Amy finds herself in the middle of a mystery.  Adding in an eccentric folklorist and a cheating ex-boyfriend only muddies the water.  The mystery was good although not impossible to figure out.  I found at times that the story seemed to drag, and I struggled to keep going.  I wanted Amy to be a bit stronger at times even though she came through in the end.

The first book in Diane Kelly's House Flipper Mystery series is Dead as a Door Knocker.  Whitney works as a property manager and is studying for her real estate license.  When the opportunity to flip a house presents itself, she cannot resist.  It seems like a sure thing until the house catches fire with her and her cat inside.  The situation gets worse when a body is discovered in the house's flower bed.  A few technical things got to me.  No one would start work with a flower bed when tons of work needs to be done on a house.  The sub-contractors will not try to avoid the newly planted flowers.  It is a nice start to a series. 

Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J Parra is the second book in the Sonoma Wine Country Mystery series.  Taylor lives with her aunt who owns a winery.  She also started her own wine tour company complete with an old VW bus.  When a murder is discovered during one of her tours, she she jumps in to solve the mystery.  I like that this series is a bit quirky.  I do wish that the story line was more focused.  So many things are happening at once.  It would be better if they were spread out over several books rather than being packed into one.  However, it is not so off putting that I will not continue with the series.

J.C Kenney's first book in the Allie Cobb Mystery series is A Literal Mess.  Allie returns to her hometown following her father's death.  Things are complicated when her best friend's father and her dad's top client is found murdered.  The characters have good bones, and I am interested to see how they develop in future books. 


disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own.

In the Garden

I have been working away in the garden, but I still have a ways to go before it is finished.  It looks better and better each day.


My bay tree is now two years old and has grown well.  It is nice to have fresh bay leaves to use in recipes.

We had a fairly mild winter here this year.  I have learned unless it gets very, very cold many pepper plants will sprout back out.  It gives me a stronger plant that begins producing earlier. This bell pepper plant is one example.  It already has several good size peppers.

I dug up some very small pepper plants last fall and put them into pots/containers.  They took off and are producing piles of peppers now.  All of the plants ended up being poblano peppers. I have been cooking with them and plan to buy some tomatillos and make salsa using these peppers. 

Popcorn!  Corn is a popular crop in my area and is easy to purchase from local farmers..  I decided to grow some popcorn this year which is more of a novelty.  I admit to being very excited to be able to eat some popcorn that I grew myself.  On the side is a fig tree that had been rooted.  I thought it died so imagine my surprise to see it growing strong.  I finally picked out a spot to plant it in the yard.  This is a different variety than the fig trees we are currently growing.

This bed is a mix of sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, and borage. Unfortunately something (chicken, squirrel,??) keeps digging in it.  I need to cover it with some netting to prevent that.

Last year I grew yellow pear tomatoes in this flower pot.  When I went to clean it out earlier this year I discovered a couple of plants growing from seed that had fallen.  Now those plants are strong and blooming.  I have just been adding some dirt to the pot as the plants grow.

Off The Hook

I have been busy crocheting recently.  I finished up a couple of things recently.

I did two options of a cup cozy.  The cozies can be made to fit a variety of cup sizes.

 

Baby dresses and shoes have become some of my more popular items at the farmer's markets. 



This week I have been working on several larger items.  I plan to spend the next couple of days doing a few smaller things to take to the farmer's market on Saturday.  I feel very blessed that orders are keeping me pretty busy. 

Weekend Book Reviews

The 30-Day Money Cleanse by Ashley Feinstein Gerstley is a four week guide to changing your money habits.  Each week has simple steps to gradually adjust how you handle your money.  The book does not set out hard and fast rules of things you must do.  Rather it gently guides you.  The book is best for those starting out on their money journey.  Frugal black belts will not find much new information, but this book is a valuable resource for those wanting to begin a change.

Martin Fone's Fifty Scams and Hoaxes brings to light trickery of all types over the years.  Based on the span of cases presented in this book, it is obvious that people will always continue to be gullible.  It is divided into sections by type of scam and is easy to pick up and read a few sections.  This book was interesting, eye opening, and a bit sad but overall very enjoyable.

The Super Organic Gardener by Michael Appleby takes the garden beyond organic to vegan.  While I do not share the author's beliefs, I was open to reading this book.  I can understand his point about not using any animal products or by-products.  My concern is that he recommends using pressure treated lumber which I would never want in my garden.  He also takes a strong stance against feeding or helping birds.  It gets hot - super hot - where I live.  The birds appreciate a container of fresh water for drinking.  Much of the book is devoted to the nutrition of vegetables rather than growing practices.

The Step-by-Step Guide to 200 Crochet Stitches by Tracey Todhunter is a wealth of information.  I am fairly new to crochet and found this very helpful.  It is full of pictures and written instructions for each of the stitches.  I can see this being a useful reference especially if I ever get brave enough to venture past written patterns.  I am not sure if a very experienced crochet would enjoy this, but it is great for a beginner or intermediate.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!