The Bounty and The Family

The bounty harvested on Friday.

Sorry about the photo - I'm not real computer savvy here. Gavin - my daughters oldest - He is 11.

Luci wanted to pick veggies. She wouldn't put the ball down though. Luci told her momma that the mashed potatos had a "great texture" - Do you think this one is watching the Food Network?

Ben was a good veggie picker.

This one had worked a double Friday and came home to load the family in the van headed to Mobile. He needed his rest. This is Brian.

This is my brother, Royce.

Me and April.

We had a great time visiting.

Share the Love Award

Thank you Bennie and Patsy at Bennie-thesmiths who gave me this award to pass on to friends who want to '' Share the Love''. Who daily raise my spirits and offer words of encouragement.



I love all of my blogger friends and their blogs so it is hard to choose who to send this award to but these are my picks:

Cathy at Cobblestone Farms
Daisy at Dancing with Daisy
Mildred at Nally Valley
Betsy at Joyful Reflections
Marilyn at Wheelchair Gardner
Carol at The Writers Porch

After the Rain

The ground was wet and we had fog this morning but it wasn't on the ground. It does appear that way in the photos.



My first dahlia is about to bloom. Not sure which one this is till it blooms.





This is what the veggie garden looked like last week.

This is the veggie garden this morning. All of blooms you see will fall off today when it rains. All of the blooms for the past 5-6 days have fallen off from so much rain. Everyday we are getting a little too much for the gardens to be comfortable.

This is blooms from the zucchini squash. Looks like two yellow stars.

This is the snap beans that are ready to pick. I'll pick these today if I am not rained out when I get home. All of the bushes are full. The extra rain isn't hurting the beans.

The blueberries are about ready to pick. Some have turned already but not enough to make a picking yet. I'm thinking of all the goodies I'll make with the blueberries. Muffins. Pancakes. Cobbler. Cake. The list is endless.

This looks like lantana to me. Maybe Lantana Confetti. I did not plant this one. It is actually growing in with some overgrown bushes. It is a big plant but only these two blooms.

Our weather is suppose to be improving. After today the rain chance is going down and a little less humidity. Walking outside is like walking into a sauna. You break a sweat immediately.

I have company coming and I can't wait to see my daughter, April hubby Brian and Gavin, Ben and Luci. They will begin their vacation here in Mobile then to Gulf Shores and then to Pensacola for other family. I am planning to cook gumbo for them. I'll share the recipe next week.

Have a nice day everyone... Becca

Problems with Blogspot

For some strange reason I am able to log onto some blogs and not others. Internet is aborting. It is blogspot not other web sites. Is anyone else having problems?

Buddy and My Veggies

Buddy said, "let me out. No I'm not going to roll in the dirt. Dirt may jump up on me. I want to know if my blogger buddies have to go thru this. My skin tingles. Let me out." Needless to say he did not go out till he was dry.

Soon I'll be making blueberry cobbler. The bush is loaded.

There were about 10-12 hills that did not come up. So I bought filler plants. This is collards. I know they are a cold weather plant - but Walmart had them for sale and they were new arrivals. We'll see. It looks healthy.

I think these beans have the prettiest flower. The bushes are loaded with flowers. Beans should soon appear.

Beans on the left and okra on the right. On the other side of the okra are some watermelon plants. They aren't growing very fast. I am sure they are not getting enough sun. I planted 3 more watermelon plants last week as filler plants. These are in a sunnier spot of the garden.

Squash on the right. This weekend I worked my butt off. I pulled grass, hoed, pulled dirt around the stems to sturdy them and fertilized everything. My everything was sore yesterday.

This might be all I'm gonna get from these pears. Seems neither of my fruit trees produce anything etable.

Why do these peaches have this STUFF on them and what is it? It is thick and sort of solid. It is all over the peaches.

This is as big as they are gonna get I suppose.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Squash

My first veggies from the garden. Wednesday I picked 2 and yesterday 4. Today I expect at least 6-8. Every day I should be able to pick squash till they stop producing. They look small but that is when they are the most tender. My mom has always picked them this small. Like mother like daughter. Oh yea - the wine it was good too.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll catch you on Monday.

Thoughts

"How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses and violets and morning dew!"

by Ralph Waldo Emerson



'Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same"

by Flavia Weedn



This is how I feel about my blogging friends. Sometimes you make me want to dance. And the wisdom I learn from all my friends about gardening and other stuff is insurmountable. I am encouraged by each one of you. Some posts do leave footprints on our hearts.

Thanks to my blogging friends who make this fun. I look forward to this everyday.



Have a nice day everyone.

Mothers Day

My Mom and me. Moms are just so special.

Some pretties growing at Moms.

I hope all of my blogging friends had a great Mothers Day.

What I did this weekend...

The squash are doing remarkably well. All nine plants are full like this one. Can't wait to cook up a mess with some bacon and green onion. I didn't get much done in this garden this weekend. Planted collard and watermelon plants to fill in areas that didn't come up. I know the collards are a cold weather plant but they had them for sale and I thought what the heck. Still need to get some more seeds in - butterbeans - before its completely too late.

Plumbing issues has caused me to dig up the flowers from the bed at the back of the house. I did not realize that when I planted my flowers there that one side of the bed is devoted to plumbing. I do not have city sewage so I have a septic tank and what is called a grease trap. Anyway problems have come up and the guys needed to get where my flowers were. So they were moved to this location. This is near the vegatable garden and is away from the house. Anyway this spot needed little work since the grass was already dead in most of the area. This spot will allow me to add to the garden very easily.

So this is how it ended up. I have a lot of stuff here and room for more. The plants were drooped over pretty bad especially since it was the middle of the day. I hope these will get enough sun. As you can see it is still somewhat shaded in the middle of the day.

Have a good Monday everyone.

Rest

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. by John Lubbock

To me this sounds like something I need to do real soon.

New Chicks

I have decided to order my chicks as I have noticed other bloggers order theirs. I am getting ready to order some chicks and I want your input. I have chose 3 breeds from My Pet Chicken and some supplies to get started. Their prices seemed very reasonable and I can order as little as 3 chicks.

I have decided to order 6 - 2 of each breed.

Plymouth Rock Standard White
Rhode Island Standard Red
Australorp Standard

I am planning on building my pen and coop about 10x10 and constructing out of chicken wire and tin.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The Vegatable Garden and Other Stuff

Summer has arrived - but the calender says it is still spring. Saturday was hot as I headed to the vegatable garden and could only work for an hour before giving it up. I needed to loosen the dirt around the veggies and pull it in around the bottom of the stem. This is hard work as I try to remove as much grass as I can between the rows and around the plants. The veggies are growing and beginning to produce.


The garden was planted around the 27th of March and that is when this was taken. The squash and jalapeno was planted first. Enlarge the photo to see the babies just planted.

Before photo.
This was taken on Sunday after pulling the dirt around the plants. Back breaking work but oh so rewarding. I love my gardening.

Now photo.

Sunday afternoon it began to rain and continued into yesterday. Very heavy rain between midnight and 8:30 (I was late for work). We received around 10". It beat my plants up pretty bad.

This is a white squash that received some damage. It is laying on the ground. Many were found lying on the ground this morning.

This is the snap beans. They are doing very well. Not much damage to these babies. Snap beans cooked with a few red potatos and some cooked bacon and drippings. Ummm. Oh and don't forget the cornbread.

The squash are producing. I will have squash in 6-8 days. I like them small - as they are more tender.

Slice squash and add some green onion, salt and pepper, simmered and kinda mash a little and add butter. It is off the chain.

Some squash with some rain damage.

Tomato plants are fine. Gotta get some baskets around them. They have begun to flower.

The Chicken Coop. Along this fence is where I plan to erect a coop. The brush on the right and the left have to be cut back a lot. I really want the stuff cut down altogether - but that will come down the road. I feel like this area will be a good spot as it will back up to the wood fence and is fairly close to the house. Critters from the woods would have to cross over the yard to get to them as the coop is on the opposite side of the property.

This will be my next flower garden project. Plants are on their way from Springhill Nursery and I have some other stuff to plant so I'll be needing this one soon.

I will open up the end facing the house and curve it to the porch. I will create a walk area where the tar paper is laying and fill it with pavers and small rock or sand. Doing this will enhance the front yard area nicely.

That's it for today. Hope everyone has a terrific day and Happy Gardening... Becca

A Visit to Mothers

After a busy week last week I just needed to see my Mom. You know a talk with Mama always makes everything better. Anyway this is my sweet Mom and Pop. Gotta love em.

This is one of 5 gardens Pop has planted. All vegatables. Mom and Pop put up a lot for the winter months. My garden is to eat when it's ready - not for the freezer. Maybe next year - but it takes a lot of work to up vegetables.

Sorry - but I do not know the names of these roses. This red one looks and feels like velvet.

I love yellow and this yellow rose is just gorgeous.

Mom called this plant a Mothers Day plant. I thought of the Christmas cactus but Pop showed me the Christmas cactus and it is a little different.

Mom has some beautiful Amyrillis. This white one looks so fancy with the red trim.

And the red amyrillis is not to be outdone.

Becca

Buddy's New Toy

I hate to bore you guys with more of my little "Buddy", but I just had to show you how he loves toys.
Buddy said "thank you - Momma" when he received his new toy yesterday. He picked it up and slung it all over the room and played tug-o-war. (Please excuse the eye. Funny camera)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend and can get out and enjoy some nice weather.