Keeping up the latest tradition...

which is posting about once a week...

Had a productive day in the garden Sunday, we pulled out most of the remaining vegetation, including about a half-dozen "huge" sunflower stalks, for which I had to dig out with my shovel!!! We'll think twice about where we plant them next year...Only have a few piles to toss in the compost and the weeds will get tossed into my "infamous" burn pile that WILL get burned this year!!!

Jan took some awesome pics of some Bluebirds last week...I'll be uploading some even better shots of them to some of the photo sites to see if they will earn her a prize or something!!!

Can't wait for the end to Day Light Savings Time, even though it will mean getting up even earlier to take advantage of some extra light...Right now, I am lucky to get an hour after work by the time I get home...but hey, at least I have an hour of sunlight to enjoy, so looking at it that way, I'm lucky!!!

Swooping in for a fat tadpole dinner...

Well, they're not on a telegraph line Elton, but will the bird bath suffice???

Hey...listen to me...when the two legger tells us to lay down, I'm going to sit....heheheheee...

50 degrees outside and Nitschke boy still finds it refreshing to play in his pool...

Garden clean-up day...sunflowers still standing tall and mighty. in the background...

Who needs night vision goggles...I eat carrot's...

Do you see the size of that root system...???

Sunflowers down along with the fence line...we're gettin' er done!!!

Until next week or perhaps sooner...Peace my friend...R Dean

Monday morning garden visit...

Morning everyone!!! Took a brief walk to the garden this morning to pick some veggies...had to stop and capture more shots of our sunflowers, although their life is coming to an end...nonetheless, they are still vibrant and anxious to greet the morning sun!!!

Peace...R Dean

The one in the center has to be close to 12ft. tall...

Good morning Sun...

One of many Cherry's that need to be picked...

Variety of freshly picked tomato's still cool and moist...

Squash, a lone cuke and zuke, all of which are slowing down...maybe another half-dozen of each for the season...

Went to a garden party, to reminisce with my old friends...

We just got back from a three hour adventure to our garden (not a three hour tour on the S.S. Minnow)..hehehehe..and whew, what a productive morning!!! Extremely exhausting due to the heat, but very productive!!! We cleaned out the dead leaves and branches in "tomato forest" and did some weeding too so that the fresh air and sunlight can get to the tomato's once again...

It is so hard to believe that just two months ago, our veggies were "just" starting to break ground, and now, it is so lush and green!!! Fortunately, we have only had to water once from our well since early June. Mother Nature has been very kind to our little homestead's garden and for that we feel blessed to have had another successful season so far. We were even able to pick corn today, so tonight we will be eating fresh again, thanks to Jan's garden!!!

Until later...R Dean

June 8th picture of the garden...

August 1st picture of the garden...

Purple Cherokee heirloom's...can't wait to taste one of these bad boys on a slab of cow with a big thick onion!!!

BIGGGGGG...Summer Squash!!!

Papa Zuch and Jr. hangin' out together!!!

Basket of beans and assorted tomato's...the yellow one's are Pear's (see the resemblence to a Pear in their shape)....very tasty!!!

SEVENTEEN CUKES...HOLY COW!!!

Ten ears, two zuch's and three squash...

Ya'll be cool now yah hear...Peace!!!

Can't believe its been 11 days...

since I last posted...time fly's...Everything is going well at Coop De Ville, the residents seem to have settled in very nicely. Still have some exterior work to do on CDV before I will declare it complete, well really, it probably will never be "completely complete", there will always be room for improvements! The four-leggers seem to be more tolerant of the new residents, however, I am far from letting the chicken's live a "free-range" lifestyle yet, that would certainly foreshorten their lifespan...

Not much more to report, the grass and the garden are growing at warp speed, which we feel blessed about, well at least the garden part. The problem with the grass is if I cannot cut the entire property at least within a few days, it is like starting over again...arghhhh...but we are getting so much free water (from rain) that we will not complain!!!

To say the mosquito's are abundant this summer would be an understatement, it is now second nature to spray your legs, arms and neck before you venture out, so tomorrow morning's garden trip will be an adventure in anti-mosquitoism...but most definitely worth it!!!

Until tomorrow...Peace R Dean

Sunrise series...it just doesn't get any better than this!!!

Russell Crow and his girls...

Pecking around in the morning while a four-legger loiters outside!!!

New 2 gallon waterer for inside the coop...

A look from inside the coop...hmmm...scary looking shadow, kinda looks like Freddy Kreuger!!! YIKES!!!

Tussle time...the four-leggers doing one of the three things they do best...play, the other two, eat and sleep!!!

Nitschke standing in a bucket of water to cool off...he's a nut case!!!

A jam packed garden and still growing...

Garden variety sunflower...

Reaping the rewards of our garden...

Finally Friday...

Watermelon's...

"Baby" Butternut Squash

"Juvenile" Butternut Squash

First of five or so transplanted sunflowers to open up!

Well, my morning started off fun! Maggy, decided she would go across the road to her Rocket's farm....wasn't that special! So, after herding her back onto our property and putting her inside, I went out to let the pups out only to find that Bucky left me two surprises in his kennel! That was really special!! Wooohooo..what a way to start off the day! Hahahaha.....But then it all got better, as I reminded myself how lucky I am!

Hope you enjoy your day because I will definitely be enjoying mine!

Peace...

R Dean

A nice light drizzle...

Both of us eat REALLY well! :-)

Preparing to transplant Sunflower's from pots to garden

Ahhh...what a BEAUTY!

As I sit at the computer, contemplating what to write, we are getting a nice light steady drizzle, which is good news for our garden. The severe weather is to our South, so we should be spared. Hopefully the storm's severity is minor and does not produce any crop destroying hail nor property damage in its path.


Yesterday, we worked in the garden for about an hour, pulling weeds and harvesting our first batch of spinach, more lettuce, more radishes and finally, our first zucchini! We're planning to marinate it and grill it tomorrow night. Can't wait to get back down to the garden to see what else is ready to be harvested!


JD thinned out some of our veggies and I added them to our compost bin which is steaming really nicely this year. To my surprise, when I dug into the bin, I uncovered two healthy Garter snakes that were pushing the length envelope of 28". One escaped my grasp but I managed to grab the other one and safely relocated him to the soy bean field where hopefully he will continue to enjoy his life, human being free. It is not hard to believe that the compost bin is a prime habitat for snakes, considering that all sorts of bugs and worms are drawn to the decomposition process. After looking at the size of the two snakes, I could tell they eat quite well! But hey, who am I to talk, right? LOL ;-)

Garden news...

Molly eyeballs Rocky Raccoon on top of the "Garden Ladder to Nowhere"

Fortunately, the garden is surviving with little precipitation, although we may get some today based on the look of the sky. We could definitely use some, but at the same time, if it does come, I pray it comes in the form of water and not hail, like last year!

We have harvested quite a bit of lettuce and radishes to date making for some tasty salads, but I really can't wait for the corn and the zucchini's!

Garden pics.

Garden Ladder to no where!

Overlooking the garden!

So far we have been really lucky with the garden. Everything, for the most part is coming along pretty well. We have already harvested several types of lettuce and radishes. Our squash is creating pretty significant ground cover, so hopefully soon we will be enjoying some marinated squash on the grill!

The last of our Yellow Labs left today

We're so bummed, but on the other hand, we're really happy that others are going to be able to enjoy the pleasure of a new puppy! I remember how happy we were when we brought Maggy and Molly home almost 4 years ago!! :-)

Shroooooom....

I took this pic yesterday morning after a night of light precipation. This morning, to my surprise, no shroom! It had vanished! I had hopes of seeing that it had doubled in size over the past 24 hours, but my hopes were shattered! Oh well, probably was pickins' for a hungry critter that ventured past the garden last night! And by the way, the silhouette of one of the dogs was purely by luck..come on, you really don't think I planned it do you? Timing is everything!

Garden pics..

It rained last night, thank goodness, we needed it! I took some pictures of the garden this morning, it is coming along well. So far, we have been able to pick several varieties of lettuce, french breakfast radishes and yellow pear tomatoes (in the photo above), making for some very tasty salads! Also, couldn't resist posting a picture of a wet cobweb and the ever popular "garden ladder" to know where, with yet another coffee mug resting on top. Now that's art! :-)