Thursday, June 9, 2016

More From the Farm

Things on the farm are about the same. Still waiting on the hay crew; we may sever connections with them very shortly since our old crew said they would be happy to do ours again. When someone doesn't show and doesn't call as promised I am done!!!

We are hot and dry here. In fact, I have been rotating watering things regularly. I am still behind on trimming and mulching but I try to do a little each day most days. I miss some days completely for one reason or another.

I have cucumbers up at last. So far none of the summer squashes has made an appearance.

I hoed out the strawberry row this morning and will water it again and then mulch with straw. The plants are finally putting out runners.

Also mowed the west yard. I did the east side a day or so ago. Max is keeping the orchard under control. I need to spray again; maybe tomorrow.

Cooking

This was bread day. I made my favorite recipe of French Bread.

Garden and yard

Harvested my three broccoli plants before the groundhog could finish them off:


I used the third head for a raw broccoli, onion and bacon salad. We loved it even our granddaughter and her friend who were visiting. It call for raisins but the girls requested I leave them out! They each had two helpings. I think this recipe made the church dinner circuit back in the 80's and was called trees and raisins salad.

In bloom: roses, rose campion, begonias, still a few poppies, garden heliotrope (my one plant), clematis, two kinds of salvias, a daylily or two, some self-seeded cosmos, lavender, malva sylvestris,
green agastache (it is ahead of the gold one)....I think that is it.

Finally a dark lavender one very like Lauren's Grape that I planted several years ago.


The camera finally captured the true red:
 
and garden heliotrope/valeriana officinalis.


I think this is the plant Ilene was talking about finding in her garden. I may be guilty of sending the plant but more probably some seeds.

Max has been  taking some farm photos for me.  Several I liked so much I have done an album called the 'Tree Series'.

This is one.  I couldn't puzzle out that bright blue spot until I zoomed and cropped.  It was a small pool of water catching  the sky.

 

I think I will end here. My enthusiasm seems to be waning for gardening and blogging. Maybe it will pass.