Poppy Seedheads

Lilies and Fence

A stand of lilies in the front flower garden. These came with the house and where in bloom last July when we closed on the property.

Hiding in the Daylilies

These are two of the daylilies that I transplanted last summer from the house we sold. When I was taking the photos of the flowers, I startled the two little Wyandotte hens who were dust bathing in the cool shade of the thick daylily leaves.

A Garden Photo

Photo taken last Sunday. I have about half of this plot planted. Everything is still tiny, but we have been getting lots of rain and warmth, so plants are starting to take off.

Silver Laced Wyandottes

One of my patients' bought 4 little chicks in early April, thinking he would build a coop in his back yard and have fresh eggs all summer long. It turned out the project was just a little too ambitious for his current state of health and one day last week the chicks ended up in my SUV and came home to live with my California Whites. They are about 9 weeks old and in theory we are suppose to have four hens, but I'm thinking I see two roosters and two hens. See how the combs and coloring on the heads are different on the two in the center? It will be another couple of months before they start laying large brown eggs. These chickens get quite large. The hens are up to 6 lbs and the roosters up to 8 lbs, so they still  have a lot of growing to do as well.

A tiny perenial poppy

Alpine poppies (Papaver alpinum) are tiny and delicate. The plants are about 9 inches tall and the flowers are about an inch across.

Internet and Mosquitoes

One of our many mosquitoes hanging out on a wild daisy.

We are having internet problems. I've only been able to get on the internet for a few minutes the the past few days. We live far enough out in the country that there is only one provider, and they give us a reduced rate since they know their service is unreliable this far out. We didn't have much trouble through the the fall, winter, or early spring, but since the leaves have been on the trees the services has been getting progressively sporadic. My husband is going to try moving the satellite to a higher location to see if that helps.

On the bright side, I have enough of my garden in so that it looks like a garden, and amazingly have had no animal damage, even though I've seen deer tracks through it more then once and a few mornings ago I woke up to a turkey family with with nine chicks scratching around in it. (Gosh, little turkeys sure can fly. These babies were only the size of base balls, but as soon as they saw me they took for cover in the high branches of a towering pine tree near the garden..)  So far I have planted lots of tomatoes, green beans, onions, cucumbers and peppers, some corn, and a handful of collards and kale, beets, carrots, pumpkins, melons, and squash. I still need to get in broccoli and endive and get  the soil ready for garlic and fall greens.

One of the hardest things for me this summer has been dealing with mosquitoes in the mornings and evenings. Step outside for more then a minute when it is cool  and you get devoured by mosquitoes. I've spent a lot of time outdoors in many different places and have never met mosquitoes like these! If I don't douse myself in insect repellent, I can't tolerate being outside. I have never used insect repellent before on a regular basis and now I find myself faced with the the choice of either using large amounts of it or spending the evenings inside (and if I spent the day at work,  I'm not going to sit inside all evening when I get home!) If anyone has any recommendations for a natural mosquito repellent that really does works for very blood thirsty mosquitoes, I would be grateful. I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of using DEET on a regular basis.

Fringed Poppies

June is the month of poppies.

Raccoon In the Chicken Coop

It is a scary thing being one little raccoon locked up overnight in a coop full of big hens. At least that is what this raccoon seemed to think. She was huddled in the corner looking pathetic while the chickens went about their business looking as if they did not have a care in the world. She stayed there for a good few hours and didn't move even after I opened the door and the chickens went out.

(And note to self--lock the chickens up while it is still light out. Next time the raccoon may not be so little or scared!)

Garlic scapes

I have to thank a fellow blogger for inspiring me to finally try eating  garlic scapes. Diana and her husband are starting a new career in their retirement as organic farmers, and one of their focuses is garlic.  In all the years my family has grown garlic, we never ate the scapes. Garlic scapes are the garlic plant's immature flower buds and stems. They need to be cut while they are still young so that the plant's energy will be channeled into growing large bulbs.

I've always enjoyed the interesting twisty stems, and even though we never ate them, I would always use some of the scapes in  flower arrangements to add a dramatic touch. When I finally tried eating them this week, I was pleasantly surprised at how mild the scapes are. Raw they are far more mild then garlic cloves and  when they are fully cooked, they taste more like green beans then garlic. They truly are a vegetable in their own right.  So far  I've added a very liberal amount to a stuffing for a roast chicken, sauteed them and mixed a good half cup of the sauteed scapes with  a serving of pasta, and  added the minced  raw scapes to salad. I also have a jar of herb vinegar steeping in the kitchen that is a combination of tarragon, basil, and garlic scapes.

Garlic scapes are only available for a few weeks out of the year. If you are so fortunate as to have garlic growing in your garden or if you see them at your local farmer's market, I would encourage you to give them a try. Check out Diana's blog for recipes. My food processor decided to die yesterday, but when I get a new one (hopefully  in the next couple of days), I am most definitely going to try the garlic scape pesto.

This year's harvest of garlic scapes.

Mountain Views

It seems blogger has made a bunch of changes with settings, design, etc. While playing around with some of the new stuff, I seem to have lost the abiltity to go back to my former design. There seems to be a lot less options now and I'm not sure I like any of them. I'm still trying to figure out the changes, so bear with me...

Here are some of the views from our Old Rag hike. The first two were taking about half way up the mountain.

The next two were taken about half way up the rock scramble, looking up toward the peak. 

 

The last one was taken at the summit, looking back down the mountain side that we had just climbed.

Poppy

Mouse Baby

A poor little mouse baby Terry found on the garage floor. His eyes are still closed. Even though we were able to feed it with a syringe and a it was able to drink milk out a beer bottle cap, we were only able to keep it alive for about 24 hours. All my photos turned about a bit fuzzy.

Big Black Bug

This bug flew into my hair when I was gardening. It is about an inch long. I've never seen a bug quite like it.

Tree Frog in a Garlic Patch

I was picking a few garlic scapes from my little garlic patch today, when this little guy startled me. He initially blended in so well with the garlic that I almost picked the scape he was on without seeing him.

Old Rag Hike

Yesterday my husband, one of my brothers, and I hiked the one of the more difficult trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virgina. It was a nine and half mile round trip hike with the first 5 miles going up the mountain. About a mile from the summit, the trail fades and the hike is a scramble between and across large bare rocks. The hike down the mountain in much more gentle, with about 2 and half miles of the trail being a maintained fire road.

At the peak of the mountain the rangers tend a lovely laurel garden, which was in full bloom for our visit. We saw one of rangers, raking and picking up dead twigs. The closest you can drive to to the summit is 2 miles so the ranger had to hike up with his tools. My brother and I both agreed that would be our dream job, to tend a garden on the top of a mountain.

On the banks of the Potomac River

The last several days have been spent in Virginia with family. We had two weddings in two days (an older brother and a younger sister). For my brother's wedding the hired photographer was a no show (one of the bride's biggest nightmares!). Hopefully between a friend with a nice camera who jumped in and took photos during the ceremony and with family taking phot0s during the reception they will have plenty of photos and memories. My contribution was attempting some portraits by the Potomac River after the reception. These are my first ever attempts at taking photos like these. It was fun and maybe I will try more of this type of thing.

Today my husband and I are hiking the Old Rag Mountain with one of my brothers. Then tomorrow we head back to Michigan.