• I moved some herbs from the greenhouse outside. The basil especially wasn’t thrilled with the move.

• The sage in the garden is flowering beautifully.

• Bees are loving our pink escallonia.

• I completed a hodge podge of items to create a cement area in front of our coops. So excited! Hopefully this will cut down on the mud during the rainy season and icy, slippery mud in the winter.

• I’m not a huge rhododendron fan, but I love the purple color of a small plant we have.

• The bottom left photo is an attempt by birds to make a mud nest. They also tried in a couple similar locations with no luck. They finally moved on and found a flat spot to build their home.

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• The birds are still busy singing

• There are tadpoles in the runoff area of our pond for the first time ever. Maybe it’s silly, but I’m so excited to see them there.

• I’m not as excited when I see the garter snake that has made the pond and surrounding areas its home.

• The snakes have been out like crazy. The lower right photo is Farm Girl holding a small one. She likes searching under boards and pieces of wood for them.

• Year after year the swallows make a nest in a bird house in the bird village. I’ve never seen babies, though. Curiosity got the best of me one day and I grabbed a ladder to take a peek. Nothin’. I couldn’t see anything except the nest. I’m not sure if they actually have eggs in there or just like to build a nest.

• Purple is the color of the month. The majority of blooms in the flower beds are purple. I’m not complaining.

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Flower Beds

Many of the summer perennials are past their prime & I’ve cut back a bunch of them. I do always leave some, though, for birds who enjoy the seeds. Click here to see flowers that were actually blooming on September’s Bloom Day.
  

Crafts

At the end of summer last year I painted signs on recycled pallet wood & made hypertufa mushrooms & planters. They’ve sat in our garage ever since. Recently, though, I painted the hypertufa & placed most of them in the flowerbeds.
  

Aquaponics

We have two tanks of Tilapia.

I moved the geraniums into a garden bed that is part of the aquaponics system. I’m hoping they will survive the winter in here & next spring I can move them back outside. Update: click here to see how the geraniums thrived over the winter.

The way the garden beds work is that water fills up the bed then it all drains to a lower tank. Then it refills, then drains, and the cycle continues on and on.

Ducks

One morning our neighbor called and said one of our ducks was in their yard quacking away. Weird. Our ducks have never wandered that far. However, it is the same neighbor that called us to say our Mama Turkey and babies were in their yard. Oops. They may be getting a little tired of our wandering poultry.

While looking for the ducks in our yard, I found a couple piles of horse poop & horse shoe prints all over. We don’t have horses.

Some other neighbors have horses, but they’ve never come to our house before.

The mystery still remains as to why a horse wandered to our house & why our ducks wandered to the neighbors.

After looking for, but not finding, the ducks at our house, Farmer John went to the neighbors. The ducks weren’t there by the time he arrived, though. A little while later, as I was driving down our driveway, I saw a duck waddling her way back home. But, only one duck. I have no idea where the other duck was. Two day later, though, she was back home. So miraculously, after whatever shenanigans they were up to, both ducks made it home safely.

Chicken Keeping

The chickens love this spot. I don’t love that they love this spot, though. It’s one of my flowerbeds. Chickens aren’t easy on flowerbeds. I’m sure they like it here, though, because it’s shady in the warm afternoon sun.

They knock over, stand on & poop on Mr. Gnome.

They knock the top off the bird bath, kick over mushrooms & removed this gnome from his spot on the stump. I’ve given up putting my decor back because they just knock it over again. Some how they’ve even managed to put the gnome “in the corner.”
  

Miss Sassy Pants

In the last week we’ve had a number of new mama hens.

I’m not sure how this poor little black one went flying so high, but it is slightly amusing. The chicks like to use mama as their own personal jungle gym and climb over her. I’m guessing mama must have given a shake to launch this one so far.

Goats

Since we’ve lived here the Canadian thistle have proven to be our biggest weed problem. It thrills me (a lot) to know the goats do eat them.

Wildlife

Deer in the garden area that is of course not inside the deer fence. Smart, smart deer.

The last little while the kids have been watching tadpoles in a barrel. The water has all evaporated & recently we spotted a bunch of tiny frogs. Fun!

A bat has decided Farmer John’s man shack is a nice place to rest at night. I thought they flew around at night searching for bugs.? Not this one.

Pigs

Farm Kid1, our oldest son, has been wanting a laptop for awhile. Well, I’m not going to buy him one. So, he’s decided to earn the money for one. Farmer John & him came up with the idea to raise a couple pigs and sell them to friends & family that want homegrown pork. Now we have two pigs.

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Summer weather has arrived and with it many wonderful things are happening around our farm and garden.

Gardening for Food

This time of year is when our garden really starts producing.

Lots of squash, gourds & pumpkins are flowering

My herb row isn’t as prolific as I was hoping, but it’s doing ok. I was able to make a small jar of pesto from the basil.

White-crowned Sparrow nest and babies in the mint.

Flower Beds

The flowerbeds are still full of color, but many plants are almost past their prime.

This daylily is in nearly all the flowerbeds, simply because it grows so well.

Both the bees & I love the lavender.

Farm Kid2’s flower bed near the chicken coops is full of shasta daisies.

The hummingbirds have been loving the nasturtiums.

Aquaponics

Well, we’re still working on getting the aquaponics system set up to perform at its best. There are only a couple plants left growing in the garden beds & the ph is shifting more than Farmer John would like in the water. But, the tilapia seem to be thriving.

Smaller fish in the Sump Tank
We have a dedicated tank to hold fish. We also have a sump tank. The sump tank holds water and the amount shifts based on the amount of water coming in and out of the garden beds. The fish were supposed to stay in the fish tank, since its water level doesn’t fluctuate. But, they were so small when we got them that they swam right through the pipes and into the sump tank. And, there they’ve stayed.

Bigger fish in the Fish Tank.
The tilapia seem to be growing at different speeds. Farmer John has taken the larger ones and moved them back to the fish tank, where they seem to be doing very well.

Goats

Love them!

I planted sunflowers and zinnia along the fence line. I purposely planted them out of reach (I hope) of the goats. I also have chosen not to pull any of the weeds closest to the fence in hopes that the goats will eat those instead of trying out my flowers. So far, so good. But, they’re probably a smidge too close. Sven can almost reach some of them.

The kids and the goats playing has to be one of my all time favorite things. The laughing that goes along with this playing is priceless.

Ducks

Quackin’ & Flappin’

Sitting on eggs that are not fertile.

Swimming in the new pond.

Chicken Keeping

2 year old Golden Polish hen peeking through the grass.

The Littles are growing up and spend much of their time roaming the land.

They know I’m bringing food.

Typical teenagers

Wildlife

This is a great time of year for wildlife watching.

I’m glad tadpoles are making use of this barrel.

We have a few resident deer that we see nearly everyday. This one is munching on greens right outside the garden fence.

Snakes are kind of cool, but I’m not a huge fan. Although, our kids love them. For a couple years in a row there was a huge snake hanging around. The kids named it Tiger.

Cardinal Meadowhawk
I’ve watched this guy a number of times. His favorite hang out is perched on this grass hovering above the new pond waiting for a snack to catch.

I’m certainly grateful for all these fabulous things surrounding my family & I this summer.

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