Naughty Bad Chickens

This week I really hated my chickens.

Almost to the point of making the world’s largest batch of chicken noodle soup. Really.

The chickens are usually very good about eating pesky bugs, but a few of the newer hens are REALLY bad about getting into fruits and veggies. I mean they actually plot how they will get to things.

Like these blueberries.

Since when do chickens climb for Pete’s sake?

Hens Climbing Blueberry Bush

When I spotted these two back by the melon beds I wondered what trouble this naughty hen could be leading this poor stupid rooster into. Did they find a hidden cache of yummy, crunchy bugs?

What ARE These Two up To?

And then I saw what they were eating. It was not bugs it was…

Heirloom Melons Pecked to Death

NOOOOO!!!!!

D*mn birds. Not ONE little baby melon was left unharmed. It wasn’t just these two scatterbrained birds. Oh no, they were just the two that got busted for this heinous crime against vining fruits. There was plenty of melon-ary evidence scattered about the pasture and dry lot.

The vines were trampled and all young fruits destroyed. With the help of child#3 we did what we could to salvage the last three vines and we caged them.

Fencing in the Melons

I hope we get to taste at least ONE home grown melon this year!

As of this writing those three vines are still loaded with flowers, but I should probably go check on them to make sure. You never know what those darn chickens have up their sleeves.

Jacob's Cattle Bean Plants

July has been beastly hot, but nearly everything is doing really well in the garden!

Flowers are blooming, weeds are prolific, veggies are iffy, medicinal and culinary herbs are thick, and most of the small and tree fruits are either finishing up or nowhere near ready depending on what you’re looking at.

I’m excited, we may actually get to enjoy a few of these peaches this year! Most years they are eaten by Japanese beetles but since they are currently busy destroying roses, nectarines and Marshmallow, we have hope for a fresh, home grown peach.

Young Peaches

Most of the flowers are doing nicely, too. Except for the ones hubby keeps mowing down.

Anyone that knows me know that my flowers have to be tough. I’ll water when needed, but absolutely no floral mollycoddling goes on around here.  Heck, I don’t deadhead most of the time… but I will go out and cut bouquets when I’m feeling girly.

Which leads us to this next photo…

It just sort of happened. It’s what the late TV painter, Bob Ross would have called a “happy accident”.

In a girly fit of flower arranging I set the pitcher on the birdhouse while snipping and filling it with blooms. I stepped back and  LOVED the way it looked sitting there so much that I probably took 56 pictures of it.

Bouquet on Birdhouse

I also killed the rechargeable camera batteries, but it was totally worth it. Don’t you agree?

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Fog Hides the World

Things are quiet here this morning.

I woke to a sky that was grey, but slightly tinged with pink and realized that the sun was coming up.

It was just hiding behind a thick blanket of fog. It looks like the rest of the world has disappeared.

As the fog starts to lift you can see the bed of sage out in the medicinal herb garden.

How can you can tell it’s sage? It’s almost green!

Bed of Sage in the Herb Garden

The fog rolls back a bit more. It always makes everything look so peaceful.

View From The Herb Garden Gate

Just so you don’t think everything here is grey…

Splash of Color in the Garden

These are crab apples. I occasionally make crab apple jelly, but I always leave plenty on the trees for the wild birds to eat. Over the winter the birds will pick them off one by one, although this morning there is not a bird in sight…besides the chicken crew.

Peace to you, enjoying the quiet here~

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I'm Melting...

It’s really been a hot summer here…whimper…

I don’t do hot. I’m a sweater weather person and love cold weather. There, I said it. Don’t send hate mail.

I drink a lot of herbal teas year round and make my own blends. In the winter I  brew warming teas, in the summer I need something to cool me down.  If you’ve ever made sun tea with tea bags then you can easily make herbal sun teas, too.

Lemon Verbena Herbal Sun Tea

If you are using fresh herbs from the garden, use two to three times as much as you would for dried herbs. Why? Dried herbs often have more potent flavor.

For a small jar of tea “concentrate” I use a handful of crushed herbs in a jar of cool water.

Some nice cooling herbs? You can use any of the mints, but I also like Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena or a combination of all of them. I grow lots of Stevia, so I’ll stick a leaf or two in the mix for a touch of sweetness.

Tuck the crushed leaves in the jar, add water and close up the jar.

Now set your jar in a sunny place for the day.

Later that afternoon…

Strain out the herbs and taste. If you want to add a bit of honey, go for it!  If it’s too strong, add some water, then add your ice cubes. You can jazz up any teas up with a wedge of citrus fruit as a garnish. I like an orange slice with spearmint tea. And sometimes a bendy straw.

Refrigerate any leftover tea- it should be good for 24 to 36 hours or so before the flavor goes ‘off’

In the summer I’ll make a jar of herbal tea daily to have for the following day.

That way I never lose my cool

Unless you ask my kids.

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If you liked this post, and would like to learn more about growing your own herbs then sign up for my online classes at Growing Herbs For Beginners!

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The weather is supposed to take a cold turn tonight with temperatures dropping back near freezing. After making sure that seedlings and tender plants were safely tucked in the greenhouse I decided to take a few pictures of some blooming shrubs and edible landscaping. If it all gets hit by frost tonight I’ll have gorgeous photos to remember them by. You know, exactly like Better Homes and Garden’s gorgeous photo spreads… I’m pretty sure they use a little bitty Canon and a cell phone to take their best shots, too…

First up for my show and tell, my favorite lilac-Mount Baker.

The fragrance is delicious.

Honestly-I just want to shove my nose into these flowers, snort deeply and keep it there all spring.

Mount Baker Lilac

Next…

Blueberry Blossoms

Blueberries in Bloom

Most years we don’t get many berries unless I cage them early. The chickens pick off the lower ones, and the wild birds get the upper berries. They are all such little pigs.

And finally,

Apple Blossoms

This crazy tree does not know it’s been pronounced dead…twice. It has blown over, been completely uprooted and snapped at the base of the trunk. Now it simply reclines.

This photo is from a few years ago – after the second time it went over in a bad storm. We had lots of trees to clean up and I hadn’t gotten around to cutting it down when I noticed it was still producing fruit.

It’s a Zombie Apple Tree!

Recumbent Zombie Apple Tree

Although a professor of mine from some years ago would have told me to “prune it at the roots” I did not have the heart to cut down a tree so determined to live.

Today it still grows in it’s happy-yet wonky-condition and even produces plenty of gorgeous Rome apples for me each fall!

I just consider it a living sculpture these days.

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