Rainy Weekend

And most of the plants are happy about it.  We were happy to discover that the shade screen didn't block too much of it from the planters.  Everything got a good shot of rainwater.  

We've been fighting the good fight against the stink bugs and we've been slowly losing.  We pulled the zucchini when it stopped producing and was just a breeding ground.  The pumpkins were hit next and now they seem to have moved up front to the cucumbers.

The eggplant LOVES this weather.

Replanted some summer squash.

Purple Jalapeno flowers.

We cut back some of the tomatoes to see if they start back up.

We've been disappointed by the peppers this year.  They are all leaf and no flower.

As are these cucumbers.  Overflowing from the planter, but nothing to pick.

The Basil has been great.  We've been much more diligent with the harvesting
and it has kept the flowering at bay.

We've ordered seeds for the fall plantings.  It hardly seems possible that it's that time again, but here we are!

Back Under 110°

A cold front moved in.  We're down to 102° today.   Probably only because it's been overcast most of the day.  The rain missed us of to the east as usual, though.

Anyway, some of the plants have been burnt around their edges, but aren't too worse for wear after the really hot week we had.  Our biggest loss was that two of our chickens died.  Apparently we are only meant to have one Americana at a time.  I was really heartbroken.  We went to one of the feed stores and grabbed 5 1-week old Welsummers.  We're almost to the point where the Post Office stops allowing the shipping of live animals here because of the heat.  We were already expressing our concern about the production rates of the 3 oldest girls, and then with losing the 2(one of whom was laying) we went ahead and got the next crew.

We found some grasshoppers last night and gave the girls an early morning treat. 

Three of the Butters

Busy bees

Hornworms are wiping out pepper plants left and right.  The chickens love them.
And I love feeding them to the chickens.

Tomatoes are still hanging on

Random growing sunflower (from a fallen seed from last summer).
As of today it is taller than me when I raise my hand straight above my head.

Pretty beet.

115° in the Desert

And I manage to harvest this...

Life is good, even in a heatwave.

Aaannnd, now I have Whoopi Goldberg singing in a casino lounge running through my head.  "Whenever I'm with him, something insiiide starts to burning...."

Happy July 1st!

Corn

 The corn is getting tall.

But then I see this one.  Why?  Why would the corn do this?  Time for some research.  

I do love the internet.  Thought the question was asked two years ago, I think the answer from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln explains it.  Our temps have been up there.  We went from well below average to well above average lately.

Despite the one ear, the rest of the corn is doing pretty well despite being an aphid magnate.  I'll be breaking out the soap next...

Getting Ready for Fall

Took out the pole bean tee pee.  We never got any beans and we still don't know why.

The pole bean arch will be next if we don't see anything from them soon.

The Kale is doing well.  We still have a few beets in there, and will
fill in the middle with some Kohl Rabi.  We thinned the Chard and
planted a few more in front.  The chickens and bunnies love it.  

We put seeds in the Southwest bed for lettuces and fennel.

It's hot people!  And kinda humid.  For here, anyway.

We gave the girls the tee pee to munch on.  It was pretty chewed down by the end of the day.

June is Busting Out All Over!!

I shouldn't have written that title.  Now I'll have Carousel songs in my head the rest of the day...

It's hot outside.  I know this because I just spent some time outside rescuing the fruit off of the trees.  Even with the net, the birds found a way in to peck away at them.  I left a few of the worst pecked ones out there in hopes it will keep them off of the nectarines which aren't quite ready.

I also went through the tomatoes and peppers.  I'm disappointed that so many of the tomatoes have blossom end rot.  But we realized that since we use most of the tomatoes to make sauce, who cares if one end is ugly. We cut of the bad part and use the other side.

Today's Harvest.

Making apricot jam and bread and butter pickles.

Last weekend we picked some apricots at a local orchard.  We had picked some here, but it wasn't enough to make the jam we wanted to make.  So we headed out for the morning.  We wandered through the vegetables, picked some different types of squash to try, and went crazy in the cucumbers.  We picked four pints worth of little cucumbers and made sweet gherkins!!!  I can't wait until the pears are ripe.  I want to make more pear butter.

Sweet gherkins.  Crazy recipe we used took 4 days.

Earlier this week we harvested more lettuce and some tomatoes that were turned into a ketchup.

Monday's Harvest.

The chickens are doing alright in the heat.  We've been trying to get the little ones to find their place with the rest of the flock.  So far, their place has been on the opposite side of the run fro the rest of the birds.  It's sad, Bertha is bigger than the production reds and she easily outweighs them, but she scurries away at a look.  She also honks.  Like a goose.  I don't know why.  I know they have to find their spot in the pecking order, but they haven't gotten to the get along near each other stage.  We got an automatic door opener for the coop, Thank heavens, getting up at 5 was rough.  It will also help when we do add the little ones to the coop.  We were concerned they'd really get picked on if they were stuck inside waiting for us to let them out.  It will be so much nicer when they all live in one place.  Especially since two of the little ones have squatted.  It was a couple of weeks after that that the other birds began laying eggs.  Yay!

Another 100 Degree Day

We're keeping the plants well watered in the mornings so they can withstand the heat of the day.  I usually wander back through once the kids are back home from school to make sure that as the shade moves in the plants perk back up.

On a side note, it's getting close to time to butcher the dailys.  The only one that has a definite name has decided to act his part.  This morning as I was walking by I heard a louder than normal coo.  I turned and watched as Roo made another attempt at a crow.  It was way off, but kinda cute.  Poor boy doesn't understand we can't keep roosters in the city, not that he was sticking around much longer anyway.  But it's going to have to be sooner rather than later if he gets loud.