On the right path...

When Don and I first bought Hickahala Ranch it was nothing but open fields and a few acres of wooded bottom land. We loved the way it looked and discussed leaving it like that...natural. Of course, we soon discovered that open grassy fields are NOT natural here and, if left unmowed, our fields would quickly become woods!

As the years have passed by it seems like Don kept mowing more and more "lawn" until he was spending all of his two days off on the lawn mower. This year, he's finally come to the "green side". I've urged him time and again to bush hog instead of mow, to let the horses into the fenced in front yard from time to time and to let me put the goats in the back yard. I seriously doubt that it was my nagging that changed his mind. I reckon he finally just got tired of mowing because this summer he's decided to just mow paths!

He's keeping the front yard mowed around the fence and about ten feet out from the house. He mows me a path to the garden and one to the pond. Pictured above is his path to the woods behind the house. Everything else is left to grow. I think it's great! No more wasting gas (I hate petroleum products and America's dependency on them), no more wasting time on the lawnmowers and no more wasting money constantly fixing the blasted things! Nope, Don is now on the right path...the "green" path that I've been trying to steer him onto for a very long time.

The benefits are amazing. We have more birds around the house...cardinals, hummingbirds, yellow finches and little Indigo buntings, to name a few. The barn swallows raised their family on the back porch and have decided to stay for a while. Some evenings I step outside and there are dragonflies by the hundreds hovering over the lawn. They attract bats, which I dearly love to watch swooping low to catch mosquitoes and other insects. The taller grass also attracts grasshoppers, which in turn help to feed the garden spiders that are beginning to build their webs around the house.

Don has told me to sell the riding mowers in my mom's annual yard sell in October. What mowing needs to be done will be done with the push mower or bush hogged with the tractor next year. It's just one tiny step on the path to a more environmentally friendly farm and I couldn't be happier!

My favorite jewels...

I'm not big on jewelry or precious jewels, but I do enjoy spotting unusual moths, bugs and spiders during the summer months. I was quite delighted when I spotted the one above on some concrete blocks next to the garage door. The pattern and color were remarkable...this little bug was iridescent and quite jewel-like! Surprise, surprise...it's known as a Jewel Beetle or Metallic Wood Boring Beetle (Buprestis rufipes).


This pretty little beetle likes to munch on oak, maple, black gum, beech and elm trees in the larval stage, so it's no surprise I found it right next to our woodpile (which is full of elm). Like most bugs, the Jewel Beetle lives only one day to two weeks as an adult. This life span varies so widely because there are over 40,000 species of wood boring beetles known to us! That's a lot of bugs!

These glorious beetles are actually used to make jewelry as they come in a wide variety of beautiful colors and shapes. Personally, I'd rather see one crawling around enjoying it's brief life, but then, like I stated above, I'm not much for jewelry. I rarely wear any jewelry at all...not even my wedding band!

I've discovered that gardening and rings do not mix. The minute I pick up a hoe or shovel my wedding band starts wearing a blister on my hand just below my ring finger. So, first thing I do in the Spring when I go to the garden is hang my wedding band on a nail in my potting shed. I put that nail up specifically for my wedding band so I wouldn't forget where it was once Autumn has arrived and I can wear my ring again.

Necklaces bother me, bracelets get in the way and I usually forget to wear earrings. No, I prefer to see my jewels munching on the firewood or crawling up a concrete block!

Farewell feathered friends...

I'm back...again! Don was on vacation last week and I didn't get to post. We had our hands full trying to get the garden planted and taking care of Strayhorn, the injured rooster. We managed to get 48 potato starts planted, two patches of corn, four peppers (two each of two different varieties), green beans and cucumbers. Don also did a lot of mowing and bush-hogging and I did a lot of running in circles!

Sadly, our efforts to save Strayhorn were in vain. He died yesterday and is now buried out at the garden. He will be missed, especially by Don and I. We'll miss his gentle nature...a blessing after the last evil rooster we had (who should have been named Diablo instead of Randy)! We'll miss Strayhorn's afternoon crowing and the soft way he would chide the hens in the evening as he urged them to head for the roost.

I don't know when, or even if, we'll get another rooster. I fear we won't be as lucky as we were with Strayhorn, who didn't have a mean streak like most roosters do. If karma decides we need another one, I'm sure we'll take it in and give it a home.

On another sad note, our duck, Ducky, also died on Mother's Day. I'd noticed Saturday evening when I was feeding the ducks and chickens that Ducky was not herself. She was lying down next to the hutch and didn't come to eat. Normally, she would have been all excited hoping I'd brought fish. Don stood her up, but she just laid back down.  Sunday morning Don went out to check on her and found Ducky with her head tucked like she was just sleeping. The other female duck, Ping, was lying next to Ducky.

She was getting old, we've had her almost eight years, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but we will also miss Ducky very much. She was our first duck and had more character and charm than a lot of people! Don loved the way Ducky would "talk" to us, especially if we had the blue bucket with fish in it, and the way she would wag her tail when she was excited.

So it goes on the farm. It's never easy to say farewell, but we know it is a part of life and accept that there will be farewells...sadness along with the joy that our feathered friends bring us.

Awww...he's so sweet!

Today was another beautiful Fall day. Don made it even nicer by letting me sleep in, something he does pretty much every day! While I'm sleeping he does his daily chores...feeding the horses, taking all the dogs out for a walk and sometimes gathering the eggs, feeding the rabbit a treat and giving the ducks and chickens fresh water.

Don added an extra surprise for me today. He tilled up a small area in the depleted garden and planted the broccoli I'd bought at the feed store the other day. Awww...wasn't that sweet? In return I made him a big breakfast of ham, eggs, grits and biscuits with homemade strawberry jam.

We really like broccoli and are hoping this Fall planting will produce well. I went out this evening and watered all the baby plants to give them a good start. I need to get some spinach seed and sprinkle it between the broccoli. One year I planted a Fall spinach patch and we had fresh spinach from the garden all winter!

My favorite way to cook young fresh spinach leaves is to saute them in my small iron skillet in some olive oil. I then serve them with a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. They go really well with pinto beans and a fresh pone of homemade cornbread.

YUMMY!

Busy days ahead...

The past two days were very busy and I know this is just the beginning of a very busy time of year. Autumn and early Winter fly by due to preparing for holidays, family visits and getting critters settled in for the cold weather ahead. Do you find this to be the busiest time at your place as well?

Tuesday I had jury duty. It's only the second time in my life I've been summoned for jury duty and I really hope it is my last! Those hard wood benches made my back hurt and I felt like my entire day was wasted, even though I was released at noon. I barely escaped being on the jury of a shoplifting case, but I escaped!

Wednesday was shopping day. I got a bit of a late start and wasn't sure if I'd make it home in time to spend the evening at the pond with Don. I made it home just in time to unload the groceries, feed the chickens, ducks and Elvis then head to the pond. Don took a flashlight since it was so late and we needed it coming back up the driveway! It was heavenly to just sit there with my eyes closed enjoying the cool breeze and quiet. Don said we need a double hammock down there so we could nap. At least he's not still talking about putting his old Lazy-boy recliner down there!

I noticed on my way to town yesterday that all the corn on our road has been harvested. I'm not sure why the farmer left his equipment in our field, unless he had a breakdown. The crows were back today so I'm sure they're after any corn left scattered on the field. I need to do a bit of gleaning in my own garden...the sweet potatoes and carrots need to be dug up and I need to gather any dried seeds (butter beans) that still remain so I'll have them to plant next year.

Hope you've been enjoying a productive week as well!

So long hot dry July...

July is leaving in a blast of hot dry air and August isn't promising anything different. I'm always happy to say so long to July, even though it is my birth month. Summer is my least favorite season and July offers all that I dislike about summer...stinging and biting insects, hot weather, no rain, snakes, etc. At least with August I know Autumn is just around the corner.

I went out this afternoon in near 100 degree heat to pick my green beans. Sadly, July was not kind to the garden and the green beans are not worth picking. They are dry and tough with no beans inside. The cantaloupes are done, the cucumbers have withered away and all that is left are some very small bell peppers, spindly tomato vines with small tomatoes and butter beans that have gone nuts. Yeah, I'm pinning my hopes on those crazy butter bean vines! I tried to dig up a carrot to see how large they were, but the ground was so hard I needed a jack hammer to get it out!

So long July and good riddance! I'll see you next year and I can promise one thing...next year will be too soon for me!

Teddly the Garden Toad

I'd like to introduce you to Teddly, my little garden toad. A few months back I discovered him all snuggled into a nice little toad hole in my new strawberry bed (above). Unfortunately it didn't take long for some fire ants to build a big nest there also and Teddly vacated the premises.

I really missed the little guy. We had some nice chats while I was pulling weeds and preparing the garden for planting (he was a great listener). It was quite a delight to find him living under the cucumber vines recently and our afternoon chats have resumed. Mostly they consist of me promising Teddly to be careful not to step on him while I'm picking cucumbers...something I've been doing a lot lately!

Teddly isn't the only toadie in the garden. While preparing a flower bed in the front of my garden this Spring I found a very unusual toad...a small red toad with black spots and a pointed nose. I thought this type of toad only lived in rain forests! A bit of research revealed that I had found an Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad. They are secretive (which is why I've probably never seen one before) and like to hang out in their underground burrows, which is where I found this one.

I'd found another one in the garden a year or so ago when I busted up a rotted piece of log that my frog statue sat on. It was black, but I suspect it was also an Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad as they can change color based on their environment.

Teddly and his shy little friends are most welcome in my garden as they eat insects. Anything that helps cut down on the insects devouring my vegetable plants is going to get a hearty welcome from me!