Happy Friday

Just as well there's nowhere to go, I guess.

A few more seeds have sprouted here.

Cucumbers are doing well.

Red noodle beans have finally begun to sprout.

Hope you are all doing well. Stay safe and God bless.

Just another Saturday in Paradise.

Really it is. Even if the government has us sequestered at home, God is in control. :-)

Thursday we grilled steak. I did the veggies different this time. Onions, mushrooms and sweet potatoes instead of Idaho potatoes. :)

Yesterday we had crawfish. Supporting local. No picture. Didn't want to bore you. ;-)

Fig leaves are growing like crazy. No figs yet.

I took a picture of one of our blue dragonflies; but it didn't turn out so maybe next time when it's not 81 in the shade and humid.

But the beans and carrots I planted back when this lock down started about a week ago, have begun to pop up.

The beans are easy to spot. The carrots not so much. The carrots are the whispy green bits you might be able to see if you click the picture.
As you can see, it rained a good bit after I planted them originally, hence they now have a cover which will let water through; but hopefully slow and/or redirect from any onslaught, and the roof.

Seems like a few marigold seeds may have survived the winter also, but I will have to keep an eye on them. I believe there is a vine that looks like marigold when it first sprouts.

Anyway. Didn't go out for long, but that is what is happening around here.

You all be safe. Praise God and God bless. :-)

Wet, wet, wet.

Too wet to get to the beans, which are drowning because even a raised bed can't drain when the ground around it is over wet. This is standing water in the grass. It rained yesterday around 1400. The rain from two or three days ago hadn't a chance to dry out, yet.

And the garden.

Hubby didn't like the way the corn didn't come up evenly. It probably drowned in the rain. So he mowed it down.

I did pick a few more ripe tomatoes today. We will have them coming out our ears soon. Thank you, Lord. ^_^

Hope all the dads out there have a wonderful Father's Day. And I hope you all have a blessed, safe, week.

Around here

Hope you are all having a blessed weekend. ♥

Happy Mother's Day.

A little late. Went out and planted some more corn. Only one row survived the 'flooding' of March and April, so we planted more. We'll see if it was a good idea or not.

As you know, hubby didn't like the new broccoli we tried. It went into the compost pile, bush beans took their place.

A couple years ago, Linda over at Colorado Farm Life sent me some of her red canna lilys. This is the first one to bloom this year. ^_^

We are trying a new tomato this year, too. Burpee's Bush Steak tomato.

Crossing my fingers to get some good ones from them this summer.

Hope all the mothers out there are having a wonderful day. ♥

Around the Farm

Some sort of weed with pretty yellow flowers.

Red clover.

Pineapple sage. We never learned how to cook with herbs, I just grow them for the bees and other bugs. The good ones, hopefully. This is my first time with the pineapple sage. I like the flowers.

Purple basil.

Red nasturtium. They don't seem to like the ground here. None of the ones I planted last year sprouted. This is the only one of two that survived this year. It's really pretty.

We had the first broccoli from our planting yesterday. Hubby didn't like it. Has a strong flavor. My guess is because of all the rain and harvesting late.

It's still pretty wet here.

I think I'll stop here for today. I think if you click on the pictures, you can see them better. Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

Short update

Planted corn again this year. Been talking with people to figure out how to keep the coons out. But first we have to keep the crows out. I've read some on the internet, and this is what some people use.

Hopefully we grow enough corn to need to figure out how to keep the coons out.

The broccoli is still doing well, though we found another fire ant hill so we had to look for something we could use safely.

I'm pretty sure these are weeds. Any gardeners have any idea? We compost, but hubby is not good about waiting before it gets used...

Our apple trees are blooming. They grew apples last year. Three years old this year. NONE of the apples ripened successfully last year. I expect that might have been due to the farmland behind us. Spray doesn't stay where you want it, but there is really no telling. Would love to get a couple home grown apples this year.

Hope you all have a blessed weekend. ♥

No matter where you live

Thank a farmer for what you eat.

And on another note, we here are fine. I thank the good Lord for that.
Our garden plot is underwater, but the raised bed has saved the broccoli and basil. I think.
The broccoli was not happy with its first day out from under the row cover I've had over it for a couple weeks, but I think it was time.

The other bed you see has been covered with diatomaceous earth. I am trying to use non-poisonous methods to kill off the fire ants that came with a truck load of garden soil we bought, and then mixed in with our compost pile unknowingly. Hubby had not mixed all of it in, so discovered it was in the garden soil, and not our original compost. Yay?
It is frustrating. If we have to use poison, we just won't be able to plant there till fall. I was glad that hubby decided to use the raised beds this year, finally.

However, his corn didn't fare so well. Fortunately he only planted one row before the rains came.

Other areas of Louisiana and Mississippi were not as fortunate, so keep them in your thoughts and prayers, please.

The Ides of March give us in America one week till our taxes are due. We got hit this year, but the Lord will see us through.

Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed week. ♥

A couple pictures from around the old farm.

Clover by the kitchen door. It grows everywhere on the property, of course.

The hole in this pecan tree looks to me like it could home an owl. Whether it's big enough for the Great Horned Owls we usually hear, I will probably never know. ^_^

Little purple flowers. Viola? Violet? They pop up all over the property.

Little white flowers, haha. They pop up like the purple flowers.

Little yellow flowers. I am so good, right? These pop up everywhere, like the others, pretty much all year long, anytime we let the grass grow.

Finally got hubby to make a few raised beds. Put broccoli transplants in the first one. My first time trying to grow broccoli from seed. Sorry if I said this before. Memory is what it is. I've had them covered because we've had a lot of wind and flirted with freezing temperatures. I don't know if these will expand. I took them on my phone. But maybe you can sort of see the broccoli transplants.
There are some home-made hoops out there now.
As you can see, right after I put the transplants out, we had quite a bit of rain. Was very happy the transplants were 4 inches higher than the water and mud.

Hope you all have a blessed week!

Drying out

Saturday and Sunday, we got another 4 inches of rain. It could have been more, but the little rain gauge said four, so that is what I go with.

We had almost two and a half inches last week.

So almost seven inches in two weeks! Needless to say, it is still quite wet in the pasture garden.

The cucumbers are only doing so so now. The beans are no more, as are all but one of the eight tomato plants I put out.

We bought three new tomato plants and put them by the house. The two regular size tomato plants I picked 8 tomatoes from yesterday. I did not take pictures. Between the rain and heat and humidity, even though none of them was completely ripe, they had all split to the meat. Makes me glad hubby doesn't eat as many tomatoes as he used to. They all went into the compost pile.

The Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes are slowly producing fruits. One has sort of survived in the pasture. The other is mostly doing okay in the tub I planted it in.

I'll take a picture sometime.
All the pole beans I replanted have grown taller than their supports. Now if they'd just flower!

Stay cool and dry, wherever you are! God bless. ♥

Two and a quarter inches.

Is how much rain we got yesterday. The pasture garden looks like this:

The tomatoes are pretty much dead. Glad I made hills for the cantaloupe! They have started to sprout, but I didn't chance going out there.

I didn't take pictures of the cucumbers, don't know why I keep forgetting; but they are growing very well and blooming.

Me, with my 'walking hoe', as I checked over the garden.

I'll try to take more/better pictures next time.

Have a blessed week! :-)