milk snake double take

It's been a busy and beautiful week!

muliflora rose from the field

The peonies are in bloom this week and it's heavenly.

I fill the rooms with bouquets.  I keep telling myself to add some variety...purple salvia, yellow loosestrife, white chamomile...but all the the bouquets are simple, just peonies and mint.  I like the color contrast.

Sometimes I'll put a lone bud on a shelf and watch it get bigger and looser, day by day.  

"The yellows" are starting to come in...the loosestrife...

The sedum is blooming yellow, too.

Lots of color...

It's hard to select photos at this time of year.  Every day, I bring my camera when I go out and I take hundreds of photos...anything that interests me.  Not just plants, but lots of animals.  Sometimes I'll get a glimpse of turkeys in the barnyard...

...a chog by the barn...

Deer watching from across the pond...

Todd set a loose birdhouse on one of our fence posts two weeks ago, and it was quickly claimed by a bluebird.  

I peeked in when she was away once...we're going to have babies!!

Todd unearthed this Eastern milk snake while pitching compost this week.  What a beauty!!

Farmers used to call them 'milk snakes' because they were seen so much around barns that farmers thought the snakes were slipping in to steal milk from the cows at night.  Actually, they prey on familiar barn pests...mice and voles.  They're great to have around!

So, so many more things that will have to wait for another post.  We're both busy with work and getting the garden ready.  We had the back left field plowed last week...

...and ordered a drip irrigation system and garden fabric...WITH holes for seeds/plants.  It's more expensive, but I'm done fighting the weeks and ticks in that garden, and it's just too much to water by hand when I have four other garden beds to deal with.  Already this early summer we're two weeks without rain and no rain in sight, which means up early and watering at least 30 minutes before work to keep things alive.  Todd has been busy measuring and pounding stakes...

Each row has to be measured for the fabric we bought, and the paths stomped down.  It's daunting...by the time everything is laid out, it will be ready for over 2,000 seeds/seedlings!  Quite a bit for a home garden but I love being surrounded by flowers and I'm getting such a late start (most of these flowers should've been started inside a month ago) that I probably won't even see blooms until late July.  No matter...I'll enjoy the growing things no matter what.  

Have a great week!