bobcat habitat

It's that strange time of year when summer and fall overlap.  On one hand, we still have flowers.  Late-season roses are blooming...

...along with the companion morning glories that I planted, that don't quite match up in color but makes the climbing roses look more full.

I'm still pulling tons of flowers from the garden.

Lots of critters still around, like this round-backed millipede...

...and megachile apicalis, this little bee...

...and this spider wasp.  

As the name implies, they hunt spiders and paralyze them with a sting.  They drag them to their burrow and lay an egg on the corpse.  When the egg hatches, the larva has an easy food source.  Spider wasps have a notoriously nasty sting, one of the most painful you can experience from an insect ("electrifying" is the word most often used).  Like with most things, if you leave them alone, they won't bother you.

Lots of creatures and flowers, but more and more signs of fall.  It's apple time...

This year's apples are small but plentiful.  I've already processed about ten pounds and I've barely begun!  There will be a lot of apple pies this winter.  I dice up about 4 pounds of apples, add a bit of sugar/spices, and let them macerate in their juices for three hours.  Then I bag them up and freeze them.  They are ready to pop into a crust whenever the desire hits!

Lots of tomatoes now, too.  I have lost track of how many pounds of sauce and dehydrated tomatoes that I've put away!

Leaves are starting to change, too.

In part, though, it's because it's been SO dry.  We didn't have any rain for three weeks, and 90 degree temperatures.  Leaves were shriveling everywhere.

see all the dead leaves around Claudia?

It's definitely going to impact our fall color here, but at least we've got a bit!  

Our turkey poults are getting so big!  Soon they'll melt into the forest for the winter.

We've got so much activity on our trail cams.  A coyote in the back field!

The fawn and mom pair are still tied at the hip.

We've got a camera down by the big pond, facing a game trail.  So...many...animals!

Yes...that last video is the largest bobcat I've ever seen!  It showed up for a few days in early September but we haven't seen him around for the past week.  So exciting!!!

I'm going to keep an eye out for more activity...and cooler temperatures.  Have a great week!  

birds in thirds

 Good morning!

red milkweed beetle

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around here.  First, we had a series of crazy storms...

Seventy mph winds that uprooted a 30 - 40 ft tree right in front of us!

Todd cutting up fallen yellowwood tree

We lost power three or four times, for up to ten hour stretches.  Then, we had smoke drift in from the Canada wildfires, and for some reason it was really bad here.

For reference, our air quality this morning is 33!

That kept us inside for a couple of days, too.  But once it stopped raining, and the air cleared, we were able to get outside and get back to work.

Corn is growing!

I'm getting insanely big 2 lb zucchini from the garden...the one below is one of the smaller ones!

Borga is unimpressed.

That's a lot of zucchini bread!  

Grilled zucchini ribbons with white beans and pesto coming today.  Because, you know, we also have a ton, and I mean a ton, of basil.  

I love using it in bouquets...the cilantro I'm growing is great, too, with its pretty purple flowers...but I prefer to eat it.  I made pasta with a basil vinaigrette and roasted cherry tomatoes last week that was to die for!  I'll make it again soon and pop in the recipe here.  

I've got to be diligent about checking our veggies for insects.  I found close to 50 squash bug eggs on our lone zucchini plant.

They'd devour the plant if allowed to hatch.  Helpfully, I found a mating pair of trichopoda flies on a leaf, too.

Trichopoda flies parasitize both stink and squash bugs, helping to balance things out just like the ladybug nymphs did on the milkweed last week.  I've always got to be diligent with the plants, because even flowers have pests.  This isn't a great photo, but one of my cosmos stalks was infested with oleander aphids this week.  Fascinating to see all the different things going on in just a few inches of space!

Tiny-but-deadly ambush bugs help keep things in line, too.

They are venomous and can deliver a nasty bite, but they also eat aphids and other pests!  Here's a quick video if you want to see their grab 'n stab technique.

Lots of animals out and about.  Here's our possum, right at bedtime, after one of our big storms.

I see our big turkey family several times a week.  There are nine poults and I love hearing them chattering in the field!  I can easily see them from my office window.  

In our front pond, we've started seeing a little wood duck family every day...mom and three babies!!

Although the back pond is fine (probably because it's a lot larger), you can see that the front pond is choked with algae.  We've ordered grass carp, a type of fish that love to eat algae, and we're hoping that they'll quickly clear out the gunk.

Of course, we see the chogs all the time.

I see hummingbirds every single day.

waiting out a storm

They are pretty foul-tempered birds and I can almost hear their string of profanity when I enter the garden and they have to zip away for a few minutes.  

The roses are done blooming after a brief show...

...but when one thing stops, another starts.

hosta flower

Madame Butterfly snapdragons

It's a lovely time of year, both outside...and inside!

Have a great week!  

mellow yellows

 It's hard to believe that it's already June!  The absolute best month in the garden.

The yellows are EXPLODING.

I've got yellow loosestrife planted in the front garden, too, and it's just so cheerful!

I'm absolutely thrilled with how this back garden has filled in...and my bee balm and over 75 coneflowers haven't even started blooming yet!

There are at least two song sparrows nesting either in the garden or on the porch, and they sing cheerfully just a few yards away from where I'm working, every single day!

Speaking of nests, earlier this week I found the bluebird house on the ground and all of the eggs but one, gone.  It could've been Claudia.  It's true that feral cats are a menace to songbirds...but it also could've been the Eastern milk snake, who was living in the compost pile nearby.  Sadly, I picked up the nesting box and put it back on another post, planning to secure it with a board later.  That same day, I noticed bluebirds going in and out of it again, and every day after.  Had the female laid another clutch of eggs so soon?!  Yesterday, I found the box on the ground again.  I peeked inside...one baby bird, still alive!  I put the box back on the post.  I was gratified to see the bluebirds continuing to come and go, taking care of the baby.  If that flimsy box will just stay together for another week or so...

Meanwhile, progress on the plowed garden.  Todd shoveled paths between the rows...

...then drip tape went down, three strips per row.

Now we just need to connect the system and lay out the landscape fabric.  It's not a moment too soon.  Despite the fact that we've had ZERO RAIN for nearly a month, weeds are starting to pop up in the newly-plowed soil.  At least I got my vines in the ground and my pumpkins planted...only 22 seeds this time, half as many as last year.

My corn is doing well...

...but the same day I planted 16 specialty tomato plants, they were absolutely destroyed by groundhogs, deer, rabbits, or all three.  Todd is building a cattle panel/chicken wire triangle for protection...thankfully, I've got about 12 plants left, plenty for us.  The peppers and herbs are ready for planting, and every day I plant another tray of seeds.

They need to get a bit larger/stronger before they're ready to be popped in the garden, but some are definitely ready now!  And I have hundreds of sunflower seeds to plant.  The heat is supposed to break for a few days this week and I'm hoping to get a lot done.

Still finding time to pick bouquets...

...and keep an eye out for other garden inhabitants.

Even though they act like it sometimes, our indoor cats are not being neglected!  Barnabas has no trouble letting the guilt flow over his empty food bowl...

...and everyone is enjoying frequent cozy naps on their heated pads.

It will be nice when the garden is done and Todd and I can have some down time, too!

Have a great week!