GOD'S CREATURES & THE GARDEN

God's creatures have stories to share. Sometimes we don't take time to listen, sometimes we don't see the stories and sometimes we don't even care. This is one of the stories I was able to get on three photo shots. I hope that you appreciate the story as much as I did as I watched and clicked.

Mrs. Bluebird is somewhat miffed that Mr. Robin forgot about the rules of bath time. It was her turn, and she was upset that Mr Robin had decided to barge in and take up half of the bath for his shower. You have to remember that this is a communal bath, so there is no issue with the whole male/female thing. But certainly, Mr. Robin was out of order!

"Well, if you think that I'm going to just sit and wait for you to finish, you've got another guess coming. It's my time, too, and I'm going to take a bath if I want to," Mrs. Bluebird thinks to herself.

It turned out to be a workeable situation. Both could take baths simultaneously. Afterwards, Mr. Robin quipped to himself, quite as an aside, "While we're not Republicans or Democrats, I knew that the two of us could get along fine. And I do wish that others would be able to take a lesson from us." A big thanks from Mrs. B and Mr. R to Karol who so faithfully cleans the bath water daily!!

THE GARDEN

This is Cabbage Family Corner. In the distance are six broccoli plants, already producing some great tasting producd. In the next row are the purple cabbage, six strong. They're deciding whether to "head out" or stay and make some fine purple cabbage for Karol and Carl. The other cabbage is late, hopefully for making sauerkraut (we hardly have any left in the root cellar and freezer. And we do love it in the winter.

This is a bigger view of the upper garden. On the far left are two rows of golden beets (yellow). Coming this way is a row of dill (for the 70 quarts of pickles that we will can in August). I planted another row of dill seed today in case the pickles are late and my first dill is much too early. Coming this way, the next row is cylindrical beets (perfect for making pickled beets - of which we only have four pints left). Then come a variety of tomatoes (supersweet cherry, big boy, and roma). Yet closer to the camera are three rows of carrots. The closest row is vienna white kohlrabi. The hodgepodge to the left is a chrysanthemum and some surprise lillies (or "naked ladies, as we fondly call them. The flower come up later on - with no other vegetation along side.

The UPPER GARDEN (click to see the video) is much bigger and has the majority of crops:  golden zucchini, sugar snap peas, garlic, winter keeper onions, rhubarb, asparagus, multiplier onions, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, a variety of peppers, a variety of tomatos, swiss chard, cilantro, kale, golden beets, cylindrical beets, parsnips, carrots, kohlrabi, and green beans.

The lower garden has onions (red, white, and yellow), summer squash, cucumbers, celery, peppers, tomatos, swiss chard, and romaine lettuce along with chives and parsley (and a few flowers).

The LOWER GARDEN (click to see the video) obviously is closer to the house than the upper garden. In the video, I forgot to mention the celery that was also present. I just watered this garden today because we haven't had rain for some time now.

We had our first snap peas today. Tasty!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop in for a refreshing and FRESH snack from our gardens!

AND JUST IN CASE YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ONE OF OUR FREQUENT VISITORS, THIS MALE WAS IN OUR GARDEN TODAY (FINDING SOME KIND OF WORM).

 I think that we have two pair of bluebirds nesting on our property, but it is really hard to locate them. I think that they switch nests and places before finally settling down. They are beautiful to watch, and we love it when both male and female are at the birdbath at the same time.