Grow Garden Grow!

I have my first squash blossom! YAY! It's sooo pretty! It's one of my zucchini plants. Isn't it pretty! *points*
My tomatoes are doing great now. I Burned them by watering them in the heat of the day. They looked pretty pitiful for a few days. But now they're greening up and I have a few flowers too!
I saw a honey bee the other day around sunset. That's the only one I have seen this year. I have seen several small little bees around,... not sure what kind they are.
I'm pretty happy now that I have a lot of plants up and growing. Let me think... I have corn, tomatoes, several kinds of pumpkin, patty pan swash in white, yellow, and green, some acorn squash, zucchini, crook-neck squash, purple potatoes, cucumbers, several kinds of beans, turnips, peppers of all colors, shapes, and heat levels, onions, garlic, okra, watermelons, and several types of unusual melons to try. Hooray for Summer! :D

Spring Report!

Only 2 and a half weeks to the official start of summer! We've had a busy spring. Luckily, some of the work we've done in the past when we lived here 10 years ago has survived to greet us this spring. Here's a few of our bright sunny tulips.
The first thing we did was plant a mini orchard of fruit trees along the North side of the backyard. I helped Don plant an Italian Prune, a grafted combo of apples, a combo of cherries, a combo of pears, and an apricot. They all budded out nicely and all had a few flowers. So it looks like we may have a few fruits this year from each tree!
The next project was to make a garden. Back in February, I planted trays of seed and had them up and beautiful by March. Grif built a lovely greenhouse... that Orion ventilated for me. Which killed all my plants. *Grumbles something about big obnoxious rowdy oversized dogs* We gave up on the greenhouse idea and took it down. I decided I needed a fence to keep out Big Nose and Jack Rabbit! (Orion and Dori). Grif did a fine job of making a beautiful wood fence.... that Dori dove under and Orion went through. So we lined it with 2 by 4 inch vinyl-coated wire. But then they both wiggled under the gate. So I put a row of firewood logs under the gate. I have to step over, but it's worth it to keep them out.
I started new trays after we got the fence up and now have new seeds ready to go out as I get the beds ready. I bought several tomatoes and pepper plants that were already good size. so they were the first to go in. I planted about 8 different kinds of tomatoes right in the bed. The seeds will hopefully be up soon. I also have one corn bed planted. I'm gonna try this new Mirai. They say it's the sweetest corn ever. The seeds were really funky looking- all shriveled up. They didn't look like corn at all.
More to post soon! I'll take more pictures as I get the garden done. Next up, strawberries!

Chickens Again!

We have chickens again! I returned the 2 little roosters a while back and ordered 2 dozen Black Copper Maran eggs from mail order place. BAD idea! I asked to be notified when the eggs were shipped so I would be expecting them. Well we came home one chilly 37 degree day to find my box of eggs sitting on the porch! I rushed them inside and turned on the incubator. When the temperature seemed stable enough, I put the eggs in and hoped for the best. Only 11 developed, and only 5 hatched. There was another problem as well. This breed's eggs are supposed to be dark chocolate burgundy brown. These eggs were not all that dark; in fact, they were not much darker than regular brown eggs. It was a big disappointment. Soon after my 5 little chicks hatched, out pet shop had a few amaraucanas come in. I brought home the cutest little white chick to add to the flock. We still don't know which are boys and which are girls, but we are getting a bit of an idea. There's one in particular- quite aggressive and tends to run off by himself. We figure that one must be a boy. But time will tell! About a week ago we brought home 3 more amaraucana chicks from out pet shop. These were sexed and are supposed to be hens. They are all a cute soft buffy brown. Sorry, I don't have pictures of them yet. So the total is 4 Marans (we lost one to a local Cooper's hawk- my daughter caught it in the act!) and 4 amaraucanas. Out of these we will hopefully have 2 girls out of each group. If my marans don't lay any dark eggs though, I'll be shopping for replacements next spring.

Chia -- Superfood!

The famous Chia 'pets' grown on clay pots are a superfood known and cultivated by Aztecs over 5000 years ago. We need to stop playing with this plant and start EATING it!!

There are two varieties, the cultivated Mexican Chia, Salvia hispanica, which grows naturally on clay soils (hence chia pets), and the Golden Chia (Salvia Columbariae). This is our northern variety. It hasn't been cultivated, but was collected from the wild by the indigenous California people. It's a little annual sage that doesn't look like a sage. The leaves are deeply dissected and very crinkly. 2 or 3 neat flower globes grow on each square-stemmed stalk from a 1-2 foot plant. Highly variable, this native can be found in clean areas between the chaparral, on south slopes on rock, gravel, or disturbed soil. In the desert it grows only a few inches high.

Taste-wise, chia seeds have a nutty flavour, and are a healthful addition to the diet sprinkled on cereals, yogurt or salads. You can also eat them whole or mix them into flour when baking bread, muffins or other baked goods.

Chia (-hispanica) is an oil seed; two-thirds of Chia oil are Omega-3 essential fatty acids (polyunsaturated) with only 10% saturated fatty acids, making them a better source of omega 3 fatty acids than flax-seeds. In addition to its extremely high Omega-3 content, Chia has other nutritional qualities: antioxidants, fiber, vitamins B1, B2, B3, plus minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc and copper.

A great benefit of the chia seed is its durability. Unlike flax-seeds, it can be stored for long periods without becoming rancid, and does not require grinding. Two tablespoons of chia - about 25 grams - provide about seven grams of fiber.

In a preliminary study from the University of Toronto (2006), researchers gave 21 diabetics either a supplement made from chia, or grains with similar fibre content. The results were interesting. After three months, blood pressure from the chia group dropped 10 points diastolic and 5 points systolic., while the blood pressure from the grain group remained steady.

Chia hispanica

Chia columbariae

More on Chia

and More on Chia

Snowy Winter

I haven't posted in a while. But it's winter, so not much gardening is going on at the moment! We are having a lot of fun, though. We've had ridiculous amounts of snowfall, and the guys are getting buffed shoveling all that snow! Be sure to click on the pictures to see them full size.

Meet Orion, our new puppy. That's right, puppy. He's more like a baby bear than a baby dog! He's a malamute mix according to Spokanimal (our city animal shelter). I think he looks like he may be part Arctic Wolf! He is so lovable and playful. He and Dori get along great, though he wears her out!

Christmas was relaxed. We didn't go crazy with shopping and cards and cooking and gifts and stress and headaches and sleeplessness and... blah blah blah.

So as you can see from the cats, we had a very pleasant Season.
When we went to cut our tree, there had been very little snow. People at the tree farm were commenting on how strange it was to cut Christmas trees without snow on the ground. But not long after our tree-cutting trip, it started snowing, and it has never stopped! I'm not sure what our total is, but we've got a couple feet out there! I have really enjoyed it, but I'm starting to get itchy for Spring! I'll start starting seeds soon! :) YAY! I am SO looking forward to a great year of gardening!

The Cock Doth Crow

This morning I woke up hearing a very strange sound. At first, it sounded like a macaw,... but I don't have any macaws right now! I heard it again. It sounded like one of my chickens, but something was terribly wrong with it! I ran to the kitchen and looked into the dog kennel. Both of the chickens were standing there looking at me. Then Daisy (the millie) looked at me, held her head in the air,... and crowed? It still sounded like a macaw- sort of a hoarse squawk. But it looked like crowing. So I guess she's a he? I'm so sad! I can't keep a rooster! Not here in town! And certainly NOT in my kitchen!!!! I haven't heard another peep out of either of them since this morning. The millies are known for being quiet... does that apply to the roosters? If she... er... he crows 3 times every day at mid-morning... I could totally live with that. But I doubt very seriously this boy could really stay that quiet. I'll wait a few days and see what happens. Maybe I can work a trade with a local breeder or something? Or maybe I'll take them back to the pet shop and wait till spring like I originally intended.

First Snow! WOW! Winter Wonderland!!!

Our first snow!! We had 3 maybe 4 inches! Dori was so cute in her red sweater that she loves to wear so much! We need to get her some littel boots to wear out in the snow. We let her stay out for a little while, but I just had to make her come in before her paws got too cold. The second picture is (left to right) Nef, me in back; Dori, the one with paws; Bianka, Nef's friend next door; and Skylar, a long-time friend of Bianka's and a new friend/ interest of Nef! EEEK! We all had a blast playing in the snow. I got a couple of video clips you'll see in a composition a bit later.

This morning when we got up everything was a winter wonderland. The sun was shining, the sky was that deep winter blue, and everything glittered and sparked in wintery- crowned glory! It has been a BEAUTIFUL day! :) --And more snow on the way tomorrow!!! YAY!!