Busy bountiful summer!

The new pullets have just started laying. We had to hurry up and add some nest boxes to their coop, since the older hens don't share their house too well.

Coop with a view! This Welsummer was a little perturbed by the sudden appearance of 'air conditioning'.
Much better! The young gals are getting the hang of laying now, but we did find a few eggs in the barnyard this morning. Practice make perfect!

Here's a bit of the squash patch. You can just make out the yellow yardstick in the middle of this jungle. The vines literally grow more every day, and we have to chop them back from the melons, cukes, beans, maters & peppers that are trying to hold out against the onslaught.

The warm summer is good for the few melons we're growing this year. Not quite ripe yet, but close. This is a Blacktail Mountain watermelon, developed in Idaho and good for cooler summers.

We totalled up our harvests so far this year, just to see how we're doing....

1lb asparagus
27lbs assorted lettuce
3lbs mint/lemon balm/catnip
3lbs nettles
15lbs chard
27lbs kohlrabi
14lbs carrots
6lbs onions
15lbs tomatoes
32lbs cukes
17lbs broccoli
116lbs taters
25lbs blackberries
20lbs green beans
50lbs beets

1340 eggs
59 heads garlic
4 heads cabbage
28 pints pickled beets
21 quarts green beans
5 pints relish
5 pints sweet pickles

Still to come:
-onions
-carrots
-squash
-beets
-maters
-peppers
-melons
-chard
-berries
-apples
-cabbage
-broccoli
-kohlrabi

-lettuce

We're frantically watering, harvesting, processing, and even starting some veggies for a late fall harvest. Maybe we should follow Newt's example and find a hidden nook to relax in. Here she is, tucked behind a stump in the barnyard. When the cows noticed me taking pictures, they came over to ham it up. Newt high-tailed it for some other hidey-hole.....

Name... that... fungii!

Anyone know what this particular mushroom is? Anyone?? It's growing in soil near some very old fir trees in a drier area in the back yard. That's a quarter next to it for size reference. If it gets much bigger, I'm going to be afraid!

Can you see the wee green tree frog? We run into these little guys in the Himalayan blackberry bushes when we are out picking. Another reason, besides the yummy berries that we just chop the wild blackberry bushes back over tearing them out completely, despite the variety being incredibly invasive.

Spot the kitty, or where Newt is cute... this day it was just over the fenceline on our neighbor's tractor! John Deere might want this one for a commercial. All I know is that I am glad she doesn't know how to start it up. Yet.

And here's the Amaranth or "pigweed" standing in the garden. Amaranth has been valuable for thousands of years in many cultures for grain, greens, medicines, and even making dye. The picture doesn't really do justice to how pretty the rust red of the seed heads looked contrasted against the bright green of the surrounding foliage.

Here the heads are after harvest. We'll let them get dried out, and at very least the chickens will have a healthy snack. Although we do hope to try some ourselves as well. Also shown are several freshly harvested heirloom delicata squash and a potimarron. The squash could have been more robust this year, but we'll do better with it next!

A few ears of sweet corn. We'll plant a larger block of this next year too. There's just not much as tasty as fresh picked corn.

And alas but the variety escapes me, but we managed to grow this here watermelon in our green house, thanks to some friends who gifted us with seeds! As soon as I recall or dig up the variety again I'll post it, but it was one developed for Idaho, and does well with a shorter growing season. We actually have another one about the size of a softball, getting bigger fast that we'll also hope to try if all goes as planned!

All in all this year's garden has been many lessons learned that will serve us well for the next year. In fact we are starting to plan next years garden already! I think we're hooked...

Mid-summer garden

The potato patch is no longer the lush jungle it used to be. The right-most row of reds, which now looks like a dust heap, provided around 100lbs. of potatoes. Still more to harvest from the 2nd row, and the Buttes are using the last bit of photosynthesis as the tops die back to keep on growing. You can see the little corn patch to the right, coming along well, and back center with the red tops is the amaranth.
The new contender for garden jungle are the tomatoes. No matter how often we wade in to sort them out, as soon as our backs are turned the vines are leaping over the twine and kntting themselves into an impenetrable barrier. Lots and lots of green tomatoes forming, so the canner and dehydrator will get a workout soon.
Stew is supervising our pre-BBQ clean up. He still thinks he's getting a trip to the beach, but he'll have to make do with a romp around the yard with Fergus today.
The squash pit. The orange one in front is a potimarron, a French variety that is supposed to taste like a cross between pumpkin and chestnuts. Behind them are the delicatas, and furthest back are the long island cheese pumpkins. Still not sure about the squash harvest this fall. The weather has been so strange we'll be happy to get any.
And the biggest watermelon in the greenhouse so far. There are a few more forming up, but this one seems the most happy.

Weekend @ Seven Trees - in pictures