Moving!

After much deliberations, we have decided to pull up roots and move back home to The South. As a result, the chickens (including Kickstart) have been re-homed, as well as my kitty. And, I did not plant out a garden this year. Still, I cannot "not garden." The land and the cycles of the seasons are so much a part of me. Luckily, I have my apple trees and perennial herbs to amuse me. And, yes, I planted out a packet of beans. 24 bean plants almost doesn't seem like a garden. Still, it's better than nothing, and beans take almost no effort and are forgiving.
But first, a vacation photo. Some people go to museums or amusement parks for vacation - my daughters and granddaughters and I went to a U-Pick strawberry farm in California! Oh how I long for enough home grown strawberries to make jam and syrup with!

Alas, not My strawberry fields!

And now for today's updates from the not-garden garden..
I planted a mixed packet of bush beans. The yellow wax ones are coming on strong, and are ignoring the heat. The green ones are about a week behind. And so far, the purple ones haven't even set any tiny beans yet. They were planted at the same time and given the same neglect. Hopefully the purple ones will start setting soon. Yellow and purple are easier to see and harvest than the green ones.

First Bean Harvest of the Season

Apples doing well, and even hanging on during our wind storms; however, we won't be here to see them ripen. Well, the birds and chipmunks will have a feast. The really sad part is, even though I will water them deeply before we leave, all of my trees are probably destined to die.

They are about golf ball sized now.

Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Lemon Balm, Culinary Sage, and Silver Thyme all came back from last year and are doing well. I sheared back the Oregano a few weeks ago, but it is threatening to bloom again. I have harvested some of the sage. I love the soft, pebbly feel of the leaves. Sadly, my two foot tall rosemary did not survive the winter. Her dried stalks still smell great, though, and I've left the dead plant there so that I can rub my hands on it and capture that scent. The 3 unknown day lilies have returned, and the two that get full sun are blooming. Lizards continue to find my 3 little garden beds to be an oasis. A few hardy tumble weeds have sprouted in the main area of the garden (where I did not grow anything and am not watering). Took down my bird feeder and washed it out. It isn't super expensive, but enough, and it's going with me. ...as are my bearded irises! And now, back to packing...

Determination

The corn is stunted, heat and drought stressed - but life is resilient and determined. Even though they barely grew to 3 feet tall this year, the corn is now bravely shedding pollen and setting fruit.

Likewise, one small, solitary apple ripens in defiance of relentless desert winds and a hard winter that froze most apple buds to death.

Sometimes I think, I should just let Mother Nature win and take back this small plot of desert. And then I see chickens sneaking into the corn, chickadees stealing sunflower seeds, and a rosemary bush that continues to defy odds - and I think, if they can persevere, so can I.

Apples this season? Almost

Fading September Fuji apple blossoms turning into tiny apples in mid-May. They are about the size of my thumb nail at this point.

Alas, summer thunderstorms in July that produced wild winds (but no rain that actually reached the ground) knocked all the apples off of the trees. The chickens did eat them up, but instead of ripe, fist sized apples, they got hard, green, golf-ball sized apples. At least they were not totally wasted, but still, I was hoping for some apples that maybe people could partake of. Still, at least I know that I have the right pollinators. My rescue tree of unknown parentage along with both my September Fujis and one other apple tree (I want to say it's the Gala) bloomed and fruited this year. Another apple tree didn't bloom, but it's young, yet, so I wasn't really expecting it to bloom.

Babies at about 3 weeks. They lived in my shower for about a month and then moved into the bottom half of a dog crate in the laundry room.

Baby chickies born in mid May should be laying eggs after Thanks Giving. Of the original 6 that hatched, 4 survived. 1 died of injuries sustained by overly helpful German Shepard (Dog was very gentle trying to put chickie back in the chickie cage, but not gentle enough. Our son put the chickie out of it's misery with my pistol.). The other died of unknown causes. Here you see a Silver Laced Wyandotte x Maran and a White Easter Egger x Maran.

The Roosters are pretty hard on the hens and have now been separated from them. The hens should be much happier and egg production might even go up. Only really need to have the Roosters running with the Hens when I want fertile eggs.