The Glories Of Summer

The fantail pigeons never go outdoors anymore. I've opened the window for them but they ignore it. They are happy inside:

 The pigeons have paired off, built nests and laid eggs, but so far none have hatched:

 The old fashioned rose and the Mock Orange bloomed about the same time and put on an amazing show:


 And the white Peonies got started shortly thereafter:


 The Mock Orange bush drew Swallowtails in great numbers. That included one Giant Swallowtail, but it kept away from me and I never got a photo. I did, however, think I saw it fighting with the smaller Swallowtails:

 The Mock Orange blossoms are all gone now, but that makes these photos mean all the more to me. I won't see such a sight again until next summer:

 In the upper branches, the Swallowtails were set against the blue sky and white clouds. Oh, the glories of summer!:

The white Peonies opened spectacularly, at least the old established plantings. The new bed, the ones I split up and replanted (mixed with new, colored Peonies) was struggling to get started:

 A pair of swallows built a mud nest under the eave of the milk room. I knew they weren't Barn Swallows, so I looked them up in my field guide. The nest was the identifier. They were Cliff Swallows. They seemed to disappear shortly after building the nest, though, so I'm not sure if there will be babies this year or not:

 The hens seem content in their room. They like to go outdoors, but only because they don't understand the horrible death the local foxes intend for them:

 The Rugosa Roses put on a spectacular display this year, the best I've ever seen. They're still blooming, though not as prolifically as they were earlier:

 I belatedly decided I wanted to raise a couple of tomato plants. I planned to put them in the bare ground where the hay bales had been. Then I remembered that new hay bales were due any day, so I planted my new tomatoes in the lawn, just outside the south field gate and stock tank. In case you are wondering, that stripe of dead grass is from when I filled the sprayer with weed killer and drove away, not noticing that the drain valve was open. I quickly corrected my error, but not before I left that awful stripe:

And More Scenes From Around The Farm

I was working on the fence line (Yes, again!) when I saw this little toad and stopped to get a photograph of him on a bed of moss:

My friends, Rick and Dave, came up to visit and brought their little dog, Pixel:

I convinced them to set Pixel up on a hay bale for a photo:

The chickens, I'm sorry to say, began taking over the whole yard. And that includes the garden, where they were gobbling up ripe tomatoes:

I'd hoped they'd eat bugs - but not tomatoes. It's a darn good thing I planted so many tomato plants:

The colors of autumn began with blue skies, yellow apples, crimson crab apples, a red barn and lots of green leaves and grass:

The chickens also began straying up onto the porch, into the dog yard and over to the bird feeder, pooping everywhere along the way. I had to check before letting the dogs out:

Tomatoes were abundant. This bowl was about 14" X 14" and filled to overflowing, even after I threw out all the tomatoes the chickens ruined:

I fixed up the guest room because my sister was coming to visit. This was the northeast corner:

The northwest corner:

The southwest corner:

And the view out the window. There was a lovely rural view:

A Busy Summer, Part 1

Today I present an assortment of scenes from around the farm, and beginning with this photo of Clover and Fergus in their yard at daybreak. You can see the sun just peeking over the eastern trees and a blanket of foggy mist spread out over the north hay field:

Another early morning shot - the view from my driveway of my neighbors' barn and livestock. The golden glow of dawn lit up the scene and another blanket of fog was covering the field behind their barn:

Still another dawn photo, this one of the dogs on the ramp in their yard:

I stopped over to see the neighbors' new calf. Both mother and calf were friendly, and mom even allowed the small children to hug and play with her calf. But when I, a stranger, got too close, she took Junior and trotted off toward another field:

He was quite the lovely little chestnut bull calf and couldn't resist turning back to see the new man with the camera:

And speaking of livestock, the baby chicks were moved into the barn and growing rapidly:

They were still kind of cute at this stage, but I knew the awkward, gangly, "teenage" stage was already beginning:

There weren't many flowers left in the yard, but then I began to smell perfume every time I walked out the door. It was my Tall Garden Phlox in bloom. They'd been treated roughly by the man who dug the water lines last year, but they'd made a terrific comeback:

I had small "snacking peppers:"

And sweet banana peppers:

And, of course, lots of tomatoes:

My tomatoes got off to a slow start but they were prolific once they got going:

A Bountiful Harvest

We had a terribly wet spring with flooding. Then it turned abominably hot. I suspected that my four tomato plants wouldn't do much. But I picked this whole bowl of ripe red ones after work recently:

I've tried the heritage varieties but didn't think much of them. Now I buy the big hybrids. They grow well, produce like gangbusters and sure do taste good:

If four plants can provide this constant stream of ripe tomatoes, I am thrilled. And they've been producing like this for weeks and weeks now. There's an abundance of green fruit ripening each day to replace those which I pick. I think the composted cow manure is working its magic:

A Happy, Abundant Growing Season

We had a terribly wet spring and a hot, muggy summer so far, though we seem now to be settling into some more normal, pleasant August weather. But apparently it's been a grand growing season because everything looks good. Take, for instance, my tomato vines which are burying me alive in big, juicy, ripe red fruit:

The miniature roses are blooming again and the Rose Of Sharon bushes are producing flowers on their new growth after I cut them all down to within 18" of the ground this spring:

I have a double purple Rose of Sharon out behind my kitchen. This was supposed to be a specialty "Bluebird" variety, but it used to have one side of each color. Eventually the expensive Bluebird side died out. I'm guessing that the Bluebird was grafted onto the hardier root stock of the double purple. Well, I like this one too:

The big, single purples are doing just fine and blossoming profusely:

And they sure are pretty:

Here's a close-up of the double purple:

A pink:

And a white. The spring rains and July heat may have seemed excessive to me, but apparently the plants loved the weather:

A Little Bit Of Back Yard Gardening

When my household reached six dogs, including a 135 pound Poodle and two active, trouble-making Papillon puppies, I mostly gave up on keeping any form of garden in my back yard. I dug up my many Rose Mallows and gave them away. I mowed over my herb garden. Indeed, the dogs have pretty much overrun the back yard, endangering most plants. But I will not give up my summer tomatoes. Toward that end, I've worked cow manure into a small patch of soil and planted four hybrid tomatoes (I've not been pleased with the heritage varieties I've tried) and placed a small garden fence around them:

It won't surprise you to learn that the dogs find this fenced-off area with the lovely aroma of cow manure a magnetic attraction. I am trying now to teach them to stay the heck OUT of there. In this photo, you can also see the concrete turtle planter with the miniature roses I posted about recently:

And speaking of miniature roses, they're doing just fine - blooming profusely and filling in the pot at a rapid pace:

And the dogs have not been able to hurt my three Kiwi vines, which I've dug up and brought with me for several moves now:

These vines are dioecious, so individual vines are either male or female. I seem to have at least two, if not three females. They produce white and green leaves. The males are supposed to produce white, green and shocking pink leaves. Well, I'll just have to be content with green and white:

My vines are right now producing pink buds which open into white flowers. And later on, they produce small, hard green fruits, not at all like the fuzzy super market fruits:

Will I try to transplant these vines to the farm some day? I may, though the neighbors will miss the shade they provide: