Yay!

 I harvested these delicious beauties from the garden before the raccoons or the deer helped themselves!

And we promptly devoured them.  So good!

Snake Gourd

I promised pictures of the snake gourd, so here is that plant, taken from the front porch:

It is filling in that space nicely, and you can see a few marigolds peeking out among the leaves.

The flowers are unlike pumpkin or squash flowers. They are smaller, and all white, and the edges are lightly frayed.  They look really pretty.

 

Timber!

We had a dead oak tree that was in danger of falling on the house or taking out the front porch, so we actually hired a company to take it down.  It made me sad to not be able to make boards from that beautiful wood.

Panther has been really enjoying coming inside for cuddles lately.

And other than the corner the tree fell on, my front cottage garden area is looking really nice.  Lots of flowers have filled it in, and I have some tomatoes, cabbages, potatoes, beans, watermelon, herbs, and pea pods mixed in.  

There's also a huge snake gourd plant in the front.  I'll have to take a picture of it soon.  Lydia wanted to grow some snake gourds, and my dad actually got several packs of free seeds to me.  Included was the snake gourd, so obviously, we were meant to grow them!

 

Fun at the Lake

 We made it to Lake Barkley last weekend, for a great time at my parents' cabin.  The kids enjoyed it very much.  

Obviously, the two tiny fish Emry caught made an impression, as you can see by his hobbies and things he likes to do:

July Harvest

 We finally started getting some produce this month, although many crops were late.  I am actually, as of this morning, getting tomatoes finally.  There were only 6 before today (and today, I picked 9, so those will go on August's totals).  Here are the stats, including the excess cockerels we culled this month:

Beans, Dragon - 10.5 ounces

Beans, Kentucky Blue Lake - 1.4 lbs

Beans, Provider - 5.4 lbs

Blackberries - 2cups

Bok Choy - 3 

Cabbage, Napa - 2

Carrots - 8

Chickens - 4 harvested, total 11.9 pounds

Chijimsai - 6  (This is an Asian green, kind of like spinach.)

Cucumbers, Chicago - 2

Cucumbers, Double Yield - 5

Cucumbers, Edmondson - 6

Eggs - 223

Garlic - 58

Jalapenos -2

Potatoes - 12.8 oz

Pumpkins, mini Jack-Be-Little - 13  (These are mostly just for fun, for the kids to play with.)

Radishes -8

Swiss Chard -1

Tomatoes -6, total 2.3 lbs

Turnips -3

Plus cherry tomatoes, dill, mint, oregano, sage, and thyme

Obviously, green beans were my main vegetable harvest this month.  Some of the kids eat them, but not all.  I did pressure can some for the first time last week.  We did have one meal that was all from our yard: roasted chicken, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and roasted potatoes.  I did add a few potatoes from the farmer's market to make enough for the eight of us.

Book Review - The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

 

Susie Finkbeiner's book, The Nature of Small Birds, first caught my attention because it deals with an adoptive family, and I am an adoptive mama.  It is told in three voices: dad Bruce, mom Linda, and big sister Sonny, and there are three different time frames woven into the story, so it switches between 1975, 1988, and 2013.  I did feel that all three voices were distinct and realistic.  I liked Bruce's parts best overall, although my favorite scene was when Chris met Minh, as told by Linda.  It is a good story, but more a bunch of memories woven together.  Many of the characters were well-drawn, although the youngest daughter was on the periphery enough to seem unnecessary.  It did feel like pieces were missing, or only hinted at.  Overall, I enjoyed it.  I just wanted more.   

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

New Flowers

 Along with all of the vegetable seeds, I grew lots of flowers this year.  Some didn't grow well, and others (sunflowers) were pretty much devoured by the deer, but there were several successes.  I always grow zinnias, and my Mexican sunflowers, but I tried some new things, too.  

This first one is gomphrena, and its flowers are almost neon.  It's really stunning.  The one below is peppermint stick balsam, which really makes a nice statement. 

I've been getting lots of green beans in the garden, and a few cucumbers.  I am still waiting to really get tomatoes.  I harvest some cherry tomatoes every day, but some of the big ones rotted before ripening, and most are healthy but not ripe.  Sigh.

Here is Malachi, the thinker.  Next, Nathaniel and I on our date walk in the woods.  Finally, baby Eleanor, because everyone needs to smile at a precious baby.