Garden Updates and the Ultimate Survivors

My Mexican Sunflowers have started blooming!

I have not done very well with the garden this year.  My tomato plants do look great, but I have few actual tomatoes growing.  I'm hopeful that I will have a good, albeit late, crop.  Here you can see the Mexican sunflowers next to some tomatoes:

I have several more Mexican sunflowers in the front cottage garden, and the deer must not love them, because they are growing very well, undisturbed.  The deer have munched some of my other plants, as usual, but I've planted more herbs out front because they don't seem to like any of those.  

In sadder news, a raccoon wreaked havoc on our coop and killed all but two of our chickens.  Only the two Wyandotte hens are still with us, so they are the ultimate survivors.  Nathaniel had to completely rebuild the coop door, and we are finally at the point where it seems they are safe.  Our tiny flock will increase when we add more chicks, but that will take time.  We have to buy chicks and keep them in the brooder for several weeks before they can join the Wyandottes.

 

More from Turin

Nathaniel recently uploaded his pictures from Turin to my computer, so here are a few.  It appears he took a lot of pictures of me in restaurants.  In this first one, we are drinking bicerin in our favorite chocolate shop.  Bicerin is a local specialty, with chocolate on bottom, a shot of espresso in the middle, and cream on top.  I'm not a coffee person, but I did drink a couple of bicerins on this trip.  (I still don't like coffee.)

That, in my mug, is chocolate.  Liquid chocolate.  It was divine.

Apparently, when we travel, Nathaniel always finds giant balls for a photos.

This was in a cute little Ukranian restaurant that had the best dumplings!

 

June Harvest Totals and post-VBS

 June Harvest Totals:

Eggs - 135

Garlic scapes - 3

Pea pods - 1/2 c

Tatsoi - 2c

Obviously, this was not the kind of harvest I was looking for!  Deer and severe heat were both issues, and eggs are lagging because a raccoon took out 4 layers and our beloved Rooster Sam.  It's not been fun.  We have re-secured the coop, but we now only have 6 hens.  I was looking to raise meat birds and a few regular chicks, but we will have to increase the number of layers, so more chicks will be forthcoming.  

Last week was Vacation Bible School week, so Lydia, Gyunay, Emry, and I helped out every morning.  Here is Emry getting ready for a skit with the rest of the cast.  He was so excited that he got to be Saint Juan Diego, one of his favorite saints.

On Friday, we had an epic swim birthday party for Gyunay.  His birthday is actually this week, but we celebrated early by renting out the aquatic center and inviting the homeschool group and our family.  He had so much fun.  The weather was great for it, and it was really nice.  It was so nice, the homeschool moms are considering pooling money to rent it again next year. 

On Sunday, five of the kids and I headed to the Newport Aquarium, where we met up with my family to explore sea life.

Summer Activities

While we were at the cabin, Nathaniel bought me a little hand loom.  I've been busy weaving, which is a good activity for me when I'm low on energy and need to sit.

I do enjoy it, although it is of course a more maddening form of weaving.  Fancier looms are easier to use, and getting the tension right is a bit tricky.  Still, I've gotten pretty decent at it.  Now I just need to decide what to do with it, because I can really only make dish-rag-sized pieces.  Oh, well, I always seem to need dish rags.

Nathaniel and Malachi have been enjoying golfing together quite a bit this summer.

This week, the younger three kids and I are helping at Vacation Bible School, so it's a very busy but fun week.  I'm in crafts, Lydia is with preschoolers, Gyunay is in snacks, and Emry is in outdoor games.

 

Fun with Pigs

Cadiz, Kentucky has a traditional ham festival every fall, and the town is decorated in lots of pigs.  The kids naturally love this, so we had some fun taking pictures with pigs.

We also headed to Paducah one day.  I'd never been to Paducah before, and it was a nice day trip for us.  The highlight was definitely the tour we had at the Hotel Metropolitan:

It's a Green Book hotel, and it's being restored and turned into an African American Museum.  The curator gave us an incredible tour that was entirely in persona of the original owner of the hotel, Ms. Maggie.  Nathaniel and I frequent historic tours, and this one was by far one of the best!

 

1850s Homeplace in Land Between the Lakes

While we were at the cabin, we enjoyed visiting many sites around there.  One favorite of mine is the 1850s homeplace.  It has a farm set up as it would have looked in Land Between the Lakes in the 1850s.  

Lydia naturally gravitated towards all the animals.  They had pigs (guinea hogs), ducks (cayuga), chickens (dominiques), sheep (Leichester I think), and mules.  

The pig was begging for a treat.

We miss our sheep.  These sheep were pretty agreeable.  We petted all 6 of them.

 

Cabin Vacation

 We had a great week at my parents' cabin on Lake Barkley!  

Emry and Gyunay enjoyed fishing several times over the week.  They didn't catch much, but they weren't skunked.  

All 5 of the kids who came enjoyed tubing.