Bird Dropping

This sweet little sunflower is growing under the bird feeder.

Likely a seed dropped by the birds and missed by the chickens.

A miracle.

The Garden - Volunteers, Food, Weeds and Blight

In recent years my sunflowers have been "volunteers", planted by last years' fallen seeds wherever they may end up after the garden has been turned and tilled.

 

The birds will have few, but large heads to feed on very soon.

Hopefully they will leave a seed or two behind for next year.

As always, my vegetable garden started with big dreams - too big - but food was harvested.

Some of the asparagus I planted from seed three years ago had a second, small, delicious crop.

But as soon as we had the combination of heat(came early in June) and rain(came abundantly in July), the garden - as usual - became a weedy mess, saved only by Dave's vigilant weeding and mulching during the stinking heat.

However, the dispiriting thing was what seemed to be blight.

It started here,...

... and soon branched out.

A few batches of sauce are in the freezer, but much more of the harvest went to the chickens.

At least it didn't go to waste.

The chickens were very happy.

 As Mia likes to remind me - 

Man plans. God laughs.

Feeling Grateful

Its not the land that's important,

Its the lessons learned from the land.

Chickens and Awards

Speaking for the coop, I'd like to apologize to the Boss and the cats. The dog too.Here we are, lucky enough to be very, VERY, free range hens, able to pick through the garden, lawn, barn, and compost pile, for whatever our little hearts and tummies desire.
All the Boss ever asks is to keep off the kitchen path with our poop and such. Well, we broke the rules.

First it was that nice bowl of water on the kitchen step for Pekoe, which he shares with the barn cats, and the dog just hogs sometimes. Sometimes its just so far to go to the barn, and there's been no dirty puddles to speak of. The convenience was too tempting.
We thought no one would notice, but when all seven of us got to drinking and talking, we dried up the whole bowl.
They noticed.
Ahh! That nice afternoon sun, and those warm bricks to nap by.
No wonder Pekoe is always lying around here.
Then when we forgot to go back to the barn to you-know-what,
they really noticed!. Well, just look at the mess! Its an embarrassment.
A person can't even walk in the door without stepping in you-know-what.
You'd think we were raised in a b...a...r...n.
Ooops! Maybe that's the problem.

Of course, once we found the water, it didn't help that food started to fall from the sky. The boss was really, really proud of this big ole' sunflower, so she made it into a Fall decoration. Well, now its gone because we made a mess, and she stopped filling the water dish too.
Party's over. The only thing that kept us from being soup is this nice person Roxie, who gave our blog a nice award. We got to live to tell the tale and apologize.
The boss is still a little mad too, so speaking for the coop, AND the Boss, we'd like to thank Roxie for naming us...

Fall Wrap Up

I got behind on my posts, so I want to catch up on Fall news before the snow flies.
Did I say that? Mowing is underway, and the place is getting ready for winter. Some of the grasses will remain standing for winter browsing. Its that time of year and Neo has been dating a few of the girls.
When he's not with them, he manages to be a bit of a pain, and twice I arrived at the barn in the morning to find him with the chickens.

Both times he managed to break through his gate that forms the back wall of his stall. The second time he lifted the gate off its hinges.
That's not easy folks!
We've made a few modifications. I had a special guest stay a few days. My high school best friend, and maid of honor, Terry, spent a relaxing few days of walks and touring around the area. We also had a few small feasts from the garden and Delallo's grocery store in Jeanette.
I can't wait to do it again. Jake finally found a new home, and we are all so glad its with Sam and his family.
Sam was Jake's farrier - and a Penn State fan - so all's good!
Sam also has two 4-H riders that will give Jake a few more years of activity. We managed to get to the Forbes State Forest and take a hike in the Laurel Mountains before all the leaves were down. Beam Rocks Trail is about as flat a trail as you can find, and my knee had no complaints about the brisk walk.
It felt good to be out and moving, and Jock appreciated the new smells and the many pats he got along the way. The weather turned from shorts and tank tops, to long pants and long sleeves, it seemed, overnight.
The afternoons can still warm up, but I've unpacked the turtlenecks, so I'm ready for the frosty mornings and cool nights.Tomorrow, my Fall flowers.

Sunny Sunflowers

Can you look at any more sunflowers?

Even the leaves are huge and impressive.They are just gorgeous.

Sunflowers, Upward Bound

The swallowtails have found the sunflowers,
now that they are really opening up.

They are getting taller and heavier. Mom is five foot one if she stands up tall. These flowers are passing ten feet. They are such fun to see all day from the house and yard. They pretty much top everything.

Sunflowers

Meanwhile, back at the farm... The volunteers are taking over the vegetable garden, along with the weeds.
I did not plant these sunflowers.

A head fell into the ground,
got tilled in several times,

and lo and behold, ten foot flowers.

This picture is not to show my sweaty head, and comment on the heat and humidity, but to try and give some perspective to the size of these buggers.

Last year when I planted them, they hardly reached half this size by Fall. These are not only more vigorous, but I think they have "personality". The bees are enjoying them also.