Cuteness

About a week ago, I was watering some plants in one of my raised garden beds and heard a tiny squeak/whimper.  I took a few giant steps backwards and kept watering (I thought maybe it was a mouse, and I did NOT want it running up my leg or over my foot if it came out panicked).  Then a couple days later as I was watering the same spot, a baby bunny ran out.  It was clearly not a fan of the sudden downpour in what must have been a nice cool spot among the leaves of my day lilies, and as soon as it ran out it caught the attention of Harlee the Watchdog.  This was more bad news, although the poor thing ran under another bush safely out of Harlee's reach.

Tonight as I was watering the same spot again (100 degree heat makes for a lot of quality time between Melissa and the garden hose), I happened to notice four baby bunnies huddled together in the grass between the raised beds.  We have 2 raised beds that are about 18 inches apart, which is too narrow for the lawn mower to reach, so the grass is usually taller there and the sweet little babies must have though it would make a pretty good home.

Harlee just got a bath earlier today (she would like you to feel sorry for her and wants you to know that she has the meanest humans on the planet) and we made her stay inside tonight so she wouldn't get instantly dirty again, so she was not around to scare the poor things.  So I ran inside and got my camera to take a few pictures.  How cute are they?!

Speaking of cuteness, my brother and sister-in-law and niece came to visit the farm last weekend.  It was the first time they've been to the farm since we moved here, and it was so fun to have them!  My niece is two and a half and is at the perfect age for exploring a big farmyard. 

Someone in this picture really loves her uncle. :)  

Harlee was not quite sure what to do with a toddler and all her energy.  She did allow my niece to hug her and kiss her, which was super sweet.  After they left, though, this was how she spent the next couple of days.  Haha!  Having a little playmate really wore her out.

Growing Summer

A while back I mentioned a couple of pots that I had done everything possible to kill, and yet the plants came back to life.  Here are the cannas I was sure were gone.  Not only did they grow back, but they are blooming right now.  This year I'll do a better job of digging them up after they finish blooming and storing them for the winter.  They didn't get very tall this year and I think it's because they're still living in the pot with all the old bulbs from last year.  Hopefully digging and storing them, then replanting them in their own pot next year will allow them to get a bit bigger in the future.

  

 I've also mentioned that I got a little green pepper plant for free when I bought tomatoes from the greenhouse.  I peeked under the leaves the other day and found this tiny little pepper!  I have no idea how to tell when they are ready to be picked, but I can't wait to try it out.  This guy is pretty small, so I'll give it some more time before I pick it.

My watermelon plant has officially taken over the whole garden at this point.  Note to self, plant it far, far away from every other plant next year.  Watermelon plants are a vine, and the tendrils from the watermelon vine have grown up to my tomato plants and wrapped themselves around the branches of the tomato plants.  Here are a couple baby watermelons that I've been watching.  They're actually growing pretty fast, so I hope we'll have watermelon ready to eat in the next week or so.  The Farmer doesn't really like it, so I'm going to have an awful lot to eat!

When I was out at the garden taking pictures of the produce, the sun was shining through the trees just right and hitting the sunflowers so beautifully.  I had to stop and take a few pictures of those as well.  

And no post about gardening would be complete without the latest zinnia picture.  I love this picture because it shows how intricate all the petals are!  

My brother, sister-in-law, and niece came to stay with us for a couple of days and it was so fun to be able to cut flowers from the yard and use them to decorate the guest room for them.  

I didn't take any pictures of this, but last weekend I ordered 6 dozen ears of sweet corn from a local grower and on Saturday I put it all up.  I'm not sure the actual term for what I did with the corn; growing up we always just called it "putting up corn."  I husked it all, washed it, boiled it for a few minutes, then plunged it into ice water to cool down and cut it off the cob as soon as it was cool to the touch.  Then I scooped all the corn into small containers and bags and froze it.  It's sort of a lot of work, but I grew up eating corn this way and it completely ruined me from being able to enjoy the frozen stuff you buy at the grocery store.  Corn put up this way tastes so fresh and sweet, it was worth all the work to be able to enjoy that taste in the middle of winter.

I actually bought 8 dozen ears of corn and only put up 6 of them, so I need to get something done with the rest of them.  I'm sure The Farmer and I will eat some of them fresh on the cob in the next few days (we've already done this once), and I hope to put the rest up this week.  I got 24 containers of corn out of the first 6 dozen ears I did, so if I can get 6 more containers out of what I have left, that would put me at 30.  Then I'd like to do one more batch of at least 6 dozen more, to get us to a total of at least 50 containers.  Having one container to pull out each week over the next year will be so tasty!

C O L O R F U L S U M M E R

 Take a look at the beauties I cut from the garden tonight!  These are called "Teddy Bear Sunflowers."  Instead of large, distinct petals like a normal sunflower, they have these fuzzy leaves that look more like a teddy bear's fur.  I've never grown them before, but decided to try them out this year.  It seems like they took forever to bloom, but they were worth the wait!  Next year I'd like to put them in one of my raised beds.  This year I have them growing just along the grass that borders our garden, and I think the grass has held them back from getting as big as they otherwise would have.  But they are blooming away right now and are quite the happy sight on our dining room table.

And speaking of blooming, the zinnias have gone crazy!  Never again will I try to grow them in pots.  This is the first year I stuck them in the ground (in a raised bed) and I have had so much better luck with them!  I think an entire raised bed of them would be stunning.  This year they just take up one end of one of my beds, but next year I just may go crazy with them. :)

A New Approach

I have to tell you about the book I've been reading.  I've been feeling a bit lost when it comes to my devotions lately.  When I don't have a clear direction or plan or accountability, I tend to let that time get pushed out of my day.  I was really wanting something to get me back into my Bible and to give me some direction, and a girl whose blog I follow (www.jessmcclenahan.com) suggested a book by Jen Wilkin.  I had never heard of her, but I did a little research and found out that she and her family are members of The Village Church in TX.  This is the church that Matt Chandler pastors, and Jen and her books come highly recommended by him.  I have mad respect for him, so that was all the recommendation I needed.

  

It. Is. So. Good!

It's not a Bible study.  Rather, it is a book that teaches you the process of HOW to study the Bible for yourself.  A lot of the stuff she teaches is similar to the inductive Bible study method that Kay Arthur teaches.  But Kay Arthur's method is a little too intense and intimidating for me.  I love the way Jen lays out the steps to go deep in the Word, encourages us to love God first with our minds and then with our hearts, and the way she presents prayer as a component that runs through every part of the study process.  

As I've been reading the book, I've been thinking about which book of the Bible I might want to try studying with this method.  Then the president of the college where I work sent all the employees an email suggesting that we read through Romans in preparation for the next school year.  The book of Romans is going to be our focus during our weekly chapel services, so he was encouraging us to start meditating on it now.  I decided that was a great place to start, so I've just started into Romans using this method.  I can't wait to see how it goes!

Zinnias, Lilies, And Veggies (Oh My)!

The zinnias I planted this spring have started blooming.  I've decided that zinnias are my new best friends.  I literally just dumped the whole seed packet out on the dirt and watered it good.  And this is what happened!

And there's more blooming beauty on the farm, although I can take no credit for this part.  There's a bush in our front yard that was very slow to come back to life this spring.  It's very overgrown and needs a good pruning, but I'm not sure what it's called and haven't been able to look up instructions about how to prune it.  Recently these gorgeous pink and white blooms started appearing on it.  Anyone know what it is?

There is a long row of lilies showing off in the back yard, too.

Not to be outdone, the veggies are growing like crazy.  It will soon be time to turn on the electric fence to keep animals from stealing our produce.  See the ears of corn?

And look at this tiny cucumber I found!

There is nothing better than fresh veggies from the garden!