harvesting

Lots of walla walla sweet onions (thanks again Faye, for sharing your extra starts) I am going to process them all today and pop them in the freezer for months of delicious-ness. Apparently you can carmelize them with a cube of butter and a crockpot, in just 10-12 hours. I hope it works, with 100 degree days I do not want to be cooking anything on the stove!



Remember the cucumber trellis my father in law made for me in March? Can you even see it under there?!! The cukes are going crazy and that purple Thai basil is so glorious. I could hear it practically insisting I make panang curry for dinner.


Would you believe this tomato patch started out in nice, evenly marked rows with new metal cages? Now it is a jungle. The giant toms have pulled over all the new cages and who knows which variety is which, until they ripen.


see that Alisa?! I have some green toms for you now!


The treehouse is almost complete! It needs a roof, a railing and a ladder but there aren't any kids around here that are willing to wait for such silly details. They are up there everyday, enjoying it, right now! I mentioned they might be able to take their schoolbooks up there in the fall. I would have loved to do school in the trees! This suggestion was met my a gasp of horror from Caleb and the exclamation "No way! We can't defile it!"


This year I planted coleus from seed for the first time and it will be a permanent spring project, now. The windowbox and shady areas look great with coleus, and for the $3 price of one nursery plant, I got over 40!



I love zinnias but they seem to always get powdery mildew in the backyard. This year I put them in the veg garden. It took up a little food-producing space but adds so much color and joy to my daily watering. The bees and butterflies are appreciative, too. And so far, no mildew...the sun is brighter on this side, I think they dry faster.


My blue bench is well shaded from the sunflowers, and is a lovely spot to sit and watch the birds. The climbing vine never took off there, as I had planned so I am glad for the sunflowers. I didn't plan that, just had some extra seeds and tucked them there in order to not waste them!



I harvested all the poppy seed heads last night. Hoping to put a row of wildflowers along our outer fence, and these will be the start.


And the baby chicks are now little Mommies! Josiah brought in the tiniest little brown eggs. He suggested we make a miniature omelette!