Dog Days Of Summer

Bees, Blueberries, Deer, Dogs, Dragon Flies, garden, garlic, garlic scapes,, Grandchildren, Lavender, Nature, Off Grid Irrigation, Pond, Prayer Garrden, Reflections, Summer, The Farm, Tractor, Watering, Windmill,

According to almanac.com the dog days of summer run from July 3 through August 11 which is normally the hottest and most humid time of year in the northern hemisphere. Around here every day is a dog day. Just ask Ranger and Trooper. But, yes, the HEAT IS ON and it is accompanied by a dry spell so keeping the gardens watered has been the main focus for the past week or so. If you are curious about how we manage that on our off-grid farm you can check out our off-grid irrigation system here.

In the mean time I put together a collection of pictures that I’ve taken over about the past few weeks to share with you.

This is how Ranger cools off on these hot days. (Did you know beagles can swim?)

and Trooper enjoys laying on the beach after a swim in the pond.

The grandbabies love the water as much as the dogs do.

Dragonflies are yet another creature that appreciate the pond.

This one is drinking water from the sand. Check out the honey bee (on the left) that photo bombed this shot. She too was coming to the beach for a drink of water.

This beauty hung out with us on the beach, for a couple of hour yesterday evening, fluttering about and pausing now and then to rest or perhaps get a sip of water.

One last pond picture because we can never have too much cuteness. LOL.

Speaking of cuteness, here is a double dose – twins.

The lavender is gorgeous this year and the bees and butterflies are all over it.

We have transitioned from strawberry season to blueberry season. On the same day that my husband, and (daughter) Kara, picked the last of the strawberries, I took (daughter) Tina, and Jackson and Addy into the blueberry patch to pick the first ripe berries. While Kara took her 3/4 of a basket of strawberries home. Addy couldn’t wait, so she ate all of the blueberries we picked while they were still at the farm.

Start them off young – that’s my motto. They posed for a group photo then dad took Jackson and Addy, one at a time, for a ride on the tractor.

The garden is flourishing. I have harvested basil and calendula flowers twice so far.

We have green tomatoes, peppers starting to develop, blossoms on the eggplant,

blossoms on the green beans and the corn is knee high.

We cut garlic scapes (check out this post to learn more about scapes) about two weeks ago and will be digging garlic soon.

It seems that every summer our back field is dominated by different plants. This year it is full of clover and birdsfoot trefoil and I think it is just gorgeous. It’s also great bee food.

I’ll leave you with one last photo of this pair who stopped by our deck for a short visit last week. They were kind enough to stay so I could get a photo then they hurried on their way.

Thanks for visiting and remember – stay hydrated, breathe deep and stay well.

Are you having a heat wave?

32 thoughts on “Dog Days Of Summer”

  3. Pingback: *Press it* Dog Days Of Summer #141 | Its good to be crazy Sometimes

  4. The heat is ridiculous here. I’m happy to see your green, because all of ours is brown, and the gardens are withering. We just bought Atlas a little wading pool so he could splash around and keep cool when we’re outside. He’d love a pond like yours, I’m sure–he seems to really enjoy the water! Great pics of the family:-)

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    1. We are supposed to get a cool down for the weekend and we finally got some rain on Thursday and we are getting some more now. Which means we will be cutting grass again soon. LOL! I’m sure Atlas would love a pond. Scout and Trooper always have. One summer several years ago Scout spent several hours every evening walking around the edges of the pond trying to catch frogs. He didn’t catch any but seemed to have a good time trying. 🙂

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      3. And we had it Thursday too Ruth – three days in a row and the only day it was predicted was Friday for us as they said we’d have a series of storms and storm it did – rained twice Friday and rumbling and stormy three times Friday. I kept shutting the A/C off as I worried about a lightning strike and finally just left it off and dealt with the heat! Today was gorgeous and tomorrow even better – enjoy it before it gets hot again mid-week.

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      5. This weekend was beautiful – tomorrow too. I looked ahead and after next weekend, a week of rain and storms (if they are correct). The windmill can be mothballed for a little bit. 🙂

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      6. It sure was beautiful! We are hoping that the garden plants are well enough established that we are done watering. The windmill is still used to aerate pond but I’d be happy to mothball the garden hoses.

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  8. Nice pictures, makes me feel like you are not so far away. Hoping you get some rain soon to ease up on the watering. We have had showers almost every day since we have been here. Our neighbors tell me the rainfall is up well over 12 inches for the year so far.

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    1. We had a brief storm come through yesterday afternoon that dumped a lot of rain (there was about 3 inches in the wheelbarrow). The wind knocked down some garden plants but they should be ok. We now have the chance of rain in the forecast for this afternoon and I think the next few days as well but they are just pop up showers and very hit or miss. Our rain deficit started in June until then I think we were above average for the year.

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    1. Thanks Joni. My husband gets most of the credit for the garden. Except for the garlic he has done almost all of the work – planting, weeding, mulching, and watering all done with TLP (tender love and prayer). 🙂

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    1. Thanks Michelle. The pond is refreshing but even it is heating up in the shallow areas. I think we are supposed to cool off a little for the weekend but go back up into the 90’s next week.

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