All posts by ruthsoaper

Garden Goodness

Apple Trees, Apples, Bees, Fermenting, Flowers, garden, garlic, Hibiscus, Peach Tree, Pollinators, Reflections, Sauerkraut, Sunflowers, The Farm, Tomatoes, , , ,

Hello and welcome. Despite having very dry weather, and doing our best to keep things watered, our gardens have flourished.

Blooming Beauties

Right now our hibiscus bushes are the star of the show.

Their large, showy flowers are stunning.

I don’t like to play favorites, but if I had to pick a favorite flower, it would probably be the hibiscus.

This hibiscus that I planted three years ago on my mom’s birthday was just beginning to open on Sunday, August 10, which would have been my mom’s 80th birthday.

Today it was in full bloom. 🙂

Several weeks ago we decided that we needed to rework the memorial garden the we planted this spring. This garden memorializes our parents who have all passed away. The beautiful lupine plants that were planted on either side of the rock were struggling, apparently not getting enough sun. My husband dug them up and planted them in the very sunny prayer garden and they have since developed new growth.

On Saturday, August 9, I visited my sister who wanted to thin her flower beds. My husband and I decided the shade loving hostas would do well in the memorial garden. My sister had just what we were looking for. She was very generous, selecting the large beautiful plants, instead of the ones the deer had eaten. The two light green hostas were one that my husband split before planting. I also brought home a lungwort plant that my husband split and planted (the dark green wilted plants). It looks sad after being transplanted but I read that it will develop new growth and should be fine.

Veggies

Our garden situation is changing daily and some of these photos are about two weeks old. I’ve just fallen behind in my blogging.

The honeybees that moved into our empty hive seem to be doing well.

Bees love squash and pumpkin blossoms.

And this is what can happen when a pumpkin or squash blossom is pollinated. 🙂

A basket of fresh garden goodness. My husband has been bringing home this basket full of veggies every day.

Eggplant, sweet corn, beets, green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumber were the haul on that day. Many of these vegetables are being eaten fresh. Others are being canned or frozen.

I made four pints of dill relish last week.

On Wednesday my husband and I made a trip to the orchard so I could can some peaches. On Thursday I canned 23 pints of peaches and had a dozen left over for eating fresh. Sunday, I made peach cobbler with five of the fresh ones.

One of our peach trees produced two peaches.

One for my husband and one for me. They were perfectly ripe when I picked them yesterday and so delicious. The orchard peaches, that were picked before they were ripe, were not as sweet as these.

They are not ready yet, but it looks like we will have a great apple crop.

The other thing the bees are enjoying right now are the sunflowers.

But who doesn’t love sunflowers.

This week’s projects include canning tomato juice (I did 6 quarts yesterday), making sauerkraut (I started it fermenting today), and cleaning garlic (tomorrow or Thursday).

Thanks for visiting.

Bird Identification

Belted Kingfisher, Birds, Pond, Reflections, , , ,

For several weeks I have been seeing a bird that I did not recognize at the farm. I never got a close look, just observed it in flight before it disappeared into the treetops surrounding the pond. It had features similar to a large woodpecker. The pileated woodpecker is known to live in our area but try as I might I could never see any red on this bird like the woodpecker would have.

It wasn’t until today that I realized that this was the same bird that my husband witnessed diving into the pond and coming up with a fish dinner. Today I saw the same. While I wasn’t able to get any pictures of it, I did get a better look. I already knew that it was mostly grey and had a black head and long beak. Today I was able to see some brown markings underneath and a white ring around its neck. I made a mental note of that so I could search for it on the internet when I got home.

Mystery solved! I discovered it is a Belted Kingfisher, and I will say that it lives up to its name. At least six times over the course of an hour I saw it dive from the top of a tree into the pond and come up with a fish. One time it stopped and hovered in the air, wings flapping, then dove down into the water. Each time it came up it would fly to a high branch of a nearby tree, presumably to consume its prey.

You can click on the link below to see photos and learn more about the Belted Kingfisher.

Belted Kingfisher

If I ever get a photo of it I’ll be sure to share it with you.

Thanks for visiting.

Wordless Wednesday Recap

Reflections, Wordless Wednesday

Last week I invited readers to caption some photos that I posted. My husband and I enjoyed reading all of your creative thoughts on the photos. We also found ourselves coming up with several of our own captions. I thought I would share them with you.

“Let’s do the ‘People Dance'”

or

“Roast us!”

“I just adore a penthouse view.”

or

“Did someone call for a Door Dash?”

“I heard this is where all the chicks hang out.”

or

“When the beagle’s away the bunnies will play.”

If you click on the link below you can see the original post and the captions that all the other readers contributed.

Wordless Wednesday _ Caption the Photos

It’s not too late to join in the fun. Feel free to add captions in the comments box below. Let me know if you enjoyed “Caption the Photo”. I might do it again it the future.

Thanks for visiting.

Monthly Inspiration

Inspiration, Reflections

Hello and welcome to August.

I have something a bit different for our monthly inspiration and I hope it at least makes you smile.

A while back, my husband and I were talking about tv commercials that we remembered from when we were young. When I mentioned one of my favorites was the Faygo pop commercial I was surprised that he didn’t remember it. Then it occurred to me that Faygo(soda) pop is a Michigan product. My husband grew up in Ohio and while Faygo is sold in Ohio today perhaps it was not when he was growing up.

Ironically, this song/commercial that is all about fond memories from childhood has become one of my fond memories from childhood.

Turn up the volume and enjoy! If you remember it, you’ll probably even sing along. I know I do. 🙂

Doesn’t that make you want a cold bottle of red pop?

What is your favorite (soda) pop?

Thanks for visiting.