I made a soothing tea for my neighbor today. Infused lemon balm, chamomile and dill.
Monthly Archives: July 2016
Last Week
My last catch up post…for now anyway –
Last Wednesday, the day we got home from the family reunion, we found these two little ones with EmmyLou. We had moved her to the brooder before we left knowing it was about time.
Here she is keeping her two little ones warm on a chilly, for chicks, afternoon.
Bonnie and her brood
The ducks have a new pool.
Dave started taking down the closets in my sewing room on Sunday afternoon…
and finished on Monday. So much more light and room. Prep and maybe painting are on the agenda this weekend.
Dolly and her four chicks. Wait! What happened to the yellow one?!?! Turning black! I guess no different than a person with brown hair who was blonde as a baby.
First Landing State Park
While at the family reunion, Dave, Samantha and I went to First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
I didn’t know Virginia had such swamps.
These are called knees.
red belly snake
water moccasin or cottonmouth – good thing this one wasn’t on the path
garter snake – which was just made the state snake of Virginia
Colonial Williamsburg
A couple weeks ago we were in Williamsburg for a family reunion. Some of us toured Colonial Williamsburg.
These first nine photos are of the Governor’s Palace garden.
The back side of the Governor’s Palace.
Purple Coneflower and Bee Balm
Love the arbor
Ahhh, shade. It was a very hot day.
The next four photos are of the Wythe House garden.
I recently read on Michael Weishan’s blog, Old House New Garden, that the gardens in Colonial Williamsburg are among his favorites in the U.S. because the gardens are well suited to the homes. He said the reason the garden is there is because of the house and it should be designed with that in mind.
The next ten photos are of the Colonial Garden.
Like the crushed oyster shell walkway.
Notice the wattle fence center right.
Bruton Parish Church in the background.
Bonnie’s Brood
These photos are from mid June.
A few posts back – on June 15 – I shared a photo of Bonnie and the first chick to hatch from this clutch. She ended up hatching eight chicks. Interesting that these chicks resemble the chicks we got from the hatchery last summer.
Couldn’t resist including this photo of Smokey and the purple carrots. We waited a little too long to harvest the carrots. They were edible but a little tough and not so sweet.
We were a little braver with this brood – letting them out of the brooder at just a few days old.
Bonnie knew to keep them close to the coop – food, water and safety.
It’s hard to get a photo including all eight chicks!
Here they were pecking at the marbles. So cute!
First Half of June
I enjoy looking across the road at my neighbors cows. He’s had four calves born this spring. He buys several cows at auction each spring and never knows how many are expecting. It has been a banner year for him.
These were the first two calves. I love seeing them romp around.
Dolly and her chicks.
Dave set up a drip line to water the tomatoes, sweet potatoes and summer squash. We kept transplanting the peonies from this site and they just kept on sprouting! I think the root stock is very old.
The kitchen garden – onions, collards, cilantro and borage.
I went strawberry picking one morning at Troyer’s in Waynesboro.
The barn garden – strawberries in front of the wormwood, potatoes on the right and a row of parsnips in the center.
Larkspur in the morning light.
I planted coleus seedlings in this bed off the patio. As you can see there are none in sight. I’m realizing Freda likes to nap in this bed and the chickens scratch around in it. I decided to put what seedlings I had left in pots!
Late in May
I think the reason I want to post all these past photos is that we had four chick hatches this year.
The second hatch was May 23rd. Dolly, the head hen, hatched 4 chicks. One yellow and three black. The yellow one is very interesting. None of the chicks we received in the mail last summer were yellow. I guess it is a recessive trait.
I discovered this shrub growing in the corner of the porch is deutzia. I read in Michael Weishan’s The New Traditional Garden that this was a favorite around the turn of the 20th century.
Love the combination of purple irises and red poppies.
Just wanted to document where our irises are planted. They are very pretty and I’m not typically into irises.
Gave the hyssop a haircut.
The four chicks. They are about a week old in this photo.
Blooming chamomile and sage
Spinach from our garden.
Spikenard Farm
Frustration with my computer and lots going on has kept me from posting as often as I want to. I’m determined to post my photos. Hence, the two month delay!
The Hahn Horticultural Center at Virginia Tech. We were at VT for Colin’s graduation on May 13th. Grandma came with us and Damian stayed home to take care of the animals. We stayed in Floyd – about 30 minutes southeast of Blacksburg.
On the Blue Ridge Parkway.
We visited the Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary.
A fascinating place.
We could see Riverstone Organic Farm in the distance.