Yesterday

We have been fortunate enough to receive a few rain showers in the past few days.  It's not been enough to really hydrate the land, but still, it helps a little.  But, it's been enough to give me a few breaks from garden watering chores. 

With morning chores behind us, it's time to check in on the garden while everyone has some pasture time.

It's a cloudy morning - holding the heat off a little later than usual.

The clouds are a harbinger of what is predicted for later in the day... storms with the potential for dumping an inch or two on the farm.  I'm keeping my finger crossed.  Although with the ground as dry as it is, this type of rain will most likely run off and end up in the streams (which are very low right now).  The only place on the farm that will assuredly drink up all of the water is the garden boxes.

two types of carrots - love the little round ones!

Each morning, I check the tomato plants with anticipation.

There are so many tomatoes hangin on the vines.

Heirloom green stripes tomatoes - never turn red, but taste amazing.

And almost none of them are ripe yet.

Isn't that the way it always goes?  We wait and wait - and them suddenly an explosion of ripe tomatoes happens and we scramble to get them all used.

There are so many flowers blooming right now - but the ones I get most excited about are the ones that I started from seed in the greenhouse at the end of winter.

These deep purple asters (one of my favorites):

Celosia...

Bells of Ireland, now almost a foot tall...

Do you  remember the giant alium that bloomed in the shed's cottage garden this spring?

(before the shed had her facelift)

Look how lovely these blossoms are now that they have dried!  I thought they would look nice in a dried floral arrangement.

Now, growing on the arbor in front of the shed are several of the vines that I planted (black-eyed Susan vines - in the hanging pots on each side of the arbor) - some, also grown from seed (hyacinth bean vines). I love watching everything fill in during the summer months - even though it takes a good amount of watering to sustain.

Next to the shed, the apple trees are loaded with apples for the first time in many years.

While I am busy in the garden... someone has found a very prized possession.

It's a guinea egg - left in a random spot next to the vegetable garden.  In my experience, our guineas make terrible mothers!  Forrest enjoys the raw- egg snack with its super hard shell (characteristic of guinea eggs).

The morning cloud cover gave us the opportunity to ride our bikes - rare these past two weeks.  We had some errands to run and decided to do them by bike... for a total of 23 miles.

Some of the sights along the way....

One of my favorite roads - with it's rock wall to our right and the stream to the left. 

The water level in the stream is so very low right now.

I spied this wasp nest our of the corner of my eye - growing on the rock wall.

So many wildflowers blooming, daisies, day lilies, jewelweed, several types of mullein, toadflax...

chicory and black-eyed Susans...

I love these empty country roads,

rolling hill vistas everywhere!

There's no doubt about it... central Pennsylvania is quite beautiful!