we save the brains

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thehobbit has begun the annual collecting of the brains. in more polite circles this is known as harvesting nasturtium seeds.

polite circles are dreadfully dull, if you ask me.

what is going on in your garden?

~peace.

the perfect farmhand...

*

 ...if your crop is mud.

elfling loves to help with farm chores, & i love having his help. in fact, i believe it is important for toddlers to do take part in chores. a favorite of his is watering.

as you can see from the photos, he is an expert at getting things watered. look how the dirt is good & fully watered - how he takes such care in making sure that even the tiny sticks get a thorough watering.

sadly, he has little patience for watering the things on thefarm that i need watered. sure, he will aim the hose at plants, but it's mostly at the leaves, fruits, or flowers. even then, he's on to the next plant before the first drop of moisture hits the last plant's base.

i have tried sneaking out to water, but, & i suspect a certain hobbit has something to do with this, he almost always discovers me, & insists on lending a hand. sigh

at least he's good at watering the dirt. we'll never suffer for a want of mud. plus,

 

he is so damned adorable.

the world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful ~ e.e. cummings

~ peace.

farm happenings

do not be fooled by the title of this post - not much is happening on thefarm. we do have a bit of drama, as you can see in the above photo. some wretched squirrel made a snack of elfling's pumpkin! my guess is it's the same wretched squirrel who stole all but one of the apples off our tree. i didn't much care about the apples, but the pumpkin!!!

 there is some beauty still to be seen on thefarm.

i do so love the blossoms of the rosemary; they are so faery-like. this is my favorite variety - the trailing, or creeping rosemary. if you're looking for a bush that is low-maintenance, choose this one. not only is it pretty, it smells divine, & attracts bees.

you can always count on a bit of cuteness on thefarm, no matter the season. elfling takes his watering duties quite seriously. you will notice the official farmer outfit of jams top & diaper. not long after this photo was taken, he had to be stripped & wrapped in a towel, & his official farmer outfit hung on the line to dry. my elfling can get wetter than wet; it's a talent few posses.

can you believe that sad tomato plant still has fruit on its vines?! (please ignore the tall grasses growing in & about the plant. someone, who may or may not be me, has not weeded in quite some time.) none of the tomato plants have any new blossoms, so when these last fruits have ripened, we'll dig up the whole area.

while we are chattering about tomatoes: a friend recently asked why i grow my plants against the garage wall, & not out in thefarm. our first year at this house we did grow them out there. not one fruit set on any plant. after a lot of research i realized that it was the wind. we get a great deal of wind here, on a continual basis. tomato plants don't like wind. the next year we planted them against the garage, & all was as it should be. i think the white wall helps make up for the temperature as well. it does not get hot enough, for long enough, to grow tomatoes (cucumbers, peppers, etc). the wall reflects some of the heat back at the plants, which helps a great deal.

well, that is all for today. as i said, not much is happening on thefarm. what do you have growing? have you started your seeds for the next round of planting?

~peace.