As I Walk Through My Garden I'm Not Alone....

I Love to see these beautiful birds arrive! Golden Finches.....just beautiful!
My yard smells "Heavenly". In the pic above is one of my banana shrub scented flowers. I have a variety of scented plants/shrubs in my yard. I can't help but think about what Heaven smells like if it's supposed to be better than here on earth.

I have a lot of "old fashioned" shrubs and my gardens are my most favorite places to be. I can't help but think of and sing (in my head)lol the hymn "As I walk through the garden alone". It's one of my most favorite hymns. I've told my husband that when I pass I want it sang at my funeral. I requested it to be played at my Grandmothers, it just seems fitting somehow.

A garden in the morning when the dew is still on the roses.....a time to meditate and reflect on the joys of life, love, happiness and sorrow...but the feeling......that knowing all the while that HE is there walking, sitting, listening, understanding and loving you......the feeling is so comforting, so joyful. My Creator, the Creator of all the beauty that surrounds me in my garden.....and my life, HE is truly Awesome!
This is one of two of my little Bantam hens, she and her sister went broody on me last year and raised five chicks together in "The joy of having a sister" post. Last year she started in mid May, this year she started April 1st. Her sister seems to join in behind her a week later. Last year they shared the same nest box and shared the duty of incubating and raising the chicks.

But this year I guess they decided to go separately....again the one on the left is a week behind. They only have a couple of their own eggs, the rest belong to the large hens. They are such sweet moms.......I love my bannies.
Remember the tadpoles in my "March" post? Here's one of the babies, I still have some bigger tadpoles that are just getting their back legs but I can't get a good picture of them. I will release these around my new little pond that I've been working on all week.
This is my "old" pond we've done a little renovation on it...added some dirt around it and cleared out a little bit of the plants so I could get up to it better.
And here are a couple of the inhabitants.......bull frogs....they are so neat to watch.
FROG......do you know what the letters stand for?

Fully Rely On God......it's something I work on constantly because.......HE's still in control.

I hope you have a wonderful day and that you can FROG too! :o)

TTFN!

Julie

True to Form

Well, in my last post I wrote about March.....and the old saying that if it comes "In like a lion it will go out like a lamb" and visa/versa. I also wrote that the saying could be for life as well as weather. It is as far as I'm concerned, The beginning of March was sad for me and the weather complied as well, but as the month rolled on things began to change.....thank you March for holding true. This year I'm trying out gardening in a whole new way for me. I'm planting in raised beds and planting by the moon/month phase. It's very interesting what months are fertile months and barren, strong,etc. I get calendars and the Old almanac from our local pharmacy, I always have but the almanac used to be intimidating so I never tried it out much.

But the calendar....that's a different story. I really like the symbols of the month that the days are in, you then look it up in the back to see what it means and after you've done a few you get the hang of it and it's really easy......

So we got the beds made. Then I found some black gold, this stuff is free! Yes, free......well, except for the gas and time. A friend told us about this place and I am so glad.

Have you ever wondered what they do with all of the yard debris that people in the city or county don't compost and take to the dump instead? I was and even more so....amazed when I finally reached my destination! Mounds and mounds of composted leaves, trees and dirt. They have bull dozer's working, spreading and turning the compost....all the while on the other side of the road is more and more trees, leaves and peoples yard debris being brought in to start another batch. They know me now...they probably wanted to know what a woman could be doing with so much dirt! :0) I made several trips....

They motion (it's to loud for voices) for you to pull around then a dozer loads you up and your on your way in a matter of minutes!

It makes beautiful plant beds, so rich.
I even got paid! lol I couldn't believe it, I found a penny! The things people lose in their yard. ;0)
Things are sprouting up everywhere....

yes out like a lamb....thank you again March, hope things will be a little nicer when I see you next year. ;)
How was your March?

TTFN!

Julie

March......

This has been a very sad month for me...this March......I've always heard for March "In like a lion out like a lamb". I used to think the quote was for the weather....but this year I'm not so sure. Perhaps it could be for one's life as well. At any rate I'm waiting on the "lamb" part of it. Today has hit me pretty hard and has taken a lot for me to get "motivated" I really don't think I've gotten there even as I type. I did "have" to go outside for something and thought it would be a good thing to check on things outside, I took my camera "just incase". I did find a few things that lifted my spirits........... The "girls" have plenty of water, I love my honeybees......
My coriander/parsley is looking so good, enjoying these still cold days and nights. The pansy's add a colorful touch.
Most of you that know me know that I'm a "nut" for nature. If you look closely you can see tadpoles in these next pictures. Click on the pic to get a better look. I live on a much loved dirt road and the ditches fill up with water and tadpoles....baby frogs. Well, the water started drying up and the rescue part of me kicked in. I keep an old aquarium around so I filled it with what tadpoles I could. I also have a very small fish pond that I put some in as well.

Have you ever watched a tadpole develop into a frog??? Have your children? Grandchildren???

It's an amazing thing to watch, although it can take a while.

TTFN!

And remember......

Explore the "life" around you!

Julie

Red and a Day of Sprouting

Remember "Red"? The hen that I thought was twitter pated and wouldn't come out of the coop box because of heart break???? Well, she came up missing about three evenings ago when I did the nightly head count. I was furious because I thought the dog down the road had made off with her. Well, I don't know where she had been hiding out but she appeared this morning and made my day!!! She was scratching around like she had never been gone, and she probably hadn't. The last two days have been hectic around here and I was away for most of both days, so I had not noticed her and hadn't let the others out to free range. But, today I noticed and I let the others out to free range while I did some much needed yard work and planting!!! Finally! Not only that, I discovered some sprouting going on!

My potatoes are sprouting! I planted them in five gallon buckets to regulate the amount of rain that they could get. I did this last year and was pleased with the results.

This beauty was waiting for me today in my green house. I couldn't believe they lived straight through the winter. I planted them last year and harvested bell peppers from them over the summer, then when the cold came in I put them in the green house with my other plants and they survived! Even produced!

This is my parsley, I have tomato seeds planted in the middle. This worked for me very well last year.

According to the almanac, today was my last day to plant above ground plants until the 15th of this month. Root crops can be planted again on the 10th.

I discovered that my lettuce and radish had also sprouted as well as onions and garlic.

Today was a very enjoyable day indeed!

I also planted more crops today, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, egg plant, pumpkin, (Penny's)loofa, yellow squash, zucchini squash, tomatoes (large and cherry) and spinach. I also planted flower seeds for our honeybees. Today was a full day, I also got pictures of our girls (bees) but those pics will be on their blog.

Of course, when I went to close the chickens up one was missing again....Ms. Red! This time I knew she was here somewhere because I had been out all day and the neighbors dog hadn't been around, so I went on an even more extensive search for her...........

There she was under the house in a place I couldn't see her the first evening she came up missing. She was sitting all comfy until I shone the spot light on her, by the time I got my camera she got up, upset that I found her. I thought first that she had gone broody and was laying on eggs, but she isn't. I don't know why she has decided to leave the flock, she mingled with them all day today while they were free ranging. The part of the yard she is in is fenced so I just let her stay where she is. It's also under our bedroom so if something gets after her we can get out in time to save her........I hope:}

I would say this has been a full day indeed!

What kind of day did you have???

TTFN!

Julie

Anticipation.......it's worth the wait

I am tickled pink! I have grown Orchids for a few years now and they haven't ever bloomed for me. I have tried everything including "just leave them alone" and "neglect" them and nothing! But a couple of months ago I noticed a shoot coming up from between the leaves and I got all excited but I didn't want to get my hopes up because I thought it might just be another leaf. SO I waited.....and waited....then the buds started coming out. There was also another limb of buds coming out as well.
So I waited.....and waited again. It takes a very long time for Orchids to bloom, but the blooms last even longer. Some of them have a wonderful scent, I thought these might but I haven't smelled one coming from them as of yet.
Here she is....my first bloom! I know this probably isn't as thrilling for you as it is for me but I've been waiting for years to get one to do this!! It doesn't take much to get me excited or make me happy. LOL

The other limb bloomed this morning.



These have brightened my days here lately. I'm so ready for spring! But until then I have my inside bloomers!

BEE PATIENT,

It's worth the wait!

TTFN!

Julie

Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away...

I'm not sure if I have a case of Chicken "Heartbreak" or shear out and out Hen "Depression" on my hands.

I have a hen that for the past week has refused to come out of "the roosting box". At first I thought she was afraid of the water on the ground, but that has dried up and everyday I have to coax her out and it takes some doing! She seems to walk around okay but doesn't want to get to far from the pen. The other hens free range openly but she stays behind.

I told my husband about it and we both said the same thing at the same time.....she must miss "Sunny".......which his full name is "Sunshine"........
The white hen roosting is "Red" (I have no idea why I named her that other than the fact that her red comb stood out so beautifully on her white head). The hen beside her is "Butter cup" she's a good friend, even to me..... but this is about "Red". She talks to me when I go out to coax her out and I really wish I could understand her lol!
This is "Sunny". I raised him from the incubator, his Mum died after a raccoon attack and I took the eggs and finished the hatch in the incubator. Sunny was the first one to hatch and it was on a beautiful bright sunshiny day.......you get the picture. Anyway....I've had him for almost two years and he's been a great roo, but it's a good idea to rotate the roos out if you keep the same hens, because of cross breeding.

I had some baby chicks given to me last spring and they were ALL roosters! Go figure! Anyway one of them turned out to be a beautiful Dominique rooster. When we culled the other roosters a few weeks ago I decided that I would keep "Dominique"....don't you love the name??? ;0)
He is the sweetest roo and such a sweet one with his girls. He hasn't been testosterone crazy at all with them.

Well, back to Sunny.......I had to keep Dominique separated from the rest of the flock all the time because Sunny would beat the living daylights out of him! I was constantly yelling at Sunny. Poor Dominique wouldn't even be near the girls and Sunny would clobber him....so I had to make a decision.......

My husband found someone that wanted him and I even threw in Sunny's favorite hen to go with him....but now I'm wondering....maybe Sunny had more than just "one" favorite hen.......

I have been keeping chickens for over twenty years and have never had something like this....

Maybe I need to seek out a "Chicken Whisperer" or "Chicken Shrink", LOL! What do you think????

I know that a lot of you don't believe it but spring IS just a few weeks away.......I've already seen wild ducks with babies so that means that birds will be looking for nesting material soon. If you dry your clothes by machine save the lint for the birds. If you put it in a bowl or something to keep the rain out and put it where it's easy for the birds to get to, they'll get what they need for their nest. The "Titmouse" really like lint and it's neat to watch them come on the porch for it.

Until next time I hope everyone is keeping warm AND dry.........

TTFN!

Julie

Floating Hearts

I can't believe that I haven't been here in so long. I've been meaning to drop a line or two for sometime but just haven't found the time. Not that anyone has missed reading what I have to say. So, anyway because of so many things, I'm here once again.

I had some plants given to me and during their time sitting around waiting for me to plant them, ants moved in....I have a plastic tote that I use to mix my potting soils in so I filled it with water to the rim of the pots to get the ants to move out of my plants. After a day or two I removed the pots and to my dismay ants were floating on top of the water. I thought this was neat so I grabbed my camera. Believe it or not it did not look like a heart when I snapped pictures. Maybe they were thanking me for saving them:-) I dumped them out to move somewhere else. To this day I don't know where they moved.

Remember the wheel barrel my Aunt gave me??? Click on the pic for a closer look. She also gave me that tree that's in front. It's a bottle brush and our honey bees love it, there's also a black-eyed Susan vine growing up in it.
These characters make me smile.....can you see them? The one in the middle is a small green tree frog, the two on the outside are green lizards (anole's), there must be a lot of bugs that come that way......
A "walking stick" or Praying mantis. He reminds me of "Kung fu fighting" I've seen more of these this year than I have in a long time. Could it possibly be because of the decrease in bug spraying??????
And do you know what this thing is????? It's a follow your nose sort of thing! Ewwww it's a stinky thing. When I was little we used to call them Buzzard noses cause they look like a nose with nostrils but I found out today after searching that it's called a stink horn on www.TransplantedGardener.com and on americanmushrooms.com/coolest.htm they are called stinky squid. So whether you call them buzzard noses, stink horn or stinky squid I guess the thing we can all agree on is that they stink! Visit these sites though if you will, they have some very good information on all sorts of plants and material.

Well, that's all for now, feel free to leave a comment, complaints, any sort of suggestion(s)..... it helps to have feedback;-)

So until next time....don't let your heart float away.......

Take Care!

TTFN!

Julie