Raindrops are falling…in my rain gauge

Okay, so it’s not as catchy as “raindrops are falling on my head,” but the rain gauge has become an important fixture in our garden. Last Friday, May 22, it rained 0.3″ but now it’s Tuesday and the weather is warming up. We needed another shower. This evening Debbie and I sat in the rockers [...]

Read Full Post »

Back to the rhythm of ordinary

What a week this has been!  Last Saturday, after picking up some homegrown strawberries and honey from the bees of our friends, Carson and Jean, we spent the afternoon working in the garden.  That evening we checked our bluebird box where a bluebird couple was raising a batch of 4 new babies.  As Debbie peeked [...]

Read Full Post »

First harvest of the season!

Today for lunch we had some fresh spinach from the garden. Not a lot, but enough to stir into the pasta sauce and ladle over our green organic spinach pasta. For dinner we harvested lettuce — 4 varieties — and 4 of our radishes transplanted weeks ago from our neighbor. Fresh radishes have an almost-peppery [...]

Read Full Post »

Gardening with bluebirds

We’re growing bluebirds along with our vegetables this year! The fence of our vegetable garden runs right beside one of our bluebird houses. Sometime between Sunday night and Wednesday morning the 3 blue eggs in the nest hatched and we now have 3 featherless pink bluebirds! They sleep with their very large mouths open and [...]

Read Full Post »

Rain barrels for $10

We have been looking for 55-gallon drums made of plastic used in food production.  Theoretically, food-grade plastic barrels have no toxins in their plastic formulae, and are hence safe to use in home gardens.  Our local USDA office has a rain barrel program and we’re on the waiting list for used pickle barrels for $8/each.   [...]

Read Full Post »