Warm Days in May!

      The weather has finally warmed up! And I think it's here to stay! I'm at the place where I stay inside after 1 or 2 in the afternoon until about 6 at night. I have lots to do during that time though. I just now got through working out with Jillian Michaels! Isn't it nice to have a celebrity right in your own home? During the other hours, I clean, cook, do dishes, and laundry.Tonight I'm making chicken fajitas, so I won't have to cook them until the guys get home. Skylar has finished school and will graduate on the 29th. My baby! Where did the years go? I remember when.......!

      The garden is doing better than last year, so far. One tomato has a bloom! I wished they all did! Something is eating the leaves of the beans. What can I do to help that and keep it organic? I purchased some non-organic sweet potato slips and am going to see how they do. I planted organic heirlooms I ordered a couple of years ago and they didn't make it. I have more knowledge how to grow them now. I just don't know if chickens will eat the sweet potato leaves. Do ya'll know? There's a great spot to plant them in the chicken yard. I'll have to read up on that. How's your garden doing?

      The goat girls are doing well. Their bellies are beginning to get bigger. The brown one is bigger than the white one. Maybe she is further along, or has twins. They are due mid-July. The babies will be here before I know it! I hope ya'll are experiencing a warm in your temps! I'll try to send some of our warmth to you! Have a great week! Blessings from Bama!

The making of biscuits.

I think he's the cutest boy in the world, even if he doesn't smile!

The candy striped amaryllis is fading fast!

I need to look up this vine. Do you know what it is?

Hillbilly chicken shade! They love to gather under here!

I hilled the potatoes but it doesn't look like I did enough!

How high should the hill go? I think it might start to fall down if I go further.

The bees are calm and carrying on. I don't know if I told you in the last post, but Guy had to put the nuc in a larger box because there was no more room for them in the small box. They were honey bound!

These are right next to the bees. Funny how purple shows up blue in a photo.

My one and only bloom so far is from an heirloom: Nepoli.

I wanted bread for breakfast but it was too late to run the bread machine. I thought of the bread that is the easiest, from Jim Lahey's book, My Bread. It is delicious!

Hot and fresh, right out of the oven!

      

Mother's Day, Flowers, and Gardening!

      Was it the best Mother's Day you ever had? It was quite the weekend for us! In fact, it was quite a week last week! Sorry I didn't get to write a post, but ya'll know how it is with these warm temps and gardening! My days are filled with housework; divided by cooking and gardening=no time left for much else! But I sure do love this busy season! I can hardly wait for the wonderful veggies to be harvested! Just this morning, I planted sweet corn. It takes 80 days to produce, but will be worth the wait! We have pretty much gone from Spring to Summer and very muggy weather! I don't know about ya'll, but I prefer this much better over cold weather and winds!

      The girls were here this weekend and one had a little accident. I didn't get the accident on film, but she is O.K. Randy always rides them in the golf cart. This time he attached the riding toys to it and pulled them around the yard. They loved it so much! Winterlynn and her wildness got a little carried away with the steering; getting cattywonkers with it, and turned herself over! Right on the pavement! Talk about road rash! Wow! Her poor lips looked like someone gave her a wallop! It just couldn't have happened on the grass! Too bad it didn't; she might not be all skinned up! I think she won't do that again!

      Our bee mentor Guy, came and separated our hive. I have never seen so MANY BEES! I was so into what he was doing, I didn't pay much attention to the ones swarming around me. He was running out of smoke and the bees got really upset with their hive being opened up like that! All of a sudden, kamikazes were after me! I tried to get them off, but one got me anyway! It HURT SO BAD! My first sting of all the years we've had bees! They didn't stop there! They chased me all around the garden, making me trip over the raised bed and hurt my ankle! I had to run inside; and they were at the door, hitting the glass! An hour or two later, Randy got home from work and went outside. They got on him! He too had to come inside! They waited on us at the door but we didn't go out again until the next morning. They were O.K. by then, as if nothing had ever happened. If you ever deal with bees, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF SMOKE! I don't like getting stung! 

      I hope that is the end of getting hurt on our homestead! But one must always be careful! Now we have to watch for snakes! I think they get my eggs sometimes! I'm thankful for my exciting farm life! Thanks for stopping by and reading! Leave a comment if you wish! Have a great week! Blessings from Bama!

I love everything about this peony!

Black iris.

Chocolate swirl bundt cake with thick chocolate glaze! I ate more of this than I should.

Guy with the frames.

The bees are coming out to see what's going on.

He's scraping off the excess wax so the frames will fit in there better.

I was standing where he is in front of the greenhouse when I got stung. This photo was after.

Very agitated bees!

Riley is starting to loose her baby look.

She's trying to turn on the t.v. while the others get piled on the mini tramp.

Randy has them strapped in with a seat belt.

A lovely, fragrant rose.

White peony.

Candy striped amaryllis

The clematis almost looks fake!

I love these fragrant cabbage roses!

Turning around at the road.

They love this!

They're having so much fun!

Winterlynn insisted on going to swing right after her accident. See her bloody nose and lip?

Poor baby!

She looks better in this photo.

Lovely New Dawn rose.

This miniature rose has climbed all on the fence!

The bees are much calmer now. I'm wondering about the nuc. I haven't seen much activity from it. I will let you know if it makes it.

The tomato plants are growing.

As well as the pepper plants and eggplants.

The three rows of beans look good.

Cucumber plants

Potato plants. I dug this up while digging the potato trenches. Someone used this property for a dump, I believe.

My soon to be graduate!

Skylar gave me this for Mother's Day! It's my new favorite cookbook!

Hey Ya'll! Happy May Day!

      That goes to every day in May! I hope ya'll have been enjoying this beautiful day! It's been quite cool here this time of year! Mid-upper sixties, when the other day it was in the eighties! 'Blackberry winter' as they call it around here. The blackberries are indeed blooming and I hope to get enough to make some more delicious blackberry jelly this year! If you've never tried blackberry jelly, you are missing out! 

      I just came in from weeding in the garden. It's amazing how quickly the weeds grow! They actually outgrow the vegetables! I'm having a problem with my squash seeds. I've planted it twice from different packs of seeds. It just won't germinate! The zucchini either. I guess I'll have to get some more seeds. I just bought those last year, I think. I'll start dating the packages so I'll know for sure. Are your vegetables coming up? The okra and beans are coming up, but I had to re-plant the purple hull peas. I bought a new pack so they should germinate. What's growing in your garden?

      Since it's May, I have so many irises and roses blooming! They are so pretty! The photos do not do them justice, but I have quite a few to share with you! Oh, do ya'll watch Duck Dynasty? Skylar bought all the series and we are on season 2. I love it! Si is the funniest man! Booyah! Now I know where that phrase came from! If you are not a Southerner, you may be unfamiliar with some of their phrases. We sound just like them. I wasn't sure what people in Louisiana sounded like. I've heard people from New Orleans speak and they didn't sound like that. Like Jesse Duplantis speaks Cajun. Love that man! Well, ya'll have a good weekend! Blessings from Bama!

The wisteria is still blooming! It is so fragrant!

Love these color combinations!

Peonies are about to open!

These are pretty too!

I love these white irises!

The clematis is so heavy it pushed the trellis over!

Love the frilly little petals!

The Japanese maple sure is pretty!

Love this!

What about these colors!

These are lovely too!

Randy put a pole behind the trellis to give it support. What you can't see is a tiny bird nest at the top with a tiny blue egg in it.

I wished the camera could capture the real color! And the fragrance is intoxicating!

Such a pretty color!

Yummy banana nut bread!

The beds have been planted with tomato plants.

More tomato plants. Some of the green outside the beds are poison ivy. Yikes!

I've been harvesting mustard leaves to go in my green juice this week!

Strawberry plants are looking good! But what is that mound of dirt? An insect? They always have these.

Freshly hoed beans and cucumbers. I ran out of cardboard, so I get to use my muscles!

Absolutely gorgeous!

So pretty!

Nice view! The tree stump to the left, Randy moved all the logs last week! I helped and boy was it a job!

Oh, sweet!

Peonies opening!

The petals have dropped over but I love the colors!

Blue iris? In reality it's purple! Beautiful!