Fall Movement

Fall is approaching, it's in the air and if you are observant, there are a number of things that suggest it is almost here. There is alot of movement among birds and butterflies. Birds are bunching up in anticipation for the long migration journey ahead. Last night while eating dinner, we noticed movement outside the french doors. It was a mass of monarch butterflies that were attaching themselves to our trees for the evening. The burnished copper color of the butterflies in the evening sun was spectacular as you can see...

Monarchs settling in for the night

The butterflies too are getting ready for migration

If you look closely, many of the butterflies appear

as leaves on this tree

The delight of Nature

Our granddaughter, Kelsey, on her way back to college in Michigan stopped overnight at our place with a friend, Emily. The morning before they left, we went to the garden to harvest vegetables for them to take along. They are both seniors living in a house so they have to provide their own meals. Produce from Grandma's garden is a treasure. It was a hot, hot morning but we got the job done. Here are the girls with the produce...

Emily (L) and Kelsey (R) with fresh dug potatoes,

beets and carrots; along with fresh picked green

beans and tomatoes. That along with eggs and

they will be set for awhile.

The garden got a slow start this year because of the cool wet spring. My tomatoes are just ripening and already the evenings are getting very cool so hopefully I'll get a decent crop to put up. Potatoes and beets are great this year - the root crops seemed to thrive. My green beans are wonderful. The cucumbers started strong but seemed to quit on me so I don't know if I'll have enough for pickles this year yet or not. I'll be pickling beets this week. A gardener has to be an optimist... I find myself thinking, there's always next year.

Looking south from the north east side of the garden;

the asparagus bed is finally established so hopefully

next year we'll be enjoying the succulent spears.

A view west from  under the steel rod arbor; there

are a variety of sunflowers behind the garden bench

this year.

      This is the west side of the garden. Tomatoes

      outline the garden. Raspberries are planted in

      the planters and blueberries are planted in the back

      of the garden too. Someday it will be a delicious

      berry patch! The compost bins are south of the raspberry

      planters.

The baby horses have been weaned and moved here

to the ranch so they get a good diet to grow strong and have

a safe place for the winter.

          This was the year of the sunflower - they were

          everywhere...our pasture was full of them and the

          road ditches too.

Update: The guinea eggs in the incubator didn't make it. The guinea tried two more nests but neither clutch survived. We're very sad about that. Also, the big french marans bird turned out to be a rooster. He had a weak crow but we heard it. We gave him away and peace has returned to the Dot House!
Delores