Gardening

Ok, disclaimer: I, Aimee, hereby take absolutely no credit for anything that grows around my house. Number one, it's God that makes those seeds germinate and grow and keeps (or doesn't) the bugs away. Number two, Christian is the one who does all the scheduling, preparing of soil, planting, setting up the irrigation system, etc. My jobs are occasional inspection, finding fun recipes to destroy nasty bugs, harvesting, and putting away during/after harvest time. And photographer. :) Which, by the way, if you have issues with gray blister beetles or grasshoppers, I have really good recipes for you. That said, here are some pictures of what are growing, more or less, around here.

First, the weekly chicken pics...just about 8 weeks old- good fryer size. :) You can tell the roos from the hens quite easily- the bright red combs/wattles belong to the males, the pale heads belong to the females. This morning I heard one of the roos trying to crow! Talk about fast-maturing! (Our 12-ish week old barred rock roo has not starting crowing- I expect him to start within the next month, though)

Far left bed is corn, next bed is carrots, next is lettuce/spinach/cabbage/broccoli, next is onions and peas in the back

 Our to-maters are doing quite well so far- Christian estimates we have over a hundred baby tomatoes growing so far. We need to trim the branches back, so we can walk down the middle.

Ok, Oregon/Washington peeps, this is our blackberry growth- about the best it's done in the last two years. Now you know why I drool when I think of all the fresh berries you have growing like weeds up there!

Squash in the back and tiny baby carrots just starting to come up in the foreground.

Peppers in the back (not terribly happy) and potatoes in the front.

Our grapes continue to surprise us every summer when they finally come up after we've given up hope of them still being alive. Maybe one of these years they'll grow enough to reach the fence to start climbing...

Our aspens are happy

Our apple tree looks much more like a bush

My very sad chamomile, with one die-hard lily. The twins decided to pick me flowers one day and pulled them all up by their roots. Sigh. It's the thought that counts, right?

Another apple tree- notice how all our trees lean in the same direction? It's windy out here.

Our strawberry patch- the first year they haven't died as soon as we planted them!

In the front yard now- here are some daylilies, iris, daisies, chives, and yarrow. Yarrow is amazing for stopping bleeding. Just so you know. It's also supposed to be good for upset stomachs and colds, if you drink a lot of it at the first sign of symptoms. I'm not sold on the aspect, though. But stopping bleeding, yes. It's also one thing that grows like a weed here.

 Asiatic lilies with purple Rocky Mtn. penstimons

Yellow flowers. ? And squash.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ...  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."