We are starting to develop webbed feet...

...because of all the rain we have been getting! Quack-quack.

It has been raining almost constantly here at the Lazy J Bar C for three days now. The forecast is for rain pretty much all day today and tomorrow too. This is the remnants of a tropical storm off the Baja California peninsula from the end of last week. Living in the desert, we always welcome any rain we can get but Jerry and poor Red Dog are starting to get cabin fever. ;)

I sure wish I could send some of this rain to my blogging friends in the central U.S. and central California where they are experiencing drought conditions...

Sleeping Frog Farms

I wanted to share some more of the photos I took last week on our tour of Sleeping Frog Farms. I have serious garden envy but I also realize that they are professionals and I certainly am not!! LOL!! It was so nice to be able to tour their farm and learn from these wonderful people. Besides the produce, they have laying hens, dairy goats, honey bees and earthworms. They also offer an intensive internship program for anyone wanting to learn how to start their own Certified Naturally Grown farm.

This is my favorite picture, Elijah Blue in his froggie shirt with one of the many friendly barn cats! :)

First Of The Month - October

I'm joining Jan for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

 

Daphne is seven months old now and I noticed her "kid" collar was getting pretty tight so I changed it out for her brand new, yellow, big girl collar today. It's still just a little big so I shortened it a bit. I also introduced her to apples today, she sniffed them but wasn't particularly interested so Nike got to enjoy them all. She didn't mind a bit! ;-)

Garden Update - It's A Jungle In There!

We have been getting rain recently and it sure does make the garden grow! The tomato plants and summer squash plants completely fill their 4-foot by 4-foot boxes and the tomato plants are starting to break free!
I have been harvesting quite a few of the French heirloom Ronde de Nice zucchini (small picture far right) and the Bennings Green Tint Pattypan squash, enough so that I have been selling some at the Farmers' Market. Jerry will only eat so many squash, ya' know. ;-)
The picture on the bottom left is an Italian heirloom eggplant, Listada de Gandia. I just love them, not only are they pretty but I like the taste and texture better than the Black Beauty eggplant. The bright yellow guy is a Golden Sweet melon and while it is certainly golden, they aren't very sweet and they are small, only about 5 or 6 inches long. I won't be growing them again.
The cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes are producing nicely but I'm still waiting for the bigger tomatoes to ripen. I found a great site that talks about freezing tomatoes until you have enough to can a batch and you can even freeze the cherry tomatoes!
What I didn't show ya'll is the "wildlife" that is living in my garden jungle. You know, the squash beetles and grasshoppers! Grrrr...
Linking up with The Country Garden Showcase and Mosaic Monday.

Garden Update - August 06, 2012

The garden is starting to produce nicely! :) I have been harvesting bush beans, jalapeno, pepperoncini and bell peppers, scalloped squash and Ronde de Nice French heirloom zucchini, cherry and yellow pear tomatoes, and strawberries. The cantaloupe are growing nicely and one of the Kakai pumpkins has started to turn. The only fruit I am going to get from the trees this year is Kieffer pears and they are doing well too. The big tomatoes are all still green but I noticed one starting to blush today! YAY!! I'm still hoping for enough tomatoes to can and make into tomato sauce this year. So far, it looks as though that will happen.
Linking up with The Country Garden Showcase and Mosaic Monday.

Shades of Yellow

This is a busy, busy time of year for many of us, what with gardens needing care and produce needing preserved. Isn't it wonderful?!? :)
I wanted to take the time to share some of the beautiful desert wildflowers in our area, all in shades of yellow this time.
Linking up with Tones On Tuesday, Mosaic Monday and Macro Monday.

Made ME Jump!

I was working away, pulling grass in the garden, when something moved practically under my hand! No, I didn't scream like a girl but I sure jumped and I think the tarantula was just as surprised as I was. :)
He/she wasn't in any big hurry so I ran inside and grabbed my camera. Jerry kept saying, "You know they jump, don't you? It's gonna jump on your head!" He thought he was real funny. :-/
The rains always bring out the tarantulas so I knew to be on the lookout, just not right under my hand. LOL!!
Linking up with Tones On Tuesday, Mosaic Monday and Macro Monday.

Garden Update - July 16, 2012

My garden seems to be slow to get going this year. Everything is doing well but I seem to be about a month behind where I was this time last year. I really hope I get a good harvest from my little garden and have enough tomatoes and green beans to freeze and can some for the winter. Now that our summer rains have started, it should really take off! :)
Linking up with The Country Garden Showcase, Mosaic Monday and Macro Monday.

Garden Update - 06/18/2012

The only exciting thing happening around here garden-wise is the Echinacea has started blooming! :)
In the vegetable garden, everything is doing okay. The tomatoes have started blooming, the pepper plants are doing well, the bush beans are growing, the strawberries are blooming again, the pumpkin plants are growing nicely, my last surviving eggplant plant is making a recovery from being munched on, and I FINALLY got some summer squash seeds to germinate without the birds digging them up first!
Linking up with Mosaic Monday, Macro Monday and The Country Garden Showcase this week.

Farmer's Market - June

We had our opening for the St. David Farmer's Market this past Saturday. For awhile there, we weren't even sure if we were going to have a market this year, the board members were getting burned out. Anyway, it all came together and the vendors and the community were glad! :) We aren't a real big market but we do have nice community support and lots of regular customers. It is still a wee bit early for most summer produce here but one of the vendors has a lovely greenhouse and she brought some amazing tomatoes, cucumbers and Swiss chard. Another of our produce vendors brought lots of greens, onions, potatoes and garlic. We also had local salsa and honey and several vendors had eggs. I took baked goods. In the past, I have taken yeast breads, rolls, and artisan breads but decided to change things this year. I have expanded my offerings to include cookies, brownies, muffins, and scones and will cut back on the breads. I wasn't having as much fun as I used to and by changing things up a bit, I have rediscovered the joy that baking brings me!

Things went well for our first market, everyone seemed to have a good day, and I'm looking forward to this coming Saturday. I know I need to make twice as many scones as last week and more brownies too! LOL!!

Mosaic Monday - 5/28/2012

We took a drive over to the Sulpher Springs Valley Saturday in search of ghost towns. :) We found Courtland and Gleeson, there are still people living at Gleeson. We stopped at the cemetery in Gleeson so that I could take some pictures. Some of the graves were really old and some were very recent. This cemetery is very much in the style of the old west. I will be sharing pictures of the ruins at Courtland soon. 

Linking up with Mosaic Monday.