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T O P I C R E V I E W
maryjane	Posted - Jun 04 2021 : 01:23:07 AM It's nice to finally get some summer heat and longer days, but we could use some rain. If you have any, send it our way. My greenhouse is getting a new shell today after 10 years, the old one just couldn't be mended any longer.
12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
NellieBelle	Posted - Jul 02 2021 : 06:46:14 AM Good morning! Ha! You are sitting by your sweet cherry tree and I my raspberries. They are ripening now and I pick everyday. I made Cream Puffs filled with sweet cream and raspberries yesterday. (added orange zest/and Grand Mariner to whipped cream). Yum. My common milkweed and swamp milkweed are tall but not in bloom yet. The bee balm, coneflowers, gray coneflower and others in bloom. Joe Pye weed about to open. Honey bees everywhere and bumble bees. Just a joy to go outside and see so much activity. I know how excited you must have been finding your showy milkweed in bloom, it's like coming upon a treasure. Such delight after putting in hours of work. Have a wonderful day!
maryjane	Posted - Jul 01 2021 : 3:00:28 PM Amazing moon shot Janet. And your beehives looking picture perfect. One of your baby chicks is a happy yellow. Such good mothers, those Banty hens. I don't think we have wild petunias but this morning early while I was scouting our prairie I found ... (drumroll) a mature Showy Milkweed plant!!!!! It smelled divine. No wonder Monarchs love/need them. I have some small ones I'm cultivating close to the farm so I can watch over them 24/7 and then in the middle of nowhere a cluster of them!!! I'm over-the-moon excited. Holy moly, it hit 107 here about three days in a row but today is cooler, 93. If it weren't for my wet white cotton shirt trick and drenched bandana I might not have survived it. Sitting at my desk averaged 90 to 96. But the biggest surprise came last night. It wasn't predicted at all, so I was initially thinking the "fireworks" I saw around 2 a.m. were someone's 4th of July celebration. Then I heard a clap of thunder. We got a downpour of .37 inches rain. I think we've only had .40 total since February. Blessed rain. My sweet cherries are on! I'm pretty much living in the tree:)
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 27 2021 : 08:11:05 AM Good morning! I started out taking digiphoto shots of the Strawberry moon this morning at 4:30. We've been getting some rain daily, .6", then .9" and yesterday .3". Every little bit helps. Mid-eighties. With chores this morning I discovered little momma hen hatched out 8 chicks, found one dead. I tossed in some chickweed and she came off the nest so I could get a pictures of her chicks. After milking we proceeded to put some deep hive boxes on some of the hives. Somehow a bee got inside my suit and got me on the back of the neck. So far, I'm doing okay, and will see if it lasts. Flowers are putting on a great show. Prairie is blooming and grasses are also. The wild petunias are just about everywhere here. So a busy morning so far and it's just a bit after 10:00 a.m. Awaiting your July calf MaryJane.
maryjane	Posted - Jun 25 2021 : 3:33:04 PM Holy moly, it's gonna really be summer soon, starting Monday here, 106 degree days. I checked recorded temperatures and it hit 106 here in something like 1928 (can't remember for sure). Lots of water and wet clothing should get us through it (and no forest fires). I wear cotton white shirts when I work outside (more dirty than white at this point) but I often take my shirt off and drench it in water before putting it back on. Sure does cool me off. It's a good thing Jerseys are part camel and don't mind heat too much. I have a calf due July 16. My new full-time job is watering my new trees, etc.
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 15 2021 : 10:54:15 AM Savory moufflet sounds good! A cute compact little nest. I'm not familiar with the birds in your area, I imagine you have several of the same birds that are here, but I would just be guessing at this point. Chipping sparrow, chickadee perhaps. Is the nest pretty small or good sized? Still very dry here and no rain in sight. Things are burning up and looking sad. I let my small garden go and just keeping the greenhouse and larger of the two gardens watered. So disheartening. Two years in a row, fruit trees are suffering. I'm surprised anything is blooming or producing. Hollyhocks are in bloom but the blossoms are small. Delphiniums look good but the wind bent some of them over. All the cows are trying to keep cool.
maryjane	Posted - Jun 15 2021 : 06:30:19 AM I've never heard of a millefeuille. Boy howdy!!!! As soon as our raspberries are on, I'm going to give it a whirl. I've been having fun inventing a good savory moufflet (moo-flay). Muffins. I found this "nesting" in the top of my raspberry patch resting on the cattle panel wire I put in place to keep my canes orderly. I can't figure out what kind of bird laid them because I fear she may be gone. Any ideas what would lay speckled eggs like this? We're getting some rain this morning, so far .05, not much, but something.
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 10 2021 : 09:59:11 AM Nellie's cream being put to good use! Gordon Ramsay recipe for Raspberry Millefeuille. Still no rain. Watered again last evening until after dark, then I watered this morning before the sun came up. Humid and hot during the day. Amazed that flowers are doing as well as they are.
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 07 2021 : 09:52:52 AM Not only the honey bees but the little native bees and bumblebees are bountiful this year. I've not seen so many bumble bees as I have this year. Seems like they are everywhere. And the smaller bumble bees as well. The common milkweed is doing well, there are a couple in the forefront of this photo that I let stay in my cultivated garden by the house. My cream false indigo and blue False Indigo both in bloom in the prairie right now.
maryjane	Posted - Jun 07 2021 : 08:59:19 AM That's remarkable really. Quite the feat. And with nine hives you must be seeing your bees everything. What joy! Not to mention the pollination taking place. Congrats on an impossible job well done! Last spring I planted a couple dozen Showy milkweed plants but they struggled during the summer even though I watered them and I feared I lost them all. Voila! At least a dozen of them came back and are doing well. Now all I need are some Monarch butterflies.
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 06 2021 : 1:38:19 PM Hello! Well it happened again! Yesterday and the day before in 90's and the bees were bearding outside the hives. This morning after milking one of my larger hives swarmed. It was a large swarm and I didn't want to lose them. I tried putting a ladder in back of Joe's pickup bed, and I could reach them but the pole saw was top heavy and I couldn't balance so Joe climbed into back of pickup and just cut the branch down for me. Have them hived and that makes 9 hives. More hive components needed but I can get by until they arrive. 83 this morning in bee suit. Didn't need the sauna. Hoping for rain. Really dry.
NellieBelle	Posted - Jun 05 2021 : 04:58:31 AM Good morning! Just heading out the door to milk and do chores. New shell for the greenhouse! Wouldn't it be grand if a person only had to do a job once and it stayed good forever. It seems maintenance is constantly ongoing. It will be nice when done. Your flowers are lovely MaryJane. And thimbleberries! The birds and wildlife will love you. We are in desperate need of rain here also. I watered the garden for the first time last evening. Don't like to get that started but if i don't then the work I've done will be in vain. So watering it is. Fox got two of my roosters night before last. One he carried away and when he came after the one nearly dead I scared it away. He got another one last night. Well, best get out the door. Time's a flitting. Enjoy the weekend!
maryjane	Posted - Jun 04 2021 : 7:25:22 PM Love these two colors together. Had some thunderstorms last night and this morning but no rain. I planted 24 thimbleberry plants in a troublesome wet spot I've struggled with--it has a layer of solid clay about 12 inches down that the entire ridge behind it drains into, then bubbles out the top--it kind of weeps water. So many plants don't like "wet feet" but I think thimbleberry might tolerate it okay. And I'm seeing some wet tolerant native grass clumps here and there I planted fall before last. Slow but sure I'm thinking.