Crooked Acres Thursday.
Yeah, yeah – I know I haven’t done one of these in a long time. I’d promise to be more on top of things, but please regard the sidebar, which I haven’t updated since the kittens were like a week old, so I’m not even going to attempt to make that promise. On the up side, I have way more pictures than I want to post in one entry, so I’ll save half of them for next Thursday and that’ll be TWO Crooked Acres Thursdays in the space of two weeks, but don’t get used to it. Is all I’m sayin’.
The catnip in the raised bed before I harvested it and then we removed the raised beds. In case you’ve ever thought about planting catnip, be warned: that stuff will take OVER.
Muscadine vines, growing on the back part of the back yard fence. That’s something else that’ll take over.
Baby muscadines.
Meyer lemon tree. It’s covered in baby Meyer lemons, which won’t be ripe until sometime this winter or early next year.
Baby lemon.
These volunteer tomato plants pop up EVERYWHERE. We never usually harvest tomatoes from them because the chickens get to them, but they’re neat to see.
Romaine lettuce. I’ve planted this in the now-gone raised beds in previous years, but thought I’d try a container this year. It’s Jericho Romaine, which is very heat resistant (and we’ve harvested lettuce well into July in previous years.) Those are more volunteer tomato plants behind the container of lettuce.
I’m also growing dill, just because I love the smell of fresh dill.
This used to be the compost heap, and in previous years it’s been covered in tomato plants. This year, I thinned out the tomato plants so it’s possible to get in and among them, and I also planted a few Sungold cherry tomato plants and a jalapeno plant (my habanero plant didn’t germinate). It’s not the huge garden we’ve had in the past, but it’s easier to keep up with. If we’re lucky, we’ll actually get a few of the tomatoes before the chickens get to them. (And if not, that’s what the farmer’s market is for!)
Wee tomatoes.
Fruits we are growing:
Pears!
Persimmons! (We got two last year – this year, the trees are loaded.)
Apples!
Blueberries! (Maybe we’ll get TWO cups this year!)
Figs!
The Pawpaw trees are doing well, but no fruit again this year.
I think there are some peaches and nectarines, too, but I failed to get pictures of them.
Some of you already saw this on Facebook, but for those of you who didn’t, one day last week Fred waved at me from near the back forty and told me to bring the camera. When I met him out there, camera in hand, we saw this:
Two little raccoons.
We dithered over what to do, but we’d seen a turkey vulture circling the chicken yard a few hours previously, and worried that it would be back with friends to go after the baby raccoons. So Fred got a carrier and some gloves, and we put them in a carrier.
They were not happy about this turn of events.
Luckily, we were able to find someone nearby who does wildlife rehabilitation, and within the hour Fred had delivered them to her.
Speaking of small animals, last fall I got these pictures.
That’s an armadillo.
Fred held the flashlight while I took the pictures. Armadillos are very slow-moving creatures, and it won’t surprise you know that Fred reached out and touched that armadillo more than once.
(Yes, armadillos can carry leprosy. I didn’t say I touched it, did I? Some of us here at Crooked Acres have better self-preservation instincts than others. Those others just can’t help themselves, it seems.)
Next week: chickens, ducks, squirrels and creepy-crawlies!
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Roux has a think.
Beignet readies her Slappin’ Paw.
Breakfast! From the ornj one and going clockwise, we have Andouille, Beignet, Roux, Nola and Praline.
Roux laying with her head in my hand and her body laying along my arm. I wish I’d been able to get a better picture, because it was adorable.
Contrast that with the same hand and the same Roux just 10 weeks ago.
::cues Sunrise Sunset::
::shifty eyes right::
::shifty eyes left::
“What’s that, honey, your packing strap toy? No, I haven’t seen it. Check by the food bowl!”
::evil snicker::
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Video! Andouille and Dewey: Making Friends.
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Newt, lounging. Everyone see the other cat in this picture?
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Previously
2016: This adorable puppy!
2015: They have met the vacuum cleaner, and are not impressed. AT ALL.
2014: No entry.
2013: “We’re trying to sleep, here. Can you make him get his big stupid foot out of my face?”
2012: Cicero acted like he’d known those kittens his entire life, and they acted like he was a pesky little brother.
2011: Complaints? She haz them.
2010: Rough life, boys.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: Which reminds me, last time I had a sit-down with The Lord, The Lord informed me that doing what might lead to business on Sunday is FORBIDDEN, but abandoning as many of His Creatures to fend for themselves and be hit by cars and lay dying on the side of the road is A-OK with Him! It’s in the Bible!
2006: No entry.
2005: Poop Watch v. 2.0, currently in progress.