Thursday, September 14, 2017

Painted Ladies...





There's been a hatch!  Painted ladies are flying around everywhere this past week.  They are especially interested in my zinnia patch.  It's wonderful to see.  How many can you count in the zinnia patch?

I've been in the garden planting my garlic and a little bit of lettuce seed just in case we continue to have warm-ish fall weather.  I'd love another crop of lettuce before winter days come along.  If the lettuce doesn't germinate, the seed is there for next spring and I'll be watching for early lettuce.  I'm also doing an experiment with some garlic seed.  I let a couple garlic plants go to seed (like onions do) and then saved the seed to plant.  I have no idea if they will produce since garlic is a bulb and produces from bulbs, but I figure if I don't try it, I won't find out if it works.  I like experiments.

I dug up more potatoes today and I figure I have roughly 70 pounds or maybe more.  I had to quit today because some of the potatoes are underneath the pumpkins.  The pumpkin vines have sprawled out over the potato patch and there are some hefty pumpkins laying on top.  I could move them, but I decided not to.  They can just keep on growing and continue to bask in the sun until the vines are all withered or frozen.  Then I'll resume the potato digging.  The grandkids have already spied the biggest pumpkins and are anticipating pumpkin carving.  

The onions are pulled up and drying on newspaper in the garage.  There are some really nice, big Walla Wallas.  I love onions and use a ton of them through the year.  I really ought to grow more of those and less of cucumbers and zucchini.

Speaking of zucchini (which I always do), I plan to do a big baking tomorrow.  We are expecting some nice rains for the the next couple days or so.  Hurray!!  I'm going to make zucchini-everything (breads, cupcakes, and who-knows-what).  I also have some grapes that my dad harvested in the freezer so I might pull those out and make them into jelly.  

It seems there is always so much to do when September rolls around.  Soon we will be working cows and calves -- vaccinating and sorting and pregnancy testing.  We turned the bucks into the ewes on September 11th which is our tradition for February lambing time.  The young ewes will receive bucks on Christmas Eve which is our tradition for their May lambing time.  Hubby bought 6 new bucks and my goodness! they are handsome fellows.

There was a prairie fire just 6 miles from our ranch and so the men were called out along with the other volunteer firefighter-ranchers.  Someone had a trailer tire come off on the highway and they were driving on their rims with sparks flying.  The prairie caught fire from the road sparks.  We have a very old 1000 gallon tender truck here that was filled and ready to go so when Hubs called me, I jumped in and took it to our turn off at the highway.  I didn't stay and fight fire, but JLynn and I did stomp out some fire next to the asphalt with our shoes and water bottles.  I guess we did our part.  

One of my Bloggy Friends, Pom Pom, is going to be keeping a fall nature journal.  I'm thinking of joining in on the fun.  Everywhere I look, I see things to record in a journal or at least, in my mind.  If you'd like to join us, please do!  The more, the merrier.  I'm seeing white asters, goldenrod, maxamillion sunflowers, spiked gayfeather, and curlycup gumweed growing wild in the pastures just now.  What kinds of fall flowers are growing where you live?

Happy Fall!

13 comments:

  1. I'm so happy you're doing the Autumn Journal too! It will be fun, and I love the low-stress of each person doing whatever kind of journal entries they prefer. Flowers here? I should know. Hmm. Our Crepe Myrtles are about done. I know there are some yellow ditch flowers down the road, and I suspect they're causing us to sneeze. My lantana is still blooming a little. I'm more excited about the things in the garden. We've never really done a fall garden before, and I find I'm more excited about potatoes and onions and green beans than I was in the early summer :)

    I hope any fires stay far away from you. I wish they'd stay far away from everyone :( Such weather we've been having!

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  2. Oh - I meant to say about butterflies -- we've had so many this fall/late summer. They love my big lantana bush (and this time next year, I'll have many more of those full grown), plus they and the bees really loved my big patch of basil. They were all over it. Just a thought. For some reason, the ants and wasps loved my loofah blooms. Go figure.

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  3. Love your pics of painted ladies and your flowers are lovely. Hugs, lJ

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  4. I'm so glad you're going to work on a nature journal! I'm excited!
    Your butterflies are so lovely as are your zinnias! I am so happy about the zinnias all over my friends' gardens in bloggy land.
    Garlic. So good for us and you're growing your own! Well done, Jody!
    Oh, you are so right! I must put a bunch of rocks in the bird bath so they can perch. Thank you!

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  5. Sounds like a busy time around your place. Glad you are ready to go to help with fires that way. Yippee for rain in the forecast. Hope all the fires are put out. My DIL made some yummy zucchini oven fries, dipped in egg and then breadcrumbs. Delicious. Beautiful photos btw! Happy weekend to you.

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  6. Your zinnias are looking so pretty Jody! I chuckled at your comment about the bucks being handsome fellows -- you're so cute. Your garden sounds wonderful this year -- have fun baking!

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  7. Lots of gardening goodness going on at your place. And it sounds like you will have lots of baking and canning fun, too! I love hearing about all of your livestock activities. You folks are so productive and seem to have a good time doing it. Beautiful butterflies. I think our wildflowers are beginning to fade away. Fall is here! :)

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  8. We've had a lot of painted ladies here in Nebraska, too! Such a visual delight.

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  9. I don't know if my comment went through, so I'll try again just in case. To summarize: 1. I love your photos! 2. Your zinnias are gorgeous. 3. I love that you are doing a nature journal again! So cool. And I hope you will share from it--I would love to see what you're doing. Blessings, Jody!

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  10. Great photos! We have also been swarmed by the beauties. Hope you have had some rain.

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  11. With all the harvest to bring in and deal with, I am impressed that you can even think about starting an autumn journal, but I shouldn't be surprised. I do know that when she stays mostly at home an incredible amount of work and creativity can flow from a woman.

    I'm excited about your potatoes! Only one time did I grow potatoes and it was the most satisfying - and tasty - thing...

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  12. Hi Jody

    So so many years later, your blog is still beautiful and you still have that love for the natural beauty you find around you. We are heading to Kansas and Colorado to celebrate the fall feasts with our grand kids.. Myles and Emily have Felicity 3 in Kansas, we'll spend Yom Kippor with them and Trent and Natali are on the Western Slope of Colorado and have Kalynn4, Kinsley 3 and Gideon 2.5 months. Rourke still lives here in Saskatchewan but not married yet. anddd. We added to our family, Janney is 13 and at Trent's right now to help with the kids, Asher is 11, Elias is 9 and Ronen is 5. We're still homeschooling, still blessed with the confidence I gained from the Coffee Shoppe ladies wisdom all those years ago, not fretting about the details of HOW they learn, trusting that they DO learn in their own way.


    I don't blog much any more, but I do still have my MoreLittleWilsons.com blog and Trent's wedding and Janney's bat Mitzvah are on there... holding the big events in life along with the little mundane things.

    Anyhow, just wanted to drop in and say hi, I think of you often, even passed through Alzeda on my way to Colorado two summers ago.

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  13. Painted ladies and zinnias...perfection! I'm not doing the journal, too busy trying to unpack and finish moving in but will be interested to see how it goes with y'all. It's good news y'all were able to put out the fire...so frightening!

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