Mid-July Fun

A few of our Blackberries!

They taste so yummy!

Our grapes growing up and over the archway.

 Grapes!!!
We have tons and tons of grapes!
We are hoping they are Concorde but we will find out when ripe!

The volunteer sunflower plants that sprouted up in front of my gorgeous blackberry plants.

Its been such a hot summer that we've planted and lost so many things!
My spring peas were fantastic, summer peas burnt to a crisp.
We are trying hard save our tomatoes, carrots and onions.
This summer is shaping up to be a record breaking scorching July!
Praying that things cool off in August!

Also our most recent bunny lost her 3rd chance to be a good mom.
One night we went to sleep with 6 fat happy babies and woke to 1 live weak one that died two days later. Not sure why some rabbits are bad moms but she was delicious.

Garlic Harvest!

Russian Hardneck Garlic

This is our third garlic harvest and I'm happy to say we are finally getting the hang of things.
Our first year we planted two different types that we bought at a local store.
At that time garlic was garlic.
We bought hardneck without realizing it and LOVED it!
We also happened to not pull it all up so some returned the next year as a surprise.
Last year we bought and planted Persian Softneck Garlic.

Last year we realized that all garlic is not equal.
Taste wise the Persian was soft and sweeter.
Softneck however, has much smaller bulbs and no good papery outer-shell.
So it doesn't store near as well.
4 months into storing and it was starting to sprout - even with curing, hanging and following all the tips.

This year we harvested 106 heads of garlic!
5 were Elephant garlic.
(2 of the garlic in the photo above)
10-15 Persian Softneck that we planted last fall before I realized I hated them.
And the rest are wonderfully Russian Hardneck!

So what to do when you realize you have garlic that doesn't winter well - eat it first!
Right now my garlic is curing and drying, in two weeks I will braid them and hang all the hard neck.
The few little bulbs at the bottom of the garlic that are ready for planting (I forgot to take a photo) I soaked for a day then planted in a pot to grow indoors.
They can't wait to be planted, can't wait for fall before they will die.
Planting them outside in this heat would also kill them so I'm going to try this year to get a tiny handful to live. We will see.

When to Harvest Garlic

Garlic Cycle

Two New Ladies!

The other day I received a Facebook msg from a friend I've never met in real life before!
She's moving and needed to find a home for her chickens!
Of course I was willing to take them in, plus it was great to finally meet in person.
Two 1 year old chickens, both good layers - what a blessing!
Praying she is able to find an amazing home in the valley soon.

Golden SexLinks
Golden Sex Link
More information

and where to buy

As this is my first time with this sub breed - I've had Rhode Island Reds for several years but this is my first time with Sex Links versions of the breed.

They merged easily and quickly into my small hen yard - mostly because they are older and were able to easily get to the top of the pecking order.