Bobbing Through the Basil

I found this critter in the garden the other day.

Yes, we have a garden already. A raised bed square foot garden.

Yes, I have pictures.

No, you can't see them.

Ok, I guess you can. Later. When I remember to upload them.

But for now, you must be satisfied with only the little creepy crawly. You know how I love photographing my creepy crawlies!!

My...

... what big cukes you have!

This is what happens when you're gardening and you miss one.

Got Worms?

We do.

Not in us (that we know of), and not our dogs, thank goodness (though we've been down that road before)... but in the garden.

Not good, friendly worms either. These worms are hungry and they like my veggies. I've been finding little holes in a few of my green beans.

Bad worm. No cookie!

Today I found a large hole in a pepper. So I picked it (just one - not a peck - and I did not pickle it) and cracked it open. This is what I found.



Anyone know what it is (other than in biiiig trouble)?

Bad dog... no cookie!

You'll never guess what I found this afternoon as I opened the door to let the dogs in from a potty break.

Trixie (formerly "good dog" now renamed "crazy dog" - still laughing over that photo by the way. I have NO IDEA how I caught that look... it was a one in a million shot!) with her cute, little white furry head buried in my row of green bean plants. Chick-dog was chowing down, people. I'm not sure I could have been more angry if the dog was chewing on an $800 pair of shoes (no, I do not own any $800 shoes in case you were wondering). My green beans. MY green beans! Ding dang dog eating my green beans that we worked so hard to grow.

*Insert smoke-blowing-out-the-ears smiley face here*

After I yelled loud enough to disturb the entire southern Texas area, I refrained from throwing her out into the street with a "will work for food - oh wait, I'll just steal it" sign taped to her chest. She ran inside with a green bean plant stem hanging from her mouth. Now, I used to think she just took after me with her love for veggies. Seriously, these dogs love raw carrots and cooked taters and broccoli as much as they love meat. But for real yo, as veggie-loving as I am, I've never eaten a green bean stem.

I can hear her now, digging in her blanket in the living room, snorting. But I know she's really laughing. She had the best lunch ever and totally got away with it.

I should have known it was a bad idea to feed them a few fresh, raw green beans the other day as a treat. Ding dang dog-mom.

First Fruits

I walked out to the garden this evening to photograph the alien cucumber babies, and I found a gorgeous zucchini that was perfectly ready to be harvested. So harvest it I did. I also found several green beans that needed to be picked, so they joined their courgette-y friend in a nice veggie wash bath and towel dry.




Ahhh. Isn't it beautiful? I've never seen such a pretty little green thing!

Y'all... Y'ALL... you just have NO idea how proud I am of this little zucchini. I've never grown anything that was edible other than a few little herbs a few years ago, and those didn't last long. But this zucchini is perrrrrfect, and he already has two little friends growing and waiting to join him in my belly.




I must admit that I didn't do a lot of the work. Heck, ok, so my dad did most of the work. But I do weed and water and feed, so I get some of the credit, no? These green beans aren't really the first of that fruit. My dad took some home last weekend. Puuuuurdy little green beans. Dustin says their scent takes him "waaaay back" to when he snapped beans with his grandma. He thinks they smell like apricots. I think he's a little off his rocker, but hey, they do smell sweet and sort of intoxicating so call 'em what you will.

Yes, Jessica, I did take photos of the little baby alien cucumbers just for you! I braved the wind and the june bugs (my freaking heck they're horrible right now!) and the big prickly leaves of the huge zucchini plant poking me in the rear to capture the strangeness of these things. They're weird but cute in their own way. The first one is bigger, only at about 1" long, though the photo makes it look huge. The second one is teeeeeny tiny. Bizarre little creature.




It's so amazing to me to watch plants grow and produce fruit. It kind of blows my mind. But what also blows my mind is seeing that little furry bumpy alien thing and realizing that sometime long long ago and far far away, some person was poking around outside and saw this creature and exclaimed, "hmmm... this is gonna taste gooood! Henryyyyy! Chop up some of that there lettuce... Imagonna make some salad fer dinner!"

I hope she at least waited until it went bald.

Randomness

2 Belles & a Bead has donated a $10 gift certificate to a raffle that my friend Jessica is holding for her friend Shelly. Shelly is raising money to help send children battling cancer to a special summer camp just for them. What a gem! Be sure to check out Jessica's post here to find out more - it's a wonderful cause.

I get to have a toxin injected under my skin next week. Sounds fun, no? Why in the world would I ever subject myself to such foolishness, you ask? Well, I don't have a choice. TB tests are required if we want to adopt. Yay. Can you tell I'm less than thrilled about this? I don't normally enjoy injecting foreign matter into my body, especially when that foreign matter is a, you know, disease. I've not been exposed to TB so I think it's silly that I have to be tested for it. But whatever. Plus, it's quite possible that I could have an allergy to whatever it is and end up having to get chest x-rays anyway. Yay. Radiation in my body!

The hoops we have to jump through to get a child are endless. I will not bore you with details of the paperwork we have been filling out. Very personal questions. Very detailed information. We have to write autobiographies, and I am not even kidding. "The more detailed, the better."

We're traveling to attend the seminar required for our homestudy around the end of the month. I'm dreading this.

We have a big zucchini growing and several little cucumbers. Tiny baby cucumbers are very odd looking - like little vegetable aliens. I'd take photos, but it's so windy outside that I'm afraid I'd end up in Kansas.

I've been playing more with my metal clay and have some pretties to show you once I photograph them.

This might be the first mother's day in a very long time that I will not end up in tears.

That is all.

New Life

We have this tree in the back yard. It's a little thing that was here when we bought the house. Our home is only 6 years old, so the tree is still an itty bitty, though it has grown a lot in the two years we've lived here.




Our first winter here, we thought it had died. It shed everything it had and we were left with just a lone, tall stick poking up from the ground. Our baby oak tree in the front did not do this, but this stick in the back we were sad to see die. Come spring, the silly thing started growing and getting leaves and such again. It didn't die, it just went into hibernation. *giggle*

It did the same thing this winter, but at least we knew what to expect this time. Now it's starting to put on some green again. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but it's a funny little thing. In another month, it will be completely FULL of lovely green leaves.



Oh, and look. A beeeeeby squash! Too cute to eat.

We have babies!

Baby plants, that is. Eeeety bitty seedlings!

I'm always amazed when I watch plants grow from seeds. It's such a cool process! I mean, that little tiny seed turns into a nice, fruiting plant. How in the world do people fail to believe in a Creator?


Our tomatoes are growing nicely:


We have little squash plants!


A few little cucumber seedlings:


And look at all these future green beans!


I'm told by my gardening expert (aka "dad") that we will have to get rid of some of these, probably. But ooh, aren't they super cute?

In other news, I seem to have developed a strange aversion to cheese. This is not a good thing since cheese is a good source of calories, fat, and protein for me. I usually LOVE cheese and eat it every day. But eeeewe, it grosses me out lately. I think my body is telling me to become a vegan... and that just makes me want to cry!

How does your garden grow?

It will grow well, I hope! However, we won't know yet for at least a few weeks. We my dad dug up an 8'x15' patch of the yard, tilled it, and composted it on Saturday. On Sunday, we planted some plants and seeds.




My first REAL veggie garden! We have tomato plants, red bell pepper plants, and we planted cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, and green bean seeds. It's a small garden because, well, I do not have a green thumb. It's not the hot Texas heat I'm worried about here... hopefully this garden will survive me.

We plan to put something up around it to keep the dogs out. Right now I have to watch them every time they go out there. I'd like to put up some trellis, but if it's too expensive we'll just be all hillbilly and go for the chicken wire. ;o)

See? Doesn't she look like a tuh-mater dog to you? She looks like a 'mater dog to me.


How about you? Are you planting a garden this year?