Catching Up!

 I don't post like I used to. I mainly post on Facebook and You Tube.

We've had a cold winter and a crazy spring. 

This year we've been visited by chipmunks, many birds, beavers, ducks and whippoorwills!

I will post a few pics and links below.

We love our little chipmunk we call Freddy. My son even made him a little picnic table to eat on.

Our robins have been nesting in the strangest places!

And we have been listening to whippoorwills every night. Click here to check them out on my you tube channel. Make sure your sound is turned up. If you want, you can click here and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. It's called Janet Smart-Country Living.

 I've been writing a new book, which will soon be available on Amazon. It is the 2nd in a series. If you like Appalachian fiction, I think you will enjoy these two books. The first one being, Where the Stars Grant Wishes. You can click here and check out by books on my Amazon page. 

We've just finished getting our garden out. We have peas, green beans, corn, squash and tomatoes. Can't wait for fresh veggies from the garden.

We constructed two teepees to plant our green beans around.

I am also helping plan for our high school reunion that will be held in August. My how time flies!

I will try and remember to post more often.

What's been happening in your world?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We have had a weird spring and, therefore, got a late start to our garden.

But it is coming along nicely now.

 We planted our beans and the rain fell. A few days later the plants popped out of the ground.

These are our tomato plants. We planted three dozen plants. We already have tomatoes the size of large marbles.

 

We got a late start on our sweet potatoes. 

But they are coming along.

 

 Our peas are taking off!

 This is one of our five rows of red potatoes.

 

This is not my garden. 

These are my two rows of blackberries.

I am keeping my fingers crossed. They have not did well at all the last 2-3 years. I pruned them big time this spring and they have took off! But, this doesn't mean the vines will not die on me, like they have the past few years.

What do you have growing in your garden?

Garden Surprises

We had a small gully washer yesterday. The rain did not last for a long time, but it fell hard and fast.

This morning I ventured out to the garden to take a look-see at everything and I found a couple of surprises.

I am used to seeing little green tomatoes. . .

 

I am used to seeing little green peppers. . 

.

But, I am not used to seeing little green things on top of my potato plants.  I took a second and third look to make sure a tomato plant had not made its way into my potato patch.

They green potato ‘fruit’ looks like little green tomatoes.

I looked it up on the internet and it seems that this does happen, just not very often. We planted Yukon gold potatoes and it said that it happens with them more frequently than the other varieties of potatoes. They are not harmful to the plant, but they are poisonous to humans.

Well, I guess you are never too old to learn. This is my first time at seeing these cute little potato fruits. It really surprised me.

I came across another surprise in the garden when I looked down and saw this jutting out of the damp ground. Most people would not even notice it as anything unusual. But, the color of it told me to investigate a little further.

A beautiful arrowhead, right next to the cucumber plants. I'll just have to add this one to my collection.

After a rain is one of the best times to look for artifacts in your garden. They get washed off and washed up out of the dirt. Flint is very hard and smooth to the touch and can easily be distinguished from rock or coal.

Wednesday - June 29th - I just found another arrowhead in my garden. It seems to be a good year for cultivating flint!

Have you found any surprises in your garden?

Sons, Garden, Baby Birds

I thought I'd play a little catch up with what's been going on around our house.

Here is a picture of me and my three boys taken on Mother's Day. I think someone should have told Andrew to smile.


Here's me and my hubby working in the garden before the rains came. We finally got the potatoes and tomatoes planted.



And, I've been watching my baby robins grow. I have a robin nest at the back door where the drain comes down and one in a bird feeder at the end of the grape vines. This nest is in my blackberry patch.

Tiny

Still Tiny

I Want Food!

Three growing babies all in a row

And this morning, they are out exploring the yard and. . .


playing hide and seek in the berry patch!
Click on it to see a close up.

What You Been Up To?

What have you been up to lately? We've been doing a little bit of everything.

While my husband tilled the garden. . .


I put together this shelf thingie. I love these types of shelves. They are very easy to put together. I have two larger ones in my laundry room. I put it together and placed it in the middle of my bedroom closet. We have one of those long and narrow closets that used to have sliding doors on it. I took the doors off and hung up a curtain. We had two shelves across the top (my son had installed a higher one so we would have more storage room). I took the bottom shelf out and took the rod out. Then I re-installed the rod up under the top shelf. This thing I put together then fit underneath and in the middle of my closet. I bought a little rod and attached it below the upper rod on one side so I could hang two rows of clothes, one on top of the other. It's a lot better now. Don't you just hate small closets!


My son climbed up on a long ladder and hung a star on the side of our house.



We planted a blueberry bush.


We hung out under the apple tree and took pictures of the blossoms.


While looking for something in the junk drawer of my son's dresser, I took the time to clean it out.


You would not believe the things I found. . . pkgs of pictures from long ago, fake teeth, a set of valentine cards my son got when he was in grade school, various types of old trading cards, yoyos, yellow diaper pins, money and lots and lots of stuff. Just don't ever store shoe strings in the same drawer as the long curly metal thing you see below. . . I probably don't have to tell you why. I wasted a lot of time in that junk drawer the other day!


But it was worth it, because I found this!


It says Charleston Area Medical Center on the back of it. It is so tiny! It was worn by my now 30 year old, 6 ft tall son. Isn't it just precious!

So what have you been doing lately?

Picking Veggies

Our garden is producing! Finally!



Yesterday, I picked green beans for the first time.



I now understand why people like to plant pole beans. It is literally a pain in the back bending over and picking bush beans! We like these stringless bush beans, though.



After I picked, snapped and washed them. . .


Charley set up the canner in the garage. . .



and we canned them.


We were able to can 19 quarts, cook a big mess and give a big mess to my son and his wife from this first picking.

That's not bad!

How's your garden growing?

Garden Pics

How does my garden grow?

My bush beans are all bushy, with tiny beans. . .


my red potatoes are all in bloom. . .


the cucumbers are tiny. . .



and so are the peppers.


The tomatoes are small. . . (I can't wait for juicy tomatoes from the garden)


the yellow squash are blooming. . .


the berries are coming along. . .



and so are the grapes.


And the blueberries are covered up to keep the birds away.


How does your garden grow?

A Visitor to our Garden

Our garden had a visitor today. A long, sleek black snake. My son noticed it while cutting grass around the vegetable garden.


This is the first one I've seen on our property this year.
Andrew decided to take it for a little trip down the hill to the creek.




Isn't he pretty? But, I think I would have lost my cool if he wound himself around my hand like that. I don't like snakes! Since he wasn't poisonous we decided not to kill it, just transplant him to another location. I don't want him slithering into our building or blackberry patch. One year I reached my hand into the berry patch and a huge snake was laying on the middle board of our blackberry trellis. Boy, did I pull my hand back quick! I don't like those kind of surprises.


We let him go into this clump of flowers on the edge of the creek.


Have you seen any snakes this year?