The promised pictures

OK, so late this afternoon I got Terri's camera and got the pictures I promised in my last post. The Chickens did not want to participate (camera shy?). But I chased them down and got a few. Also I got another Egg today and that makes 5!

This is "PIN HEAD" and he is the bigger of the two RIR"S. His tail feathers are really staring to develop.

And here are two of the girls. I now allow them to Free Range and they are running all over the yard.

"Pin Head" working on an ear of corn.

And this is "Knuckle Head. A bit smaller and the tail feathers not quite there yet!

"Knuckle Head" trying to hide behind one of the Girls

The two Roo's together. "Pin Head" in the front.

Now how about some garden pics? Paste Tomatoes in one of the raised beds. We have been harvesting a few every day for the past week or so. I have a bag of 60 in the freezer right now.

This is a very crowded bed and there is Good and Bad in that! Helps to crowd out the weeds, but makes harvesting difficult!

And  the Kohlrabi is doing very well! The heat has not seemed to bother it much and this Red Skinned variety has developed into large heads that are sweet and tender! Great in salads.

This bed is also crowded and as we pull a plant or two, the weeds move in.

Terri's mother won two Egg Plant starts at church Bingo and gave them to us. As you can see they are not the Purple skinned type, But small and white! Some of theirs are bigger then the Eggs I have been getting!

Here is the bed of Turnips, also crowded. But producing well!

In that same bed is a Rosemary plant that came back from last year. It is huge and we have been harvesting it to have with Roasted Root vegetables , YUM!

And the first time for PEARS. I have two trees and they were hit pretty hard last year with "Fire Blight" And they have it again this year, but not as bad.

And only one of the trees have fruit this year. But they look pretty good and seem to be growing well.

And last but not least, The SUNFLOWERS! When I built the bed for them, I put it at the south end of Terri's house and planted 4 different types. "Russian Giant", Multi Headed Red", "Black Seeded Oil and "Teddy Bear" As you can see, some of the heads are ready for cutting. The birds have been having a Hay Day on them and I need to get the heads off before all the seed is gone!

"Russian Giant" in full bloom

Heads are very heavy and bright!

The "Teddy Bear" plants are very low to the ground. But they produce a lot of seed and I gust like the looks of them.

This is how they look when first opened.

And then as the seeds develop, The plants start to bend over. I bet that some of the heads weight 6 - 7 pounds!

Large to small, I think they are all Beautiful and will enlarger this bed next year and plant saved seed in much larger numbers!

There are major changes going on there. And the Homestead will have a new and different look next year! Mark, Terri and I spent the week-end tearing down an old metal shed and cutting weeds. This area is to the back of Terri's house and will now be graded and a sand/Cut and Run pad put down. When that is finished, Mark will have a Prefab Carport/Workshop built on that site. And I have plans to use the parts from the old shed as roofing for the Chicken Coop when I enlarge it for the next flock next year.

So there you have it! I may not post as often as I would like (Should?). But when I UPDATE, I just go on and on!
Tom