summer

summer is finally here,
everything is green and growing,
this time of year I can go find breakfast out in the garden if I want to

let's go explore what we have this year

here are the wonder berries growing, this plant is 3 years old

the grapes that I had to dig up and hide from the deer

the mountain yam with it's aerial tubers that are getting bigger

one of the hulless seed squashes 

basil 

big squash plant with flowers all over

crookneck squash

the bean plants have green beans all over them 

I have cucumbers ready to eat

watermelons are growing 

here is the watermelon vine

tiny field of bunching onions 

another plot of bunching onions

the black eyed peas are getting eaten almost as fast as they can grow

the parsnips are doing just wonderful 

I hope I get something from the peanuts, at least they are looking good 

here is a bee's butt 

and now you can see the rest of the bee, it is on a cabbage flower

the tomatoes are doing well

 more tomatoes

and these are growing where there is a water leak,
and looking at the picture, there is a tick between the flowers, can't ever let your guard down

I forgot to take pictures of the potatoes...

now that it is summer,
I do think it must be time for some iced tea today

longest day

today is the longest day of the year on the north half of the planet,
the days just get shorter from here on out

some plants care about this,
the black spanish radish is one of them,
it is a winter radish, 
you plant them only when the days are getting shorter,
and they get big,
like 4 inches across big (at least I have seem them like that in the store),
click here for pictures of them
http://www.rareseeds.com/round-black-spanish-/

I planted some today as it is the first day I can do that,
have been waiting all summer to plant them,
very excited to see how they do here

I water my radishes lots so they are mild (less water makes them hotter)
and then peal (if they have a thick skin) and boil them

zucca melon update

so the zucca melon appears to have not outgrown the bug damage,

and I did not take another picture, but it has no leaves at all now
it is to late to replant,
and appears not to be making new leaves,
so the last node point was likely eaten,

it seems to me like the nights here are to cold for it,
still getting 50F nights even this far into summer.
so not sure it is worth trying again next year, or at least not at this location

pretty

some of the regular plants we eat have the prettiest flowers

and here is a close up of that bee in the right flower

I think it is a lettuce plant, but might be cabbage or some other related plant,
as I did not plant it, I have no real clue as to what one it is,
the flowers are only open in the morning, 
and it sure is pretty

baskets

the natives of the americas loved baskets,
and did so for a good reason,
where do you put a harvest once you get it ?
you can't put the food on the ground, it would go bad,
you need containers.

and baskets work good and you can make them yourself

now we have things like the 5 gallon bucket, and it works well,

55 gallon drums work if you have lots of something, 
just remember that it is handy to have a place to put your harvest before you get it,
because without a place to put it,
growing it was all for nothing.

even the humming bird needed a container for the eggs,
the humming bird nest seems to be unused lately,
so somewhere out there are baby humming birds flying around,

lichen is growing all over it !

time maps

so lets think about time maps,
it is very critical when you plant things,
the weather is called weather because it changes all the time,
and there are patterns in that (and idea known as climate)
so often there are points in time that no frost ever happens in your area,
handy to know that point in time,
but the currently popular time map (Gregorian calendar ) is just horrible,
you need a new one each year,
and it is so complex that as soon as people got computers they used them for all the messy calculations to generate the required new one each and every year.

and most people seem set on using that time map for all the business activities out there,
and for some reason everyone else follows and uses it as well,
in ancient times it was common for people to have 3 time maps (calendars)
one for business, one for farming, and one for religious things
I guess it is due to the 3 groups not agreeing on much,
so,
they had 3 systems of time mapping ,

being out here with no easy way to access the Gregorian time maps everyone else uses is actually causing me issues,
now a computer should deal with that well,
but mine seems set on resetting the time -8GMT hours each time it boots up with linux (fairly often)...
so its time map is random,
and I don't have to be super accurate for farming,
but my computer seems to have no idea of being close at all,
and I have not purchased or printed the very complex time maps that everyone else seems to have,
so I have decided to just use a time map that makes sense and does not need calculated and printed each and every year
as it turns out the 365 day year can be broken up into 13 months of 28 days pretty close,
you still have one day without time and every 4 years you have 2 days without time,
but that is not to many (the mayan had more days without time, but likely due to them trying to hold onto the 360 day year after it no longer applied)


so I think I am just going to use this time map,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Fixed_Calendar
or
I am just going to use a 365 day calendar where there are 365 days and no months at all
either way the current system (Gregorian calendar ) is so complex (and seemingly broken) that I give up